HarryMan Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Times are approximate now, results not posted yet. Slowest swim time by over 5 minutes, and Eddie also had his slowest by a long shot, so I'm guessing the swim was long. Overall went pretty crappy considering how few people there were. Had someone literally push me underwater and got hit in the face, which is something I'd expect at a bigger tri, but this one only had maybe 200 tops.

Hardest course I've ever done, by a long shot. Started with 2-3 mile downhill that was so steep and long that it was scary. Then U turn so you had to come to almost a complete stop, then bike back up it for 2-3 miles. Tried not to kill myself up it, but will need to add some lower gears on my bike because I was pedaling at the lowest I could and it was tough. After that it was entirely hills, almost no flats, and really bumpy roads. Happy that my times were at least somewhat consistent. Usually I don't start to doubt whether I'll be able to finish a 70.3 until a few miles into the half marathon, but after that first loop I thought there was no way I could finish it.

I thought I might get a little respite from the hills on the run, but to no avail. All hills, and with a good 3-4 miles of each loop in the sun and at 80 degrees, I died. Two loop course and I actually felt surprisingly good at the start of the run (did first loop in ~hr), then second loop the heat really started getting to me.

Terrible race! I'm okay with races being hard, but this was just ridiculous. For a reference point, my very first 70.3 I did 5:34...so this was an hour slower with my IM training than even my very first 70.3 when I was a noob.