Outer Banks Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I have never swam in conditions even close to this. Usually very calm in morning, but there was a chop with decent wave action. Started out to the right of everyone as planned and hung back a bit. Tried to find a rhythm early but was touch with waves hitting me in face. Once I turned the first corner I was good to go. I swam the whole way to the outside of everyone until coming around last turn I drafted a bit and tried to ride the wave action back to shore.

Not much different.

T1 was a bit slow for me. Long run back. Not used to putting socks on, so that took longer, but overall not bad.

Maybe no socks? Not sure. Need to run longer distances without socks.

I kept the pedal down decent on first lap and stayed aero. Back was hurting on second lap and alternated between drops and hoods. Bottom line is if I keep racing, I need to invest in tri bike of some kind for comfort in aero. All in all a decent bike but was looking for 20 mph.

Not sure what different.

Great transition. I am usually very good at T2.

Nothing different except forgot to grab visor and that would have helped with blazing sun.

Run was super hot. Came off bike and was holding 8:45/mile for first 3 miles but knew that would not last. Goal was to hit 10 min/mile average for race. Heat got bad after turnaround. Was putting cold/wet towels in shirt and this helped a ton. I paid very close attention to taking in electrolytes and calories on bike and i think it paid off here. Although I was hot and hurting by the end, I felt like I had less trouble than others. Passed several walkers in the last 3 miles. Open field across airport was brutal with heat at the finish. Was able to hit 10 min/mile average even with heat, so happy with that.

Not much different I could do here. Heat was oppressive. I had a good runnig base from April marathon training and I think it really helped.

Medic hose sprayer at the end was awesome. Walked around and ate what I could find. Pretty sore Sun/Mon and it may have been better if I brought some recovery with me to drink after.


Heat


After watching sprint the next day, I felt swim support could have been better especially on outside of course. Wife told me they were letting olympic people warm up and they ran in to several half swimmers coming in. That should not happen. Aid station support was awesome. I emailed race director several questions before race and never got reply. he had answered questions on facebook. They should let you know they are putting answers on facebook. Also I never got checked out when I was picking up bike. Anyone was allowed in and out of transition after the race. This is not good either. Easy way to get a bike stolen.