Black Bear Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Strategy was to go moderate close to 40 minutes as possible with no fatigue, after 200 yds the water became choppy but on the way back it felt much smoother.
No special incidences during the swim.
jogged up hill to T1 to keep my HR low for the Bike start.
Overall met the swim objectives plus sub 40 minutes time which is a big improvement compare to the last Triathlon I did last year



Nothing special, just continue to improve

Hills, Hills and Hills

The bike course is a beast, you go from 40mph downhill to 2-5 mph towards the top of the hill with almost no time to recover, a lot of intersections & turns that slow you down, 12+ mph winds etc
no excuses you have to train on similar course profile to be able to make it sub 3 hours


no excuses you have to train on this course to be able to make it sub 3 hours

started the run with cramps from the bike leg, as a result the entire run was actually 50% walking.
The aid station every 1 mile and volunteers with the kids did an amazing job

Either choose a flat HIM course (NJ Devilman Tria???) or do this race again with much more hills prep for this challenging bike course

Seat, eat and relax


The Hilly Bike course and the fact that most of my training was done in spin classes, flats or moderate rolling hills courses


Pros:
• Weather is just fine in this time of the year, not too Hot or Humid
• Clear water during the swim
• Well organized
• Everything else is much easier after finishing this course
• Excellent Age group athletes from PA, NJ, MD, DE, DC etc

Cons:

• 1:45 hours driving from home, require Hotel accommodations
• Challenging Bike & Run courses

Big Thanks to Larry and GCI Racing, by far the best organized race I did, Big Kudus to the Volunteers and especially all the kids a long the AID/Water stations