Harvest Moon Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Normally I do do much better on the swim. Take one look at my logs and you will see why this was off. I have not done any swimming. I tried to do a good swim, nothing crazy. I knew I was not going to save big time here, so I just tried to keep it steady and efficient. I was really dizzy coming out of the water though. The sand was pretty deep too and I was really out of breath. I just tried to catch my breath and calm down. A little different compared to all my other swims.

Actually swim train.

This I do not understand. At Boulder I have not been able to get below 4:00. It has longer approaches too. But this T1 was really long. I even had to sit down and get all the dirt off my feet before putting my socks on. I even started to laugh it was so ridiculous. I was really dizzy from the swim too and it really through me off. Yet here it is a PR!

Care more about low T times.

So I expected the hills and wind. It is a square, so you go all 4 directions and wind evens out. My goal was to start slower and stay more steady over the course. I did OK. Hard to stay steady with all the hills though. Maybe my pace was a bit too fast, but still very much in the ball park. I was really trying to save myself for a good run. I only got one bottle at the first station. By the second one I really needed two. Right after the station there was a really bad bump and lots of people lost their drinks... sure enough, so did I. But I really needed it so I had to go back and get it. I really had to pee too, and there was supposed to be a john, but no dice. I had my power bar, and my liquid. Had two Double espresso gels towards the end and was feeling good getting off the bike. Boulder is a much faster course, and I was willing to give up time... but I only lost about 5 minutes... so maybe a tad too fast.

Nothing really. Get two bottles at the fist station. I felt I was prepared well for the run and did somethings better than last one. Overall I was pretty happy and did what I wanted.

Again, I have never broke 2 minutes in T2 and here is another PR. Really small transitions space helps I suppose. This one went good... oh, and the porta potie was outside transition, so that time went on the run.

Nothing

So this was for all the marbles. I really did well on my last run finally getting my bike pace right. I did a 2:11 on the run and ran the whole thing, but felt I could have done better. I thought I might have gotten dehydrated. Well I made some corrections on the bike and drank more. Forced myself to drink at the start of the run which I normally do not like to do.

My whole goal of this race was to break 2 hours on the run. I knew I had to start slower and to digest what I was taking in. I was going to wait to the turn around and then hit it. I felt really good starting out. Slowed my pace, took in fluid. It was slower than I wanted, but I figured I would make it up on the end. Ate a couple of pretzels. Water, gatorade at every station. Just doing my pace and fueling up.

At the turn around it was night and day compared to my last HIM run. I felt great. No pain and hurt like before. Legs felt good, head was clear. Ate my last double shot and took off. Dropped a minute and a half off my pace. Felt strong... even though it was disappointing to only see a 9:30 pace. Well that lasted for about 3 miles... then the stomach started getting queezy. It was REALLY hot. Without even thinking I walked... I was like what the heck... got going again, but I was done. Out ran my abilities. Walked/ran for the last 3 miles. Could not get cool. Felt like puking. I tried to HTFU, but no dice. 2 hour time was gone, then the 2:11 of last race... then 6 hour overall... and all I could think was just to beat my first HIM of 6:11. Ended my season with a whimper.

I don't know. I might have lost a little fitness because I sort of slacked off after Boulder. I think I managed my race really well and corrected the things I did wrong last one... I just didn't have a sub 2. If I would have stuck to the same pace I probably would have finished it out... perhaps even beat the 2:11... maybe. It just got really hot really fast on the run. It hurt.

Sat around for 15-20 minutes trying not to puke like normal. When I finally got my appetite, the Mexican food was awesome.


About 20 degrees. It was 20 degrees cooler just 2 days before. I'm so over racing a HIM in the heat.


The race is a smaller local race. I was surprised how "lonely" it was. Not as many stations, not as many volunteers. But overall, it was fine. The Bounce House slippy side at the end was to die for. SOOO awesome. Like a cool pool in the middle of the Sahara.