Liberty Triathlon - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

What a great swim. I got to the front of the group at the start so I could get into the clear. Swam with a group of 4 for the first 600 meters or so, and noticed I was only with 1 other guy. We rounded a bouy pretty tight and brushed each other a couple of times, but I was able to swiim away from him without exerting too much energy. I was feeling pretty good - first wave out and I'm in 1st place! - until a REALLY fast guy from the second (3:00) wave passed me with about 150 meters left to shore. Bummer. But I still felt great.

Probably nothing. I felt great, didn't push too hard, and navigated really well. I was right on all the bouys.

I haven't practiced getting the shoes on while riding much, so it wasn't all that smooth. Also almost forgot my race number for the bike. This was the first race I've done where the run number had to be displayed on the bike, too. dropped a bottle out of the X-Lab when I swung my leg over the seat. Oops. Had to roll back a few feet to pick it up and get on my way.

Run a little harder out of T1 with my bike.

Felt very comfortable on the bike. Almost missed the second turn on the course due to small signage and not having ridden or driven the course previously. I tried to gain some speed on the way out because the wind was at my back, and I knew the wind was going to kill my average on the way back in. I tried to conserve some energy for the run. Took in 2 large bottles of Gatorade Endurance, one small bottle of Heed (yuck!) and a 20 oz bottle of water along with 4 packets of Carb Boom (yum!).

Probably not much besides get more familiar with the course and figure out where I could pick up more speed.

Rack was at far end of transition area, so not a really fast transition.

Nothing.

There are a lot of fast runners out there. I'm not one of them. My goal was to finish the run in about 2 hrs, so I'm pretty happy with 2:02. My quads were cramping badly at the first aid station, so a cup of heed (yuck!) along with a banana and some pretzels were in order. I was on the edge of cramping most of the run, despite having to pee for much of it, too. It looks like using endurolytes is in my future.

Get faster so I get passed less! Take in some endurolytes or other electrolyte supplement on the bike and the run.

Walked around for 20 minutes or so, followed by some light stretching. I iced my feet and knees when I got home. Joints felt great, and muscle soreness was about what I expected.


Overall running ability.


I enjoyed the race. Better signage out on the bike course would be helpful, and more course guidance on portions of the run where the course is not obvious would be helpful, but it was good overall.