Soma Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started this swim with great confidence and high expectations. I did a 4k OWS last weekend and finished well so I was planning on finishing even better today. I started out really well...I was sighting and drafting off of people who were right at my pace perfectly and really got into a good rhythm. After turning the around the 2nd buoy I found myself in front of the group I was drafting off of and got a little too excited. I felt really good and thought to myself that I was just going to crush it til the end. That lasted about 100 meters. Instead of "crushing" it the rest of the way, I raised my heart rate too much and got my breathing too hard. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I "panicked", but it was one of those things where my wetsuit was feeling a little tight and I had to do the breast stroke for a while. As soon as I got back into my rhythm all I could think about was how bad I screwed up my time...My goal was 40:00, but I was really thinking it would be closer to 37:00...Overall, had a good swim.

Probably not try to burn it when there is still 1000m left. Stay relaxed and don't get heart rate too high.

I'm not a big fan of swimming to the staircase and getting yanked out, but the guys I had today did a good job...I love wetsuit strippers and mine did a really good job, but the station was a little close to where we got out of the lake. I barely had enough time to get my arms out.

Transition went fine...I was more concerned about getting all my nutrition and making sure I didn't forget anything than I was my time.

Nothing at all...

My very first race on my new Valdora and it was a sweet experience. On the first loop I went out a little harder than I should and had to calm myself down a bit, but I still kept a good pace. I ate a honey stinger waffle about 45 minutes in and took in salt tablets every hour. I started munching on stinger gel-chomps on the last two loops and drank about half a bottle of Perform.This course had a lot(It was 4x 3 loops!) of very tight U-turns which slowed everyone down a bit. I also had to stop to use the bathroom...I had to go almost the entire ride and made all the way to the 3rd loop before breaking down and stopping..it was probably the longest pee I've ever taken. My goal was to average just under 19mph, but ended up averaging 20. It was the 3rd fastest average of any race I've done even though it was more than twice as long.

Nothing, I paced myself well and my legs felt good off of the bike...

This was where I was most concerned...I have been dealing with an Achilles issue on and off for probably 7 months now. It's not terrible, but I have to baby it and it is often sore. I've really worked on my run form and have lowered all intensity training on my runs. I've also started doing a run/walk strategy of 5:1 for all of my long runs until after IMAZ.

For weeks I've been trying to decide what I would do for this race. Run/walk, 5:1? Run the whole thing? I wanted to have a decent time without risking injury...I decided last minute that I would walk for one minute at each aid station. (approx. 1 mile) This plan worked out well for a variety of reasons. 1.) was able to give my legs a rest after each mile 2.) was able to take the time to get get the nutrition/hydration that I needed. I would take a cup of water and drink it, take another one and pour over my head. I was actually able to drink the cola and perform instead of throwing at my face and hope that some goes in my mouth. I even filled my water bottle a couple times...After my first loop I realized that if I really pushed it I would be able to break 5:30. My legs felt just fine and I still had some energy left in the tank. I was going to hit my "stretch" goal. I held a comfortable high/mid 8 pace. I still walked at the aid stations but it was only for 15-30 seconds instead of a minute. I also started noticing that I was passing a lot of the people who passed me during the first loop. The more time went by the more it looked like I was going to make it. During the last 3 miles I tried to have some bursts...I would hold low 8/high 7 minute miles, but I just couldn't do it for long. I settled for mid 8's until the very end. About 200 yards to the finish line I passed a girl who smoked me earlier in the race. The only thought on my mind was, "don't let her pass you again" and I finished hard.

Again, nothing at all...I figured I would finish in 2:10-2:15 and somehow knocked it out in 1:54.

Found my support group and chatted it up with some fellow athlete/friends. Drank two bottles of water and a bottle of Perform. Then met up with some spectators/volunteers for some beer and a burger.


Experience. For my first 70.3 I was very happy...Didn't think I would break 5:30 and I did.


I was super happy with the entire event. Expo was decent, crowd was big and volunteers were great. I went in with decent expectations and I blew them away. Not only did I do well, but I learned a lot about how I race. Left this day with a really great taste in my mouth...