Miami Man 1/2 Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I have been practicing with tempo so had an idea if where I wanted to stay at (cadence of 104). Felt good starting out and held steady. Kept in clean water first few hundred yards then looked to draft. Found some pretty good feet that I wished were just slightly faster. I figured I could go a hair slower and save energy or keep up same pace with higher energy. Decided to just draft. He was a little loose with siting so had to abandon the free ride from time to time.

First lap was around 18:30. Goal was 18:00 so not bad. I felt good and knew could easily handle 2nd lap. Found good feet again and kept with it.
Was happy with the time and cut off about 3:00 from last year. Swimming definately improved this year to get me out of middle, bottom of the pack out of the water.

Not much here. Was happy with pace and how I felt leaving the water. Breathing was good and kept lake water where it belonged and out of my gut. It was a trade-off going with wet suit or not. I knew I would get hot even with a sleeveless, but the advantage of it overruled!

Cut off 40+ seconds from last year. Decided to go without a shirt to keep it simple. Everying was on the bike and ready to go. Decided to not wear socks and would put them on for the run. I rarely train with them so why not.

I thought I had the same pace in this really long transition as last year. Must have been a little quicker once getting to the bike. I also had a great transition spot on the rack, second from the end and close to bike exit.

Feeling good coming out of the water helped, but I had decided earlier I would agressively push the Bike to try to shave time off of last year. First 30-40 minutes were mostly with the wind or side-wind. With the wind it was easy to get up to 25-27 miles an hour. The winds were easily 20-25 mph, maybe stronger with gusts. Was able to hold 22 or so with side-winds. When it came to the inevitable of heading into wind, I pushed it to keep it around 16-17 mph. Heck, I had an aero helmet, I should be cutting through this wind like a hot knife through butter:) Cadence was SLOW heading upstream, around 72-78. People were suffering out there and it was obvious as race went on. Last 40 minutes+ was pretty much into this wind. Just kept grinding and looking to cut time off from last year. Ended up cutting off 2 minutes from last year in much worse conditions. Drank almost two bottles of gatorade enduance, bottle of water, took a gel every 45 minutes, electrolyte cap every hour and ate a clif bar mid-way. I felt that was sufficient.

Where to start. It will be evident later, but I beleive this is where the run truly started to fail before it even started. I swore off brick training after battling injury last year. Bad idea #1 of many. I also did not have great quantity of time in the saddle during training to push it this way in a race. Not sure if I should have had more nutrition or not, I think the run outcome was based on several factors.

This transition felt really solid, probably best yet at any distance. Nice bike rack helped and I was just focused I guess. I was about 7-8 minutes ahead of last year's time in this point of race and felt great to get off the bike. Put socks on, slipped shoes on, grabbed fuel belt and race belt and was off with visor in hand. With # of bikes back on my rack, I figured I was in top ten in AG at this point.

Can't say that could do much faster. Felt great and was 4th in age group here.

Ran through long transition and onto the run course. Heart rate felt pretty good, but planned on 1st mile being a little slower as it ussually is for me. Probably averaged 9:00 the first mile and goal was around 8:45 from there. Things did not go that way unfortunately. All I could muster was to hope to keep that pace and just hang on best I could. That was evident very early which in a 13 mile run, didn't help matters. Again, I was looking at my watch way too much and calculating splits, finish times etc. That was dumb as I set up false expectations to begin with based on conditions. That said, around mile 4 I took a gel and kept marching along. Started to see some folks a passed on the bike catch me and that sucked. Really started to lose it mentally which is not like me at all. Hit the 2nd loop and I was just hoping to not stop and walk. I easily accepted fact I was going to walk the aid stations 2nd time around. I was too frustrated to track splits at this point, but it was slow going here after. Started to cramp around mile 9 in the calfs and quads. Never had that happen before. I had taken electrolytes pretty steady every hour and thought had been drinking enough. Who knows. At mile 10 I just said another 5k and where done, took another gel. I went from thinking of top 10, to shaving minutes off last year's time, to dear god, get this over with. I knew none of those things were going to happen. Probably averaged 10-11 minute miles in this area. At one point I actually made a wrong turn off course. I remember hearing the race announcer mention staying on course before the race and thinking, "who the heck can't follow this well laid out track". Obviously it was me. It took me about 50 feet to realize something was wrong and a girl mentioned she wondered where I was going. I told her to feel free to speak up next time:) Back on course and I broke. I walked a bit around mile 11 or 12. Felt so good! But still wanted to keep pride and run it in. I don't think you could call it running at that point, but I finshed! 9 minutes longer than last year's run...

In hindsite, I have never pushed it on the bike at any race distance and I always regretted it later. Well, I can admit I did not change my race strategy based on the conditions and I was going by last year's time comparisons vs. what I should have been doing. Could have been some other areas though. Last year my long runs were slower in training, but longer. Longest I ran in training was about 11-12 miles. I ran a 10 mile race two weeks before and really pushed it. It really helped with confidence, but have to wonder if it was smart to do.

I crossed the line and sat in a chair near the chute. As crazy as it sounds, I wanted to be near med tent "just in case". My buddy started about 30 minutes after me so knew I had some time till he came in. I grabbed a water or two after feeling a little better and found first patch of grass I could and crashed. Laid there for about 20 minutes and was happy I finshed, but disapointed in results. More so about not managing a good race. Went to T1 and packed up gear and headed to the car. We had parked along the run finish so thought I would see my friend there anyway. Cheered folks on who were still finishing and I was about 1/2 mile from finish line and let everyone know they were almost there. Actually told them 700 yards to make it seem more manageable vs. 1/2 mile:)


Already listed above so won't dwell. Bad strategy to start with and if nothing else, this race was a great learning experience. My taper week was really off too. I did nothing Friday or Saturday before the race and I don't think it made a difference, but would have liked to at least done something.


This race is fun and only 1/2 in South Florida so they get a good crowd as ussual. Next year will be tougher with Ironman 70.3 coming to Miami during the same time. It was probably my 2nd and last time here. Only thing keeping me motivated to race here again is redemption:) It is a nicely run race with great volunteers though. Great 1st 1/2 to do IMHO if you live in Florida.