CATS - Half Iron (Iron Mt. Man) - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt pretty good the whole swim. I knew that I was working a little harder than I normally do in the swim, but I had no idea my HR was 168! I really like the super clear water, though. For the first time ever, I tried to drafting a little bit, but I didn't really like swimming in the bubbles and I didn't really feel that much different. I need more practice at this.

I took FOUR MINUTES off my swim split from my half last year, so I'm really happy with that!

Pretty slow T1. I had a little difficulty putting on my Gutter head band as it tends to get twisted. T1 is typically slow for me and until I start prioritizing and practicing it will probably continue to be.

My HRM was not picking up my HR for the first 10 minutes or so and I kept stopping and restarting it. It finally started working, but I think my spoke magnet got twisted b/c my speed stopped. But I'd rather know my HR than my speed. For the first 20 miles or so, my HR was really high (~170) I didn't feel like I was working that hard, but it wouldn't come down much. Finally, it came down to the low 160s and then on the way back I slowed quite a bit, and it dropped to the 150s.

For these longer races, I really need to keep my HR lower on the bike b/c I was not able to absorb the liquids I was drinking. I could just feel them sitting in my stomach which didn't bother me too-too much on the bike, but the run is a whole 'nother ball-game.

I didn't use a CamelBak and the bottle hand-ups worked pretty good, but I need to do a better job of preparing for them before-hand I should I have drank before I got to them. I also need to try installing my aero-bottle and using that if I'm not going to use my CB.

Overall, I was happy with averaging over 20 mph, but I think I could have a lower overall time if I did a better job of pacing on the bike.

Slow down a little to keep my HR in the 140s or 150s so I can absorb the liquids I so desperately need .

Nothing too eventful, just a normal T2 for me.

As I mentioned, I came off the bike feeling quite bloated with a full stomach. This really forced me to run/walk slower than I would've liked. I did much more walking than I'm used to, and I realize I should definitely practice this for my IM. I was definitely hot, but I did a pretty good job of keeping cool by pouring water over my head at each water station. Plus I think I'm acclimatized to it pretty good. You still have to slow down in that kind of heat/humidity though.

My stomach started to settle around mile 10, and I was able to pick up the pace a bit and that felt good!

First time ever to get a post race massage and it felt so good and will really help with my recover I think. I was really hot out and after the massage I could still not stop sweating! I was sure to drink a lot though.


Great race. Well organized. Plenty of aid on both the bike and run. They admitted the run course was 12.75 instead of 13.1 which is kind of good and bad. Bad that it artificially inflates your average pace and makes cross race comparisions difficult, but good when you're out there b/c I certainly didn't feel like running another 0.4 miles!

Very pretty bike course when you're on top of the mountain, but of course I didn't get to enjoy it that much b/c I was working too hard!