Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon

Started mid line front row. There was no contact due to smaller size of waves and the amount everyone was spread out. Stayed to the right of the buoys for first leg as I found some good feet to draft. Then at the turn lost them and started to swim into previous waves. Continued to stay right to swim past the congestion. Would have liked to draft a bit more and stayed closer to the buoys but found the outside line was the cleanest. Swimming up the channel is always neat as you are so closed in.

push it a bit more and be more aggressive with positioning on the buoy line.

This was slowwwww. Suit down to waste, googles and cap off before I got to bike. I had to sit to take wetsuit off as it was stuck on feet. Also both feet began to cramp a bit so figured it was best to sit.

Need to practice, practice, practice....

Set out at a really comfortable pace trying to make sure that the first 20-30 mins were spent in a high cad. In the past when I ride at a higher cad. to start, I have better rides. Immediately took 2 sips of roctane concentrate. Bike nutrition plan was to drink a couple sips of concentrate on the hour/half hour, eat 1 chomp on the 15/45mins and sip water to thirst.

We had a slight headwind on the first south bound section that was a rolling up section, so continued with high cad and staying in aero at all times. This really worked well and I was staying comfortable and passing quite a few people. as soon as we headed east my speed went up and I was able to click down to some bigger gears. then the northbound section I was flying at 24-25mph, nothing like a little tailwind. Passed K on this section and she looked great. Then headed east again and passed Laura C. Nice fast down hill to Cayuga lake. I had set Garmin to split at the half. It went off at : 1:23.38 / 20.1 mph / 92 cad / 133 avg / 136 NP.

Continued south into headwind but worked on staying aero. Turned right into the only really hilly section and stayed seated and spun up hills. This section winds west and south for a bit so speed came down a bit but felt good. A slight right neck / back pain started here, but focused on stretching and looking right more helped.

Once I hit the down hill section back to Seneca lake, I put it in largest gear and tucked. Felt great and happy with speed. Turned north again onto the rails to trails section and tried to focus on powering thru it. Glad I opted not to ride with standard aero bottle as it would have been all over me. Back on the road and pushed home. No one passed me from my age group and no other woman passed on the ride.

lap 2: 1:27.20 / 19.2 mph / cad 90 / 132 avg / 138NP
When the Garmin split again, I focused on making sure left shoe would unclip before going over mat section back into park. Normal stop and dismount. Run it into transition.

Final: 2:53.56 / 56.87 miles / 19.6mph / 91 cad / 132 avg / 137 NP

Nutrition: ended up drinking 3/4 of bottle of Roctane mixed for 750cals (so 550-575 cals drank), ate 6 chomps (135 cals), 4 salt tabs, 2 sport legs (1:45 into bike), ~40oz water

push the power a bit more as this ride felt really comfortable and I was not really trying to push it very much. Drink a bit more water, think I was a little behind starting the run.

Once again this was slowwwww. switched socks as bike socks were soaked and always love the feeling of fresh socks.

practice, practice, practice

Well this was not my best run by any means. In fact, I think it was one of my worst time wise in a while. The heat got the best of me on this run and I ended up walking a lot of the hills instead of pushing thru. I knew it was a hilly course and was ready to move thru the hills but it just didn't happen on this day. Garmin was charged and ready to go when I put it in my bag at 10pm, but when I went to set it up in transition it was dead. So went by feel on this run.

I got a side stitch 1 mile into run which I believe was due to concentrate and too little water. It finally went away at around mile 4. Ran with a handheld 8 oz bottle that had roctane in it, but only drank about 1/4. I mainly drank water at all water stops, dumped water over head and then put ice down top and carried a cup in had. Started coke after mile 7 water stop. Dropped hand held bottle at condo sign (picked it up after race). Did 4 salt tabs and 2 sport legs on run.

Passed a couple women in my age group and had no idea what place I was in. But then was passed by 2 women in my age group on run both after mile 8. Wish I had known my place as I might have been able to pull it together for a half way decent run.

mentally push thru.
Focus on hill training. Work more on nutrition.

Walked over to hose and sprayed myself down. Drank some water and headed over to see friends / family. Sat for a bit before getting some food. Talked with friends about their races and cheered in the rest of our crew.

It was amazing to see everyone do so well and overcome the HOT conditions.


Heat. Not pushing the swim. Hill training on run. Mental toughness.


Musselman is a great race. The venue is nice. The housing options are great. The course is fair and challenging. And the race director really cares about the participants and putting on a great race. The individualized labels on the bike racks put a smile on everyone's face. The volunteers at registration and on the course were extremely attentive and helpful. The medal and water bottles are my favorite to date. And the post race food was amazing and the best I have seen.

Only things slightly negative I have to say, all are minor:
T-shirt color is horrible but the design is cool.
Pasta dinner was crowded and they ran out of certain foods.
Water on course was tap water that tasted bad.