Patriot Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Made my way to the wave start on the other side and realized that maybe two waves had already gone off. I've never been this relaxed pre race before.

Watched about 4 other waves go and then our wave set up to go.

Game on.

There was an onshore wind blowing and this had us swimming straight into it. This made for the most difficult leg of the swim as I had to swim straight into the movement of the water. We then made a left around the first turn buoy and got to ride parallel to the water movement. I breathe to the right and the water was inclined to wash over my face a little more. I had a nice head wake going and managed not to take too much water in. Made the next turn and got to ride the waves all the way into shore.

Thank goodness for wetsuits as it made the water temp a non issue.

My swim was compromised a little by the wind and I found myself needing to make stroke alterations to adjust to it. We were definitely not swimming in a pool and I should do more OWS before races. However, this is NE and it's still early in our OWS season.

More OWS would make me a little more comfortable out there.

Came out of the water and pulled my goggles and cap into my sleeve as I pealed off the wetsuit. Got to transition and used my feet to pull it down and off my lower limbs. There were plenty of bikes still racked and it appears I was the second in my age group out of the drink.

Not much, maybe keep shoes on the bike.

I jumped on the Cervello (P2) deal at the beginning of the year after using my 23 year old Raleigh for the last few years of my triathlon career. This bike just wants to go fast and it truly exceeded my expectations in this race.

Seeing as it's new I find the pedals to be much tighter to negotiate. I did not want to do anything to hurt this new bike so I ran through transition with my cycle shoes on my feet and took my time getting on.

Started pedaling and just moving along. I knew pacing would be important at this new distance so I tried not to burn any matches while just maintaining a nice spin. I was passing people the whole race, starting in the second to last wave will allow you to that I think. A few guys would go by me and they all looked like they knew what they were doing. I do recall catching one of them on the run though.

I was drinking my usual Nancy Clark cocktail, sugar water with orange juice and salt. I made a bottle exchange on the third offering. Heed was the choice and I must say I really like that stuff, though it is sticky. So I only consumed two bottles of liquid on the bike. I probably should have shot for more, but I really didn't think it was too hot on the bike. I had two Hammer gels taped to the top tube and enjoyed the diversion of eating each one as we moved along. For the most part the roads were in great shape. There were times when it was positively silky. Thanks to BT I used latex tubes and I think they contributed to the ride.

My backside started getting a little sore near the end so it was with delight when it was time to transition to running.

I had two time goals for the bike. A conservative 2:50 (fear of the run to follow) and 2:42 (a little more effort). The only thing I looked at on the puter was my speed at any given time and the average speed. I'm really surprised that I through down a 2:37.

With the old bike I would do a flying dismount. With this bike I clicked out of the pedals and pulled over, then took the shoes off. I kind of felt like a newb, but time felt less important at this distance.

Racked the bike, put my keister on the ground, through on some socks and the Kinvara's. All during training I never wear socks, but I wanted my feet to be happy during this slog, so I felt it was worth the time.

Flying Dismount.

Got up and away we go. I felt pretty good. There have been OLY's where I've felt super tight at the start. I kept an even pace and tried to stay within myself, not pushing too hard at any given time. This worked well for the first 6 miles and then the mind games kicked in.

I would stop at each aid station to ingest some water or Heed and to walk for that brief 10 seconds felt so good. However, I would pick it up again and continue the even pacing.

I have no tools so I'm sure if I actually did maintain an even effort over the whole course, but those last few miles must have seen a reduction in my pace. Coming through the finishing chute is such a high and I got a great kick out of that.


Running is probably my weakest event now. I use to love putting in the miles. I need to find a way of bumping these up down the road.

Ice cold Coke, cool towel on the back of my neck and a shady tree.


Running volume.


SME puts on a great race with excellent support. If you are considering this race at any point, do yourself a favor and sign up for it.