Square Lake Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt really good about the swim. I actually drafted probably 3/4 of the time off a couple of different people. My breathing felt good. My sighting was ok. I felt like I wasn't swimming quite as straight as I normally do, so I had to sight a little more often.

A few time the bronchitis would show up as a coughing fit, but I was able to swim through it.

I need to work on being closer to the person in front of me when I draft. I don't think I'm getting the full benefit of drafting.

There was a long run up some stairs in the hill to get to the transition area. I wasn't too concerned about my transition time. I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything crucial like my nutrition.

I could probably drop a minute off this time if I really worked at it. My time was probably about average for my age group.

I average ~19.6 mph on the first lap. I was starting to feel it in my hamstrings, so I slowed down a little on my second lap. On quite a few of the longer hills I ended up slowing down to 11-12 mph. I'm ok on hills if I can keep my momentum, but once I get in that grind mode I'm pretty pokey.

A guy had a flat and needed air. He had a tube, but no air. I stopped and dug out a CO2 cylinder and the head. I had to tear off some of the electrical tape that I used to hold on my second tube. He was trying to fill up his tire and he cross threaded the CO2 cylinder and the head. He really cranked it in there. Both of us couldn't get the cylinder out. Anyways, he didn't get any air and if I flatted I wouldn't have any air either. Someone else had to stop and give him some air. I probably lost 5-6 minutes trying to help him out. It was no big deal, it's not like I was going to place or anything.

I need to work on the hills. I was keeping up pretty well on the straight aways, but I would get passed on the up hills. I need some more bike time and to drop some weight.

I unclipped coming into the transition area, but one of my shoes clipped back in. I almost took a tumble when I got off the bike.

Ouch! That's about all I've got to say. It's tough to run a 1/2 marathon after being on the bike for over 3 hours. Who would've thunk?

I was able to keep running for the 1st half of the race and I was keeping my pace under 10 minute miles. I was thinking I should come in under 6 hrs as long as I take it easy and can keep running. There was a big hill at the turn and my legs started cramping. After that I was run/walking the rest of the race. Honestly, I kind of gave up a little bit, especially when I realized I wasn't going to break 6 hrs.

Here are my splits:
1: 9:20
2: 9:42
3: 8:38
4: 9:32
5: 9:19
6: 9:12
7: 10:09
8: 12:18
9: 12:05
10: 11:01
11: 11:22
12: 10:24
13: 13:04 (1.1 miles)


More long runs and long bike/run bricks to get used to running tired. The longest training run I had 10 miles and there was only one of them. Most of my longer runs were around 6 - 8 miles.

Mostly I just need to HTFU. I wimped out a little bit.

I did some weak stretches and then laid down in the grass. It felt great not to be running anymore. I walked down and got a hot dog and some trail mix.


I need to get stronger on the bike and the run. More hills and long runs. I feel pretty good about this for my first HIM. There's definitely room for improvement.


The lake was great for swimming, the bike was good except for the rough patch of road. There were water stops at every mile on the run, and they had gatorade and water at every water stop. It was a little tough for spectators to get into the park when the race was on. My wife said if she went to watch she would just park on the street.

There was no swag at all, not even a T-shirt, but they did let us keep the swim cap.:-) I'm not complaining because I signed up last December when it was 1/2 price for $40. That's a pretty good price for a HIM. I was looking at some other HIM's in the area and they were $130. There were plenty of volunteers and I thought the race was well ran.