Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim went okay. Had a hard time finding my groove in the first part of the swim, but managed to find it after the first couple of buoys. After that, the swim went well. We were all bunched together and it made it very difficult to swim without either getting hit by someone or keeping from swimming over someone.

Stay on the outside of the swim - start there. Also, get in the water a bit earlier and get warmed up and used to the water. Part of my discomfort was putting my face in the water. Even though it wasn't cold, it's always a shock.

This was an okay T1. It was a bit unfair because of the way the transition area was set up and where I was. For some reason, I was completely on the opposite side from most of the other Half Iron participants, and this year the race had 750 participants, so it was a pretty long stretch to the Bike Out gate. That probably added a good 15-20 seconds to both T1 and T2 for me. Tore my sock putting it on, so I had to take them off and put a different pair on (fortunately I had more than one pair with me).

Work on getting off my wetsuit faster, make sure my socks are good, get a better position in transition, and just take transitions more seriously. Honestly, I thought I could take more time since this was a Half Ironman. But I don't think I needed to :)

Got out, headed out on the bike, riding strong. Was flying past everyone, holding about a 21 mph pace. Hadn't been passed once... until I heard a "bang, fsssstt". FLAT TIRE!! Errgh! I don't plan for those, esp. on races!! First one ever during a race! I was about 15 miles in when it happened. Fortunately I had a spare tube, but all I had was a mini-pump. And it seems to take twice as long to change a tube when you're under the pressure of a race. Spent the next part of the bike trying to make up some of the several minutes of lost time when about 45 miles in, I started hearing a "thump, thump, thump...". Pulled over again, and found my tire was coming off of the rim and my new tube was bulging out. Guessing it had to do with the low pressure in the tire (can't get it much over 50 psi with the hand pump). Deflated the tire, popped it back on the rim and pumped it back up. Kind of feeling beat up by this point and somewhat discouraged. I was determined to finish though.

Then I get yelled at by some jerk in a truck who wasn't giving anyone any room on the shoulder. I went around him on the left (down the center lane) and was told "I give cyclists a bad name". Seriously??? This is a race, butthead! He apparently ticked off another gal doing the Olympic. Had a good chat with her, and she decided to give him a "souvenir" middle finger when we got back in front of him. Made me feel a little better :)

Not get a flat?? Wish you could plan for these things. At the very least, I need to get a CO2 cartridge pump so I don't have to mess around with the worthless hand pump. What a waste.

My time on the bike was 1:44 and some change on my Garmin, so I think if I hadn't had to stop, and could have focused 100% during the ride, I could have squeezed out 21 mph avg.

This was an average transition. Again, I was at a disadvantage because I had to run across the entire transition area to rack my bike. Not so fair. Also, the half gate was on the same side as the Bike In -- however, I went out the wrong Run Out adding an extra few seconds and distance onto my run. Oh well, things weren't going great by this point :)

Pay attention to where I need to go, and quit forgetting to get out of my shoes before I get to transition. It's quicker when you can hop off in your socks, run and rack your bike.

This run kicked my butt. The heat was unbearable. It got to about 90 degrees which made it brutal. On top of that, there simply wasn't enough shade, and the tiny water cups aren't quite enough on the course, forcing me to resort to a run-walk. I wasn't the only one doing this. Many people resorted to this strategy about 4-5 miles in. After the bike problems, it was very difficult given the conditions to motivate myself to run through the 13 miles. Fortunately with the help of a really nice guy on a mountain bike who was strolling the course, I mustered up the energy to pass a couple others in my age group out on the course in the last mile. Almost ran the entire last mile because of his motivation. I really needed and appreciated that.

Put myself in a better mental state, and hydrate better on the bike portion. I think I was a bit dehydrated when I got to the run, feeling the effects of heat exhaustion. I may have bonked a bit too, because the energy levels just weren't there like I was hoping. Not sure if I ate quite enough for the bike and run.

Stretching and celebrating! Despite having a rough time getting through my first Half Ironman, the fact is, I COMPLETED MY FIRST HALF IRONMAN!! That was worth celebrating. There will be other opportunities to better my time, and heck, now the bar will be easy to crush!


A few problems along the way and a discouraged attitude prevented me from doing my best on this. That and the anxiety of this being my first Half distance. I wasn't sure what to expect, although I expected it to be hard. I wasn't as prepared as I thought for how tough the run was, and it taught me that the Half Ironman has to be respected! It's not easy!


I love this race, and this course. The Half Ironman course is excellent. Quite amazing that it all works out like it does distance wise all from Rendezvous beach. Despite just wanting to get through this, I'm very tempted to train and try it again next year to see if I can do it right... We'll see. In any case, loved this race! Won't ever forget it.