Spring Bassman Half Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The water temperature felt pretty chilly for the first few minutes I was in the water. I swam about 3-4 minutes before the start and was still shivering a bit before the gun went off. Once the swim started, I never once thought about the cold. The water temperature was just about ideal for a full wetsuit swim.

The first couple hundred meters didn't go great. I probably didn't start off fast enough and got caught behind some slower guys. This isn't a big event so the contact only occurred for a short time but it was enough to put me behind the leading group. This is usually the way swims go for me. I'm not fast enough to stay with the lead group...but a bit faster than the second group. So I end up swimming alone while I watch the lead group swim off in the distance. That's pretty much what happened.

This was a 2 loop swim. There was some contact at the start. I also got into some sort of battle with a guy about halfway through the first loop. We were swimming at the same speed and kept swimming into each other. Must have happened 5-6 times. Probably slowed both of us down quite a bit.

The second loop was relatively uneventful. The cool water temperature made the second loop very enjoyable. I got into a good rhythm and pulled away from the second group a bit. I swam alone probably 80% of the second loop. I never felt fatigued. Very enjoyable swim. Not as fast as I would have liked but enjoyable.

I think the swim may have been a bit long compared to last year. I looked at the swim times from last year and they were about 2 minutes faster overall.

Start a little quicker and try to stay in the back of the lead group. In all honesty, the only way this is going to happen is if I learn to swim faster. Other than that, not much more I could have done. I'm just not a great swimmer.

T1 wasn't great. I decided to wear socks...but they were so tight that I couldn't get them on fast with wet feet. I had to sit down. Took me at least 40 seconds. Everything else was fine but this is why my T1 was so slow.

Not wear socks. Or wear socks that weren't so tight.

I jumped on my bike and started on my way out of the park. I had gloves on my bike and it took me a while to get the gloves on. I also had arm warmers but I decided not to wear them and I put them under my jersey for later. That whole process took a lot longer than I would have liked but didn't really impact the ride at all.

Once I finished messing around with gloves, I got in aero and started getting up to speed. The first section after exiting the park was smooth with a very slight tailwind. No problem maintaining 25mph. The course is 95% flat with just a few slight rises so there is really no need to shift that much and there is no need to sit up unless you need to stretch.

I started reeling in bunches of people. Being a slower swimmer, this is usually what happens at smaller events. I spened the first half of the bike passing people and feeling like a stud...and the second half of the bike alone. As the first loop progressed there were less and less cyclists in front of me. I was passed by 1-2 guys at the start but that was about it until the end of the first loop when a guy goes flying by me. No way I could have stayed with him. I think this is the guy that came in second. The last 12-15 miles were difficult. There was about a 10mph constant headwind. Not bad but enough to keep you working. I made it through that section feeling good and made the turn for the second loop.

As soon as I made the 180 degree turn and started the second loop in was an immediate relief from the headwind. Back up to 24-25mph cruising speed. About a mile into the second loop, my buddy Scott pulls up next to me cursing. He was doing the Aquabike and should have been way ahead of me since his wave was 12 minutes before me and he's a pretty damn good cyclist. He was in second place at the 10 mile mark on the bike and a cop directing traffic sent him in the wrong direction. He biked about 3.5 miles until a volunteer chased him down. So he ended up biking 65 miles instead of 58. Bummer. We leapfrogged for a few miles before I went on ahead of him. It was actually nice to break the ride up a bit listening to Scott curse and yell. Sort of amusing really...even though I would have been just as pissed off as he was.

The first half of the second loop was good. I was feeling strong. Stomach was good. Nutrition and hydration were good. Reeled in a few more guys and spit them out the back. I made the turn back home and into the wind and was still feeling OK. Even though the wind wasn't that strong, those last 12-15 miles were tough. I was slowly losing my biking legs. My neck and back were getting sore. I was ready to get off the bike and run. I suffered a bit those last few miles. I caught a guy around the 12 mile mark and we leaf-frogged for a bit. Had a quick chat about the wind. We were both looking rather uncomfortable. I was sitting up more often...getting out the saddle to stretch...not looking very efficient. I think we were both ready to be off the bike.

Definately a tough final stretch to T2. Not enough long bikes or long tempo sessions this season yet. I would expect to be better on the bike as the season progresses. A good bike ride but not my best. I think part of the reason is that I'm not used to riding such flat courses. I train in the hills/mountains where you can get out of aero every so often and you get some relief on the downhill sections. Staying tucked in aero for 2.5 hours is tough for me. I'm definately better when the course goes up and down.

For nutrition I used a concentrated 900 calorie bottle of Infinit. My second bottle only had water. No other calories. 900 is on the upper end of calories for a 2.5 hour bike but I like to slightly over eat on the bike so I don't have to take in too many calories on the run.

Not sure really. More long bikes. Longer tempo sessions on flat courses.

I was unsure how my run would go after suffering a bit towards the end of the bike. My thought before the race was to try and hold 6:30s. The course was flat so it should have been easy to hold a consistent pace.

I started off fairly fast but my running legs didn't feel so good. There was nobody in sight in front of me so I had to wait until the first out and back before I had a feel for how far behind I was. The first mile was a 6:20. That was encouraging since it felt like I was running closer to 7:00 pace. I had my doubts for the first 2-3 miles that I would be able to hold that pace. I passed the 3 mile mark in 19:30 so I was exactly where I wanted to be. Started feeling better and switched my thoughts to catching some guys.

After the first out and back I saw that I was behind quite a few guys. The front guys were waaaay ahead and there was no way I was catching them. There were a few others about 4-6 minutes ahead (some of which did not look good) and there were a few about 1-2 minutes up the road. I started to feel better around the 3-4 mile mark. I kept the same pace but the running was much easier. Slowly started reeling in guys. I'm not sure how many I passed but it must have been 5-7 over the course. It was not an easy task chasing down runners 5 minutes ahead of you but I'm pretty sure I caught a few close to the end of the run. There was one guy that was a couple minutes behind me that looked quite good. I think we ran close to the same split but I was always a bit worried about him.

I went through miles 4-10 at just about exactly a 6:30 pace. Miles 11-12 were tough. Pace slowed a bit even though I was working harder. It was much harder to hold pace. And with nobody in sight behind me or in front, the motivation to run hard started fading. When I saw the 12 mile mark, I picked up the pace again to make sure I broke my previous best HIM run of 1:27. Ran the last mile in about 6:00 and cruised to the finish.

Great run!

Took a gel at mile 1 and mile 7. Took water at every other aid station and took Heed once or twice. Total calories on the run were around 250. I tend to take in more calories than I need on the bike so I don't have to consume too much on the run. Seems to work for me. Total calories were about 1150 for the entire race. 900 bike/250 run.

Nothing really. Well executed run. Nutrition was spot on and pacing worked well.

I didn't feel like eating right away so I just hung around and talked with some of the other competitors. Listened to Scott complain about the cop that sent him in the wrong direction and chatted with the Gettysburg crew.

I finished 6th overall and 1st in M35-39 so I stuck around for the awards ceremony.

My finish time of 4:36 would have taken 2nd last year. Some really fast dudes showed up this year. The winner from last year finished out of the top 10. The 3rd place guy from last year finshed 8th. The 4th and 5th place finishers finished 15th and 16th. I think you get the picture. Small event but some pretty tough competition this year. Made for a really good race.


Swimming remains a weakness for me. I need to be at the back of that front pack and not the front of the second pack. I always have to play catch-up the entire race.

Not great on flat bike courses. I'll take a flat run course any day...but I'm better swit some elevation gain on the bike.


Post race food was good. Nice salad, pulled chicken, pulled pork, rice. They even had breakfast food for the early birds. I heard a few complaints about the food but I'm not sure where else you'll get this quality of food at a small event. If only they had beer. Hint, hint.....

I'm not a huge fan of such a flat course....however, the bike course is really nice. Through the pine barrens with very little traffic and well shaded. The run course is through the camp grounds with about 25% on trails. Well shaded and a really nice run. The lake swim was fantastic. Pretty clear water and a perfect temperature with a full suit. Races and awards were on time. Very well run event.