Duke Liver Center Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

the best swim I have had in a non pool or non current swim. Beat last year's time by 3 minutes and White Lake by 4. I can't really say anything bad about this swim for the type of swimmer I am. The amusing thing is I keep saying how bad a swimmer I am (and I am) but my swim is consistently ranking higher than my bike and run. Oh well

nothing that could be changed during the race. it was a great swim for me

good transition. not great. I stopped to sit down and wipe off my feet before putting socks on. There is not much else to done quickly in this case

learn to ride without socks

a good ride for me. cut 15 minutes off last year and felt great. was around a minute slower than White Lake (which is flat) kept my heart rate where I wanted it to be. Pushed some, but not so much that I felt uncomfortable or was worried about the run. Could have pushed even harder on a couple of areas, but then the run would have suffered more (at least I think it would have)

Had to stop around mile 15 to put chain back on. Had continuing issues with the front derailleur which I need to check on. Overall, very happy with the ride given the hills

Nothing during the race. In the offseason, continue to ride a lot and lift more

good transition, except I forgot to leave my ecaps and had to turn around and toss them. (me ecaps are kept in a seven day pill holder so they are easier to deal with on the bike, but it is a pain -literally- to run with in the jersey pocket) that really didn't cost me more than 5-10 seconds

remember to get the ecaps out

Once again, this run course reaches up and bites me. After last year's absolutely awful experience, I thought I had figured out how to run this course. If last year was an F, this was a D at best. Both years the muscle on the inside of the knee ( I refer to it as the kicking muscle) has cramped up terribly. Felt like knives being stabbed in it. No other muscles seem to be affected. Anyway, I got through about a quarter of the run course before it set in. (that's an improvement from last year) After that I would have to stop, stretch, walk, shuffle and then run. I got to the point that I would run as hard as I could for as long as I could, then stretch, walk and shuffle. I am about 14 minutes quicker than last year, but I really had high hopes for the run. Especially as good as I felt coming off the bike. Well, that gives me something to work on. My goal now is to beat this run course. If I can do that, I will be doing well in my little world

Saw Jeff (jkbostic) on the side of the big hill. He was out cheering everyone on and that was a big help. Debbie (DB8) was smoking by me. I doubt she ever walked a hill. She did great. I never saw Tommy, but his time was great as well.

Figure out how not to cramp. It wasn't salt, because I took almost 30 between the bike and run. Kept eating my gels, but maybe I could have put more in. Took one of my bottles with me and then drank Cytomax the last 1/2 loop. I couldn't put anything else in my stomach, so we just have to keep running more and faster training runs to get stronger.

went to the medical tent to get something to cool down with and stop the cramps. avoided the IV. Drank a soda to get the stomach burping (felt much better after that) Saw Mike (Hooked on Tri) and spoke with him. I think Debbie and Tommy had already gone on their ride.


leg cramps


Set up puts on a good race. They could have used ice up on the run course to cool the water and Cytomax. Other than that, good day.

I rated the race as a good one because I cut 35 minutes off last year, even though I had the leg issues. Any time I can get faster from one year to the next, that's a good race. If I can figure out the leg issues, next year will be a great race.