Delaware DIAMONDMAN® TRIATHLON - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

actual swim was about 32 mins on my watch. real easy swim, found some good open water after a few minutes and just stroked / catchup drill through the swim. Run up to transition was okay, no cramping or anything

Not too much, felt good coming out of the water. Taking it easy to begin with was good.

Suit got stuck and held me back a couple of seconds. Always worry about cramping when pulling off the suit. got shoes on and had to run the length of transition to exit. Hard with bike shoes on!

Get tri shoes for next season

Took this real easy, and got passed by a lot of people - folks with aero helmets and full discs zipping past, but I kep my cool and headed coach's advice. I stuck some painters tape on my top tube and wrote down my zones and nutrition plan to make sure I stuck to it. Heading out of transition my glasses fogged up and I couldn't see anything, so I took them off and put them in my jersey pocket, only to poke the lens out!! rode for a couple of miles to get the legs going and then pulled over to fix the glasses! stayed within Z1 / Z2 for the whole ride. It was great to pass folks later in the ride that had zoomed past me out of transition!. never cramped, no discomfort, enjoyable ride. Nutrition was great. One bottle with 8 scoops cp, 8 endurolytes and 2 gels. then water and a little gatorade at all the regular intervals. wind got pretty constant on the way back in, and for some good spells my hr was upper z2 and only going 15/16mph.

be careful with glasses!
could probably have ridden a little harder - know for next time
tri bike - I only have road bike with profile jammer bars which are not comfortable for extended periods. did a lot of breaking the aero position and changing hand positions.

pretty good - felt great coming off the bike
again, shoes clipped in, stop, unclip, dismount, clip clop across the road and into t area.
got loaded up with race number, fuel belt, gels hat etc

shoes shoes shoes

well, this is what I was worrying about. 13.1 miles!! started off real slow and was actually enjoying running. shuffled to the first water station at about 1.5 miles and took in a gel and some water. planned to keep fuel belt liquid till later in the run. got to the mile 2 marker in about 20 mins - hmm! got down the hill and hit the path - it was hot!! something that I have never before experienced was actually running past people - that felt great - these were the folks that had blown by me 3 hours earlier on the bike, only to be walking and struggling at mile 2 of the run!! again, great coaching!!! just found a good rhythm and ran, nothing special, didn't want to go out too hard and was thinking about maintaining the effort throughout. I actually felt really good in my legs - it was the heat that made things uncomfortable. nevertheless I just kept the pace stopped at each water stop, for either endurolytes or gel. and really enjoyed it. never really felt like I was going to hit the wall. came off the gravel path and back onto the road, after run walking up the hill and started to feel a pain in my right itb, with only 2.5 miles to go I pushed on. turning back onto the main road that lead to the campground was a gentle downhill, with some shade which was good. my time goal of 6hr had past, but I was coming into the run finish strong and happy.

can't say too much negative. maybe could have gone harder on the bike and still kept a good run pace - maybe not. felt like the pacing on the day was about perfect.

walked around, grabbed some water and the premade bottle of endurox from our cooler. was pleased to have finshed and finished feeling strong.


weight - this will be a constant battle. I always turn up to races and get self conscious seeing all these 'triathlete' looking competitors. just got to work on it during the off season. want to get out of the clydesdale category!!


what a great race for my first HIM. nice swim course, scenic bike and reasonable run. I was real pleased with my finish. obviously now am thinking back to how I could have gone faster, considering all the lead up and race day issues this was a great experience. Looking forward to another HIM and then the big one!