Mighty Moss Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon

Mostly uneventful. Sighting better than average. 2nd best HIM swim split. No issues with dizziness (compare to Griskus Oly 6/14/14). One issue with goggles; small amount of water got in my right eye and resulted in some irritation that's still present ~14 h later. Not bad enough to slow me down, but annoying.

Stop swimming and drain goggle.

Felt strong running up to transition. Suit stuck on timing chip; we were explicitly instructed to put the chip outside the wetsuit leg or it wouldn't be scanned at transition. Dunno how true that was, but those were the directions. And of course that's where the suit got snagged. Eh, what to do. Anyway, sunblock, shoes, helmet, glasses, HRM all went on okay. Exit went okay except mounting the bike was a little hairy (started heading for a curb without being clipped in).

Try to tuck chip under wetsuit leg without completely covering it up. Practice bike mount. Get new HRM to wear in water (more later).

Here's where the shit started to hit the fan. At about 0:20 in, I realized that my seat was a lot lower than it should have been and was starting to affect my ride. I stopped by a guy who was changing a tire, borrowed his multitool, raised my seat back up to a decent height, and kept going. A little while later, I noticed my aerobars were slipping again (ongoing problem; annoying but manageable). A little while after that, I noticed my left shift lever was loose (new problem; annoying but still manageable). A little while after THAT, I got a flat. Changed in about 4 min, kept going. At that point (about 1:05 into bike) I was starting to feel leery of pushing the bike too hard, but I pressed on. Also, I had tried changing my HRM battery last week, only the new battery didn't fit, and when I tried reassembling it I crunched the seal, so I didn't want to trust it in the water. ARGH.

On the plus side, the race wheels were so awesome (Topolino C19) and the bike shifted very well. Good thing too, because there was pretty much no flat land or any rollers to speak of, just constant climbing and descending and I felt like I was shifting ALL.THE.TIME. Only got screwed on one hill; came screaming down one section, saw a corresponding climb of death on the other side, went powering up it only to get jock blocked by another cyclist, and I just couldn't downshift in time, I mean I had just enough time to unclip before starting to roll backwards.

Overall I felt very strong throughout the bike. Went through 5 bottles of Gatorade/HEED (about 36 oz/h); definitely need to start training to drink more. I don't think I could have drank any more liquid today. Nevertheless, I still think it was the right amount, because I almost had to pee when I was pulling up to transition, but I didn't feel too bloated. Nutrition plan went off okay; started Blox about 10 min in, forced them down around 0:45, 1:30, 2:15, and 3:00 even though I really really didn't want to have anything at the 2:15 mark. Around 3:05, I stood up for a short climb and I felt my quads just starting to cramp. Oh, shit, thought I. So I chugged the rest of my HEED and softpedaled it the rest of the way. Caught myself a few more times getting ready to hammer; quads were like, "sure, go for it, sucker". I did not and it worked out much better that way.

That flat really bummed me out. Second race in a month, brand new tube and tire, hell, Gatorskin tire! I was so pissed I threw the tube in the trash at the aid station; a little ways down the road I was all, dang, should have kept the tube so I could mayhap see where the puncture was. Anyway, got a slime tube in my Amazon shopping cart, so I'll look into that tomorrow.

Update: talked to coach and he pointed out that cramping was probably also a result of fatigue, but also possibly related to improper bike fit. Which makes sense; this is still a pretty new setup, and this was my first long race on this bike. So, bike fit and lots of training, got it.

Start drinking more in training. Buy a torque wrench so I can make sure bolts are tightened sufficiently without worrying about crushing the frame. Puncture-resistant tube or slime tube! Going to leave the Topolinos on the bike for a while and make sure it's not a wheel issue.

Pretty good transition. I got off the bike and started running and I was amazed that I didn't feel like a complete train wreck. However, I forgot to pick up my salt tabs. Fortunately, they had salt at aid stations, and there was an aid station right out of transition (whew!).

Add salt tabs to prep list (on pack list; need to tape small baggie to frame and put second baggie with run hat/shoes/whatever).

I was so psyched to get on the run I completely forgot my salt tabs. Fortunately, my quads quickly reminded my, so I grabbed salt at the aid station that was pretty much right out of transition. At the start of the run, I was holding a pretty decent pace and I actually felt able to move my legs (again, compare to Griskus Oly 6/14/14). I ran all of the first loop except for about 30 s on the way back; there was a hill that was a little too tough, so I walked up that. Walked through aid stations, took a gel about every 30-40 min, always took at least one water to sip and pour on my head. I was really amazed at how strong I felt throughout, and I didn't have any mental fogginess. I was able to calculate average pace, I could remember watch time from the previous mark, and I had grip strength throughout. On the second loop I did start walking; my legs started to feel tired, but still a long way from dead, and I was able to sprint a few sections. So that's really positive for me. My recent long runs haven't been much more than 8 miles, and I think that getting those maybe to 12-14 with 2-3 other days of shorter runs will make all the difference.

My half-marathon PR is 2:17:56, but for a half iron, this is a new run split PR (previous was 2:44:21).

Keep training the run. Consider how to reorganize run nutrition.

Walk around a bit, grab some food, rest. Pack stuff, bring to car. Rinse off in outside shower and change into clean clothes.


On the bike, there was definitely a small component due to equipment. But overall, I ran the race I was trained for.


Great event, great venue, definitely would do again.