Ironman 70.3 Eagleman Triathlon - Triathlon

The water temperature for the swim was 74°F and I used a wetsuit. I started on the far left or outside and it appeared to me that I had a straight swim to the orange buoy that marked the first turn. I think the people on the right (closer to the land) had farther to swim. Water was very calm, but I did get one small sting from a jellyfish. It was very minor irritation that only lasted for a few minutes. I swam at a steady comfortable pace, but based on Chris Hope's race report of a longer swim distance that 1.2 miles it may have been a very good pace for me. (42:46 2:01 min/100yd)

Maybe try to swim a little faster after the initial start and getting into a good stroke rhythm

The T1 transition was good for me 3:44. Quick removal of wetsuit, put on socks, shoes, sunglasses, helmet, cycle shirt and some sunscreen on arms and legs. Then off through the mud with the bike to the bicycle start. (It had rained alot the day before and the grassy areas were saturated with water which mixed with 2,462 finishers feet turned to mud.) Then I hit the lap on my Garmin in multisport mode to move to the bike event and the watch froze! Had to switch to bicycle mode but the Garmin only gave speed after that.

I guess I need to put my helmet on as I am taking off my wetsuit! I did get my wetsuit off of my top and only when I stopped I removed my wetsuit by standing on the end and pulling it off.

The 56 miles on the bike was great. The starting temperature was 70°F by the end of the ride it was 75°F. According to WeatherUnderground.com history for wind speed the was only 2 wind measurements of about 4 mph for my 3 hour period. This was ideal racing conditions compared to previous years!
I went faster than I thought I could go based on my training. I was hoping for 19mph with a worst case of 18mph based on my longer bike rides. Instead I averaged 20 mph. There were a number of cyclists that were drafting - large groups of cyclist would pass me and there where not passing each other in the 15s time allowed. I saw several getting a yellow and 1 a red card for violations from a motorcyclist that was passing the groups. I had 2 people pass me on the inside - one on a turn-both violations. For this race I stayed in the aero position on my Felt B16 for about 90% of the time compared to Blackbear Triathlon where very little was in aero because of the hills and the wet conditions!
My nutrition plan was to have 1 scoop of Hammer Perpetuem per hour. I chose Perpetuem since it has protein in it and is recommended for events longer than 3 hours. Started with one in my aero bottle and then had 2 scoops on my bottle on my seat tube. This way I could refill the aero bottle with fuel from seat tube bottle and water from feed stations. When aero bottle emptied then I added half of the seat tube bottle (1 scoop of Perpetuem) with the other half coming from the water handed out at the feed stations. I did this one more time and emptied my seat tube bottle. With 10 miles to go I ran out and had to use Gatorade. I also had one banana that I had placed in my cycle shirt. In addition because of the heat I used hammer Endurolyte Electrolyte Replacement tablets at 2 pills/per hour on bike.

Get more training in to increase my speed on the bicycle. I was happy to do 20mph for 56 miles since on my training rides I was not able to do that! but based on my place in my age group this was my worst event! I need to do more indoor rides with a trainer.

I kept cycle shirt on and added a Nathan water belt with 4 7oz bottles with a total of 1.5 scoops of Hammer Perpetuem divided between the 4 bottles.

Start of the run my feet were fine - I have a little plantar fasciitis for the last month but tried to land on forefoot/Chi Running style and it went away. Took two endurolyte capsules near start. Started fine, but had mental problems. Couldn’t focus on keeping a pace. I wanted to run at 7:30 - 8 min/mile pace, but mentally couldn't focus on that since I felt exhausted. I didn't heat the wall like the marathon. Instead I felt like I just gave up. To keep going I switched to a Galloway type walk for 30s to 1 minute and run for a preselected distance or time. I would choose 2 minutes or sight ahead at an object and force my self to run to that object. I was able to average 9:25 min/mile with that routine, but had a lot left at the end when I ran much faster for the last half mile - the photo near the end will have me running at least! Had one gel at about 8 mile mark but I only drank 3 bottles of the Hammer Perpetuem, but had water at every station. finished with a run at 2:03:31 for a total time of 5:41:44.

I wanted to run at a faster pace! Need to mentally prepare for the run after riding 56 miles and swimming between 1.2 and 1.5 miles!

I learned that either I went too fast on the bike and that broke me down mentally for the run or that half iron distance triathlons are more about mental focus. You need to have the right mental attitude to keep going. It was tough - but now I know what to expect!


This was a well planned race.