Pigman Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon

Great swim. Missed my wave somehow didn't hear the guy so jumped in with the next wave. Started off nice and slow getting myself into a rhythm and making sure I was sighting well and breathing well. Rounded the first bouy and started getting passed by what seemed like everyone didn't care kept with my plan. Only had to protect myself twice which is nice with that many people in the water seemed like most were aware and worked around each other. Hit the halfway point and picked up my pace a bit felt good and strong but wanted to keep myself comfortable. Finish was about 7 minutes faster than my estimated hour time.
Saw my wife, daughter, coach and friends on the shore cheering me on to transition.

Not a thing was a great swim. I'll get faster over time but I stuck to my plan and it worked out well. Bonus PR half iron swim :)

Came out of the water and its a long way to transition so I took my time to reacclimate to dry land. Walked instead of running because I'm not really here to win anything. Wetsuit off sat down and dried the feet real well. Socks on shoes on grabbed my extra tube some Clif blocks, extra Enzo's for the unmentionables and a flask of CarbSport. Walked to the mount line and saddle up.

Nothing I enjoyed transition got to talk with the guy next to me. found out he was doing this with his daughter and it would be their 3rd half. Always a bonus to chat with somebody.

This is where things came together. I trained on rollers and hills to get ready for this. I changed out my chain rings to a 34/53 to help climb and I practiced some more and today it paid off. I spun up all the rollers and hammered on the downside and kept it steady on the flats. This course is full of rollers there wasn't much flat ground but it kept it interesting. People near me thought I was nuts because I kept talking to myself as I hit different spots and when I wasn't talking I was singing. I was really having fun out there. I made sure to thank as many volunteers as possible along the way. And yes I consider myself near pro at bottle exchanges. It was almost fun doing them they had a great crew that really knew how to make it work out there on the course.
This ride went well enough I even beat my best long course training ride avg.
Best part of the ride was coming into the park and seeing my daughter as she was screaming go daddy go. yeah I almost lost it but instead kicked the bike a little harder for another mile.

Nothing again I beat my expectations. Next year I'll continue working to become faster but I executed my ride the way I planned it spin, hammer, steady. 2 bottles of water 2 bottles of CarbSport and 1 clif block every 15.

Sat down again took the tube and flask out of my pocket grabbed an extra gel. Swapped helmet for run hat and race belt. Opted not to change socks add running shoes slug down some CarbSport. Swap the Garmin add more sunscreen.

Keep the spray bottle of sunscreen instead of giving it to Tiff. didn't get sunscreen on the back of my shoulders 2nd time and they are now fried and blistered :) Oh well it will go away in a couple days.

Walked the first half mile as planned and ran the next half finished the first one just about 13:00. Walked the next half then started to run hit some loose gravel on a downhill and tweaked the knee. I knew this was not good so I walked it a bit and tried to run again pain shooting through the knee was not good. decided to go to plan b and walk it a while more and test it in a bit. about 3.5 tried to jog again made it about .1 miles and decided that hurt too much to keep pushing but knew I could walk this one home. So I did and had fun chatting up other runners as they were heading back or passing me. hit the aid stations for water and oranges (these are amazing when you are hot and tired and haven't eaten solid food in 6 hours :)
So unfortunately I walked the majority of my half marathon and when it got tough I kept thinking about my daughter when she marches around the house saying march march march daddy. So I did and marched it on home ran the shoot like I promised coach and finished with my friends and family there waiting.

not mess up my knee lol somethings you just cant control. Other than that its going to be a run heavy off season. Knee or not I know I need to work this discipline the most.

My weight is number 1 but I will continue to work on it. Messing up my knee on the run is one of those things you can't plan for.


I was on pace for a sub 8 in my first HIM. My goal was 8:30 I finished 8:38 with a bum knee. I'll take it for my first half and come back next year faster and stronger. I now have a lot more respect for this distance and will work through the rest of this year and into next knowing what I need to do. The volunteers were awesome and they had plenty to eat and drink. My only complaint is that warm lemon lime HEED tastes terrible maybe a new flavor :)