Mooseman Triathlon Festival - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Got out to a realy good start. Kept on the right side but in front. Caught some realy good drafts for the first 400, but lost them most of the rest of the way. The field got spread out fast. On the second leg of three, the swells were more than I expected. Not enough to cause trouble with breathing or anything, but enough to mess with my equalibrium. I was getting nausous from the little buggers. Worked on watching the land a litte more while breathing to counter the issue.

Nothing realy. I wanted to have a strong swim, yet know I was not blowing myself up for the rest of the race

Took my time getting through T1 just a bit. Did not use the wet suit strippers since I was out of my suit in 4 strides as I walked :) Was not about to run in the muck with my bike shoes on, and what little time I could save was not worth getting myself all worked up.

remember to take my endurolytes with me. I grabbed my gel flask, but not the endurolytes, so I had none on the bike with me.

Pre rode the course twice to get a feel for it. Decided Devils was more hype than a real issue. Was a bitch to climb, but it was over quick. I thought that the relentless climb on 104 for something like 2 miles was worse overall. The one I hatted the most was the down hill at 32 MPH only to drop to 6 in 100 yards.

I went out on the first loop keeping my HR under 140. I was having shoulder issues that I had figured on that were realy bad on the first lap. I have been having over use issues since we started mowing at work this year. I hurt so bad a few times I thought that finishing could be an issue if I could not get it to stretch out. Got in to the final turn on the first lap and saw Kathy and Patty cheering as part of the road crew.

I kept an eye on my pace for the first lap and hit 16.5 MPH. Since all I was expecting was 15 or better I was very happy with the pace. This was especialy good since I did not hammer my way through the first lap.

Second lap I put in some extra effort. My game plan from the beggining was lay back first lap, see how I was feeling and push from there. My shoulders were feeling better with the stretching and resting out of aero on the climbs. As I started the second lap, I noticed a lot more chop on the water than the first lap. I worked all the hills harder and tried to keep the pace up above the 16.5. In the end, I lost 0.2 MPH over the entire distance, so my second lap was about 0.5 MPH slower than the first laps pace. Oh well, still better than I had planned on and felt like I had saved enough for the run.

Nailed the nutrion on the bike overall. could have used about one more gels worth in my flask and wish I had added water to make it eaier to drink before the race. Drank all the gatorade and water I took.

Gratuitous other comments. Max blew past me about 15 miles in on the bike. Shortly after Marlboro Man made his presence known and a 16 MPH introduction (nice to see you). Played tag with TAGP for awhile on the first lap until she closed the can of Whoop Ass! (boy I need to learn to climb better. Of course the best course of action on that is to shed about 20 lbs ) :) Passed Trimom217, but missed the hello. TAGP let me know.

My training on long days fell short regularly. I need to work on my bike speeed more in general. The overall effort and pace is what I had planned on, so the only thing I could do is work harder before the race.

would also like to take the endurolytes and my gatorade, not the races on the bike, but it turned out to not be an issue.

Got off the bike and started to trot into T2. Saw Marmadaddy with the camera and kept going to get onto the run. Had a little trouble getting into my running shoes for a few reasons. First the ground was still very damp and I was making sure that I got my socks and shoes on clean. Did not want to get a blister on a long run like this. Second, I do not usualy wear socks, so I spent extra time getting them right. Lastly, I was very self coscious of Marmadaddy and his camera following me all the way through T2. I was not about to take a dixie while putting on my running shoes.

I also took extra time to make sure I had my endurolites and new gel flask for the run.

not much, I was rather happy with my no hurry pace. The run would be too long to worry about 30 extra seconds to make things right for the last leg of the race.

Well, I had a bunch of different emotions on the run. As I looked at my watch heading out of T2 I did some quick math. If I could real off sub 10 minute miles, I could break 6:30 overall. I headed out slow to keep with the plan of 11 minute miles. All I realy wanted was to stay under 11:30 so I knew I could break the 7 hour mark I had set for myself. Started off way fast, although it did not seem to be that fast.

The best part about an out and back twice is seeing all your team mates on the course multiple times. Saw tons of Trifury team mates, many I knew by name. Got lots of go BTs on the course. I am sure a bunch of them were also BTers, but I could not see any gear or temp. tatoos when they went by. I did see Trimom217 finaly and she was working hard. I am so proud of her effort.

The down side is when you get passed by on as you finish your first lap and they closed to finsih there second. Oh well, it was great to inspire and get inspired by so many people.


I was going crazy shouting words of encourgement on the second lap. It helped keep me going. I had planned on running the entire 13.1, but when I got on the course for the first lap, I took up the walk run idea someone had suggested earlier in the weekend. Nothing new to me, but since I was not realy running up the longer and steeper sections of the hills, I used that as a chance to take 1 minute walk breaks. Only one trip to the porta john for me. Figure it ment my hydration was spot on for the race.

Took all of the enduralytes I had planned for the whole race on the run. Eace water stop (about one every mile) I took about 2 caplets. I planned on nothing but water, gels from my flask and tabs for the run. I nailed my nutrition other than forgeting the endurolytes in T1 all day, and was not going to add more gatoraid and especialy things like defised soda to the mix.

Around mile 10 I knew I was getting close to the red line. I increased my walk times, and durration. I figured a strong finish in the shoot was more important than a possible 2 minute shaving of time if I pushed and did not nuke. Knowing the camera would be there again definatly affectted my finishing stratagey for the last 3 miles. This was all for the good thought. At mile 12, my legs felt like they would lock up. Not from cramping, but just shot due to lack of training. Shortly after I realy started to enjoy the walking :)

I did change the nutrition on the last leg home though. At the last two aid stations I took on two cups of soda (and yes it was better tasting than expected) and took a hand full of jelly beans at one station. They were so good! I can not compare the level of extacy they boought me. I stopped running and enjoyed each one, one at a time. As my hand emptied I started to run again. Needed to keep the walking to a controled minimum.

As I got close to the finish, I dreaded the little quick decent onto the path. Got through it ok, an put on a great burst of speed for me. Was probably the quickest pace of the day. My form was still very strong. I must say, my form held all day and that was the biggest surpise of all. Even though my splits started to drop, I always felt strong while running.

SPLITS
1- 9:16 (very fast)
2- 10:42 (closer to pace)
3- 11:56 (hill and porta john)
4- 11:12
5- 11:05
6- 11:23
7- 11:23
8- 11:18
9- 12:51 (big hill again)
10-11:08
11-14:30 (someone went past their training run distances ) :)
12-13-27 (ummmmm jelly beans)
13-14:29 (slightly longer than a mile and inspired by the BT cameras) :)

Train with some longer runs. Make sure I do not drop the running overall in the training. My milage and frequency of running was way under the last few months and I had an expected drop in performance due to it.

Came into the shoot with an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. Not used to having so many people waiting to cheer. Thank you all for being there. Got my towel, finishers medal and water bottle and went to say hi to everyone. Quickly dissapeared to jump in the lake. I had taken note on the run that my body salt was so much that I was having trouble seeing my watch numbers, so I was not going to ride home like that.

Got to the water, put all my gear on a life guard chair and walked into the water. Eventualy got in up to my shoulders and even duncked my head. The water was still cold with out a wet suit and I wanted to get out. Just then a nice lady came in to do the same. She had just finished and had done both the International on Sat and the 1/2 on Sunday. It was a training race weekend for IMLP. She suggested I stay in for about 10 minutes for an "ice bath". Best thing ever. I was shivering, but my mussles recovered very well after that. Heck by the time DK and I got the car I was ready to start trotting around again. :)


It was my first 1/2 and lack of training time in lue of family time was a huge factor. When the kids are older, I can dedicate myself to working harder at this distance, but for now, it is not realy resonable if I want to stay married :)


As expected a well organized event. It was a toss up between Patriot and Mooseman for me. The deciding factor was that BT was comming to town, and I was rewarded for the decision. Getting the chance to meet Ron and Marmadaddy was a chance I may not get very often. I am greatful to both of them for all they do on this site along with countless others who quitly contibute to BT and our sport in general. Getting the chance to spend the weekend with them was something I will never forget.

The race was one of stamina and my pace was set with that in mind. Tacticaly, I could not have planned or executed it any better. Little issues like forgeting my endurolytes on the bike and walking the hills were little things that were adjusted for early. Even my sore shoulder could not wreck the day. It was amazing. In most races, I am writing the race report in my head as I go. This race was no exception. The difference is the time out on the course is longer, and decisions take longer to show results. I loved the distance, and hope to challange the IM distance some day, but for now, this race will be the one I am most proud of for a long time to come. PR's in other distances may come, but pushing my body over time was an enlightening experience.

I could not stop myself from singing and whistling on sections of the course because I was so relaxed. This did not mean I was not working hard, just in a zone of comfortable exertion. I could have pushed harder, but that is not how I trained or what I was training for. A finsih with pride, style and enjoyment is what I wanted and recieved.

One of my favorite parts of a race is being able to cheer the last ones across the line. As luck would have it, DK and I were on the drive back to transition in my car when we saw the last two ladies. They were battling, but not about to give up. Grabbed my gear and waited to watch them come across. Was sad to see only about 15 people still around, most of them staff and a few volenteers, but was happy I was there. Just a matter of principle to me to make the effort when I can to stay until everyone is off the course.