Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Decent enough swim. I wanted to give myself a little extra space around the buoys, but I way overshot most of the turns which cost me a few minutes. The water was clear enough for me to stay on a few pairs of feet, which I've never been able to do! Yay improvement. Was also surprised by how calm I stayed in the chop...breathing and stroke stayed really steady.

There was one girl in my age group who I thought was a little bit too fast for me to draft, but now I wish I would have tried to stick with her longer. And while not getting swum over or whacked due to traffic jams around buoys is a bonus, I should have hugged the turns a little bit tighter.

Looked for suit strippers...where were they? Eh. Slowly jogged into transition and took my sweet time. I knew I could have gone faster, but didn't think it was worth it.

I should have scoped out the swim finish a bit better before the race. I felt a little disoriented coming out of the water, and I think the confusion is what slowed me down.

This was my first race on my new tri bike, and I quickly learned I should have ridden a LOT more. I mistakenly mixed the HEED in my aero drink bottle way too strong, which gave me a little queasiness the first few miles. Also, my right aero stem somehow came loose, so one arm was a good 2 inches lower than the other for much of the course. I had to do the last 15 miles or so on the hoods. So much for aerodynamic advantage. :( All this plus the heat and a few rough roads made this my slowest HIM bike performance to date. Live and learn.

Ride longer. The HEED tasted fine to me before the race and there was no way predicting that after 100s of training miles my bar would loosen, so not much I could have done about those.

After the pitfalls of the ride, was still feeling disoriented (and overheated/dehydrated). Considered throwing in the towel and skipping the run, but decided to give it a go.

Every other race I've done has had an aid station with at least water as you exit T2. I assumed the same, so didn't take a few sips of water before heading out. Wish I would have.

Hot, hot, HOT. The first aid station was 1.5 miles into the run, and I didn't realize how much that would affect me. After that, things started to get better. I walked every aid station and enjoyed a buffet of water, ice, HEED, coke, and endurolytes at just about all of them. By far the most I've consumed on a run course! I started to regain equilibrium around mile 4, and at mile 9 was able to drop a group of ladies I'd been leapfrogging with for the whole run. It was just. So. Hot. A guy I passed said, "This isn't a triathlon, it's a death march." My slowest HIM run to date, as well.

Train in blistering heat? Nah, I wouldn't do that to myself. Re-tool my bike hydration plan for higher-temp races, so I won't be a zombie on the run. Carry a few of my own salt tablets, for those aid stations that didn't have them when I needed them.

A good 20 minutes in the cold water pool. Watermelon. After 30 min or so my tummy was settled enough to eat a little and stretch a little.


Out of my control: the heat and the aerobar failure. In my control: bike nutrition/hydration/handling skills, and overall better planning for aforementioned heat (although the rest of my races *should* be much cooler weather this season...knock on wood).


The course: GREAT (hooray for scenic single loops!!!). Organization: GREAT. Aid stations: AWESOME. All volunteers: AWESOME. Citizens of Geneva who came out with hoses, bags of ice, sunscreen, cowbells, and big smiles: SUPERCRAZYAWESOME. Post-race festival: GREAT. And I love love LOVE that Jeff strives to keep this race as green as possible. Oh also, the race swag was some of the best I've gotten. Even though the heat made it less than fun, the event itself is a must-do.