Pigman Triathlon - Long Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Overall not a horrible swim, but not great either. The time trial start was interesting and did a fairly good job of alleviating some of the starting congestion. Call me insane, but I sort of missed the initial craziness. Somehow it didn't feel the same. For the initial 500 yds or so I just followed a guy in front me instead of the buoys. This turned out to be a huge mistake as I finally realized he was way off course. I sighted the buoys after that and was fine. My goggles leaked for the first time and I had to stop to adjust them which was irritating. I'm a pretty weak swimmer the way it is without additional delays slowing me down. Oh and I took in a nice lungful of water about 3/4s of the way through. I had to sit and dog paddle for about 30 seconds for the massive coughing fit to pass. Oh well. The swim was over before I knew it and it didn't seem too much longer than an Oly distance swim at the time.

Sight better and try not to hydrate on the swim.

Another slow T1. First off, there was a wetsuit laying on top of my transition area. Mad, but still a nice guy, I picked it up and hung it on the bike rack where the assumed owner's now missing bike would have been. Then I stopped to down a couple of Gas-X. I tend to swallow a lot of air (in addition to water) on the swim and it had caused painful bloating and gas in the last race so the Gas-X was a precaution. I lost a few more seconds while I tried to figure out where my socks were. Once I realized they were in my running shoes I got them on fairly quick. Then I grabbed my bike shoes and was extremely upset to find them buckled. I had a few choice words with myself while I took the extra time to undo the straps and put them on. Then I grabbed some nutrition and my bike and was off

Swim faster so I can get to transition before a wetsuit gets tossed on my stuff. No seriously, make everything is set up CORRECTLY!! Ultimately learn how to bike/run sockless, and how to get in and out of shoes on the bike.

I actually really liked the course. It was very similar to what I ride during training, ie rolling hills, although it was lacking a couple of the massive ones that I ride nearly every day so in that respect it was sort of a relief. I kept the pace comfortable (so I thought...) and didn't maniacally try to catch people in front of me or attack the hills. Although I was in the 6th wave so I was passing much more frequently than I was passed. Nutrition went as planned, although I did feel a little full

Nothing really. I certainly didn't feel like I pushed it all that hard considering I was 2 mph slower than my last Oly in which I hammered out the bike as hard as I could, but my run would tell me differently.

I thought this went about as well as planned. I took one look at my fuel belt and decided to leave it behind. I'm still not sure if that was the right decision.

Nothing. This felt speedy

Dangit, I'm a runner and this just wasn't right. I felt good coming out of transition and settled into a comfortable pace. After about four miles my quads just started to throb. I told myself no walking. Running (if you can call it that at that point) up the hill to the turnaround point was hard. Back down the hill was almost worse so at the next aid station I allowed myself thirty seconds of walking. Walking the aid stations for a few minutes each mile was how I finished the race and I yelled at myself every time for stopping. I'm not sure now I could've done it any other way.

My run conditioning was exactly where I wanted it to be so I have to blame it on not doing enough long bike/run bricks. I did a 30mi/10mi 3 weeks before the race and felt great, but apparently that wasn't enough.

Walking/hobbling around for about 10 or 15 minutes while downing a ton of water and powerade. The food was good. Talked to a couple of HIM and IM veterans while I ate which is always and enlightening experience.


Lack of experience and training I guess. I had done plenty of 60 mile rides and 15 mile runs to be comfortable at these distances, but lumped together they hurt me. Mental toughness was a limiter too. Could I have done it without walking??


Well, my first HIM is in the books and despite finishing a little poorer than I had hoped I am still pleased. This is only my fourth triathlon ever and I have alot to learn still. It's funny during the run I was kept thinking I would never do a race of this distance again yet that evening over dinner I was telling my girlfriend all the things I would do differently for the next one. So I either have a short memory, a masochistic enjoyment of pain, an unrelenting strive to be better, or a wicked combination of the aforementioned traits that's going to keep me coming back for more for quite awhile.