Delaware DIAMONDMAN® TRIATHLON - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started out to the right side and it worked out well. I stayed wide right on the way out and avoided all the beating and banging. Felt smooth and fast (first swim in the wetsuit since Virgina Beach). Turned around bouy a bit wide and then stayed inside and navigated off the flow of people on the way back (with the sun in our eyes). Still felt good and even managed to draft a few folks. Great swim. My time is the watch time (since thats where the mat was last year)

Not much 1:40 average and felt very relaxed.

My run from the water to transition was 2:31 minutes thanks to all the rocks(was barefoot). I had the usual fight with the wetsuit but good 3:05 minutte transition taking my time after I got the wetsuit off. The offical time was 3:08 but they moved the mat from the water to T1 so for comparision sake to last year I counted that run to T1 as transition. No need to mess up a good swim time.

Practice with the wetsuit more often.

For the most part it was a pretty good ride. Got going pretty good. Drank Gatorade every 15 minutes and had a GU every 30 minutes. Started off pretty smooth and easy on the first loop. Started getting passed quite a bit. Picked up the effort going towards the bridge and had a good ride up it in an easy gear but still lost a few net positions. Went flying down and built a ton of momentum and rode that momentum up to the highway. Missed an opportunity to get a bottle at the first bottle exchange cause the dude in front of me went for the same volunteer. Worst part was we both ended up dropping our bottles and missing out. Didn't think it was a big deal cause I still had my second bottle on the bike. Rode well on to the turn around. I was proud of myself for holding off several disc wheel (2 from my wave even for the first 2 hours.) The way back the was dead into the wind which really picked up. I worked at staying relaxed and made it to the second bottle exchange and successfully grabbed the Gatorade this time. The second trip up Reedy Point wasn't to bad passed one and got passed by one. One again came tearing down (after fueling up at the top) but with the graded bridge at the bottom I lost the momentum alot faster. Everything was good until the last little hill going over the highway. Right then both my hamstrings cramped up big time. I immediately dropped two gears and slowed my cadence to ease it up but it hurt like heck. Unfortunately it was a sign of things to come.

For the New Jersey Devilman, I used Cliff shot with Electrolytes and cliff shot gels. No cramps that race, lots this race. Didn't think itwould be such a differnce but I did everything else identically. Cramps suck!

Pretty good transition. Had some issues getting my left foot unclipped but other than that it was a nice smooth quick transition. Took my time changed shoes, streched, and got my hat and race belt on and went.

Should have changed shirts, since I had one and the lighter colors would have helped since there was no shade on the run. Maybe take some electrolyte pills.

Well lets just say the run sucked! I hit the bathroom out of T2 and tried to go conservatively the first two miles (which are mostly downhill) but I could feel my hammies twinging and my right quad tightening up. I had to easy up even more to hold off the cramps and from that point on it just was miserable. Long hot stretches with no shade, dust kicked up by the cars on the damm canal road. The aid stations weren't to great, most of the time I could only get one cup, never got any gels and I got olayed at one stop and got nothing. Meanwhile, I was still fighting the cramps in my legs. Each time I stretched out my legs and tried to get flowing, they would be back. Seeing early on where this was headed I made up my mind to if nothing else, I was going to run the whole thing. I got a lot of comment about my South Park Jersey on the run. Most people got it, and we even picked up a chours of Karl's mom's a B**** in B minor. I tried to stay up beat and didn't do to bad. I had a short stretch between miles 7 and 9 where I was actually able to easy up the tempo and felt good but unfortunately the cramps came back in force. The biggest challenge was that hill exiting the canal. i could see about 7-8 people in front of my and everyone was walking. A guy in a Team Javelin shirt passed me at the bottom an walk-ran up the hill and gave me someone to aim for. I put my head down and shuffled up that hill, and passed the Team Javelin guy twice by the top, but I ran it. At the 12 mile marker I checked my watch and saw I needed to pick it up a bit to hit 6:00, so I did despite the cramps fighting me. Hit the finish line at 6:00:00 by my watch.

You know sometimes you just have to play the hand you are dealt. In that light, it was a good effort and I toughed it out. I know when the IMFL rolls around I'll have to struggle through adversity at some point, so this actually was a good dry run. I do need to drink more and go back and grab the friggin cups off the table if the volunteers aren't able to keep up (or olay me again. I make it a point never to get ma at volunteers, but that really came close)

Grabbed some water, gatorade, oranges, nutter butters, and a hat full of ice at just laid back and relaxed. Then I ate the stuff, grabbed a ham sandwich, packed up transition and drove home.


The cramps. I guess its worth the extra money to buy the Cliff Shot Elecltrolye replenshment stuff. Temps were about the same as the Devilman and I did the same plan except with gatorade but I learned my lesson. I also was somewhat dehydrated on the run by the end.Lost over 5 pounds, not too good. Oh well I hit 5:45 on the race I was trying for 6:00 and hit 6:00 in the race I was going for 5:45.


I was really disappointed. Piranha usually does better. The whole race felt disorganized, from Neil not being able to tell us which buoys were and were not on the swim course, to the poorly run aid stations on the run, to the issues with the timing. Did Piranha have a fight with Lin-Mark or something? Waited 2 days for the results and I still have to manually figure out my age group results. All that and they really need to try something different with the run. I hate to complain, but I did pay a good amount of money and I expect a little more and Neil ususally does come through with a quality product.