Miami Man 1/2 Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I positioned myself towards the back of the swim group. I probably should stop doing this as I wound up swimming over a lot of slower swimmers. As soon as I got in the water, I realized my goggles were on my forehead! So I quick put them on, but they fogged up immediately. Upon swimming a few yards, I couldn't see so I took them off to clear them out. Put them back on and swam. Kept getting kicked and punched. My goggles fogged up again. As I made my way out on the course, I felt strong but I couldn't see so I know I kept slowing down because of it. At least three more times, I popped up, took my goggle off, looked for the bouy, put the goggle back on my eye, and started swimming again. This slowed me down bigtime. My first lap was 21 minutes. I was pissed. But I'd passed a lot of people and I was even in front of a bunch of the wave in front of me.

Second lap, more of the same. This time the sun was in my eyes so I had no hope of seeing ANYTHING. I rounded the bouys quite effectively when I got to them, and swam pretty good when I finally got my bearings but sighting was impossible thru my foggy goggles. My FOGGLES. UGH. As I came around the last bouy I noticed I wasn't tired or even winded. I was even more mad. I felt as though I was the last in my age group to come out of the water but as I glanced back I saw huge numbers of green caps still swimming. My wave was not only 30-34, but all athletes under 34. That at least made me feel a bit better.

BETTER EFFING GOGGLES!!!! GRRRRRRR. This swim took me 38 minutes last year and I wasn't as strong as this year. I know I really could have kicked this one's butt. I won't say this was a "bad" swim, but definitely below average because of the goggle problem.

The run from the beach to T1 took about 2 minutes. It's quite far. Once in TA, I tried to get my wetsuit off but I was having trouble. One of the bike guys asked if I needed help so I plopped down on my butt and said "pull hard!". In a fraction of a second it was off. Thanked him and tossed the suit on the ground under my bike. Slowly and with focus I put on my helmet, glasses, socks, and shoes and unracked my bike. I didn't want to get out of breath in T1 and take forever to get my heart rate down in the first few minutes of the bike. So once I got my bike unracked, I jogged with it to the mount line and I was off. The one thing I forgot to do was drink a swig of Accelerade before leaving. No biggie.

I'd go a bit faster maybe, but other than that, this T1 was as good as it could be.

As I came out of T1, I heard Janice say "go Jeff!!" and that gave me a boost. I answered with a big WHOOP WHOOOP! At the beginning of the bike, I felt great. I figured I was benefitting from a tailwind because without much effort at all, I was doing 23 and 24mph. For almost the entire 12 mile trip out, I had a great time. I started out with Accelerade in my aerobottle, some whey protein in water in my bottle cage, and some food in my bento box. I had a nutrition plan taped to my toptube. I started out following it pretty religiously.

At one hour into the bike, I had gone 20.6 miles. I was happy. At the halfway point, the wind was starting to pick up but I was still averaging 20.3. That's when the wind really started to pick up. Trees and bushes were really swaying. One one of the roads, I barely could keep up 17mph without struggling. My strategy was to not go too hard on the bike so I could kick a$$ in the run. So far it was working. I wasn't too tired. I was following my nutrition plan perfectly. What I didn't know was that I was ingesting too much protein and it would cramp my stomach later on.

At about 40 miles, I was still averaging about 20.1. But the wind was starting to take its toll. My legs were getting tired from fighting the wind and my average started dipping down. I wasn't hungry although I did take more Accelerade at the final aid station. Unlike last year, I didn't drink an overly huge amount of water this time. Maybe I should have had more?

I was really glad to see the final turn on the loop that would start the journey back to TA. I was only making 16mph by that time because the wind was so gusty. Once I turned back onto the road back to TA, I was happy as the wind wasn't as bad. Brought my speed back up to 20 for a while. But as we wound back around it was in my face again with about 8 miles to go. I started counting down.

At about 2 miles to go, I passed the point where I almost DNF'd last year. I was tired, but compared to last year, I felt like a million bucks. There was a lot of traffic on this road and cars were beeping at the cyclists. The nerve of these people I swear. Cops were yelling at them to shut up.

I got thru the traffic, crossed over 184th St. and headed into the park feeling strong again. Made my way back to TA and jumped off my bike with no problem. As I was dismounting I saw Mimi and I think there were a couple more people there, but I was a bit disoriented. I was glad I was back, but still felt great!

Become God and stop the wind from blowing so hard. Other than that, maybe just rework my nutrition plan a bit. Everything else felt great. This was 8 minutes better than last year's bike time.

I took a bit more time here, I wanted to be sure I did everything right. This time I remembered the Accelerade. I decided not to change my socks or shirt like I'd planned. I figured it'd be better to just keep on what I had. I had to pee and luckily my rack was right near some trees that made it easy to take care of that problem. I put my running shoes on, my race belt, hat, and got ready to go. My right foot was hurting from my bike shoe, but the same thing happened at IMAZ and I just ran it off, so I figured the same would happen.

Nothing. Good T2. Just go a bit faster maybe.

Well the run started out GREAT! I felt strong, my lungs were good, and other than the foot pain, my legs felt fresh. My stomach didn't feel quite right though. Upon exiting transition, I took some water and Accelerade at the aid station and went on my way. Foot pain was going away already. I thought, this is cake, I'm gonna blow this away. I kept telling myself, this is where you do your thing. You're a runner, it's time to kick a$$.

Miles 1, 2, 3, and 4 went by in low 8 splits. I saw Irene (panout) at around Mile 1 as I was going into the zoo. Mile 5 was about 8:30. I had been passing lots of runners on the course. I passed ALOT of people on the road leading to the turnaround. I saw Janice in a car whooping as she went by, around Mile 4. I must have passed at least 60 people before mile 6. As I was coming around to Mile 6, I started to feel like my stomach cramping wasn't gonna go away. My legs started to feel a bit heavy, but I still ran a good pace. When I got to the end of the first loop, I started to think, OK just keep this up for another 50 minutes (that's how long my first lap took) and you're done...with a 1:40 half marathon!!

Yeah...no. Upon hitting Mile 7, my stomach was feeling really crappy and my legs felt like, even though I was still running sub 9 (just barely though) that I couldn't go any faster if I tried. I started slowing down. Mile 8 took over 10 minutes, and then it happened. My right quad and kneed just locked up. Cramps, spasm, you name it. It HURT. I did what I promised myself I wouldn't do. I walked. And I walked alot. Like 2 minutes. I tried to run a bit but it hurt. So I walked again. I started seeing Mile 9 up ahead but my time was now 4:59. I immediately told myself I had to give up the 5:40 goal. I nearly cried. But now I had to focus on getting back. I walked alot of Mile 9.

As I passed 9, I started to feel like my stomach was relaxing. Probably thanks to the walking. I started taking only water at the aid stations to try to combat the protein concentration in my stomach. Must have worked cuz my stomach started feeling better. I started to job a bit. My leg loosened up just enough that allowed me to run. But my splits were still 11 and 12 mintues for miles 9 and 10. At around 10, a pair of runners came up on me...a guy and a girl...the girl was in great shape but the guy was struggling. He was in my age group. I told myself I just have to stay in front of him. So I tried to run a bit, it was slow, but I was staying up. I just kept plugging away. I passed the Mile 11 mark and was glad to know I had just 2.1 miles to go. I was hoping that I'd see Tom at the finish line but wasn't sure if his flight got in on time.

I ran out of the zoo and onto the most hateful, bleak, rocky, empty part of the course. I had to walk a bit again because my leg was cramping. But there it was, MILE 12. One point one miles to go! I looked at my watch. It was 5:38. I was amazed that it didn't say 5:58. So I said, OK, I'm not gonna have a 5:40...but I can still have a five-fourty-SOMETHING if I can just get home at a 10 minute mile pace. So I ran...I tried to ignore every bit of pain in my leg. My stomach was feeling better so I just tried to open it up as best as I could. As I came around thru the campground I passed two more guys in my age group. They were both walking. I came back to the park. The trail was narrow and I had to shout at people to move aside so I could run by. I took one more dose of water and I gave it all I had. I ran into the park, saw the 13 mile mark and looked at my watch. I had just run a 9:14 mile. Amazing what the right motivation can do!! I ran as hard as I could to the finish line and ran thru giving the ol' BT two-finger salute!

I stopped so the volunteer at the finish line could give me my medal and another could take off my chip. I saw Tom waiting for me at the line. That made me smile big!! I was so happy to see him there! I realized at that point that I wasn't taking in full breaths...so I grabbed some water, went to meet Tom by the end of the chute and hugged him. Then we went to sit down so I could regain my breath.

It wasn't a great run overall, but it was still 12 minutes faster than last year.

Well obviously, not blow up halfway thru. But I think it has a lot to do with my bike nutrition...someday I'm gonna get it right!!!

Tom and I sat on the grass, he got me some more water and I took off my shoes. Mimi came over to congratulate me and got me a beer!!! THANKS MIMI!!! Beer is soooooooo good after a long race. I walked around a bit, found Janice, hugged her and thanked her for everthing. Then I gathered up my stuff and got ready to head home.


A bunch of things. Foggy goggles. Wind. Bike nutrition leading to stomach cramps. Leg cramps. There are a lot of lessons to be learned here. I could have gone faster in my transitions as well, as those were slower than last year, but more focused. If I'd gone a minute faster in each T, I could have at least gotten 2:45. I will make sure to correct all of my errors for my next 70.3 race. I would love to become proficient at this distance and race it exclusively with a full distance IM once a year.


If they'd just either advertise the bike as short or rework the course so it really IS 56 miles, that'd be great. Otherwise, this is a good race, it's well-organized, the volunteers are great, aid stations are fun (some are themed) and well stocked, and the shwag is pretty good too. I recommend it but you have to realize you're not really going the ENTIRE 70.3 distance.