Mountain Man Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon

My biggest worry was pacing... I asked veterans about the race, and all of them said to pace slower than you would think b/c of the altitude. The swim was very comfortable... and I mean too COMFORTABLE... no breathing issues whatsoever.

Well, I was so nervous at the pacing that I underpaced myself, after I rounded the last buoy and maybe about 800m to go, did I pick up the pace as I was too comfortable and even after I picked it up, I never felt uncomfortable. Next time and in the future, I now know I can go faster. I was swimming at an IM pace, since when I got done... I could have made another round.

I was off a little bit on the start, I swam head down and then after about 30 strokes, poked up my head to look and I was off to the right substantially, so only after the first buoy was I on navigation. This probably didn't cost me a significant amount of time. In the end, I could have swam faster and come under 35 minutes... but I'm satisfied for my first HIM swim... and to my surprise 6th in AG.

Apparently, there was a timing glitch and T1 time was added to the overall bike, though one confirmed report is that it was added to the swim, but I went with the organization website and estimated my T1 time and subtracted it from the bike time. I wasn't making a quick effort of this. My left leg of the suit got stuck and took about 30 seconds to come off.

The only thing that went wrong with this part was that I lost my gel flask with 500 calories of EFS. It bounced out of the holder on the first cattle guard crossing... I kept going. I had a backup of a cliff bar and my two 25oz bottles of Powerade Zero (READ ZERO CALORIES). I nibbled on the bar in absence of the gel, but I could tell that without the aid station, I would have been sucking hind tit badly. SO>>>

The first aid station at about mile 25 couldn't have come too soon. I was flying down the hill toward the aid guys and called out for the Gatorade or whatever and I hit the bottle and missed, so in desparation I had to stop from going about 26mph (after having slowed down from 30 plus) and went back for another, it was a must do, since IF I didn't, I would have have collapsed from lack of anything.

Before the race, I downloaded the elevation maps and calculated pacing considering altitude, air resistance and hills... I was going for a 2hr 25 to 30' split. I hit my marks almost perfectly for a majority of the race, HOWEVER, I underestimated those damn hills, I guessed that I could have done them at around 15mph, but I was at 11mph at the steepest ones, I was also concentrating on not spending too much time at or beyond LT. I kept my HR on spot on between 135 to 150... I'd say that only I felt the altitude was going up the last blasted hill of the dogleg, going from 6800 to 7300 ft. At the top, I was wheezing a little.

As the mile markers whizzed by, I put the hammer down on the last stretch and reached 45 to 50mph in the steeper parts, this lasted about 10 to 12 miles, yet while still keeping my HR under control. I was worried about the speed beforehand, but my Valdora handled it with confidence.

I got into transition and off the bike, a little shaky...

Not much, I need more ane and force hill work. I want to got sub 2:30 next year.

I took my time again.

So, I got off the bike thinking that all I need is an 1hr 45' run split and I'll get a sub-5 hour about 4:50 to 4:55 and AG podium finish. Since, I run in practice at 7:10 to 7:15, I thought this is easy peasy... then my legs failed to cooperate...

It was little tough off the bike, but I was hovering around a 7:50, then I got to the frickin' hill and the life was sucked out of me. That is when I learned that my ankle (as mentioned above) and my hammies are not going to make it easy on me. I had no power on the hills, everytime I tried I was riddled with pain. I was relegated to an old-man-shuffle, at least that is what it felt like...

I came down the hill and managed a painfull and pounding 7:30, then onto the flats I was stable at 8:05 for a little while, I thought, OK, then a 1:50 split will get you still at 5hrs, but my pace just came to a grind and my legs didn't allow me any comfort. The last 7 miles was the worst, endeavoring pain that I've been through in my life as my pace was slowed to a 10:00. I stopped a couple of times for 15 seconds or so to stretch, if felt good for a few paces, then no help, I lingered at the aid stations for about 30 seconds each to rehydrate and rest, then back to the pain.

I kept moving forward and refused to walk... but I was thinking, where the hell is the turnaround, damn!!! At the 10 mile point, the thought crossed my mind to just stop and walk, that I can't do this, 11 mile I've got to stop, 12 mile the same thing, finally I saw the 1 mile to go and I stepped out the stride, kicked up my pace to a 9:00 and winced in pain with every step... I was moaning, crying and cursing outloud for that last mile, thank god noone was around, it would've been quite a show. The finish line ahead and I leaned forward and trucked through... done in a blistering 2:06, at least 20 minutes off my goal for this race...

But I'm happy with my first HIM experience... I'm elated to have accomplished such a thing, but the first thought was I'm glad that I've got 2 months till my next one... hopefully the memory of this pain will have receded.

I haven't been able to run for the last 2 weeks, but that wasn't the problem. I lack endurance off the bike... AND I've got to get REHAB for my legs... WORK, WORK, WORK...

I limped around, found the massage station and she worked on me for about 15 minutes or longer, the legs felt looser, but no less painful.


The afformentioned, cursed hammies, lack of endurance strength too.


I'm happy with the swim and bike splits, knowing that I can easily improve and shave off another 5 minutes, BUT got to work on the run.

Overall, it was a well managed race by MM, I'll try it again next year.

This the last year for me in this AG, 40 - 44. I'm graduating in 2013. I started this sport too late in the AG, and too late after 15 years of lower physical activity, too much catching up to do, there are some fast MOFO's out there. Congrats to all the finishers, this sport is beautiful in its pain, everyone is in the same boat.