Soma Quarterman Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I was in the 4th wave with Jen, we jumped in and treaded water and were still chatting when the horn went off. This swim was ok. I was not fast but there was plenty of clear water until we came up on the last of the previous wave. I sighted pretty well. I love my new Desoto 2 piece wetsuit :) Included in the swim time is the trek up to transition, dodging the westuit strippers- I didnt want to be stripped. My watch said 22:20 coming out of the water. I had been hoping to be closer to 20 mins. minutes

Interesting: the bike course had been changed several times in the past 2 weeks. It went from 28 to 18 to 25, then yesterday they announced it was 27.5 miles. Great :) Except it was longer, as I arrived back in transition, everyone was commenting that the course was at least 30 miles! My Garmin showed 30 exact. I was sitting at 20-23 mph on all the straights, a couple of small hills and tight turns slowed me down a bit but this was a good bike for me.

I had a plan for the run: I tend to go out too fast off the bike, so I planned on keeping my pace around 8 min/miles for the first 2 miles at least, then see how I feel. Hoping to drop below 8 m/m for the 2nd half. It was already getting hot, but I ran the first 2 miles in 15 mins, so I slowed my pace a bit, maybe too much. We headed out on a turnaround, which I thought would be short but it seemed to last forever. I saw Tom (fitzy) and wanted to catch up with him, I also saw a few guys from my tri club that I had passed. The last 2 miles by the lake were better but I just couldnt get my legs to go any faster. I was hoping for an overall average 8 min pace, so I was a bit slower.

I found my hubby and kids and we hung out in the shade and got a smoothie. The 1/2 iron athletes were well out on the course when I finished, so I stayed and watched some friends finish- congrats to Tanya, Paulette & Josh for finishing their first HIM. The temps got well into the 90s, about 10 degrees hotter than usual and watching the HIM runners was painful- the med tents were full at the finish line and people were being brought in off the course.


The heat maybe. I dont want to complain though because the HIM athletes had it way worse.


This race was awesome and I'd love to do my first HIM here.
On a personal note, I was happy with how the race went. I think I can improve at this distance, esp on the swim. The results were Overall 103/594, Female 19/240, AG 5/45.