Welland Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim was a mass start, with about 400 people strung out across an 80 meter wide river. Within the first 350meters, the swim course funnels everyone to the one side of the river, keeping all buoys on your right.
I started waaay off to the right on purpose, and slowly angled inward. I probably swam an extra 25 meters, but it is worth it in order to avoid the insanity of being in the middle of a mass swim start.
First 200meters I kicked, breathed every 3 strokes. The rest of the swim was 90% pull. I only kicked to move around people or to briefly give my arms a break.

If I had more pool time prior to the race, I probably could have kicked the whole way. But to be honest, being able to swim roughly 30min over 2km doing pull only is pretty sweet. It sure keeps you calm in the swim, and keeps your breathing and HR down.

T1 consists of a run up from the water edge (1min 36sec) plus the time in transition (1min 36sec). Hence my total T1 was 3:12.
I stayed relaxed on the run up and didn't push it. Got to my bike with my HR around 179, pretty good I thought cause my goal HR for the run would be about that.

Don't run a few steps towards the transition exit with your bike, and then remember that you need to bring food with you. I had to run back, get my food, and then get going! Kinda funny, but could have been a disaster!

Wow. My cycling block/focus for 3 weeks paid off! First in my AG!
Average HR for the bike was 173, although for the first 15km it was about 180. I finally let up and convinced myself it was a bad, very bad idea to keep the HR around 180 on the bike. I relaxed, reduced my effort, and let my instantaneous HR come below 175. Over time my averaged HR dropped from 180 down to 173 by the end of the bike.
Nutrition: 2 Cliff shot block packages (one was the regular shot blocks, the other was 3x the salt! yum!), 1 Bonk Breaker, 5 full bottles (3x Ironman Perform, 1x Heed at an aid station, 1x Water at an aid station).

Nutrition plan was to drink plenty. I was only on the bike for 2 hours 23min and I downed 5 bottles. Seems crazy for only 23 Celcius, but you don't understand how crazy my sweat rate is! I probably could have drank more!
I ate food on regular intervals about about 30min apart. First 30min of the bike I actually didn't eat anything. This was in part because I really was pushing too hard, and partly because I was taking in lots of fluids (I knew I should because of the swim I just completed). I started out by eating the regular cliff shot bloks (3 at 30min, 2 more at 1hr), then switched to the Bonk breaker (3/4 of it at 1hr 25min), then switched to the salt loaded shot bloks (3 at 1hr 50min).
After I ate the salt-loaded shot bloks my stomach rebelled for a while. Some cramps, burping, sloshing. I cut back the effort for about 10km (between 65 and 75km) I think, and my HR dropped to around 165 for a while.
Stomach started to feel better at about 75km or about 2hrs and change into the bike.
At that point, I started to want the bike to just be over! I ate the rest of the Bonk Breaker, thinking it might help settle my stomach, and then just drank water (from the last aid station), for the remainder of the bike.
So in the end, I still had 3 salty clif shot bloks left, and 1 regular shot blok.

In terms of racing, I was passing people on regular intervals until about 40km into the bike. Then it got lonely for a while. At about 70k I actually passed someone in my age group! I had no idea what place I was in my age group, nor did I care. I was racing my own race, and so far it was going great. I did recognize the guy in my AG I passed, and remembered he could run pretty quick. No big deal though, cause I have no idea what kind of run I will have on 25-30k per week mileage, mostly at the track, and zero long runs.

Relax early on the bike, immediately get that HR down.

Nothing special here.
Just grabbed 2 hammer jels and put them in my back pocket before I took off to the exit of transition.

Right, so 7th overall on the run!???!?!?!?!?!?! How did that happen? Does anyone else realize that my PB for a half marathon is 1:33:XX???
I know it was from 2009, but still. This is crazy!
The course distance was accurate too. Garmin says 21.1km! I am just astounded by this performance.
Well here was the plan out of T2: Just run, and find a happy heart rate that you can sustain, likely about 180.
My average HR for the run ended up being 179, not bad!
I started out the run with what felt like a decent pace, my HR stabilized at around 179-180, and I just grabbed 2-3 cups of water or heed at almost every aid station. I just drank what I wanted, and at every aid station I wanted more! I got sponges to help keep me cool, and they felt great. At the 4km mark I downed my first gel (about half to 3/4 of it).
So ya, I felt like I had a decent pace. I thought, maybe 4:20/km? Who knows. I was about 8km into the run, and just had to look (I didn't look at my pace the entire run yet). I had a first glance and saw 4:03/km. Oh my. Oh no. I am going way too fast. Something must be wrong with this garmin. This makes no sense!
I got worried. I figured, if I am running a 4:03/km, I am surely going to blow up by 15k.
Turns out, I just kept my HR around 180 and by 12k I had taken my last gel, and by 16k I was still running! At that point, probably closer to a 4:20/km pace, but whatever. I didn't blow up! at 18km mark, I was hurting, starting to feel a little light headed. At 19km I knew I needed something. I ate my last clif shot block (regular kind), and took in 2 cups of heed at the last aid station.
It worked, either that or adrenaline was kicking in knowing that I was finishing strong.
I didn't know my overall time, but I remembered before the race thinking, if everything went perfectly, and I mean perfectly (since when does that happen), I would finish in just over 4:30.
The finish chute was a decent stretch and I could just make out the time on the clock: 4:25:XX???!?!?!?!?
I yelled out I was so happy! My legs suddenly felt as strong as they did at the start of the run, I pushed across the finish line, was alert, happy, felt fantastic, and was all smiles for probably the next 3 hours! Rebecca was really happy for me too!

walk around, swim in the river, eat, drink etc.


nothing


Love MSC races. The race director John Salt shakes everyone's hand as they cross the line, and remembers everyone!

Results link:
http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=101607&bib=4...