5430 Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim got off to a rocky start for me. I just wasn't excited to be in the water, and was definitely intimidated by the distance, and the whole event itself. I also had a really hard time seeing the buoys - might be time to get some prescription googles =) But, once I relaxed and convinced myself that 1) I could actually do this and 2) really the turn around buoy is out there. I finally got into a decent rhythm and overall the swim wasn't that bad at all. It's funny, I didn't get beat up at all in the start, no elbows to the face, no being trampled on..... but every single buoy I passed I got totally beat up, and for the first time ever, was completely swam over. Took a good kick the chest too, but I recovered quickly. Also, free style almost the whole time. Only did breast stroke twice just to make sure I was headed in the right direction (and to make sure that the end did in fact exist) =)

Do some open water training!!!! nuff said. Practice taking on and off my wetsuit, I didn't even try it on before I packed it - really not the smartest thing. Be more comfortable with the swim distance instead of banking on the swim reserves I used to have (and don't have anymore).

Okay, so to me my transition was good =) I actually only got my wetsuit half unzipped, but I managed to get it off relatively easily, and it wasn't stuck to my ankles. I had my cap and goggles off as I exited the water. Helmet and chin strap right away, changed my shoes and I was off. I remembered my sunglasses which was good for protecting my eyes, although it wasn't actually sunny enough to need them. I had my gloves on inside out in my helmet - thats how I always store them at home. So dumb, I decided to wrestle with turning them right-side-out on the course and headed out of transition with them in my pockets.

1) make sure my gloves are right-side-out.... I still chuckle to myself about this
2) bring my arm warmers on the course with me even if I don't think I'll need them.... 5 minutes in (and the rest of the ride) I wished I had them
3) make sure my bike isn't in the big ring in transition - but wasn't a huge deal
4) probably should get faster at this, but I don't really dwell on my transition times.... I'm 100% BOP, so for me its not like the 4 minutes lost me the race

The bike course was awesome for me, and absolutely my favorite part of the race. My first 3 hours I averaged exactly 17mph (51 miles in just under 3 hours)...... this is sooooo amazing for me. I definitely got tired at the end and let myself mellow out for the last five miles, but OMG I was and am so happy with my bike performance.

I got off to a slow start for sure. I was cold from the swim, my quads and hams were so tight (they never actually felt comfortable). And for the first 4 miles I was only averaging maybe 12 mph - I was starting to think it was going to be a terrible day. But after a little bit, I got my confidence back and started to have fun with it. I "owned" the uphills compared to how I usually ride, and had a fantastic time on the downhills and flats. I actually passed people - so cool, and I passed people going uphill - a miracle for me. Never saw less than 10mph on my bike computer, and no granny gear, also a huge feat for me =) I was back at transition way before my husband was expecting me - a slight bummer bcs there probably aren't any pictures of me so happy about the bike, but the memories are there =)

Take my arm warmers, oh man, I was so cold. Not sure why, but my stomach just didn't want any nutrition. I had tons of gels and endurance with me, but I just couldn't stomach any of it. All I wanted at the aid-stations was water. Its weird because I trained with gels and endurance drink the whole season, but I just couldn't stomach it at all. Next time I want to bring some real food with me, pretzles, pb&j or something.

Wow, you're supposed to think about all of those things in T2 =) Thought the transition was pretty good for me. My rack was all the way on the other end of the bike-in. The cloud cover during the bike was deceiving.... I should have slapped on some more sunblock. 5 minutes into the run I was dying from the sun.

Probably try to do this faster?!? Maybe running in and out of transition. Again, transition isn't a make-it or break-it for me, so I'm happy with my time.

Really not proud of my run time, but you know what, I finished, and in the end that was truly my goal. I expected to walk a lot of the run, but thought I would finish with an average 13 minute miles for the whole thing. I didn't plan on walking after .25 miles. Not sure what happened, but as soon as I started jogging my heart rate sky-rocketed and I felt horrible. Felt sick to my stomach and had no gas left to run on. I couldn't even force endurance down on the bike, and it was a lost cause on the run. Finding the sponges and ice at later aid stations really saved me. When I saw my husband at mile 6 (just shy of the end of the first lap) I was so completely miserable and could barely hold tears back. I honestly considered calling it quits right there, but then I kept reminding myself that I was so happy just a few hours early, and I managed to smile on the second lap. There were lots of walkers like myself on the second lap, so I at least felt like I wasn't alone. I really messed up with not re-applying sunscreen for the run, and I'm guess my sunburn (which was nice and red before I finished) had a little to do with my zero-energy. I also came down with two really horrible blisters about 6 weeks ago after my long run on worn out shoes. One had pretty much completely healed, but the other was barely in the new skin forming stage, and add that in with all the water and ice I was dumping on myself at every aid station, my feet took a beating. I knew my foot hurt, but I ignored it for most of the run..... when I got to the car and finally took off my shoes, weeeeeee, have a blood blister the size of a ping pong ball on the side of my heal =)

Be more prepared to run a half marathon after such a long bike ride. Wear more sunscreen, have a faster speed base for the length of run. I am happy that I was able to look at the bright-side on the second loop and get my smile back for the rest of the race.

Walked from the finish shoot to get my t-shirt, and to the car. Walked around downtown Boulder with the husband in search of food and to get the blood flowing again. Managed to stay up until 9pm, pretty impressive considering how early I got up.


I did a lot of bricks in my training, but I didn't do a lot of lengthy bricks. My longest brick run was 6 miles - definitely want to change that. Moving home from India also through a huge curve ball into my training. The hectic weeks leading up to the move and after we got back made it easy to get sidelined on my training. Next time I'm going to make sure we don't have a planned move (from another country especially) smack dab in the middle of my aerobic and endurance training phases. I also want to focus a lot more on my running skills - or lack there of - and stop letting myself use "I can always walk" as such a crutch.


Overall I had a fantastic first half-ironman. I was actually a little worried about the event cut-off times, but I passed those with flying colors (was showered and out hunting for food well before the run/event cut off). I accomplished things I didn't think I could do (expected to average 12-14 on the bike) and found many things that I can realistically improve on to have better races in the future (the run obviously, and also be MOP on the swim). I never stopped on the bike (which my husband who always kicks my butt when we ride together said he didn't think he could do) and as much as I wanted to stop on the run, I kept on going. Even when I was ridiculously slow and I was just passing 6.5 miles, all of the crowd was cheering for the finishers (finish shoot was right there) - it was definitely a mental challenge to hear everyone tell me I was almost there when I knew I wasn't even half way yet.

I am really proud of finishing this race. I can't wait to do it again (ok, I can wait a little bit before I start hitting the pavement again). I am definitely motivated to train for a half or possible full marathon in the off season. I would also really love to do this race again, but the flying there and back, and bike logistics ($100 bucks each way definitely hurts). Maybe we could road-trip it next time. I know there are great races in California as well..... I've definitely got a date to try this race again someday.