Liberty - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

It took me a little while to settle down and go straight. I was zig zagging quite a bit at the beginning, but once I settled in the swim went great.

cool it at the beginning

Didn't get left foot into shoe prior to first hill. It seemed a little tougher to get shoes on than it did in practice and the last tri.

Not sure?

Hills and wind combined really affected me. Back was on the verge of kinking from miles 30 to 40, but was able to avoid an actual kink, and the feeling subsided by the end of the bike leg.

Train for the hills more. I missed some of the longer rides earlier in the year(Jan & Feb) due to snow on the ground and boredom on the trainer. I need to follow the training plans to be successful at these distances.

guy next to me didn't leave much room for racking my bike so took a couple tries to get it on the rack correctly. Took a littel time putting socks and shoes on as I knew the run would be tough and wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

Not sure?

Once again the run is my downfall. I started with a run 4min, walk, 1 min ratio. I was starting to struggle after the first steep hill. At about mile 4, I started to get a sharp pain in the ball of my left foot. I'm thinking it may be "Morton's Neuroma", but need to do more research into it. I decided to walk much of the next mile to see if it may work out, it didn't. It hurt most while running uphill so decided to run the flats and downhills. This seemed ok for a while, but about mile 9 I started running just the downhills and walking uphills and flats. The last 1/2 mile or so was downhill so was able to finish strong, with a good finishing sprint.

Earlier in the year (Jan & Feb) I skipped some of my longer runs due to weather outside. I need to keep with the training plan. I also need to diagnose and treat the pain I get in the ball of my foot. I have had this happen on and off for a few years and mostly during long runs. Again, I think it may be Morton's Neuroma, which is a bundling of nerve fibers creating impingement of the nerve at the base of the 3rd and 4th toes. Feels like running with a stone in my shoe. Really tough to keep going. Overall I was surprised that I averaged 13min/mile as I was dissapointed I had to walk so much.

Walked around some, then laid down for a minute or two before going back into the cool water to wash off the sweat. The cold water felt great on my legs.


fatigue beginning on the bike. Hills and wind had a part in that fatigue. fatigue and left foot pain on the run. I made the decision when I started getting the pain in my foot to save myself for the next race. I am trying to finish high in my age group in the Tri Minnesota Series and have another sprint race in two weeks. I fair better pointswise in sprint races so I decided to save my feet for that race. My goals for this race were #1 to finish and #2 to finish under 6 hrs. As the pain in my foot started I realized I would not meet the 6hr mark so decided it more important to just finish the race and do so in such a way as to be able to compete in two weeks.


Being at the back of the pack I had some issues with water on the course. the last station on the bike was without water by the time I got there, and there were quite a few people still behind me. Three of the stations along the run were also out of water by the time I got there. Otherwise I think it was well run and there were a ton of volunteers helping out. I was especially impressed the way law enforcement handled the race. They even controlled a major highway we had to cross four times each and did an amazing job at it.