South Carolina Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was having some trouble with swimming straight and found myself swimming to far from the bouys and had to keep re-adjusting my swim. I was a bit nervous about a 1.2 mile swim and the rest of the race so I was swimming a bit conservatively, but I still came out of the water disappointed with my swim.

I have been trying to improve my swim since July and have been working with some coaches at a Masters swim team. I have learned a lot with the swim team but so far it hasn't had any good effects on my swim times.

Get better at navigating and swimming straight. Gain confidence with my swim and work on adding speed to the better swim form I'm developing.

I had figured for a 2 minute transition and came in right at that. I was very happy the wetsuit came off so easily. I took extra care when removing the leg on the side where the chip was so I wasted a few seconds being so careful. I spent a little extra time in transition making sure I had enough food for the ride and lost a bit more time there.

Next HIM, I won't be so worried about the rest of the race and will likely be able to speed up this transition.

The roads were definitely rougher than my typical training roads. I had been warned about them and didn't really feel it was horrible but you could feel the uneveniness along the way and it added a bit to my saddle soreness. It was amazing when I hit some fresh, smooth pavement and with no extra effort sped up over 1 mph. The ride was mostly through countryside and was quiet and relaxing, except when the huge motor homes came whizzing by. I had some problems with gear changes and ended up dropping my chain at mile 33. I had no problems getting the chain back on and took an extra minute to refill my aerobottle. The stop was actually a good breather for me to get off the seat and re-group before finishing out the rest of the course. I lost my favorite water bottle late in the race, while trying to get it back in the behind-the-seat water cage. I love having the extra water on my bike, but I still need to get used to the cage. I had plenty of fluids and food on the bike and stuck to my nutrition plan. I won't bring along cut up Power Bars again though. I struggled getting them out of the bag they were in and had to slow down every time I reached for some. I was ice cold at the beginning of the bike but by the end the sun was shining and the clouds were gone so I knew the run was going to be a bit warm. I had to slow down quite a bit coming into the final section before the transition area because one side of the road was all runners, and the part that should have been for the cyclists was being taken up by a truck. The race crew was frantically trying to get the truck to move and ended moving some cones on the run course so I could get through. It didn't impact my overall time much, but it was a bit of a mood breaker.

Push on the bike a little bit more. I finished the bike course just under my predicted time of 3:15:00 so I am happy with my performance but I now know I can push a bit more and still have a decent run. I would also scrap the Power Bars and maybe even the Clif Bloks and go to gels because I spent time slowing down each time I was trying to grab a piece of bar or a blok out of the bags they were in.

I had a decent transition. I was efficient and didn't waste too much time.

I think I could have saved a few seconds not bothering to reach for the extra gels that were still in my bike bag but I went into the run knowing I had plenty of gels in my shirt in case the run lasted longer than expected.

The run was definitely warm, but I felt like I had a good run. It wasn't even close to my half marathon PR but I was consistent and felt good. I was shocked at the number of athletes walking. I'm not sure if it was the warm weather on the course, the triathletes aren't running enough in training, or if that is just typical at a HIM, but it definitely surprised me. I didn't walk at all on the course and when I was watching my watch it appeared I was running even 9 minute miles so I was a bit sad when I saw the results and was over the 9 minute mile pace. I am thrilled I felt as good as I did on the run and I didn't walk at all, but looking at it now, I know I could have picked up the pace a little bit more... I am a runner after all. The spectators I had at the race were all telling me I looked great on the run so I thought my run time would have been slightly better.

Pick up the pace. I think I held back because I was so worried about the overall distance of the race, even though I was on the last segment. I was also impacted by seeing so many other runners looking so beat and I was worried that I was going to hit a wall at some point.

Stood in the water tent for a few minutes and then grabbed a water and gatorade and went down to meet up with my cheering section.


Not knowing the distance, and being unsure if my training was sufficient. I was very conservative on the race course, fearing that I wouldn't have enough to finish. Now that I've done one HIM, I know what the race distance is and can work on getting my times down.


I thought the race was well put together. I didn't stick around the finish area long enough to see what was even going on there, but I never saw any food laid out for the athletes. I might have just missed it though. I believe there was some people giving massages but I didn't see them right away and never sought them out, but it would have been a nice thing to do. I enjoyed the race and would do it again. I don't have knowledge of other HIM courses, but I would rank this one as pretty easy if you have some training miles in.