Delaware Diamondman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

So I sprinted to the start and I think I was the last person in the water. A nice lady helped me zip up, and I dove in. Brought 2 pairs of goggles as I have had some problems w/ leaking in the past (apparently my face changes shapes from race to race and the goggles don't fit... seriously). #1 pair leaked, went with the backups which don't leak but fog up immediately. get out to the start which I'd guess was at least 50M offshore (no idea why) and the lifeguard is like "Go Go Go!". I took a quick :30 seconds to relax, then began to swim. Swim was rough, lots of kicks to the face, gnashing arms, and I think 1 headbutt. Not to mention I had to rinse my goggles twice b/c I couldnt see a thing. Sun was bad coming back to shore as well.

All that said, I felt great in the water, and considering the .4mi run back to the transition and my :30 sec pause at the start, my actual swim time must have been closer to 34 mins. Good speed for me, but overall I am at the point where I no longer fear the water at all!

1) Get to the water earlier, warm up
2) def need new goggles
3) actually look at the course so I know what buoys to swim to

Not a great transition, if it were a shorter race I'd be completely pissed. But for a HIM, what's an extra 30 seconds?

get better an ripping off the wetsuit

Got on the bike and immediately had a gel w/ 1 shot of caffeine. My goal was to keep my heart around 135-145 BPM, but that seemed to go out the window pretty fast, as I felt strong even with the higher heart rate. The Hanna winds were pretty strong, especially on the uphill going up the backside of the bridge. Also, the jaw-like joints in the bridge concrete had me fearing a flat each time (didn't stop me from hitting 40 MPH on the downhill though). The volunteers and police seemed less than helpful on the turns, but I knew the general course and had an idea of where I was going.

Stuck with my nutrition plan of 1 gel every 30 mins, and 1/3 bottle of Accelerade ever 45 (love that stuff). Popped 1 Nuun in my water at the beginning.

Overall, great ride, faster than I thought I could maintain for 56 miles. Stayed aero 90% of the time, and flushed out my legs for the last 5 miles helping the run transition.

Not much, lil bit of chaffing but that's it. Got passed a lot (which I hate), but biked faster then I planned.

Good transition, but had to use the lil boys room and lost at least :45. Whatever.

Here my goal HR was 155. So much for that. My goal time was 1:50 (8:24 pace) and after my 1st 5K, I thought I could keep an 8:00/ pace the whole way. That changed around mile 8 where I really started to slow down. Left knee was swelling up and getting really stiff. After 15k, I had to walk through the water stations, and drink more, as the heat was getting to me (it was maybe 12:20PM and 80-something degrees). Got a nice pick me up as I was walking up a hill from a fellow racer, and the cheering crowd at the entrance to the park helped. Tried to pick up the pace for the last mile, but my legs cramped basically all over. So, cruised to the finish - 1st HIM in the books.

Run with a parasol for shade...

None.


Heat, bad race organization, and every other thing that is beyond my control (ha!).


The course was good, and the race was fun. However, for a 1st HIM, I wanted a little more out of it. I am not into race swag at all, but the t-shirt, finisher's dog tag, post race food, were just plain lame. Nothing even said HIM? Not that important, but whatever, I wanted a lil love.

I would be very weary of doing another Piranha event in the future due to the lack of organization and foresight. From the race director originally cutting the bike from 56 to 39 miles because of bridge work (luckily he was able to magically pull it off by simply having a few turn arounds), to the lack of bathrooms, and overall disorganized feeling, I didn't like it. Also, the environmentalist in me really didnt like that the water bottle "exchange" was just a place where they gave you a disposable Poland spring bottle. I was expecting an actual exchange, where they give you a full, re-usable bottle at the beginning, and you exchange it on the bike. Oh well.