Beach to Battleship HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

overall a good swim. Time includes getting out of the water, having the strippers take off the suit and running 75 yds or so to the timing mat. Got a little off course to the last 1/3 of the course. Goggles kept leaking, but just ignored the salt water. Kept an easy, long smooth stroke the entire swim, so that was good.
This was my first time with wet suit strippers. The one who helped me was probably my mother's age. She helped me get the sleeves off then told me to get the suit over my hips, sit on the bench and hold the back of the bench really tight. Man, she wasn't kidding. She about pulled me off the bench. I was laughing as I thanked her and ran on down the dock. There was an emt with a stretcher handing out space blankets. I asked her if I could sit on the stretcher and she push me to T1. She laughed and declined. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask :)

Swim a more direct line the last 1/3 of the course. Went too far left.

longest transition time ever. Feet were so numb, it was difficult to run on the asphalt. Threw the wetsuit on the rack, ran back to the port a john. Came back to the rack and spoke briefly with kpinto. Discovered that it is difficult to get a long sleeve shirt on when you're wet. Ditto gloves. Obviously kpinto had this figured out because he was gone by the time I got the bike off the rack.

figure out how to dry off qicker :)

The ride was best characterized by the internal soundtrack. Those who read my blog will know I sometimes refer to my internal ipod. Well, coming out of T1, there was a series of signs cheering someone named Katie. "Go Katie" Well, I couldn't get the McDonalds' coffee commercial out of my head (Go Katie, Go Katie) So that stuck with me for a while. Then shortly after turning on to Hwy 421, a pack of drafters (5 of them) went by. Immediately the song "Love Train" got stuck in my head. Ok, that's better than the McDonalds' commercial, but still, "Love Train"? That eventually faded until another group came by and the "Love Train" was back in the station. That stayed there until the second aid station on the way back into town (Tailgating theme) They were playing the song that has the phrase "I've got the power!" So that was stuck for a while. Better than the "Love Train".
Overall a good ride for me. As you can see, I am weakest on the bike. The goal was to try and make 3 hours but not tax the legs. Goal achieved.
Going in I was worried I wouldn't drink enough on the bike since it was so cool. After the race I had about 1/3 to a 1/2 of my second bottle left. So I drank 1.5 bottles and ate a cliff bar. Seems to have been just about right.
Saw tzmitch exercising his extreme power directing traffic at the intersection of 74 and 421 just before the end of the ride. He didn't have a beer for me :(

Nothing as of Saturday. In the off season, get the bike legs stronger so I can knock 10 minutes off that and still have the run I had.

first time I have had volunteers take my bike and helmet. made it a little quicker. time includes going to the port a john prior to starting the run.

nothing

Best run I have ever had in a 1/2 iron distance race. And there is room for improvement. Was doing really well keeping the feet moving with good form for the first 5 miles or so. Spun up the first bridge out of transition and caught hell (in a fun way) from a fellow competitor for breaking the speed limit. Went down the other side, passed tzmitch again, but still no beer. Spun up the second bridge and down into town. Finally caught kpinto right after mile 3. He had a great, strong race. He had to walk a little bit and I told him to come chase me down. He came pretty close, but not quite.
About halfway I was on pace to be below 1:45 for the run. The wheels never really came off, but I was slowing down. I got passed by five people, one of whom I passed back later when he had to start walking. Three of those people passed me with less than 4 miles to go. Two of those three passed me on the last bridge when I had to walk for about 20 yards due to the left hamstring cramping. That started on the way onto the bridge. Then on the way down, something about the grade caused the leg to loosen back up, but not enough to get back to the original pace.
The last 4 miles was in the sun, with little shade, once you left the park. Started getting a little drained. Kept drinking some coke every other aid station and thanking all the volunteers. Didn't have a kick for the last mile due to the cramping.


Maybe eat some grapes or something that they had at the aid stations. Overall a really good run for me. Interestingly the difference between my run and the fastest run in the age group was 1:22. That's acheivable. Cutting that 1:22 would also have moved me up to 9th in my age group. The two guys in front of me at the finish were the two guys that passed me on the bridge. Both in my age group. That will be the incentive for the off season.

walked around transition. sat in the shade waiting for a massage. kpinto found me and we sat down and talked. As I said before, he had a strong race, vastly improving over his last 1/2 time. Love2Tri sat and talked with me while I got my massage. She rocked the course in her first 1/2 getting first in the masters women category! Saw Jessica as I waited in line for the water taxi. She broke 6 hours in her first 1/2.
Tried to drink a beer, but light headedness set in, so I had to sit down again.


Bike fitness/strength. Everything else worked out as planned. Missed the overall goal by 1:03, so I can't complain. Improved my best 1/2 time by almost 21 minutes over White Lake back in May.


The only glitch to this race was the water taxi. I spent more time in line for it than it took to run the 13.1 miles. Other than that, I can't say anything negative about this race. The volunteers were outstanding. There were so many teenagers on the run course on their saturday and they were all cheering loudly for us. They had beer available afterwards. In my family that alone is a reason to run the race again :)
Overall I would recomend this race. Will be signing up for next year on 12/1/2008 when sign up starts.