Soma Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was only the third time I'd swam in the rental wetsuit and holy crap does it make a difference! I decided not to start away from the pack like usual, so I was up jostling for position with the other women. I waved to Ryan right before the gun went off, and finally felt calm and ready for what was ahead. When we started, I waited a bit for the first line to not kick me in the face and I was off. There was a lot of washing-machine like thrashing, but I just threw my arms in with the rest of them. Right off the bat I needed to pass the girls I was near, so I did my best to crawl over them, but it sure was tough! I got into a groove breathing every stroke because that was the only way I could keep myself calm. Pretty soon I came up on the girls who started in the wave behind us, and I had to start battling again. Before I knew it, we were rounding the first buouy and I was again, back in the washing machine. After a few good strokes where I really felt like I was lengthing my body I started to come up on some guys doing the breast stroke. The good news was I was fast enough to pass people in the 2nd wave before mine, the bad news was breast stroke = kick in the boob- HARD- he was a big dude. Score one for macho man.

Basically, the whole swim I felt like I was coming up on people I needed to pass, and it felt like a battle the whole time. I thought I swam really well though, and the wetsuit did wonders to preserve my leg strength and keep my body position correct. I didn't forget to turn my hips and even lengthened my stroke more than usual to preserve my energy. I can't wait to ask for a wetsuit for Christmas! The end of the swim involved a bunch of 13yr olds pulling us out of the water and climbing some Giant Steps (cue Coltrane solo here...). After that, I got to experience the wetsuit strippers which were amazing! Thank GOD the worst is over- now on to the fun stuff!! I checked my watch and was amazed to see I had finished under 40min. That gave me a huge confidence boost that lasted a long ways into the bike.

It was a choice between taking a ridiculously long way around the course and losing time that way, or battling it with the 'others' and having to swim over and around people. I think battling through worked out fine. My boob will heal.

I wasn't super worried about being really fast so I just made sure I had everything I needed and ran outta there. Luckily I grabbed my chapstick and contact drops.

Move faster.

I was so happy to be on my bike and done swimming that I took off on my bike. The sky was still overcast and the winds were only at 6mph so everything was in our favor! The course was pretty flat and I was going a lot faster than I usually do. My legs felt great and my exertion level felt right on, but whenever I looked at my HR it was hovering around 161. I was really pushing it- good! I kept my pace strong for the first hour and when I looked down at my watch, I had gone 21 miles! There were some parts on the course where barely 2 bikes could fit in the lane, and since we were doing 3 loops of the course, things got really congested with the crazy boys out there. There were some parts where I would've like to pass people, but had to wait my turn. At one point, there was a bad accident and I saw a girl and a guy hit the ground HARD. Eeek. Glad it wasn't me.

The course had some flat stretches and I got to spend a lot of time in the aero bars, but at each turn I had to use the brakes. I cornered one turn too hard and ran over a cone, but luckily I didn't crash. I'm an idiot. The most annoying part of the course was that at the bottom of almost every downhill there was a huge turn, so you really couldn't maximize your speed going down. I would've gone faster at some points, but I was really worried about crashing on those turns and I didn't trust any of the other bikers out there. Better safe than sorry!

For nutrition I was alternating between sipping my aero water bottle and drinking my carb-pro bottles of gatorade. No stomach issues, never got hungry or thirsty. I did however have to pee badly. I was thinking about going on my bike, but I had 2 bottles underneath me- how would I drink those later? I stopped at a port-a-potty and just as I got off my bike, I blinked my eyes and my contact fell out! My contacts have never fallen out in the 13 years I've been wearing them- what the heck?! Luckily, it was on my nose and I was able to put it back in. Since I had taken an extra minute to grab my contact drops in T1 I had that to help as well. Phew, disaster avoided (I'm totally blind without them).
It stayed cloudy the entire ride, and at one point it even started raining- I couldn't believe how lucky we were! Rain in Arizona? Who would've thought!

By the third lap I was getting kind of tired and I consciously slowed down a bit because I was worried about my legs on the run. A lot of people had passed me on the bike so I knew there were a lot of people I needed to catch. Overall though, I was extremely happy with my time and most importantly, my nutrition was right one. I felt great and couldn't wait to run! I was also thrilled because I had my seat adjusted Thursday before the race (I know, I know, stupid) but it was PERFECT because I didn't have a single knee pain the whole ride, which is something I've been battling for a month now. Problem solved.

Get faster on my bike. Learn how to pee on it. Get Lasik surgery so my eyes don't hurt and I don't have to wear contacts.

The transition area got bottlenecked so I couldn't get in as fast- some people just aren't in a hurry! I was actually faster at this transition, but than I had to stop and pee. Good thing- I was properly hydrated!

Learn how to take my shoes off on the bike.

My favorite part! I was suuper worried that I had pushed it too hard on the bike, and I was also worried because on my longest brick I had only gone 7 miles- what if I bonked at 8? Luckily, the clouds were still there and it was almost 'chilly' for Arizona. I started out at my usual brick pace of 8:00min/mi and it felt right. My stomach pretended like it was going to cramp up, but I took some deep breaths and it was all good. My butt, back and legs were so happy to be off that bike that they let me go whatever pace I wanted. There was a tall skinny blonde ahead of me at the start of the run so she was my first target. She was going at my pace, so I picked it up to catch her. Over the first 3 miles I slowly reeled her in and made it by her. My legs still felt great and my pace was doing awesome. I wasn't expecting to feel this good. Since everything was going well I decided to kick it up a bit. I got more people in my sights and spent the entire run on the left, passing people. Only 3 guys passed me the whole time, but they were on their second lap, so obviously kicking some serious butt.

At around mile 6 there was a single track dirt and gravel pathwy that goes out and back. That was the worst part of the run because only one person fits on the pathway and since I was still passing everyone, I had to run on the very rocky part. I had to be super careful not to twist my ankle, and I really think I could've gone faster if it weren't for all the rocks. Oh well, it probably saved my knees.

Right around that time, I started running with this other girl named Bobby. I had passed her, but she kicked it up to run with me, said she liked my pace and I would push her. That was cool. We chatted for a bit and we were both competitive enough that we kept our pace up. It was a welcome distraction because the course was pretty boring. We talked about marathons because she had done Boston and she was telling me how awesome it was going to be. She was super cool! She shared her shot blocks with me and I had 2 of them on the run for my nutrition. I took sips of water and gatorade at the aid stations, and that was it. We passed tons of guys, and most were nice, saying things like "looking good ladies" :) duh!

By the time we got to mile 11, I was getting really excited- I still felt great, I was having an awesome time and it was almost over! I kept trying to pick up my pace, and eventually I lost Bobby, sad. I wanted to finish with her, but I could tell she was fading a bit. I kept running as hard as I could when I saw mile 13 and rounded the final corner. I heard the announcer at the finish and started sprinting. He announced my name as I crossed the finish line- omigod, I just finished my first Half Ironman!!! What an incredible rush!

Considering my 1/2 mary 3 weekends ago was 1:40, I think 1:42 after riding 56 miles constitutes as OK. :)

I walked around a little bit grabbing some food and found Ryan. He was so proud of me, it felt amazing :) I stretched a little bit, but I was too excited to tell Ryan about the race that I didn't give stretching 100% of my effort.
My head was in the friggin clouds. I couldn't believe that I had crushed my goal by over a half hour! I raced it almost flawlessly and there is hardly anything I would change about the day. Most importantly, I had a ton of fun and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. My first sprint tri ever was in July, and here I was standing at the finishline of a half-ironman smiling away- what in life could possibly be better?!

Most importantly, I want to thank everyone on this amazing website that has supported me with encouraging words and advice through all of my training. I was so happy to meet some of you in Arizona and to those that have supported me from afar, thank you for having confidence in me- it really helped! You all are the best! :)


If I could get faster on my bike than I wouldn't have as many people to pass on the run.


The course is flat and fun, just a little bit boring. It would've been better to make the loops longer and only have 2. Aid stations were great, organization and information was great and the entire atmosphere of the race was really upbeat and exciting.