Monticelloman Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

First two legs I did my own thing. I concentrated on breathing and being relaxed. On the third leg, which was probably the longest I managed to find some feet. It is the first time that I have done some extended drafting. It created a paradigm shift in that I did not pay any attention to where I was going, just that I was staying on his feet.

Nothing

Still put on shoes and get on bike traditionally.

Nothing really.

First of all I had my first ever wipe out. In the first mile I was on the edge of the road, there was nobody around, no shoulder and I went off the road. Getting back on would have possibly resulted in damaging a tire and falling, so I stayed on the side, went through a ditch and as a tree was heading at me, I put the bike down. Jumped up. Bruised ego, bruised rib and everything else fine. All told, I probably lost less than 30 seconds. Ride went well. On the second lap the leading lady passed me with about 15 miles to go. I managed to stay about 20 yards behind her for the rest of the way. It helped a lot.

Nothing. I still need to work on my biking.

A little difficult to run in cleats. We had about a 50 yard run from dismount to where my bike was.

Unfortunately the timing did not give a rank for the run by itself. I started the run in 25th place overall and finished in 9th. I ran well. It was hard, but then it would have been like that for everybody. I ran in my Kinvaras and was a little concerned that they would not give enough cushioning. It felt fine, but my legs are sore today, 24 hours later.

Nothing.

Ate.


Nothing.


For having the first year of the half it was great. A good course, fine volunteers and a nice low key event. There was one water stop on the bike, which we saw twice, which was unmanned. I am not sure why, but it turned out to be fine as I was able to stop and load up on gels as my drink mixing plan was a failure.