5430 Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Good swim for me. I've never swam this far before. Never swam more than 1650 yards. So, I was a bit nervous. But, I was relaxed and did just fine. It was really hard to see at first. Everytime I looked up all I saw was the sun, so I tried to sight sideways with the swimmers around me. Was pretty ruff at first, lots of climbing over people, but after about 300 yards I found some room. Rounded the bouy's tight and got bumped into again. When I stood up at the end, I was a bit wobbly, but I was stoked at having made it.

Just keep swimming

Wetsuit got stuck a bit on my heals. Actually, the zipper wasn't working too well and I was still a bit wobbly. Put my skull cap on and helmet and sunglasses and then stood there like I was forgetting something. Realized I was good to go, and then ran out of transition. I ran and jumped on my bike and pedaled off with my feet on my shoes. Got up to speed and put my feet in the shoes and was off. Pretty good.

Nothing, just trust the setup and go.

Heart rate was a bit high starting on the bike. I tried to just spin and have high cadence for the first 10 miles or so. Basically it was a gradual uphill, so I just tried to settle in. Going down the back stretch hit some high speed. When I hit mile 20 I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to push a little and make the second loop count. I played cat and mouse with 2 other guys for quite a while. One of them actually gave me a compliment and said I was pedaling good. He was on a really fast bike, so I liked the sound of that. The second loop I pushed harder on the uphill because I knew I could fly down the downhill. I hit 42.5 mph on the downhill. That was a blast! Fastest I've ever gone on my bike. Got back around and came into transition feeling good. Got out of my shoes and did the flying dismount well. Ran into transition barefoot.

Take it a little easier and save some for the run

Got to my spot and racked my bike. Got the hat on, race belt on, amphipod belt on, put my right sock on and it was upside down, had to take it off and put it back on, got my other sock on and put the shoes on. Decided it would be a good idea to hit the port a pottie before my planned 2 hour run, so I did a pit stop. I think it was the right call.

not much. the potty break added a minute at least.

This run basically sucked. I figured I could run a 9 min mile pace without too much of a problem and run about 2 hours. I was wrong. My first mile was 8.34, and then it just went downhill from there. I hit a wall after a couple miles and had to keep telling myself to just run. I was tired, I was overheating, I was hurting and then I walked. I think this was basically the product of lack of training and riding a bit too hard. I learned a lot out there. I came around on the first loop and wanted to stop. I saw my Belle and my munchkin man cheering me on and I pressed on. At mile 10 I looked at my watch and I was at 5:30. I decided I would run the last 5k in less than 30 min and picked up the pace. That lasted for a mile and then my body just started to shut down. When I hit the last half mile I could see the finish and picked up the pace again. I knew my munchkin man was waiting for me close to the finish. I got to the finish chute and he jumped out of the crowd and ran with me across the finish line. That was a dream come true for me. We crossed the finish line hand in hand. It was awesome!

Train more. Do more long runs and long bricks.

Walked a bit and then just sat down. Then went into the reservoir to cool off. My body just felt overheated bad. I sat in the water for a good 20 min.


Lack of long distance training


I'm very pleased with my nutrition strategy. I made the whole race without any bonking from nutrition mistakes. I didn't have any stomach issues. I was very happy about that.

On paper I thought I could go a lot faster, but this was my first HIM and I learned a lot about what this kind of race does to your body. It was a great experience and I definitely will be back next year to knock some time off my race time.