Ironman 70.3 Muncie - Triathlon

Had a bit of a rough start. My left goggle lens filled with water (and I wear contact lenses), so I had to stop for a sec to clear it and readjust them back on my face. Don't think it was an elbow or anything that caused this. It seemed that the strap around the back of my head slipped. I usually put one strap on top of my wad of hair and the other below to keep the goggles from being pulled up or down. The top strap had slipped below my mass of hair, so once I fixed that, we were golden. No problems after that. Sighting went well on way out but on the way back in, we were facing the rising sun which made visualizing the buoys difficult in the glare of the water...even with tinted lenses. Overall, went well. Got into a nice rhythm and just kept swimming

Nothing, very happy with swim time. PR swim course from last year. Not much to do about leaking goggles. I usually use a swim cap for long hair that had a small pocket to wad it up in but struggled to get all of my hair contained in the smaller race cap. Thought about using my cap under the race cap but decided against it as I didn't want to overheat.

The ground was very soft after all the rain they have had here, so lying down in the mud for the wetsuit strippers left most people with mud trailing down the back. The volunteers were awesome. The plan was to get my HR down and move purposefully. I did get the HR down so that was good but took a bit longer here than I wanted (although was right on par with last years T1 time of 4:26)

Not much...pleased with this

The plan was to ride at power 100-130 and keep HR below 145. As soon as I got on my bike, my power wouldn't pick up on my Garmin. I quickly had the Edge search for the sensor...no luck. I tried again on my Fenix...no luck. I spent the first 10 minutes or so trying to get my power to pick up. Was very frustrated as it worked fine on ride yesterday. I'm not sure what the hell is going on with this, but tried to put it out of my mind and decided to go purely by HR and RPE. My bike time was just a bit slower than last year but I felt great...and I had 2 bathroom stops as opposed to last year's one bathroom stop. I, apparently, was well hydrated. Followed the nutrition plan of 250cal/hr and one bottle of water per hour as well as salt on the top of the hour.

Try not to fret over things that don't go according to plan and just roll with it. I managed this but it took 10 minutes of frustration to get there. Otherwise bike went well. Time was decent (for me) and I managed to have a good run off the bike which is the most important part!. Time very close to last year's time of 3:15:23...that one extra pit stop probably.

Came into T2, walked for a few seconds to get HR down and then lightly jogged to my spot. Sat down and changed shoes as I was a bit unsteady standing on one foot. I had put powder in my socks earlier in the morning, so they slid right on, closely followed by the shoes. Grabbed my my belt and I was off. Stopped at the bathroom in T2 one more time before going out on the run.

Would like to cut down on the bathroom stops, but was happy to be well hydrated as the sun came out at the end of the run. Pleased with this time..down from last year's T2 time of 5:54

Felt really good for the first 9 miles and then the struggle began. It was initially overcast and comfortable, but then the sun came out about half way. I had a gel at miles 3, 7, and 10. I started pouring ice down my tri top which kept me cool but also let melting water run down my legs and into my shoes. My feet ended up damp and the powder wasn't cutting it anymore. I started to feel some pain in my left small toe where I could tell I was getting a blister. Put it out of my mind and kept going. Started counting the miles by the aid stations I passed. Those last few miles were hard. Overall very pleased with this run as it was a PR from last year.

Maybe not pour as much ice down my top, but it kept me cool so it's a tradeoff between the heat and wet shoes. Not sure which is better/worse.

Got my medal and hat. A kind volunteer grabbed my timing chip (thank goodness because if I bent over, I wasn't coming back up). My dad was at the rail of the finisher's chute just past the finish line. Snapped a quick picture with him, and met him at the end of the chute. Walked a little bit to where my mom was camped out. Laid down and pulled my shoes off. Yep, huge blister on the small toe. Looked like I was stepping on the inside of it with the next toe. Never had this happen before. Ouch. Went to transition and grabbed my gear as I needed my towel from transition to go dry off and change clothes. The beach bathrooms were open for use, so used the shower to get all the dirt (from lying down for wetsuit stripper) and sweat/salt off of me. Dry clothes felt so much better. Then headed over to the athlete's food tent. They had grilled chicken...and each athlete got half of a chicken! Wow. Sat down and started nibbling but stomach wasn't ready for solid food just yet so ended up giving it to dad. I ate a few bites of bread and a couple of small roasted potatoes.


Great race, venue, staff and volunteers. Did this race last year and bombed the run. Came back this year for redemption and I got it. PRed the race course by almost 40 minutes. Very pleased with how this went. Thanks to my coach Mo and team Playtri. I started with coach after last years race and we made a huge improvement since then...40 minutes!! I'll take it :)