Beach2Battleship Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon

After wading in, the start is just past the dock. You have to swim against the current to stay behind the starting line. It was strong! Once we started, I found it to be very choppy out there, too. Since my right stroke is stronger, I tend to veer to the left, that kept getting me a bit more into the middle of the channel. The chop was definitely over my head several times, and I took in gulps of water once or twice. As we approached the first turn, it calmed down a lot, and a little ways later was smooth sailing. I felt good. Saw 2 big jellyfish!

Nothing, just keep in mind that I tend to drift left, compensate for that. I felt good out there on the swim.

There is a long-ish run through the parking area of the harbor and across the street to T1. I jogged and felt good. Got toweled off a bit, put on socks for the bike ride and ate a few bites of bonk breaker. There was a bit of a traffic jam getting out of T1.

Not much, this was ok.

Felt good, steady and comfortable. Got some speed up on the interstate, but it was windy, then headed straight into a strong headwind on the highway. From miles 20 to 36 or so, headwind. My mph dropped down to the 16s. Sweet relief after that on the little country roads heading back toward the highway, then once we got back on the highway, tailwind! But I couldn't make up what I had lost on the first part.

It would be great to have power to go by in a situation like this. Just to know if I am working hard enough when I can't rely on mph because of wind.

At B2B, you hand off your bike to a volunteer. I love that. Jogged in my bike shoes (there are rubber mats) to the bags, they had already found mine and handed it to me. Got changed, went to the bathroom, tied up my bag and headed out. I had grabbed the plastic water bottle off of my bike and forgot to throw it away before leaving T2.

Not bring that bottle of water!

Whew, this was a tough run. First I had to find my run legs after the bike. I had been eating 2 honey stinger chews every 5 miles with water on the bike, added another bite of my bonk breaker after T2. I had a bit of salt at mile 3, but my stomach kind of hurt after that. I decided to not eat anything, and stick to water at the aid stations. After mile 5, my stomach wasn't hurting any more, but I still didn't feel like adding any more nutrition. I think my first gel was right before the turn at mile 7.

My training was so much better this year than last, I really had high hopes for feeling good on the run. So I kept waiting for that to happen, and it never did. I just never had a good feeling in my legs. I went from bike legs to stomach ache to just plain tired and then, at mile 8 or so, knee pain. And it wasn't just a twinge, it really hurt. I walked the aid stations, and would do this thing where I held up my knee for a few seconds to just let my lower leg dangle, that seemed to make my joint happy for a bit. I did it about 10 times during the last few miles. I also distracted myself by telling people good job and smiling at people. At least I looked happy! What can I say, I made it the last few miles back and was glad as hell to be done.

The knee situation is luck of the draw for me. There are times (weeks/months) when it doesn't bother me at all. Then there are times when it does. I am going to do lots of strength this winter to see if that will also help. As to the tiredness on the run, the only explanation I have is that I was tired from the headwind on the bike. Otherwise, I really don't know why I didn't feel good on the run. That was disappointing, because I thought better condition overall would mean that I would have a good run.

Met up with my family and got a few pictures made. Headed over to the post-race area for a bite to eat and drink. Also visited the medical tent for some tylenol because I could feel a headache coming on.


Headwind and knee, mostly.


This is my second time doing B2B half, and I really do enjoy the race. It is well organized and a great venue. We all thought that the new finishing line and post-race area was not as nice as where it used to be on the street. But it was sunny, just lots of construction and dirt nearby. It will be much nicer when there are grassy areas to sit nearby.