Iron Star Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Overall I am happy with course. Placed myself at the front outer right side. Gun went off and made dash into water. First 100m there was no one in front of me. Then near 200m someone came up next to me on my left and cut in front of me and kicked my goggles and let in some water. stopped and adjusted and had water in goggle the rest of the way. Was never able to find any feet to draft off of. Water was fairly calm and I just held steady pace. Felt I could have pushed a little harder but overall happy with outcome.

Nothing really, the goggle incident threw me off briefly but in reality maybe slowed me down 30 seconds - 1 min at worst.

Best part of this transition was the volunteers taking off the wetsuit. The guy who helped had it off in just a few seconds. When I stood up actually felt a little cramp in the left hamstring. So far, so good. It was cold out so I decided to put some socks on which I never do since my shoes are attached to the pedals already. Pulled bike off the rack and realized I didnt put on my arm warmers, re racked backed and had really hard time putting on the warmers. My goal was 2 minutes in this transition but I just felt sluggish.

try to feel so disorganized

All in all I am happy with the ride. It was really nice course overall. It was a little chilly to start the day off with and for the most part some really nice roadways. Except for the road right after the 2nd bottle exchange which was poor, very bumpy and you could see lots of lost bottles, tubes, co2 all over the roadway. Getting back to the ride, things were going really well and per my computer I was averaging just above 21 mph and after about 20 minutes got my heart rate down into 130's as I normally am. About 30 miles in I kept hearing a clicking noise on my bike and I looked down and noticed that my bottle holder was shaking really badly. I am really good about checking all my bolts to make sure nothing is loose but I did not check this. I reached down to remove the bottle (had 900 calories of mixed nutrition to add to water at the exchanges) As I removed the bottle the cage top bolt came loose and fell out, then the cage rolled to the right and my foot caught the cage. This brought me to quick hault. I got off the bike and realized that I would have to remove the bottle cage, no tools so looked around on the ground and found a hard stick and was able to work the bottom bolt loose enough to remove the cage and discard it. Approximate time lost was around 5 minutes. I jumped back on the bike and started to go again. About 5 minutes later realized that I had left my mixed nutrition bottle on the ground. Well there goes some calories/nutrients. Luckily I had a few gels and endurolytes. For the most part I rarely got passed. My goal was 2:45 on the bike and ended up with 2:53 and that was counting the stopped time due to mechanical issues, so roughly 2:48 could have been the time, but oh well.

Check all bolts before the race, have a better back up plan on nutrition. But I am pleased with total time and outcome on bike.

Normally I just jumped off the bike in full stride and sprint with my bike into transition. I almost came to a stop before jumping off, mainly due to the socks I had on as they felt slippery on top of my shoes. Once in transition I was ready to go within a minute, I had issues with my number belt as it would not lock into place. finally after flipping it around I was able to lock it into place. left transition and later would realize I forgot the one thing that i would need later down the road (cheer pack)

Clear my head and not panic.

This was the only area of the race that I was truely concerned with. About 8 weeks ago I had a overuse injury to ITband that caused me to reduce my training. I did not run for a full two weeks due to this then once back very limited. I went from 100+ mile months to 13 miles in september and 31 in october. After leaving transition I really had to use the bathroom and knew right away that I would battle cramps especially right quad and hamstring. Made to first rest stop and went to restroom and stopped at aid station. took in some gatorade, 2 cups and started back running for the first 3 miles I fought through some cramps and at mile 3 had worked my pace just under 9 minutes, way off my targe of 730 - 8 minutes. Miles 3-9 really felt good, I had my legs under me and was bringing the pace down. At mile 9 I calculated a finish time of 1:50 on the run was within reach. At mile 10 things started to go south really quick. At mile 9 I had planned on taking the cheer pack as it easy for me to digest and stomach can handle. I made the mistake of not taking in any calories during the whole run except at the first aid station and I was about to pay. My heart rate was great and I felt good in that aspect, at mile 10 I realized I was about to run out of energy. At about 10.5 miles I had to stop and walk, this basically was the last 2.5 miles of the race. Man was I happy to finish

I was happy that I was able to work thru my cramps in the beginning without stopping and finally got my legs back in the middle of the run. But as the run wore on I knew I had to take in some calories but the thought of taking in a gel or gatoraide made me feel sick. I tried to tough it out on water alone but in the end I fell a little short. My goal and all my practice had me sitting around 1:45, ended up 2:02.

Walked around with the family, had some pizza, fig newtons, gatoraid and water.


Lack of calories in the run... I just flat out ran out of gas 10 miles into the run


This was my first HIM, and I am pleased with the outcome. I really enjoyed the race. The volunteer's rocked and they were everywhere to be seen. I will definately do the race again next year and look at dropping my time considerably. The bike course was really nice, the run course is the only reason I did not give the rating a 5 as it was just a boring and unforgiving route. Well organized race.