Ironman World Championships 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Practice Open water swimming and in particular sighting. Probably need to learn to go out faster, but breath every stroke for awhile rather than the every third stroke so that I don't tire too quickly. Maybe I ought to get in some of the Masters swim races, I may get last, but I will learn a bit more about handling race situations and the anxious/fast start.

I was one of the last ones but I am happy with it. I survived!

Those guys at Clearwater have the clean transitions and it is so well organized.

Nothing

I made a lot of mistakes. I really got out too slow from the water and being in the last group meant I rode by myself for ever. My training was not very good the last month or so and I really had not ridden my new (used) tri bike enough and it sure seemed to use different muscles than my road bike. I quickly questioned that decision - I used my quads much more and on my road bike I use hamstrings a lot. Should have danced with the lady who brought me. I almost did not ride the tri bike, but was afraid my wife would kill me since I had just bought it. I could not manage to get up much over 22. It did not take me long to figure out it was going to be a long day. Often I could not see anyone to catch early on but later picked off an occasional rider. When the course hair pinned back, I could see two big packs of riders (40 or so bunched together like a peleton). I am sure there were many that had already passed. I wished I had more people to pass, because of the adrenaline and the motivation and the legal draft you get in doing so. I am new at this game but I have not seen anything like it. There were a lot of people single lined and keeping "draft legal spacing", but many chose to jump onto the train. I did not have to worry about that I was so far behind. I really just wished I had more riders to pass. Granted at 22.2 mph in many races I still would've gotten in the mix, but this crowd was too fast. Unfortunately it wasn't until the last 5-10 miles that I started to have consistent people to pass.I did get passed once. A couple of youngsters passed me and they were taking turns pulling! Kind of honked me off so I gave good chase and found enough to blow by them and drop them with a couple of miles to go. I decided not to let it ruin my day and I was happy to be able to do this. Heck a few years back I weighed 236! Life is good. In the end I pedaled that bike as hard a s I could.

Not ride the tri bike I had probably only ridden 8 or so times. Train better the last month, I just was getting burned out and lacking the motivation to train in the cold weather.

Again clean transition-they do it right

My quads were very sore from the bike, just not used to the tri bike. I started out pretty good but soon started thinking man this just isn't the day for a good performance. I did not have a watch, I changed the batteries on my Polar and must not have gotten it sealed back up because it no longer worked after I swam. I really did not know where I stood time wise and was not putting in the best effort, I was in the this isn't my day just finish the darn thing mode. When we came around and passed the finish line on my first loop, I saw the time for the first time since coming out of the water. I didn't catch it when I started the run. I started to do the math and said, I am not going to be able to pick it up enough to come in under 5:00. It is possible that I could have, but I just did not feel like working that hard. I just kind of plodded along.

Give it my all even if it wasn't going to be as good as I had hoped. I'd feel a lot better had I hit the run harder and come in under 5 hrs. I ran a 1:23 half a few weeks earlier, I did a 1:35 at Steel head and was not in as good of shape. I just gave into the temptation of giving it less than my all. Frankly, I can say I gave the other legs my best even if the times were not quite what I had hoped for, but the run is something I am pretty comfortable with and I did not try my hardest. Oh well, it was an honor to be there in that fast crowd of athletes and the fans were great.

Shouldn't have switched bikes. Should have been mentally tougher on the run. When I realized I was not going to be as fast as I hoped I caved and gave the run less than my best effort.



I was disappointed, but it was a great experience. I saw a level of talent that I have never seen before. I still had a great time and it was a good experience. Best thing was my friends did great. there were three of us from Indy, one won our age group with a 4:07 and the other got 13th in our age group with a 4:17. Those guys are amazing and have worked very hard at this for a number of years. they really deserved a good performance. For me, I have a lot to learn but I was really glad for them. Maybe some day I'll go back, but boy it is tough to stay motivated that late into the fall. Hey, I now have a HIM PR to shoot at!