Harvest Moon Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Lined up in the corral and noticed my Garmin had no readout. I had charged it last night and this was the first time I had gotten it wet so I think it's fried. So now I realize I have no way of tracking speed, pace, HR, etc. for the remainder of the race. Awesome. Anyway, I lined up towards the back as usual and had a great swim. Swam quite a bit of freestyle, as this has gotten better this year. Little trouble sighting on the way out into the sun. My goggles are orange tinted, not ideal for bright conditions. Quite a bit of bumping for the first 500 or so. Couple of idiots out there with no regard for others. At the turnaround, some guy stops right there to check his watch and catch his breath. Peed a few times during the swim, as well as before. Noticed that my Garmin now had water under the screen. Finished strong to the beach and had none of the chilliness or fatigue that I had last year. Actual swim time was about 41 minutes, or a few minutes faster than last year.

Ordered mirror tint goggles.

Missed the portapotties on the way up as I had to pee again. Had to put on knee sleeves and chamois cream. A little slow.

Tried to treat this like IM and this is what I would be doing.

So I started off having to pee terribly, so I tried to on the bike, which I have never done before. I managed to a little but it really slows you down and I had a ton of people go by me right away. Settled into aero on Quincy and felt good. Just past the turnaround a cyclist was down in the middle of the road and not moving. I ended up stopping and checking him out for a couple of minutes (he left in an ambulance, probable broken clavicle). About two minutes later, I dropped my chain and had to stop. Got back into my rhythm and was looking for the reported portapotty on course, which never materialized. At about 25 miles, I found an old building and relieved myself. This was nearly a record setting piss of atleast one minute. Back on Colfax and heading east Steve Maas caught me and we chatted a bit before he took off. Hit the headwind when we turned south onto Kiowa-Bennet Road. Last year I had a hard time staying aero here but this year was much better. The return on Quincy was also much better and really, I felt pretty strong through the whole ride. Towards the end, I started getting a twinge on the outside of my right knee, at the top of the shin. It wasn't bad and I rubbed it a bit, which helped.

Nutrition was 3 bottles of Infinit and 260 calories each, plus a gel at 1:15 and 2:30. This was an average of about 325 calories per hour. I never felt hot or thirsty and I drank very little of the additional water I carried. Total fluid intake was about 3.25 bottles.

Take away the numerous stops I made and my bike time was more like 3:01, closer to 18.5 mph and better than last year by just a few minutes.

Again, I was riding completely blind. I had my wrist watch on to keep track of time but had no HR or speed.

Better here. I had to swap my cycling knee sleeves for running knee sleeves. Out of the wind and off the bike, I noticed it actually quite hot out. Grabbed a water bottle with Infinit to carry with me for the run.

Hit the portapotties really quick to pee again and headed out. Legs felt ok right away, though my stomach wasn't as good as it was last year. My plan was to go out very conservatively and my first mile was around 8:45. My plan was to stay in Z2. Without a HR monitor, I know this to be 8:30-9:00 miles. Felt good through the first 4 miles and then started noticing some sloshing in my stomach. Started walking aid stations at 5 miles. The infinit was not going down well so I switched to water and Gatorade. I was now really starting to feel the heat, which I hadn't noticed at all on the bike. Hit the turnaround sooner than I expected (felt like forever last year) and this is where the wheels started to come off. My right knee started to bug me, but it was different than the knee issues I've been battling this year. This was more like IT band pain, just a little lower. My stomach was really starting to feel worse now as well. I also noticed that I wasn't sweating but between the wind and decreased effort I couldn't be sure if I was dehydrated or not. By mile 8, I was in a full fledged walk. I would try to run every now and then but either my stomach or knee would act up. Continued with water and gatorade and kept pouring water on my head to cool down. Sun was relentless and temp was well into the upper 80s. I needed to get this run done but couldn't do anything more than walk. My leg strength was fine; I wasn't fatigued. So at 1/4 mile from the finish, I suddenly hit the wall. Felt like I was going to puke and started getting dizzy. Had to lay down on the sidewalk and see if I felt better. Fortunately, other runners would stop and give me water, which I poured on myself and the wind helped cool me down. It was so bad the ambulance came out to check on me. I nearly quit right there. But I could literally see the friggin finish line so I stood up and started feeling a bit better. I ended up walking the rest of the way in and offically finished. Should have headed to the ambulance now and gotten a line but I just wanted to go home.

That's the million dollar question. 3:06 half marathon. Last year I ran it in 1:53. Very hard on the ego to go from 5:46 to 7:01 finish time.

Trudged to the car, changed, and sat in the air conditioning. Stopped at a gas station for a powerade and chocolate milk.


My run blew up in a bad and scary way. I actually felt scared when I borderline collapsed.

So what went wrong? I think mostly nutrition and then heat put me over the top. I do train often in hot weather, so I am acclimatized to it.
**Infinit has protein in it. Not anymore. Will order a new batch without it. **Pre-race was Bonk Bar (new) and a rather green banana. Will switch back to Clif bar and ripe banana. **Need to increase my water/fluid intake. I've been concentrating my Infinit into two serving per one bottle. Need to up my extra water intake or go to one bottle/one serving. **Will do my ride with a bike jersey and run with a running shirt to limit sun exposure. I'm quite sunburned today. **Will not carry a full sized water bottle on the course. It's way too heavy. Fuel belt with course provided nutrition. **I had no stomach issues last year with Cytomax, gels, and a bonk bar on the bike. May need to reevaluate what I use and consider getting some solid food in me on the bike. **Peed like 7 times. Three just before the race, twice during, once on the bike, once before the run. Swimming does make me have to pee more but this seemed excessive and I wonder if it contributed to later issues. Last year I went once after the swim and once before the run.


Still a great and well run race.

While my nerves were a 10/10 scale last year, this year I was very relaxed and confident. My training was ahead of last year. Having a good race until the run. My concerns for IM Arizona in November are huge now.