Black Bear Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt good on the swim. Swim strategy was basically just to go at a comfortable pace. Caught a few drafts during the swim, which I felt good about. I'm just starting to get the hang of drafting on the swim. Had a couple of episodes of calf cramping up during the swim, when that happened I just let my legs drag (no kicking) and kept going until the cramp subsided. This probably cost me a little time, but I'm pretty happy with my swim pace. Sighting could have been better, found myself off-course a bit from time to time.

My watch got water in it during the swim & died, so I had no idea of my time for the rest of the race...

I probably could have pushed a little harder on the swim.

Long distance from swim exit to transition area. I walked or lightly jogged most of the distance, just to let my heart-rate settle back down. Transition went pretty smootly. I could have gone a little faster, but all in all, a pretty decent transition.

If I wanted to be more competetive, I could speed up my transition, but this race was mostly about completing the distance.

Strategy for the bike was to take the first 20 miles easy, pick up the pace a little bit for the second 20 miles, then go harder at the end (but easing up a bit for the last couple miles to get ready for the run). The bike felt good. I probably could have gone a little bit harder, but for the most part felt my pace plan worked out okay.

Nutrition worked great with one exception: bottle exchange was at about mile 16 (and mile 45-ish second loop). First time through, I wasn't finished with either of my perpetuem bottles, so I just grabbed a water & refilled the aero bottle. This wasn't enough water to last until the second time through the bottle exchange. My perpetuem mix is pretty concentrated, and should ideally be chased with water. After my aero bottle ran dry, I switched from alternating perpetuem & shot bloks to just perpetuem, and backed off on the intensity a bit until I got to the bottle exchange again. Grabbed 2 bottles this time, and one to refill the aero bottle, and one to keep on the bike.

I didn't see anyone in my AG on the bike, and wasn't sure if I was in front of or behind them. Since I didn't see anyone, I figured as far as AG ranking, it wouldn't matter if I stopped to use the porta-potty, so I did... Probably cost me a couple of minutes, but I felt much better!

Again, I probably could have gone a little harder on the bike, but since this was my 1st half, I didn't want to push it too hard. Perhps add a saddle-wing or something so I can carry an extra water bottle.

Average transition, not in any great hurry, but didn't dawdle, either.

I'm a little disappointed in my run... I think I just sort of got lazy here! Since I didn't see anyone in my AG, I just sort of figured, "it's okay if I walk a little here", and I ended up walking a lot more than I planned or really needed to. My legs felt fine, and I could have easily run the whole thing. I think if my watch were working, and I had an eye on my pace, I probably would have run more to keep the pace up.

FRIGGIN' KEEP RUNNING!!

walked around, had a little to eat, some light stretching.


Got lazy on the run and did too much walking...


A nice race, well run and well organized. Not crazy about the placement of the bottle exchange, a little to early on the first loop, IMO, and in the middle of a tricky turn-around. The race organizers may be limited as to where they are able to set the bottle exchange up, though.

Might be nice to start the half iron waves first and sprint waves second...