Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon

Swim started out with a walk out to the starting buoys. I made sure to get in the corral early, as yesterday they were starting waves in the sprint while people were still trying to walk to the start. I started out in the front and a few people over from the left buoy. Countdown started, and off we went.

Start went well, I managed to either get out in front of most the group, or was just blown by by the super swimmers. Either way, managed to avoid a lot of the arms and legs at the start.

I was moving along pretty well when I hit the first turn. This is where I started having some problems. I was struggling to sight the buoys. I almost ran in to a support kayak two different times, having to pop up and relocate the buoy each time. Based on where i ended up each time, I'm guessing I added at least 100 yards to the swim.

About halfway through the course I started running into traffic from the wave before me, and it was pretty crowded the rest of the way. By the time i was in the canal, I was swimming over people from the two waves in front of me, but i managed to navigate them reasonably well. As I ran up the boat launch, i checked my watch and saw 35 minutes, so I knew I was in a good place for me.

Work on sighting. I know I left at least a minute or two in the lake.

Decent transition. Struggled a little getting the top of the wetsuit down on the run in, but had a long enough run that I had it sorted out by the time I got to my spot.

Left transition feeling pretty good after my swim, and settled in pretty quickly. It's a bit over 10 miles before you make any kind of turn, and while it seemed to take forever, I was feeling good and was right where I wanted to be.

I kept cruising right along, passing a few people, getting passed by many more, and playing the occasional game of leapfrog. I was constantly reminding my self not to chase people and ride my ride. So I just kept it going, getting my nutrition and fluids in and feeling good. However, things were about to take a bad turn.

I race with Nuun for electrolytes and rely on food for my carbs. At the 4th aid station, I dumped my empty Nuun bottle and grabbed a fresh water bottle. As I go to drop a Nuun tab in, I lost the whole thing, all my Nuun tabs were now all over the road. I knew at this point that I was in some trouble, but I kept on going, knowing I had another aid station and I could at least get some HEED there. Well, get to the last aid station, and i somehow botched the bottle hand off and it ended up dumped everywhere. I grabbed a bottle from another volunteer farther down, but it was just water. Looking back, i know i should have stopped and gone back for what I needed, but I was feeling good, so i kept going. I'd pay for that later.

I finished up the bike still feeling good, and I was pretty much still right on my goal pace, actually just a little ahead.

Plan ahead more. Have more ways to get electrolytes in. Don't go off plan just on feeling good at the time.

Decent transition for me. Racked my bike, got my shoes and belt, grabbed my shot bloks for the run and headed out. Still on track to break six hours.

Well, this is where it all went wrong, and I paid dearly for my mistakes on the bike. I went out feeling pretty good, knowing that if I could hold 10 minute miles, I'd make my goal. Unfortunately, that didn't work out to well. I started having cramp issues within the first half mile. I tried to run through it, but it was not happening. at around a mile and a half, my entire right leg locked up, and I practically fell over. I was out on the side for 5-10 minutes trying to coax my leg into working again. after a lot of massaging and stretching, I could mostly walk again.

I walked/hobbled my way to the aid station, got some HEED and Endorolytes, and decided to keep walking, stretching, and try to work it out. Well, from that point on, it was just a battle to keep moving. I jogged when I could, walked when I couldn't, just kept moving. I stopped a pretty much every aid station for HEED or electrolytes, but it was not working out well. At one point or another, pretty much every muscle in each leg cramped. It was pretty much a disaster. Even walking up the hills was putting enough strain on my calves that they almost cramped again with each step. If nothing else, I knew I was going to keep going until I made it to the finish, but it was a struggle every step of the way.

Luckily, I had the greatest cheering section ever. My brother Daniel (who did the sprint the day before), and my friend Sam rode their bikes through the town and constantly found places to cheer me on with the best signs ever. (I'll post some pictures later). Every time I saw them. it just kept me going.

Eventually, I made it to the last mile an a half, and as I was about to give up jogging again and walk it out, this awesome girl was running by me and gave me the "don't give in now!" Well, thanks to her, I ran that last mile and a half and made the finish with her.


So, so many things. Get the hydration and electrolytes right. Stick to the race plan... it just all went bad.

I pretty much got through the finisher corral, walked out, and pretty much just fell. My leg locked again, and i spent the next 10 minutes working various parts of my body back into functionality. I got some more electrolytes and water in, and slowly started recovering


Poor choices regarding electrolytes and nutrition.


Very well put on race, I just couldn't do it like I wanted