Deuces Wild DeuceMan Triathlon - Triathlon

So, the first 200m were good. Too good. Stupidly, I had thrown out all the advice from EVERYBODY about taking it slower than usual the 1st 200m or so. I was keeping up with the 2nd group (I found out the 1st group was wayyy ahead of the pack off the bat), and right after the 1st buoy I started hyperventilating (230m-ish). The Gu chomp residue that I hadn't rinsed out of my throat earlier began clogging my airways and I began chugging some of the lake water. Desperate to keep up with the 2nd group I kept at a hard pace and soon found myself wading, coughing and just outright panicking quietly. Holy crap!
I realized this wasn't going to work, and I spent what seemed like forever just egg beating in the lake. I calmed my breathing, spit out whatever remaining residue was caught in my throat, and then slowly began my swim again. By that time both groups were long gone, but I just focused on myself. I rounded the buoys by doggy paddling which seemed to boost my confidence for some odd reason and by the 2nd lap, I settled into my regular swim pace. I had lost a lot of time on the swim, but as a plus, my sighting had improved so much I didn't realize my swim was only 40:06. Not too bad, I think.

Don't go beyond my abilities, especially at elevation. Finish eating everything earlier!

Took my time recollecting my thoughts from the swim and reminded myself there was still a huge portion of the race left. Ate a quick Gu, buckled my shoes, and left T1. Or at least I tried to haha. After my first push off after clipping in I immediately thought, "HURRRRR". The mount was on a hill! I didn't have enough momentum and had to push off again to clip in. Kind of embarrassing...!

Scope out for any hills in the mounting zone.

Nice open fields with some gusty wind. Honestly I didn't really feel that much wind going into it unless there were heavy crosswinds or until I got a flat a couple miles in where I had to start from a standstill. And besides I like hilly + headwind.
At this point in the race I was racing to play catch up and was going at a pretty brisk pace until "the" bridge at mile 11.5. What I thought was a slightly elevated piece of tarmac turned out to be a whole series of potholes that had me worried my Reynolds were going to taco. I held on for the extremely jarring ride with my BTA bottle flying off and I thinking, "Fuuuuuuu!". Once I cleared the bridge I heard the dreaded "psssss...". I immediately took the front wheel off and tried to fix it with a Pit Stop, but that failed (the rubber nozzle popped off and this was my first time so I'm sure there was some user error).
By that time a lady that had pulled over on the other side of the road on the other side of the bridge ran over to me with my BTA bottle and asked if I was ok. She said something to the likes of, "I saw you go over the bridge and hoped you wouldn't crash!" Apparently a guy had gone over the same spot, endo-ed and spilled in front of the lady's SUV which was going the opposite way. I put in a quick thankful prayer right then and there. She and I discussed if I was alright, and a passing sheriff also joined in on the convo for a short while. After confirming I was alright, I finished switching the messy tube with a clean butyl and went off on my way. That whole sequence lasted 10 minutes according to the Garmin.
So, this was beginning to be a crazy first 70.3. I reset my Garmin, and little did I remember that the timing was off... Soon thereafter my timed nutrition went wacko (10-20 minutes late) and after a water bottle miss, those last 12ish miles started becoming hellish. Dehydrated, my calves started charlie horsing and the guy I had been catching up to was soon long gone. Those hills that I so longed for as an advantage to the rest of the field became mountain tops. Back was aching. Man oh man, it began to be a dark, dark place out there in sunny Show Low. Thank goodness for the tailwind back!

Remember what you press on the Garmin and be careful of what may seem like little road obstructions. Fill up the bottle more regularly than just depending on the last aid station.

I was happy to get off the bike and began to just think about finishing. This wasn't turning out to be a great race. Pace was going to be key to keep from walking the rest of the way, and keep motivation up. I took a sip of uncarbonated mountain dew, grabbed my sport beans, and started my run.

With all the problems that I had endured on the tail end of the bike, cramps here and there popped up randomly. I took in water to keep hydrated and used sponges to keep the body cool. I began to notice I was really dehydrated because after a mile or so my left quad would start locking up until I drank another cup of water at the next aid station.
But I kept the legs moving as much as possible. I tried to time all my cramp rests in shade to help from dehydrating even more and tiring myself out from all the sunlight. The crowds watching were really motivational. The people were great and had me jogging as best I could. I used a porto potty at the start of the 2nd lap haha. I won't pee myself no matter what!
Using others that were slightly ahead of me, I tried to use them as leap frogs (I don't really know how to use this term...). Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But it did keep my mind off all the bad things, and turned my run into a "game".

Do the things before right, and hydrate! I've done a 1/2 MUCH faster than this before and there's no reason to be 30 minutes behind that time!

I immediately jumped into the kiddie pool and chatted it up with friends.


Preparation. Being burnt out from the season.


Even though lots of things went wrong, I'm really glad to have experienced it and not in a detrimental way (I hope the guy is alright!). I really feel like had I done more to prepare and things rolled my way, I could have had a much better time than what I exhibited here. Those are all my fault though, and it will all be for the better in the future.
As for the race itself, quite challenging and well put together. The volunteers were great and informative, the crowds were welcoming, and it was nice to see familiar faces. Helping out the youth race right afterwards was painful, but rewarding as well. See you next year Show Low!