HITS Triathlon Series: North Country - Half Iron Course - Triathlon

We started in the water. I took it easy the whole way and navigated okay, maybe a little wide on the way in. I was pretty far back, but I like to swim as far as I can towards shore. since a lot of the folks around me got up and walked the last 200yds or so, the water was very murky from the kicked up silt. To each their own, but I find walking in water very tiring when there is a bike/run to deal with.

Even though I'm no swimmer, I was surprise how many people and their bikes were done and out on the road when I finished. Lately I've been middle of the pack in short local race swim legs. I guess I push it harder on the short distances.

Nothing really. I don't push any swim over 1,000 yds. Maybe try a 200 hard/200 easy approach like I do in the pool.

Same old same old. I was putting on socks, so took some time to wipe feet, etc.

My goad going in was to maintain at least 160 watts for each 5 mile lap. This turned out to be fairly easy, especially on that first 5 mile climb :-)

I held steady and felt pretty good. Spent the first hour doing what I call "going fishing". That is catching all those fast fishy swimmers who aren't so much for the bike. I spent 35 miles trading places with one guy which really helped me hold effort, and hopefully helped him as well.

All in all, I think maybe one guy passed me on the bike, other than a few that I passed first.

My nutrition was fine. Took some homemade gu every 10 miles, took 2 salt tabs and one nicotine lozenge on the ride. But I started tiring out after 35-40 miles, and the last 2-3 mile climb hurt. I just haven't been putting in the long rides this season. Near the end I realized that I wasn't saving enough for the run. But in hindsight, that run was going to hurt no matter what, so happy with the effort.

Had to pee for most of the bike but managed to hold on till T2.

Go over the timing mat at the turnaround... They pointed out that I circled the cone, but missed the small, unadvertised timing mat, so I had to circle back and cross it. Maybe cost 15-20 seconds.

T2 would have taken longer if the port-o-johns were inside of transition. My pee stop is in the run time

Nothin.

Ehh. I started out keeping the HR in Z3 and try not to worry about pace. I walked the steep ups, and there were quite a few, and let it go on the downs. (I paid for that with some lingering knee pain). Overall I was tired and hurting but not injured so just kept on keeping on.

I got passed by one female, but didn't mind. She was in a badass pink kit with a Punisher logo, and I couldn't keep up with her at that point anyway. At least she wasn't a 35-39 fella.

In hindsight, I should have pushed the run a little harder. At the time, I didn't realize I was only 1 minute behind Art, who was 13 min ahead coming out of the swim. He's not in my age group, but I never thought I'd me nipping at his hills, so If I ever get to have a foot race with him, it will be good for my ego...

Got some coffee and a bagel and hit the road. Had a 3+ hour drive in my hot as hell truck to make the niece's graduation party.


Nothing specific. It was a challenging, but totally doable course, and I'll keep s/b/r-ing till I get faster


I gave this a 4 and I'm not sure if that's generous or overly critical. I'm really starting to get irked by races that can't seem to measure land distance in the current technology age. The bike was 2 miles long and the run was about 0.8 miles short. That's too much variation, but at least it was going in offsetting directions.

That said, I liked everything else about this race and the organization was spot on. The price couldn't be beat either. There were enough people on the course to keep it exciting without feeling like you are in a sea of athletes. I'll almost definitely do this race again.