Lake Logan Half - Triathlon

Water was cold, but doable. Large wave start but not much bumping after the start, plenty of room to spread out. Beautiful lake, nice course, loved this swim.

Went out a little too fast. In this cold water, my body can't handle a fast start. The Y pool is usually 84 degrees, nowhere near 68!

Couldn't find my bike! Wow, that was awful! Really slow T1.

I usually run through the entrance to T1 to my rack as a warmup but didn't have time. Learned that lesson.

From the very first mile of the bike I had severe stomach cramps, especially in my ribs. I could barely pedal and had to stop several times. This has never happened to me and I'm not sure why I had the cramps. It was so painful! Some other racers said they had cramps from the cold water. But I did the international distance last year in Lake Logan when the water was even colder and I had no problems. Nothing changed this race day from all the other races I have done. I have no clue went wrong. I am a slow cyclist anyway but watching so many people pass me that I knew I could beat, and not being able to do anything about it, was really hard mentally. I caught a few people walking their bikes up the last few hills and that was it. I was pretty bummed and if a SAG wagon had showed up I might have quit, it hurt so bad. I never get any kind of cramps and was just not used to the pain.

Wish I knew...

Walked and jogged the bike in, trying to decide if I could run. I thought that if I could just get off the bike and out of a seated position, the cramps might subside. I walked in to T1, knew where my rack was this time at least and thought about calling it a day. By this point some people were finished and I knew it would feel so good to stop! But I just can't quit a big race. Knowing I was way behind and wouldn't hit my goal anyway allowed me to take my time and just enjoy what I could. What else can you do.

If I didn't have cramps I would have hurried and cut that time in half.

The first aid station is 1.2 miles into the run, and all I wanted was Coke to see if that would help my stomach. Jogged to the aid station and was feeling a little better. At the aid station I drank several cups of Coke and water. I wasn't able to eat anything during the bike except half a bar that I forced down and drank maybe half a water bottle, so I also wanted to try some food to keep me going. Ate a pretzel stick, had a little more to drink, ate a pretzel, had a drink... Did this for a while, wiped down with a cold towel, used the porta-potty, I was there probably 10 minutes! But I was starting to feel better. I kept feeling better and better and ran well the second half, especially the last 3 downhill miles, when I really pushed it. I spent a lot of time at aid stations the first 5-6 miles, but hardly any afterward to catch up. Since I didn't use my legs much on the bike, barely pedaling through most of it, I think I had more in the tank for the run.

I thought I would hate this course because of the repetition, but it was great seeing so many people and knowing what to prepare for. I run well on hills so this course suited me and my time somehow wasn't that far off my usual half-iron distance time, even with the stopping. Someone said his GPS measured the course at like 12.8 miles, so maybe it was short. Overall, I actually loved this run, at least the last two-thirds of it! Great weather until the end, overcast and not too hot. Perfect race weather! Even the rain wasn't bad, just nice and cool.

In this situation, nothing.

Eat! I was finally able to handle more than pretzel sticks. Had some food, limped around on my bad knees and relaxed. I hardly consumed any calories for more than 6.5 hours and still had energy and wasn't dying of hunger, so maybe I can learn from this and adjust my nutrition; maybe I don't need to eat as much during a race or long training days. Something to think about.


Cramps! Seriously, I had no idea cramps were that painful.


The post-race activities are pretty lacking, as in, there aren't any besides grabbing some decent food and the awards ceremony. It would be nice to have a little bit of entertainment for family members who come for a long day of waiting, maybe a bounce house or something simple and cheap like that for kids. They did have space for kids to draw with chalk on the ground but that's all I saw. Something to make it more festive and family friendly. Having a young child, I tend to look for races that offer a little more for the family (at least for bigger races).

I would also like to see it be a full 70.3. But this is a really great race and it will be a popular one. I will do it again, although not next year, as I'd like to do another full half-iron distance. But I will be back again, hopefully with no cramps! I need redemption :-)