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

My wave 3 of 4 was ok sized, no real issue with crowding at beginning. I found someone to draft for about 3/4 of first loop, kind of lost him on the last turn parallel to shore. Found someone else for loop 2 and used him for about 1/2. On last leg towards shore he went wide and I let him go. Shortly after that I got a cramp in left calf. Dragged the leg for awhile and it went away. First time I cramped on swim this year. I was fine with swim other than I need to get faster.

I've had this in my other race reports, the swim is my weakest event. I'm comfortable with the distances now, I need to work on getting faster and racing the swim. I get my butt kicked by those that finish higher than me in my AG, come on 10/12 my last 2 races. Granted these were longer races and more competitive fields as a result but I need to get my pace down to 1:45 or better per 100 for next year.

Run across beach and then up some wooden step to TA. I slipped on one of the early steps but didn't go down. OK, now decision time, what to wear on bike. Sky still looking clear. Most are taking off w/o anything extra. So HTFU and decide to forego jacket. Toe warmer already on shoes and I put on wool socks. I also took time to dry off a little. Wetsuit didn't come off real good at ankles, especially the left where I have the rip, not a big deal. For some reason I really strugle getting my helmet on. Straps aren't right, it takes 3 or 4 tries to get it on. First race in 2 years I don't go with shoes clipped in. I figured I was close enough to bike out plus the new cleats have pads so they aren't so slippery, plus I didn't want to get my socks wet, the whole idea of the wool socks is to keep my feet warm. No problems getting out of T1 and clipped in so that went well. Not fast but that was OK. 10/12 and +1:22 from leader in AG but I knew I'd be taking some extra time with the weather issue and not knowing what to wear.

I never tried putting helmet on pre-race like I normally do. I am going to get a checklist for things to do pre-race at the site and use it every race next year.

I was worried about getting cold but not an issue. I was glad I wore the wool socks and the toe warmers. I was ok w/o anything else but arm warmers would have been nice. The jacket would have been OK, I don't think I would have gotten too hot. I watched my HR and tried to keep 140-145 except on hills. I definitely didn't go as hard as in Olys but still was keeping around 20 mph. I saw a biker down and an ambulance on 1st leg about 1/2 way down 95. Saw more people with flats than normal. 1st leg went well the hills weren't bad except at the end on 95. My helmet was on too tight and squeezing my forehead. I considered stopping but figured I could gut it out. 2nd leg it sprinkled some but never really got the roads wet. I had equipment failure which could have been bad about 6-7 miles from finish. My bottle cage holder on the seat post came loose at the top. My tire repair kit was in my plastic bottle type thing in that cage holder and when it came loose was janging down onto my chain. I stopped, top completely off, bottom still hanging on. I kind of ripped it off and tossed it by a sign that had some tall grass around it and took off. Should have adjusted my helmet but completely spaced it out. I get in race mode and just want to go all the time. Felt good coming into T2, decide to leave shoes on and just unclip.

Nutrition - power bar about mile 10, took about 3-4 miles to finish. Had a little trouble getting wrapper off, I don't normally use bars. Gel early on lap 2, probably about mile 30. Considered another gel around mile 45 but stomach didn't feel up to it. I drank most of my aero bottle plus an extra so had 1 untouched bottle left on bike.

Stop and adjust helmet. My forehead still has some red marks and is a little tender 2 days after the race. I had checked/tightened my areo bars and my rear drink holder but not the cage that came loose. Hopefully I can get the anchor fixed.

Decided to just unclip at dismount instead taking feet out of shoes. New cleats make this a more viable option and there was a hill coming down into TA. Change of socks added some time. I also had forgot to put out nutrion for run leg but I had 2 gels and some electrolytes in my bento box which I grabbed while getting my Garmin. +1:25 from top AG T2 time.

Remember to lay out run nutrition. Should have also had running shoes, socks in plastic bag with rain possibility.

OK, now the big question was how hard to push the run early. I had no idea of the kind of pace I could maintain after the 1st 2 legs. 2 weeks ago I ran a 7:23 pace in a standalone half marathon. I decided to go with what felt comfortable and not to hold back too much, if I ran out of gas at the end I'd gut it out at whatever pace I could maintain.

With the early hills, kind of hard to get a good feel for pace. Downhill I was going right around 7:00 and uphill a little over 8:00 but my legs felt good. Mile 1 was 7:34 and mile 2 7:40 so I decided to aim for 7:45 or so. I have to pee, not real bad but feeling some bladder pressure. Start looking for spots along the road and figure I'll go after we turn and get on the bike path. Starts to rain after turn but not a big deal. I'm comfortable temp wise. Right about at end of mile 4 I pee while running, WOW did it feel good. Miles 5 & 6 drop to sub 7:30. My avg pace a turnaround on Garmin is 7:34.

Sometime around the turnaround or shortly after it quits raining. I hear a train whistle in the distance and remember crossing some tracks. I speed up a little but sure as heck a little later I see the crossing and the gates are coming down with me about 100 yds away. I slow down and end up stopping but the train is going very fast and is short so I only have to wait stopped for about 20 seconds. It only affected me on the back route and one other runner on the out portion. This was mile 9 and accounts for the jump in my pace time up to 7:59.

Another mile or so on the bike path and I'm back on 7 with the hills. I'm feeling it now and my pace is slowing but still running comfortabe, just tough up those hills but knowing I'm getting close helps. Mile 11 was 8:05 but I get back under 8 on mile 12 and finish strong with a 7:38.

Nutrition - gel at mile 3 and I think mile 10, 2 endurolytes at mile 8 all just before water stops. Hydration and energy were OK. Cool temps helped.

Saw all the TriRochester folks on the run...Dave, Jennifer, Kathy, Bill. Also one guy I didn't know who was Adam Starkey. He had our kit on, was a member last year but not this year.

Pee earlier. Regardless of which number I use for my pace the official 7:35 or the Garmin 7:40, it's not far off my standalone 7:23 pr pace so quite pleased with run effort.

Garmin had 1st half at 7:34 so 2nd half was roughly 7:46 to get 7:40 average so decent splits and pacing. Only 1 person passed me on the run.

Found Barb at finish. I wanted to get out of tri suit and into dry/warm clothes asap. We went to TA and grabbed my stuff. Some of it soaking wet so we just put it in a plastic garbage bag for now. Dropped stuff at car and went to beach area where there was food and place to change. Then checked the results, saw I wasn't going to place in AG (my time would have been 4th last year) and decided to head out. We drove back over course and did find my bottle cage and tire repair kit so that was great.


I was very pleased with results for 1st HIM. I was thinking just under 2:00 pace on swim, 19-20 mph on bike but was clueless what I'd do on the run. Figured 8:30-9:00 worse case so run was way beyond expectations. As I keep training at longer distances and build my base, I can keep improving my times.

I'm finishing this up on Wed after the Sun race. I've never been this sore after a tri before. My quads are stiff but almost back to normal now. My left calf is still tender from the swim cramp. I walked with Barb last night and then did steam room and whirlpool at DAHLC. Over lunch I ran an easy 10k and feel good. I'm officially in marathon training mode now.



Race itself was OK. No SWAG bag at all just a t-shirt. Post-race food was ok, hot dog, trail mix and and some munchies. No fruit and I only saw water. Price was great when I signed up last December. I did go to Cities on Fri for packet pickup and to check out the course, primarily becuase I hadn't done it before and knew we'd be getting to hotel late on Sat night after Koch wedding.