Miami Man 1/2 Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

For not swimming the whole month of Oct & Nov this swim felt great. I worship the almighty wetsuit ;) Also lifting weights for the last 4 weeks helped, I felt much stronger. On the first lap I had a good time swimming easy with some nice drafting. On the 1st lap water exit watch showed a 20m29s lap and I was pretty happy about that as there were still several yellow caps behind me and my freind was right next to me. As I entered the water again for the next lap another wave had just taken off. Second lap was going just as well until about 100 yards or so from the last buoy some moron swam diagnally right across in front of me and kick my goggles. I had to stop and fix them not once but a coouple of times. I saw this guy was going a good 30-40 degrees off course and not stopping. I had to make sure I was going in the right direction just to make sure! BTW, it was pretty hard to see the buoy markers on the long leg going direcly towards the low rising sun. Saw 3 or 4 tall palm trees and used them for guidance until I got close enough to see the buoys better.

I love the aquasphere googles but when something happens in the water they are hard to get corrected. Time to get some individual eye goggles for the long stuff.

Zzzzzzzzz!
Walked up to the bike to settle the HR down and got the wetsuit down to my waist. Then, despite all the body glide on my calfs and ankles had a tough time getting the wetsuit off. I settled down and finally got it off then started to get setup for the bike. Made sure to take a gel & water before I left. Walking out I saw a restroom building and felt the urge to empty my bladder before heading out. Had to wait in line for a bit so that added a bunch of time.

I saw someone spraying their ankles/heels with PAM before they took their suit off, sounds like a plan to try the next time, before & after. I could have run up to the rack, maybe next year. Not going to the bathroom would have saved a lot of time, or maybe just use the bushes behind the building!

Had to work at keeping it slow! I was pretty pumped heading out on the bike and with a lot of the speed racers going by I had to focus on staying comfy and not pushing it. Kept telling myself that this is not a Sprint/Oly. HR for the first 11 miles or so right at low Z2. Had a very slight tailwind/crosswind on the way out.

For nutrition, every 15-20 minutes I did a rotation of 1-2 electrolytes caps, Perpetuem, electrolytes caps, e-Gel pack and constantly was wicking up some water. Ended up consuming the whole 22 oz/6 scoop bottle of Perpetuem, 7 caps of Endurolytes, 2 e-Gel packs and about 30-40 oz of water.

Bypassed the first pass at the aid station and getting into a nice groove. On the first loop you could tell the wind was gradually picking up with the daytime heating. Towards the end of the 1st loop I had to pee and remembered a good spot I saw someone going out of but it was a good ways away still. I tried with all my might but just could not pee on while on the bike. Finally, I got to the 'spot' and had some awesome relief!

During the 1st loop I saw a guy pass me with a BT Jersey, "cool! who's that, I have to catch him" got side by side and recognized him a Jeff, aka "Q". We said hi and all and we went on our business.

Second lap I took a bottle of water and refilled the aero bottle. The HR was creeping up and had a harder time keeping it down so I decided to ignore it and go on feel. There was an airport on part of the loop leg and watched a number of skydivers doing their thing. Those people are crazy divebombing towards the ground then pulling up to land gently at the last second. 3rd pass by the aid station I took another bottle of water to top off the aero bottle then doused my front and back with what was left to start the last 13 miles.

Last 13 mile stretch back to the park seemed to go fast, I must have been very focused because I don't remember much other than following a couple of people that were stretched out properly and maintaining a good pace. Late AM Traffic on the last 2 miles or so outside the park started to get heavy and had to pay attention. With the line of bikers I was tailing the Police had no issues holding up traffic for us all, but you could tell people in the cars were starting to get PO'd. I upped the cadence to 100 for the last mile or so.

Oh, I thanked as many of the volunteers and police officers I could during the ride.


Not much other than more time in the saddle. Nutrition was about dead on, never felt a muscle complained. I think I need a new seat or another bike fit again as had some numbing issues in the man region and had to sit up for periods of time.

Shouldn't have been this long but felt an urge to hit the restroom again on the way out. This time there was no line but it was 20-30 yards in the opposite direction this time. Actually felt a little bit bloated once I stood up but not bad. Changed socks to make sure I had some dry ones on for the run.

Took a gel and water before leaving the rack.

Could have saved some time and hit the rest room when running in with the bike.

Forgot to put on the sun screen...

Plan was to walk the aid stations as quickly as possible. For nutrition I consumed a gel at the 4th and 8th mile stations. 1st lap I took 2 electrolyte caps every other aid station starting at the 2nd station. 2nd lap I took some at every aid station.

I Felt smooth heading out and right off ran up on a guy coming out of the brush. We stuck up a small conversation for a bit and it mentally helped to get up to speed in that first mile which was a 9:58 pace. Stopped at every aid station for water to drink and one to dump on my head. Man was it was hot in the full sun and when the wind wasn't felt. 1st lap felt good and was quite surprised that I was experiencing no muscle anomalies at all. Miles 2-4 were uneventful with a lot of people passing me. My HR started in the mid 150's (Z3) but crept up to mid Z4 (160's) due to the heat. I enjoyed the run through the zoo and saw the family at about the 4 mile point inside the zoo. High fived the kids and enjoyed the distraction of it all. My wife said they were trying to high five as many runners as they could and shouting out encouragements. Saw a restroom building and hit it for a quick relief and doused the head and was off in less than 30 seconds. Miles ~5-7 were uneventful with a nice change leaving the zoo and heading into the campground back towards the start/finish area. 2nd lap it was getting HOT and at the ~7.5 mile point I felt my left thigh complaining and I almost walked, but fought it off and kept it up until I got to the next aid station on the long zoo access road. Here I hit 3 caps of electrolytes and stopped to stretch my calf’s and hamstrings and rubbed my thighs down. I saw a cooler of ice and asked for a cup full and then dumped half into my hat and put some in my mouth and started walking fast, total time not running here was 2 minutes. When I started running again the legs felt fine, thank goodness! At this point I started noticing lot of people walking in both directions. So up and back on the access road I went and I refreshed my cup of ice on the same station on the way back. Topped of my hat with more ice and dumped some down my back and had more for my mouth to chew on, ah this was the ticket, what heat! With the mind now at ease, I settled into what felt like perfect form and began to increase the pace from here to the end. I felt a surge when I saw the 10 mile marker and said to myself "only 5k to go!" I passed at least 6 guys in my AG between mile 9 and 12. From mile 10 to the finish was my favorite run area going through the zoo, trail, into the campgrounds, onto the path to the finish line was perfect. Also a high level cloud deck came over us and helped out so much.

Overall I cannot believe I felt this good on the run. I knew I had it nailed once I overcame the thigh thing I felt and got that ice. I was in a zone focused on the next person, then the next, then the next.


Nothing! I now swear by Eudorlytes & e-gels, man what a awesome run I had.

My family missed my finish due to the lackluster tram service. So I was able to walk around and drink two bottles of fluid and say hi to my freinds that were there with us that also did the race.


More base training to come, stop napping on the transitions!


Crystal clear lake, rural bike course, and laps through the zoo, this is one nice race that I'll be doing again next year! Plan on staying at the campground next time.