TryCharleston Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Got in the water, positioned myself in the middle about the second line, and lined up the buoys to the tree/skyline and waited for the gun to go off. As gun went off tried to drop in on someone’s heels to draft but no luck in finding a good partner, either they could not sight or they were too fast.

There was a good deal of beating and banging all the way thru the first turn. Stayed with the plan breathing every strokes, reaching out and pulling thru, pointing fingers at turn buoy. As I hit (yes hit) the buoy, I believe (GPS may later show us) that I swam extremely straight. To plan, as I turned the buoy I went to bilateral breathing, and focused on stroke, setting up the new sighting, and middle finger to buoy and settled into the rest of the swim.

On last lap, hit the last buoy and started elevating my kick and pulled deeper. Got out of the water with a light jog, turned the jog into a wetsuit limited run to T1, feeling good and not as space as times past.
Overall this was my best ever open water, no current, swim.


Find a drafting partner.
Ensure wet suit is pulled up appropriately over the shoulders

Horrific T1. Wetsuit got stuck on my wrists and ankles making it a b**** to get off. Second, I took time to get the armwarmers on my wrists (pulled up while riding), a vest (zipped while riding), and socks, given the rain and cool temperature.

No issues finding bike, getting out on bike, or the like, just the DAMN wetsuit.


Not rent a brand new wetsuit.

Bike was interesting given the wet conditions. I was intentionally cautious going into corners and when approaching/overtaking or being overtaken. Additionally, we had guides calling out the Sprint turn around so there were a number of racers doubling back on the course after the half turned off 17. Nearly involved in a bike wreck for me as I was overtaking two racers who then decided to turn off as I was on their left; luckily non one collided and I skated thru without incident.

Always felt like we were riding into or across the winds.

First 1/3 of the ride was really good, settled into the cockpit, cadence felt great, the power numbers looked in line. While the drafting and the blocking was annoying, I stayed to my IPS. By 2/3 of the bike, my seat was getting uncomfortable. Even now, the day after, my saddle area aches. By the last 3rd of the bike, I was working hard to keep mentally out of the basement. The saddle issue made it difficult to be in focus and keeping cadence up.

Successfully hit the water bottles at each of the handoffs. First one I was extra slow to ensure I got the bottle and to ensure I had control given the wet conditions. I went thru each remaining aid station slightly faster and with equal hand off success.

Nutrition, used nearly all the infinit that I took with me. Took several GU and Rocktanes, not quite to 1hr schedule but as I was hungry. By the end the stomach was a little questionable.

Back held up well and was not an issue thru the ride or dismount. Overall, without seeing the power numbers, it was an average bike but not a great bike. If not for the “seat”, it would have had potential to be great ride.


Not much other than more saddle time training and make sure I get a proper fit.

Overall a good t1, a little wobbly getting bike shoes off since I did not take them off while riding.

not talk to Leigh

What to say about this run… it started out good and fell apart. Without looking at the GPS data, I can’t say exactly where this fell apart, but I know it was on the second lap.

What went well: Right knee did not bother me except for a few minutes right at mile three. I kept the cadence up and it vanished in about 100yds not to return (even now a day later), total WIN to Mark Kane, the foam roller, and stretching. The back held up well, no issues other than me mentally catching myself to ensure I was keeping the core engaged so as not to pound the spine. (New IPS: Tight abs). Breathing, I used Charlie Brown’s breathing control which worked to help keep me for over excerting early.

What did not go so well: Somewhere on lap 2 the wheels really start coming off. It became a mental exercise to “put one foot in front of the other…”. I focused hard on my job, keeping the cadence up. That was about the only reason I finished.


What would I do differently: Do what SWMBO says and run more during the week. Continue to work more on comfort at high cadence. Work on nutrition overall. Thinking back on it from Friday all the way thru end of the race my stomach was never quite settled. I have not been managing my diet the way I had for the last half.

First time I became one of those people that hits the finish line and then goes over and lays down.

Hanging with TriJinx-ers at the line and cheering in the rest of the crew.



Bike saddle, stomach, and training time


Overall a decent race for level of training recently put in, swim was comparable to B2B (no current this time), transitions were faster (albeit short T1 distance here), bike was faster, only the run was really suspect versus previous half. In the end, while it was cold, windy and raining at the start, the rain subsided and the temperatures really worked to my advantage.