South Carolina Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This is my best swim yet! Managed to mostly stay on course. Had a bit of trouble sighting as some of the waves had swim caps that were the same bright green as the turn buoys. Felt good and just stayed relaxed. Had no trouble finding the buoys on the way out. Once those bright green caps passed me, had to look twice at times to sort the buoys out from the caps. Tired a bit on the way back in. Some other woman and I were side by side and kept running into each other. I would try to go wide, but then would start to get off line from the buoys. Then we would start hitting each other again. It was kind of funny, but kind of annoying. Got out and looked at my watch and felt victorious. For me this was good!

Still need to sight better.

I just can't get that wet suit off very quickly. Why can't there be wet suit strippers at all events?

Good overall ride for me as it was a PR. Went to get on my bike and the chain immediately came off. Fixed it and went on. As my swim wave was 8 out of 9 and I am a slow swimmer, almost all of the 650 people were already on the road. I knew this would be so, and was prepared for a lonely bike ride. Not many people passed me by and not that many that I passed either. Nose was running like crazy, but I felt good for the first 20 miles. After all the long 114 mile ride getting ready for IMFL, this ride seemed so short!
After 20 miles, I started not feeling so well from a stomach standpoint. I was taking gels every 45 minutes with gatorade in between. I use Perpetuem for the IM and long rides, but have done this strategy for the half in the past and it works. I had been sick last week with a GI bug and my stomach had been bothering me ever since. I took a Pepcid that I had a long and that did seem to eventually help. I was nauseated a few times and just didn't feel good. Tried slowing the pace some too, and I think that helped. Moved to just drinking water too. Was wondering how I could run with my stomach not feeling good and resigned myself to a slower than normal run.
Forgot how much of this course has rough roads. It seemed they would never end. The hills were mostly rolling and not bad. Despite what everyone says, I have found that I like to stand on the hills. It seems to stretch out my legs and back some. I was glad to see the end of the ride, but not exhausted. I think I could have been a bit faster overall if it weren't for the stomach issues.

Take more Pepcid at the start of the race.

Not much to add here.

I wasn't sure how this would go secondarily to the stomach issues. I decided to run totally off how I felt and just do the best that I could. Started off at a steady pace and took just water at the first 2 stops. Then went to gel at about 4 mile intervals with water in between. Stomach felt unsettled, but not bad. I love to run! This is also the only part where I ever get to pass people. I think I ran a steady pace, but I didn't look at my watch until I crossed the finish line. It was a mental thing. I knew that if I did and I was doing a slow pace, it would just defeat me. I felt good really. Relaxed up the hills and felt strong up them. I love the rolling hills part inside the part and on the second road you run out and back on. The in between part is in the bright sun with no shade and hot. Dumped a lot of water on my head along the way. Tried to hold back on the first loop and felt good on the second. As I got to the loop at the end near the finish, my kids and there friends sighted me and started to run with me. What fun! They all turned off right before the finish though as there were 5 of them all together, and I didn't want them to clog up the finish line. Looked at my watch and saw 1:43 for the run and was elated.

Nothing! This was a great run for me. Ran totally by RPE and felt good. I sort of had to force down the gels, but otherwise it was great.

Stood under the sprinkler for a while then left with the youngest child to get my bike and stuff and drive home.


Stomach problems on the bike.


Maybe I am biased because I live here. Also, I don't have much to compare this to as I rarely race. But, I think this is a great race.