New Balance 1/2 Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Victoria, British Columbia
Canada
MULTI-SPORT PROMOTIONS
18C / 64F
Overcast
Total Time = 5h 17m 55s
Overall Rank = 148/601
Age Group = 25-29 Men
Age Group Rank = 10/25
Pre-race routine:

I woke up at about 3:45 am and made up a big bowl of oatmeal and had a can of boost as well for breakfast. Downed a water bottle full of water, grabbed all my gear and headed out to the race. Got to the race just as transiton was opening up, you'd figure this would be enough time, boy was I wrong. I sorted out my transition area, downed a bottle of gatorade, went to get body marked, then went to line up for the washroom. I got out of the washroom to hear the announcer say that there was only two minutes until the race....
Event warmup:

So my warm-up was rushing to get my wetsuit on in time to get into the water. Just as I was pulling it on I heard the horn go off for the start of the swim!!! Fortunately someone in a later heat helped zip up my wetsuit, I thanked him then threw on my goggles and cap and I was off.
Swim
  • 35m 28s
  • 2000 meters
  • 01m 46s / 100 meters
Comments:

I had to bust a move to try to catch up as I was about 30 secs behind my wave, but I seemed to catch up quite easily. As a matter of fact I started passing a ton of people which kind of surprised me as I generally consider swimming to be my weakest leg of the race. Not today! My sighting was great for the first time in the open water, and I just seemed to be picking the perfect line the whole swim. The only drawback is that as I was swimming through a pack of people someone grabbed my leg around the ankle and tore a hole in my wetsuit!!!! Guy must have had a damn good grip!!!
What would you do differently?:

Get to the race earlier and maybe set-up and get ready with a bit more of a sense of urgency. Once I got there in the morning I almost felt like I had forever until the start but that time goes by way quicker than you would expect.
Transition 1
  • 02m 23s
Comments:

Pretty good transition for me, I was quite well organized and my wetsuit came off with no effort so that was good.
What would you do differently?:

Learn to have shoes clipped in on the bike so I don't have to put them on before getting on the bike.
Bike
  • 2h 58m 53s
  • 93.5 kms
  • 31.36 km/hr
Comments:

Up to the day of the race I was getting more and more worried about the bike, but I felt like I did a solid job on the bike today. Fortunately I had biked the course several times in training so I knew what to expect and I felt this gave me an advantage. The first lap was going really well, I was taking it easy but not too easy, and I had a gel around 20 mins in and felt good. About halfway through the first lap I hit a bump in the road and both my cliff bars fell out of my back pocked. This sucked as in training I had been mixing eating gels with cliff bars and now I was stuck with gels the rest of the day!!! The aid stations were really well organized and always ready with lots of volunteers to hand you stuff so that was good. The second lap I started to push the bike harder and I succeeded in dropping some people who had hung around me for the bulk of the first lap. The third lap I wanted to push the first half hard and then recover the second half which I managed to do pretty well, although the road going back to transition was hilly and pretty tough on the legs.
What would you do differently?:

By the end of the 3rd lap I was missing solid food so I need a better way to keep my bars on me. Maybe time to invest in a bento box!!!
Transition 2
  • 01m 24s
Comments:

Pretty quick, threw on my shoes my visor and out on the run.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing I can think of. Wait actually maybe try to get a funky towel to leave in my area. About 3 people had the same green towel as me and even though I knew where I was set up it made me hesitate seeing the green towels.
Run
  • 1h 39m 4s
  • 20 kms
  • 04m 57s  min/km
Comments:

Right after getting out of transition I realised I had to go pee big time. Thankfully, about a km in to the run there was a washroom so I stopped to go pee. I immediately felt better and took off running again. I hit the first couple of aid stations grabbing only water, and dumping one cup on my head and drinking a cup. At the 3rd aid station I started to feel tired so I walked the aid station drinking gatorade and dumping water on my head. For the rest of the run I would get either coke or gatorade to drink, and dump a water on my head at each aid station. I never thought coke would be good to drink while running but damn was it good. Every second aid station had coke and I kept looking forward to that. As far as food went, I had been eating gels the whole way on the bike and I could no longer even look at a gel on the run, so it was liquid nutrition the whole way home. As I hit about the 10 km mark on the run I stared feeling fresh again and I picked up my speed on the run, and managed to hold it the whole last half of the run!!! At 19 km I could see the finsh at the next beach area and I tried picking up the pace again but I could feel my left hamstring twinge a little so I just paced myself home.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing on the run. I feel that despite the fact that I have run faster before that I had a good run, and I will always be happy with a negative split run.
Post race
Warm down:

I crossed the finish line and saw my Mom which was cool as she had caught an early ferry from Vancouver to make it in time to see the race and my Dad was there as well so it was nice to see them at the end. I walked around for 5 minutes or so then went and got a massage which was fantastic. Then I loaded up on food and sat down by the lake with my parents.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Probably experience. This was my first half iron distance and the only triathlon I have done before was a sprint last summer, so I am really happy with my time. I thought I would be around 5:35-5:45 so I did better than expected.

Event comments:

This was a really well organised race and I will be abck next year to do this one again. Now I just have to worry about my ironman distance race coming up in August....




Last updated: 2006-06-19 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:35:28 | 2000 meters | 01m 46s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/25
Overall: 190/601
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: Course was shaped like an upside down triangle.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 17C / 63F Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:23
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:58:53 | 93.5 kms | 31.36 km/hr
Age Group: 0/25
Overall: 173/601
Performance:
Wind: Some
Course:
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 87
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:24
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
01:39:04 | 20 kms | 04m 57s  min/km
Age Group: 0/25
Overall: 157/601
Performance: Average
Course: 2 laps of a flat course around the lake.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5