Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The first mass start in my life. I heard about what to expect but it's hard to understand until you live through it. The water was very muddy, i could not see an inch ahead of me, people everywhere, constant pushing, kicking, punching....

Try to stay away from the major crowd and get into the drill as soon as possible.

More T practice/training

As soon as i took off, i realized my bike computer was not working. I believe it got out of synch in the transition area since the three bikes next to me had Cateyes too. I had no means of measuring my speed and cadence.
Otherwise, i believe i was riding alright. I felt good throughout the whole ride, passed a number of guys, and got passed, hydrated and ate well.

Need to learn turns. i almost had to stop in the turn to make them.
Need to test my bike comp right before the race.

Terrible transition time. i definitely need to improve the time in T. I had to stop for a port-o-potty but still....5 mins is rediculous

Practice

Running was the hardest piece of the race. I was counting down miles, praying for the race to end. i started off at my regular 1/2 mary speed - 8min/mil but had to slow down at the 3rd mile. From this moment on, i ran for 1/5 a mile, walked 20 sec, ran again, walk again....until the end. The whole time i was thinking i would never be able to finish the full IM.

More b ricks, more bricks, more bricks....
More long distance running....

pizza and beer.


an injury in February that prevented me from training for about a month. i missed on the peak of my fitness and got back into a decent shape only a few days before the race.
More training - definitely more bricks!!!!!!!!!!!!


Little disappointed right after the race, especially about the run and the swim.
Looking back now (3 days after), i am pretty happy about the results. It was my first triathlon (any distance) in my life and i only started training in September '08 after all.