Rockman Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim was pretty good. Felt pretty good throughout the swim. Got run over a little bit.

Get more open water practice so my siting is a little better. In addition, practice drafting, because I am terrible at it.

Not bad. I didn't rush it, it is a half ironman :) Got out on the bike pretty quick and was told I was about 20th out of the water, which was a good thing.

Nothing until I am more experienced at this distance.

I biked way too hard. The average pace is a bit misleading. I probably battled the head winds and kept and average of approximately 20 on the way out, but then my legs started to tire and so I could no longer keep the pace.

On top of that we biked through a thunderstorm and some crazy cross winds (at least to me). It was extremely challenging mentally to keep any sort of pace on the bike.

Do more bike workouts. I need to be in better biking shape so I can keep a pace like this or even a little faster and have more leg juice on the run.

If not, then at least back off. Adding another 15 minutes to the bike would have save my legs quite a bit and allowed to be stronger on the run.

I had to use the restroom, so that took a minute. I also had to put socks on. This transition would have been better had I not had to run to the bathroom.

Not much, it was ok, the bathroom probably took 1:30 of the transition

I was doing 9 minute miles for the first 9 miles, but there was a set of hills in miles 7-9 and that did my legs in. The rest of the race was a struggle and I probably averaged 15 minute miles which brought my average down.

Not much, my running form was pretty good. Just needed to have a little more juice left in the tank in order to finish strong. I think a 2 hour is completely in reach with better bike preparation. Did not feel tired as much as my legs felt like 500 weights were attached to the bottom.

Walked around and stretched. Ate a bunch of food. Went to Old Chicago had a beer and a giant calzone :) (talk about indulging :) ).


Bike fitness. It was the key to the whole race for me. It was my first HIM, but ultimately, I could have done significantly better on the run had my legs had any juice in them. Good to know, great experience from that perspective.


Nice race. I only wish they had a bit more organized post event stuff. Other than that, it was pretty darn good race. Thanks to all the volunteers for bearing the horrendous weather.