TOUGHMAN Triathlon - Triathlon

Swimming is my weakest discipline and I wasn't thrilled with this effort. I did my best to try to pick up a draft, but I didn't have many opportunities. I had no issues at all sighting on the way out, but once I went around the turnaround, I got slightly disoriented, and also was confused about it being a triangle swim. It seemed like I swam out to the first post-turnaround buoy, but then it was hard to tell that I was going in a straight line from there on out, as I should have been. I was, but it led to some confusion until I could make out the swim exit and realized I was headed in the right direction.

I would be more cognizant of the swim course and perhaps try to picture it a little bit beforehand. Overall, I should try to improve my swimming to at least get me more competitive in that category.

The race had wetsuit strippers, so that made T1 super easy. I also didn't worry too much about flying through T1 as I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed. Didn't want to make a mistake.

Nothing really

I got on the bike feeling fine - not tired from the swim at all. I was excited to see what the course had in store for me. After exiting the park, you make a right turn to get onto the closed highway. I hit a rough patch and one of my rear mounted water bottles went flying. I didn't know if I would need it or if I would get a penalty for leaving it there (there were lots of race people at that point). A volunteer said, "I'll get it" and she did. I hesitated for a second, then decided it was a long race and I would rather be safe than sorry, so I stopped and called out to her and retrieved my bottle. Definitely not the best way to start, but I got over it quickly. Race day was the first time I had been on this bike course, as it was my first time doing this race and it's a highway which normally would not be accessible for cycling. I knew it was fairly tough, with "one big hill" that you had to do twice. That hill which comes within the first couple miles on the first loop was indeed tough. I took it as easy as I could, but still felt gassed at the top. I started to eat about 20 minutes into the ride, figuring I had already been out on the course for over an hour. I was fueling with Amrita bars, which I have been training with. But the atmosphere of a race combined with the extra exertion from the hills made the Amrita bars a little less pleasant to eat. I ate 2.5 Amrita bars over the course of my 3 hours on the bike. My stomach didn't feel great at times - I felt a little gassy. It might have been taking in some extra air during the swim, or maybe even nerves. I also took in a gel at one point when I felt I was losing a little bit of steam. The majority of the course was rolling hills. There was very little time spent where there wasn't some elevation change. By the second loop, my legs really were hurting. I even coasted a couple of times and had a feeling like my legs really didn't have much left to give. But by the second turnaround, I knew I would be ok. The water bottle exchange went well. You actually pass it four times, so I skipped it the first time and picked up bottles on passes #2 and 3. I ended up drinking one bottle of water with 1.5 Nuun tabs, and probably a total of 3 plain water bottles. The last couple miles of the course was on the bike path, so it was a no-passing zone. I felt like I wasn't going very fast at that point, but there wasn't anyone directly behind me. I finally got to the dismount line and hopped off my bike (my shoes were already off).

I think I need to ride more hills.. I think I need to get stronger legs. I think I just need more time in the saddle. I've only been on the bike for 50+ miles on 3 occasions prior to this race. I think with more 50, 60 and even longer rides behind me, I won't be as fatigued during my next 70.3. I also am looking forward to getting a power meter so I can better gauge my effort on the bike.

One thing I did here was switch socks. I wore a thin sock for the bike since my shoes had been rubbing during the previous training ride. I prefer a thicker sock for longer runs, so I took a few extra seconds here. I think it was worth it.

Not much.

After a grueling bike ride, I really wasn't sure what I would have in my legs. It's safe so say that they weren't feeling "fresh" at the start of this run. But I trudged on at a decent pace. Miles 1 and 2 were fairly flat and I was right on pace in the 9:15 min/mile range. I hit the port-a-potty at mile 3 - which added maybe a minute to my time (10:57). I walked the aid stations at first - taking only water for the first few miles. Aid stations were just about every mile and well-stocked. My nutrition plan on the run was to eat 8 almonds and 2 slices of dried pineapple every 20 mins. In training, this works ok because I have water with me to chase the food. But it was difficult for me to time out eating and water stops during the race. I probably could've done it better, but I got discouraged with the nutrition plan and decided to go with plan B = take a couple more gels, 45 mins apart. That would get me to the end of the run. I also started taking gatorade at most of the stops as well - for some electrolytes as it was starting to heat up. The run itself was on just about every type of terrain, but nothing was uncomfortable. I started to take a few more walk breaks on some of the steeper climbs. I wasn't thrilled about having to do it, but I didn't want to blow up. I figured it was better to walk a bit than to DNF. I'm not sure how many walk breaks I took - but I think the last one was somewhere around mile 9. From mile 10 on the course is mostly downhill, so I was able to keep running without any walk breaks for the last three miles (although I still walked the aid stations). By the time I got back to the park, I was pretty beat, but I knew that last mile would be ok. I crossed the finish line with a smile.

I'd like to think that with more training behind me, I would be able to confine the walk breaks to just the aid stations. I think if I had gone a little easier on the bike, I might have had a little better run, though I don't know if that would've resulted in a faster overall time. I think I need to run more hills.. I live in a very flat area and unless I seek out hills, most of my runs have very little elevation gain.

I didn't much feel like standing after the race...My legs were just fried. I also get major calf twitching after long runs and that was out of control. My calves started to cramp up a few times. I got a good massage and that seemed to help.


I need more hill work. More strength work.


Tough course... the name is fitting. But it's a beautiful run course, much of which is shaded. Plenty of enthusiastic volunteers too. I don't have any other HIMs to compare it to, but I think it was a great experience.