Spring Bassman Half Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

One of the mental things I have not gotten over yet is the fact that when you look out into the water and see a 1.2 mile swim and in this case .6 miles (x2) in front of you, it is so hard to believe that I swim this regularly in a pool. But it is so much harder in the open water than a pool.


This was a wave start which the wome and aquabike and duathlon went first, followed by 40+, then 39-men. The lake was very calm and around 68 degress, so besides the faceshock, it was very comfortable. This swim overall would be great for a first timer. Very calm, reasonably shallow and pretty clear water with minimal chop and no current.

The first 300 yards was a swim parallel to the shoreline with the usual choas. I was hit/kicked and bumped as well as I did some of it myself. It took a little while to get into a smooth breathing pattern because of the constant course changes due to avoiding slower swimmers and being overtaken by faster swimmers. After turning towards the left side of the lake we swam through some shallow seaweed water, but not too big of a deal. I started to pass some of the earlier wave but had a couple fast guys from the following wave moving up fast. Made a few similar mistakes by overcorrecting my line to the far left buoy therefore I felt I zig zagged too much. I nned to learn to trust my initial spotting. I feel I always lose a few minute combined due to this mistake. Made the turn at the far left buoy and started to get my groove. When we reached the far right buoy to start heading to shore there is a very shallow area that some people were walking but I felt swimming was best. After turning at the starting spot we did it again. at this point I had more open water. I was typically breathing every second stroke and it was not until about .8 mile marker was I really warmed up and started breathing every 4th stroke therefore going faster......I need to remedy this for the future. Came out of the water feeling pretty good and even though I was still not the fastest swimmer it was 5 minutes faster than the last time!!! another Half iron swim done!!! big deal for me considering where i was 18 months ago.

Need to trust my stroke earlier and be more aggressive getting into a 4 stroke breathing rythm, navigate better, and warm up better so I can groove my stroke earlier...and of course work to fine tune my swim techniques...but feeling more comfortable as I do more races

Wife and kids gave me a some encouragement. My calf cramped 2 times trying to step out of the suit in my usual way by stepping on it so I had to get on the ground and pull it off. Since I am never threatening a podium spot I never seem to rush the transition too much. Put on a long sleeve shirt for colder starrt of ride.

my endurolytes fell from my stem bag, so I guess I need to secure them more......maybe start taking the T more seriously

There was a long 100+ yd run/walk from T1 to the mounting line which added to the bike split as well as returning. The route is a 2 loop "big Dipper like" pattern. You ride approx 11 miles out to make a turn down a desolate road (5 miles)(bullnose or head rd ??? to make a left back on the original road and about 2 miles down you pass the spot were you originally turned right onto the desolate road. It is mainly flat with some mild inclines but no outright hill climbs. Very easy for most. There are 3 brides you cross 4 times total...2 are 10 feet long wooden bridges that are no big deal but I recommend avoiding the metal peices that are rivet-like, the other bridge is bigger and has a metal surface for about 20 feet, I was told by the race director that you may feel the bike shist 2 inches but again no big deal.

My race: Going out I felt great. maybe too great .my plan was to average 19- 19.5 mph and i was easily going 20-23 with a tail wind. the clouds of pollen were amazing and my black shirt could prove it, also the pollen was caking on my torpedo set up. In there i had 7 gus dissolved in 16 oz of h20. Was having a good ride till about 3 miles from the turn around where i began to get this strange sensation . Almost as if i didnt feel well, but not really nauseous, just a feeling like i did not feel like i would finish, even though i have done this distance before on a more difficult course. I made the turn and just tried to ignore it. I just changed my mental attitude to stop worrying about breaking the 6 hr mark and just try to have fun and enjoy the day. Thankfully by the time I got a few more miles into it that bad feeling went away and got focussed again and dealt with the headwinds coming back which slowed me down a little. In retrospect I feel iwas taking in calories too fast on the first loop. I had a black marker line where I should have taken half the bottle by the turnaround and I actually had gotten to that point about 10 miles too early. I am wondering if that lead to my "bad body feeling" I had. Not sure. Came into transition and my watch said 3:03 but my time was 3:10 but I think they added a lot of time for the long path too and from the transition area. Overall I enjoyed the ride and it is a very forgiving course, compared to montauk last year. I wanted to break 3 hrs but I was about 13 minutes faster than my last HIM

need too ride even harder in training to break that 3hr mark..be more careful with nutrition

Came in and my wife was just over the fence asking me how I was doing....I felt pretty good, that bad feeling was long gone. My only complaint was I was hungry so I had a banana which tasted great. My right foot which I have been dealing with a metatarsalgia/neuroma issue was hurting worse than usual but I was hoping that just like in training it would go away 10-15 minutes into the run. Grabbed my powerbar, 4 gus and 2 endurolytes which I swallowed one...also I forgot to take off my long sleeve shirt I wore on the bike (later removed and thrown to "fan club"

not much except as I mentioned above , take it a little more seriously. But saving a minute is not much of my priority.

I reaaly enjoyed the run course. I enjoyed getting off the road and it made it more interesting. When I left transition my foot worried me because it was aching real bad. Fortunatley it did let up. You run about 1 mile and at the first aid station you turn a sharp right to hit a narrow one way trail. I missed it, but the aid station yelled to me to turn around. Then you go back to pavement, then a trail, then back to pavement for the last 2.5 miles. I wanted to run a 9:45-10 min mile and nearly did this the entire time but in the the last 3 miles it fell to 11 minutes as I was slowing down, but overall I can complain stil about 6 minutes better than my last HIM Half MAry

I took a gu approximately every 30 minutes and a life saving powerbar at mile 7 which tasted great.

After doing the first 5+ mile loop , you circle around transition and go on another off road adventure to do a 2+ loop. On this loop I stopped to urinate in a campground bathroom which I had been holding since getting off the bike. Not sure why but didnt want to lose too much time and this one was right there! It was great to see family going through this area twice in about 20 minutes. Kids were playing on the beach and when they saw me they sprinted to try to catch me lol

Than off to do the first loop again.

I got a brief blast of energy and ran the next mile or so around 9 min, I quickly slowed myself down and my body took control of that also and I went back to a 11 min pace. I was real happy with my control on the run.
I had gotten right quad cramps that slowed me and brought me to a stop several times in my last HIM and this time NO CRAMPING...I am not sure what to attribute it to ? better trianing, better nutrition plan with more solid food, 2 endurolytes, not sure? This time I never stopped running, had to slow down but kept moving, so I was proud of that.

essentially train the bike better and harder to set the run better. I usually can easily do a 1:53 HM in training in a unrested state(probably better if rested and racing) and feel I should do a 2 hr-2:10 run and the very least.....but other than that I felt in control and never really felt the suffering I had in my last HIM

Finished with my older son running with me across the finish line!!! then was greated by parents, wife, younger son and aunt and uncle which was great...had some solid food that was made by the race organizers and hung out for about a half hour and went home or at least to my parents house.

Legs and back were sore but overall I was in a good state of mind afterwards


I really need to increase the bike intensity and get more mileage in. As much as I have improved since last october and have gotten stronger , I can still get faster.


Overall to those maybe reading this who are contemplating this race, I would reccomend it and may do it again next year. It is a great course for a first HIM and I wish I would have done this one first before Montauk Mightyman last year. To be a little critical, there needed to be more bathrooms near the pavillion, and some of the volunteers (usually the younger ones who were alone) could have been a little more supportive in as far as encouragement. But all in all things went well and I realize its hard for a race to go perfectly. I heard of one story that the police told an aquabiker to go the wrong way. They got the bike mounting signs up late and the race started about 10 min late,,,,,but no biggie as long as you were not that aquabiker, that was a travesty