Rockman Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swam fairly easy for the most part. Didn't go out and hammer this.

Was just behind the first large pack starting the second loop. And I had some annoying drafters who kept hitting my feet. So I put on a bit of surge and bridged up to get on some feet at the back of this pack. Was able to do that, but they weren't swimming straight, so I stopped drafting them and just on my own.

Drafting could have been better, I think I should have gone a bit faster at the start to get into a better swim pack than where I ended up. Overall, not bad, as I was pretty relaxed for 90% of the swim.

Go for a better position in the first leg, so I have more draft targets.

I did purposely swim easier, trying to not drill myself on the swim.

We had to put bike shoes on in T1. We weren't allowed to leave them clipped in. I think this was worse than leaving them clipped in. Right out of transition there's a slight incline, so people were now having to clip themselves in while going uphill, instead of being able to pedal right away with their feet on top of their shoes.

I didn't rush this, I wanted to see if I could avoid the usual huge HR spike that I see in T1. I went slow, and still spiked HR. So, if HR is gonna spike, I may just as well go fast. :)

Windy. Very windy. I was expecting it to be windy, but this exceeded the forecast 10-15 mph.

It picked up as the morning progressed. Was a tail/cross-wind on the way out, and a stronger head/cross-wind on the return. It hurt more than helped, especially the longer you were out there.

One brief shower on the bike, but I thought I was going to be lucky and not get rained on before I finished. I could see lightning flashes out of the corner of my eye, and ominous dark clouds, but they seemed like they were holding off long enough that I could sneak in before they hit.

I was wrong.

About 2-3 miles from the end of the bike the sky opened up. We're not just talking a little rain. This was a torrential downpour, with a ferocious cross-wind. I was running with a disk cover and 404 front, so the wind was pushing me around. I couldn't see through the curtains of water, and the rain was coming down so hard it was stinging when it hit my arms and face. It may have been hail, I don't know. It just hurt.

I very nearly stopped, but there was no cover to seek, so I just plowed on ahead. If I looked down, I could see where the road was, and the rain didn't hurt my face, so I just plugged away. Figured the faster I was done, the faster I could get out of the rain.

Push harder into the wind. It's hard mentally, especially when the wind comes on the return leg of the bike.

As it was, I put in a fairly solid bike. Not as fast as last year, but the conditions were a *lot* worse.

If it had still been raining the way it was just a few minutes before, I wouldn't have started the run. As it was, I nearly threw in the towel ( which was soaking wet ). As I was coming in though, the squall blew through, and though everything was soaked, it wasn't raining at that specific moment.

So, I poured the rainwater out of my run shoes, put them on, grabbed my visor, race number, and fuel belt and took off out of T2.

Not much, just everything being soaked, it took me a little bit longer in T2 than normal.

Based on my swim and bike splits, I calculated that I needed to run a 1:40 or better to PR. Probably doable, but I would have had to really really hurt to get it done. With CdA in 2 weeks time, I didn't want to destroy myself. So I dialed back a bit, and ran what I felt would be about right for IM effort level on the run. Mostly zone1/2, with some zone3 efforts on the hills. I kept an even HR and pace throughout the entire run ( slowing a bit on the uphills, but making it back on the downhills/flats ). A very solid run, and I never felt like I was digging deep. I felt strong, and like I had some extra reserve in the tank, even at the end.

I did tap into it a bit during mile 5'ish, as I was running with a few other people, and I wanted to put a gap into them. So I kicked it up a notch for about 1/2 mile, running at a hard effort, and gapped them.

A few people passed me, but some of them blew up on the big hills and I reeled them back in and passed most of them back before the finish.

Made it to the finish, nobody else within sight, so in true Blazeman Warrior style, I logrolled across the finish line!

This ended up being my fastest HIM run split ever. And the effort level for it was much easier than any of my previous efforts. My running is *really* coming on strong this year.

It rained during the run, so I didn't have much problem staying cool, but I probably should have drank a bit more. I was a little dehydrated at the end of the race. The rain makes it hard to realize you're still sweating/losing fluids.

I also have to give a shout to Smartwool socks. Those things saved me. My feet did not have a single blister, despite running the entire half marathon in soaking wet shoes. My feet were very pruney, but

Not have a full IM 2 weeks after the race, so that I can feel comfortable letting loose at full speed.

I logrolled ( as best I could ) across the finish.

Felt really good. Stretched my calves, then went and got some Quiznos to nom on.

Then went back to the last hill on the run course and cheered in the rest of the finishers coming in.




Weather was a big factor, obviously.

I also didn't push myself to the limit, because my A race is CdA in 2 weeks. Not going to risk the full IM just to PR a HIM.


This is the second year for Rockman ( both for the race, and for me ).

The day was an RD's nightmare, with the weather and storms blowing through. Everything that was in the RD's control was well run. The race started on time ( a pet peeve of mine when they don't ). Transition area is well laid out. The course is challenging, especially on the run, but we don't do this because it's easy.

There were a lot volunteers who braved the elements to keep the race going. I made sure to say thank you to every one of them that I saw on the run course. They were wet and cold, but they had smiles on, and kept us fed and hydrated.

I plan to be back for the 3rd running of the race next year, and will see what I can do to take a chunk out of my 4:59 PR on this course. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Though short of a tornado actually hitting transition, I don't see how it could possibly be any worse. :)