Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Duathlon

Nice and easy to start, didn't push it at all.

nothing

Knocked off a water bottle while mounting the bike from the rear hydration system, but got it picked up and back in place in only a few seconds, so no real big deal. Was pretty happy with the transition overall as it was a very large transition area.

not knock off a bottle

I definitely tried to just keep a nice easy pace from the start and not get caught up in the whole need to go out hard and fast early. I was able to maintain my effort consistently throughout and when there were even some slight inclines, I felt great and was able to spin right over them. In hind sight, I probably could have ridden much harder, but this being my first HIM, or long duathlon as it turned out, I am happy I just maintained a controlled effort.

I probably wouldn't carry 3 full bottles of fluids with me even though they were the drinks I was used to taking. I could have gotten by with just my aero bottle and a half bottle and picked up what I needed at each aid station and saved a little weight.

Took a little longer than I needed to in this area, but I wanted to be sure to take a migrained medication as I was feeling some first signs coming on and I didn't need that to complicate the run. This caused me to lose about 30 seconds finding the meds in my bag.

nothing

I was very pleased with the run being as I had only run exactly 3 miles of run training in the 2 months prior to the race due to a calf muscle tear. My pace felt very comfortable and I had no pain or additional problems with the calf.

The volunteers on the course and the wonderful woman with the hose at around mile 11 were much appreciated.

nothing

Stretched a bit in the post race area and had a nice cold root beer. Had a 10 minute massage and walked to the car which was about 1.5 miles from the transition area so that was probably the best cool down.


Probably just trying to be respectful of the distances and not push too hard. It was a long ways from home and no place to be feeling like junk the next day when you have to drive for 10 hours so I didn't over do it. I know I could have ridden much harder and probaly run a bit faster, but I'll leave that for next time. I know I didn't push hard enough in the end becuase it just felt easy. I wonder how it would have been with the swim first. I also had to protect my previously injured leg so I didn't run as hard as I would have liked.


An awesome race and everything would have run on time had it not been for the water conditions. The race directors did an excellent job and I would love to do this race again if it weren't so far away. There are some pretty amazing atheletes at this race so it is really awesome to get to take apart in a race with people of that ability.