Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Well, I'm not a great swimmer to begin with, but I really didn't help myself at all. My plan was to get to the outside and stay to the outside. I stuck to my plan and actually swam really well - problem was I was practically bumping the boats and kayaks on the outside and it was a WIDE corridor to swim through. I can't bilateral breath so really didn't realize how far I was out until close to the end... oh well, positive was I never was touched by anyone, took good full strokes and swam freestyle the whole way. Also right before the start, I noticed that someone had their wetsuit code going up through where the velcro attaches at the neck... boy what a great idea so that the wetsuit doesn't unzip! Problem was I must have not done this well as 3/4 of the way there ~ bam ~ my wetsuit is totally unzipped! Didn't panic, rolled over and rezipped. I think if I would have sucked it up and swam closer to the buoys I could have cut 5 minutes easy off this... overall I was disappointed with the time, but pleased with the my swimming (and not freaking out).

Don't swim in a different zip code than everyone else.

I kept moving... did sit down to pry my wetsuit off...

Nada

My bike hasn't been great recently so I had no idea where my time was going to be... my last race (a sprint), I was at 18.9 and my legs didn;t feel good... bascially took the entire week off to rest... good move! Not the fastest bike but my goal was to be under 3 hours. Pretty uneventful which was good.

Nothing

Pretty good T2.

At last, something I actually did pretty well at! My half time is normally 1:40-ish, so to hit 2 hours was pretty good for me. Couldn't eat much or drink anything but water, but did take water at every station and kept running the entire way (major moral victory!). Miles 7 - 11 were autopilot and I met and talked to one of the runners who was doing the relay - really helped to talk with someone. When I hit mile 12, I realized that my socks and shoes were completely and totally soaked from the water and sponges I kept using - by then I didn't care. I was a bit out of it going down the finshing shoot and almost rolled an ankle in the sand... I was also planning on getting my kids to go across with my and totally spaced.

Nothing

Eat about 4 plums and drank gatorade... dipped in the lake.


What an awesome time and event... The volunteers and crows were so enrgizing and great - I tried to thank as many as I could. My wife and 3 girls made t-shirts, hats, and signs with my picture and it was awesome to see them cheer me on. I would love to be back and do this again next year!