Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt great in the water. I was never out of my comfort zone thinking I was swimming faster than I was just enjoying the experience. The reality was I was loafing around not pushing myself which resulted in me getting out of the water about 10 minutes slower than I had anticipated.

Push myself a lot harder.

Long run up beach to T1. Had to remove wetsuit. This was about what I expected.

Not bad but I would have liked to have been a little faster. I felt like I rode pretty solid trying not to push myself too much with the impending run. I thought there was a decent wind for most of the time that slowed my time down some. I had to do a side road bathroom break too that added some time.

Train more in aero. My back was killing me!!

A little slow but I was stiff getting off the bike.

Felt good for first 7-8 miles keeping around a 9 - 9:20 pace. Started to hit the wall but kept pushing to the 9+ mile aid station without walking (except to drink at stations). From there it was the worst exercise experience of my life. I started cramping and felt terrible. It was a pure gut check the last 3-4 miles. I walked a lot from 9.5 to 12 but was able to pick it back up and run in from mile marker 12. I was so happy to see those chairs across the finish line!!!

Experiment with nutrition plan more during training. I used a 3 hr Perpetuem bottle with about 1 bottle of water/hour on the bike switching to 2 gels/hr on the run and 3 Enduralyte capsules/hr throughout. I thought this was a solid plan going in but evidently I needed more nutrition.

This was my first HIM so just finishing was good. I did want to break 6 hrs and I can find several places that I could have picked up the time to do that. I have learned enough from this race that I should be able to shave some good time my next 70.3.


Very crowded but great venue. I loved the Lake and finishing on the beach was very cool.