Ironman 70.3 Steelhead - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Of the three legs this is the one I felt best prepared for. After weeks of telling myself to stay in the back at the start, when the horn went off I shot off like a pro. Shortly afterwards I tired like the noob I am; I didn't think I started off THAT fast. Eventually I got into a rhythm. This was my first open water swim of the year and I was swimming like it; I felt uncomfortable in my wetsuit as well as the environment. My shoulders became unusually fatigued. Around orange bouy 7 I got the mother of all cramps in my right calf. It took some time for it to subside. Afterwards I carefully made my way to shore.

Train. Elevate my level of fitness. Due to injury I only had 4 weeks of training; participating in some other events would of given my body at least a modicum of wetsuit swimming experience.

I rose out of the water and onto my feet feeling crazy dizzy; I could barely make any headway for fear of toppling over. I stumbled to shore then jog/stumbled through the crowd, more than once nearly falling into the cheering spectators. I walked through the transition area; this was a 'business decision' as "Primetime" would call it; I had no business getting on my bike in that condition. Wetsuit came off relatively well considering it was the first time all year. Took my time getting my stuff on; by the time I was out of transition I was much less dizzy.

More training and fitness and experience

I had a poor start, I couldn't get my feet into my shoes. It took me almost a half mile before my feet were strapped in. I spent the next 5 or so miles getting acclimated to the bike, hydrating, eating a part of a bonk bar. I stopped at the first station to use the portapotty. After that I began to get my bike legs under me, and then around mile 15 I really got them under me and began to hammmer. Well, relative to me; this bike leg became my personal best in terms of speed. It was great to be going back and forth with the guys on tribikes that cost thousands more then my road bike (probably). It didn't dawn on me until later that maybe I was going back and forth with these guys because they were pacing themselves while I was not. Still, I was really having a good time on this leg. It's funny because before this day this was the part of the event I feared the most. I do want to mention that somewhere in the leg I lost my balance and rode off the road and into the grass at a good clip. That was alarming because my road bike isn't designed for off road use. My Trek 4.7 is the only bike I have ridden since I started doing triathlons so I don't have anything to compare it to but it rode through the bumpy, grassy terrain like a champ and that allowed me to get it back on the road without crashing. That was a cool save! Somewhere during the bike my Garmin stated my HR maxed at 203, I wonder if it happened during my misadventure!

Not hammered. I robbed myself of any chance of having a good run; not only did I expend too much energy on this leg, I did not hydrate or eat as much from around the 15 mile mark on. A part of the problem was my inexperience with bike stations; I didn't use them right or very efficiently.
On the bike technique aspect, I need to work on the 'killer' hills; I was consistently in the granny gear on all the 'big' climbs on the course. That might be a technique thing as well. Once again, more training or events this year would of helped significantly.

I wasn't familiar with the entry into T2; consequently I chose to dismount by unclipping. As a portent of doom, the pain in my right calf from the mother of all cramps from back in the swim made it's presence felt. Still, I got myself into bike gear in good order, ate and drank a little to boot, and off I went.

This really wasn't too bad for me, I have notoriously long transition times.

I'm not a good runner during the best of weekend training sessions let alone as a spent triathlete with a bad calf doing a Half Ironman for the first time, ouch. I left T2 in a sluggish jog with pain in my right calf hoping both would wear off after a mile. The pain in my calf did not allow me to motor up that first hill of the first mile; I had to walk it. The pain in my calf would never go away; as a matter of fact I can still feel the residual pain as I type. If the sluggishness went away it was only replaced by a brain and body numbing fatigue that a lack of hydration and nutrition probably brought on. Then the sun came out and it was over; I simply could not jog at a good pace or for that long. Those first 4 miles were dark; people were passing and passing me while I struggled along poorly. I berated myself for being "flimsy metal alloy"-man. Truth was I was giving it all I had left, which was very little. While I was able to fortify my energy and hydration over miles 4 to 7 or so, my legs began to hurt all over and worsened with each consecutive mile; I simply wasn't fit enough to be plugging along this long. At mile 9 I met a girl named Maggie and together we walked and talked and...it was alright. Somewhere during mile 11 or so it was alright and we both looked forward to eventually becoming 70.3 Ironpeople. We jogged the last couple tenths of a mile and shared a high five as we crossed the finish line.

Train, have I mentioned that before? Knowing how a month ago I just started walking a mile again, I couldn't be more happy. I prayed that I could achieve enough fitness to finish and the good Lord supplied me with that.

Drank more fluids, ate a little bit, got a message.


Lack of training, not being at the right fitness level.


This is my first 70.3 so I have nothing to compare it to but I thought it was great; there was the store and massage and other things to do. I look forward to doing it again in the future.