Auburn International Triathlon - Half-Iron Triathl - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim felt good - goal was to not worry about pace, just relax and come out of the water feeling fresh - accomplished that.

Not much - short sleeve wetsuit would have been nice to avoid overheating, but not a big deal.

Took it easy in T1 - sat down and put on socks and shoes, no running mount this time - who cares about saving 15 seconds in a 6+ hour race? Not me...

Maybe had too much stuff in pockets - had to carry inhaler, which I didn't end up needing, but might have.

Felt good on the bike - tried to go easy and not race others around me. Concentrated on nutrition, which went well for first 2 hours, but stomach got upset around 2:20 and nutrition fell off. Cytomax on course was too concentrated. Clif bloks were AWESOME!

Figure out a better hydration strategy - not rely completely on on-course fluids. Probably could have paced even better - did a pretty good job maintaining easy pace, but would like to have power data more dialed in so I know what to hold (this was my first race with a PT, so I don't have much data yet.)

No big hurry in T2, but it went fine.

Carried too much stuff on the run.

Hard, hard, hard. Walked about 60%. Just wasn't prepared for the run - not enough trail running, not enough running in general - this was the longest run I've ever done by 4 miles - needed to work up more mileage in training.

Walking was the only way to survive, and I was OK with that. Legs were very tired and sore by mile 7, couldn't really run at all by mile 9 and major debilitating calf cramp just before the finish. But I didn't crawl!

More run training... start buildling mileage much earlier and get in at least a few 12-13 milers before the race. Also more trail running, which was hard to do because the few trail runs I tried left me sore for days afterwards and disrupted the rest of my training. So again, start training the trail running earlier and build up slowly.

Well run, low key race with a fantastic collegiate division. I wish more race directors were as supportive of collegiate athletes as Brad.