Pigman Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

been having issues with goggles fogging up lately. tried everything and nothing worked. spit, baby shampoo, etc. it wasn't a factor. i mostly sighted off of other swimmers. I would also like to see my path. I thought i was on target but i'm sure my path was pretty wavy.

not much. could always work on sighting. for as much as i don't swim in open water i was okay with the performance

T1 went good. little disoriented getting out of the water but it was a somewhat lengthy run to catch your bearings.

nothing

mile 4 had a water bottle fall off going over train tracks. course was rough. the 2ft wide plywood over the tracks didn't help. there was a little wind. a 3-5mph headwind miles 50-53 felt like 15mph. i went too hard on the bike. halfway point felt like mile 40. mile 53 into the small headwind uphill was rough. stood up on the bike to pedal and that is the first time i felt the cramps (more below). around mile 30 my sit bones had enough and it felt like i was sitting on pin cushions. i've rode further than this before so i don't know the cause...the pace maybe. i was incredibly happy to be done with the bike. my ass could rest but my legs would be screaming in a bit

it's hard to say. I wanted to ave over 20mph but i didn't want to sacrifice it all during the run which i did. thinking of the bike portion alone i guess i would call it positive

not much to say

where do i start. the wheels just came off. i hit a large brick wall...hard. the small cramps started immediately and the major cramping started around mile 6. my goal was to get to mile 6 and evaluate if i needed to speed up or slow down. by mile 6 i just wanted to get to mile 7. by mile 7 i just wanted to 'get to that sign' or 'get to that driveway'. by mile 8 my lone goal was to not walk. I was doing some sort of shuffle/run/speed walk that must've looked ridiculous...people had a concerned looks on their face when the passed me which made me think i must not be looking good. by mile 9 i was at the point pretty sure if i didn't stop to walk i wouldn't finish. each step got slower and slower and then i was beat. at this point in the race i consumed 4 clif bars, 3 powerbars (for cramping) and 4 hammer gel packs. my stomach was so full the thought of ingesting more made me want to puke. i took bird sized bites of the remaining powerbars and gu packs. the gu did stave off cramping for a few minutes at a time. the way the course is set up when yo are on mile 9 you can hear the pa announcer announcing people as they finish. the situation i was in made that very demoralizing. 4 more miles felt like 50 when are going as slow as i was going.

lengthy bike/run bricks and nutrition. i followed the beginner half ironman plan on this site and my biggest problem with that is they didn't have you do any long bikes followed by average or long runs. I had no idea how my body would react to biking 56 mile then running 13. i biked for 3 hr then ran for 20min or biked for 2 1/2 hrs and ran for 30min but that doesn't help.

i didn't partake in any of the post race food or drink although it did look good. i was simply too full. it took me about 90 minutes to become hungry enough to eat anything. it actually took me about 5 days to walk like a 30 yr old and not an 80 yr old


nutrition intake. i knew this was a big thing coming in and i thought i had it figured out but i was very wrong. clif bars, powerbars, gu and heed isn't enough for me


all in all it's a well run race. the $90 entry fee is great in comparison to the $250 for ironman sponsored races. i'm a race director so i know how many finite details go into planning these. this was my first half and after this race i have a whole new level of respect for people who can do full ironmans. i don't think that is anywhere in my future....yet