Patriot Half IronMan - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Yet again I had a horrible start. Nothing happened but I got too amped up or something. Thought I had gotten rid of this because Mooseman went ok, but my heart rate spiked the first 200 so I paused, and then again 100 after that. I just couldn't get my breathing to slow. I stopped completely for about 10 seconds to make myself relax.
After that I was completely fine and settled into a good rythm.

Aside from needing to just get much faster in general, I need to have better starts. If I could at least start better I probably would've shaved 2 minutes off my time so it would at least be respectable. Need to RELAX in the water. Not sure what causes it because Ive done the distance plenty of times. I think I just know I'm slow so I get amped up

New wetsuit was a b!tch to get off! Got stuck on my watch badly and my heels a bit. Other than that I ran with the bike fine and had my feet in the shoes after less than a mile. Happy about the fact that this was the first time I mounted the bike with my shoes already clipped in and it went well.

Get faster at tearing that thing off over my watch and feet

I pushed myself here, maybe a bit too hard for my first Half Iron. Started to lose power after mile 40, but managed to keep the power relatively consistent. If I could climb better I would be in great shape for the bike. Something i'm working on

Maybe save a little more for the run, but not much. My biggest thing is to get my power up and improve my climbing!
Overall I'm happy with my speed though

The main reason this took so long was because our transition spot was really far from the exit and I used my regular shoes this time so I had to tie my laces. The only other issue was that my sox were already soaking wet because the ground was wet, so it took me a second to get them on

Normally I used my tri shoes, but I need to get yankz laces for my other shoes for longer races. Other than that, I think I pulled my feet out of my shoes a little early when finishing up the bike.

I may have pushed a bit hard on the bike, but felt pretty good at the run start. Came out a little faster than I should've but not much at all.
First 5 miles were from 730-757,
Next 5 averaged about 805s and the last 3 were right around 8 min miles

Not much really. I had hoped to average 745s not 757s but considering it was my first half I am pretty happy.

Wow was I tired and hot. I didn't really do much stretching, just had a bunch of fluids and food, sat in an ice bucket and then walked around for a while with my teammates. Stuck around for the awards and tried not to tighten up too much


My swim needs huge improvements and I need to get better at climbing, but otherwise I am really happy with my first Half. Gives me a new respect for the full IM


Will definitely do this race again. Well organized, plenty of volunteers, good food and music at the end and a pretty cool shirt!