Superfrog Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swam better than I thought I had in me. Don't know the time as I did not have a watch on but it was surely faster than I normally swim as I arrived in transition with my bike surrounded by many other bikes (I am used to having some extra space in T1 and my eyes almost bulged from the sight of so many bikes). I lunged under the waves well to get underneath and kind of dolphin kicked while the waves went over. I got past them pretty quick and had a good groove going right away.. finding the buoy pretty quickly. Then navigated well and after turning back in I caught the waves extremely well and rode them back into shore. Perhaps body surfing is my thing. :)

I think I swam really well. Kind of amazed myself when I saw all the bikes in transition.

Again... don't know the time.

Ran across the mat... ran through the pool to get the sand off my feet and after getting my wetsuit off quickly put my shoes, helmet, and sunglasses on.

It was a good quick transition except I did have a little trouble getting the wetsuit off my feet. Also had to slide my bike computer sensor up right after going over the mat as it had slid down and wasn't reading.

Put my bike computer time down. As with the other legs they didn't post splits so I am putting my bike computer time down which doesn't include the time that I took changing my rear tube 8 mile in as the back tire was feeling mushy and it was making me have to work harder to get the speed I desired. Plus I had a guy drafting off me for 4 miles and so stopping that didn't bother me at all. The guy even had volunteers say "watch the drafting" but he kept at it. After fixing the rear tire up, I started off again determined to have a great ride. I kept pretty comfortable but yet knew I was grinding the gears pretty good. Most of the ride had crosswinds coming from the ocean and in spots I would crank harder and then I could hold the higher speeds better. There was only one short hill in the course and I used that in both directions to take in nutrition and the cheering there also helped me spin the crank away. On the 4th loop, I passed the lead woman, Renata Bucher. She smiled at me as I went by and I think she used me to motivate her bike pace but I did put a little bit of distance on her before the end of the loop/bike.

Rode very well. Perhaps I should have changed the tube before as I slightly wondered about it after having to air it up from about 60 psi that morning. Otherwise rode a great ride.

Normal transition with the addition of socks because of the sandy run.

Same...

Ran really well on the first loop and struggled on the second loop. I had the Garmin on and my pace was between mid 7s and low 9s according to the terrain. At the beginning of the 2nd loop, the female leader, Renata, finally caught up to me. I thought she was going to catch me just a little after the run started and was surprised that it took her that long. She laughed when I told her that. I tried to keep her in sight but as the 2nd loop progressed I slowed gradually and was in the mid 8s to the low 10s and walked a little through the really soft sand part. If felt like I wasn't much slower than if I tried to run through the that part. I did pick the pace back up a little over the last mile and half or so.

Just lack of run training. I was a big slacker. I more than doubled my run miles for the month during the race and that really isn't acceptable if I want to perform at the level that I would like to. Plus I would have been a lot more comfortable on that 2nd loop if I had trained properly.

Stretched really quickly... grabbed a coke and 2 chili dogs. I was hungry! Then went right over to the Normatec MVP 'SPACE LEGS' recovery device setup and relaxed while they did their work. The device is neat. It is 2 leg sleeves that an air compressor fills up applying compression to your legs and feet in a manner that is supposed to increase your circulation. While I was in them, the race winner Chris McDonald was doing the same and I talked to him a little bit. Since he was an aussie, I told him he should race Macca at the Silver Half. Don't think he will as he said that hills don't get along well with him.


Strangely enough the run was my weakest link. Slacker run training limited my performance.


This is a great race and although it doesn't have all the thrills of some races, it does have a lot of prestige. It is the type of race that triathlon is meant to be. Well in my mind at least. It is setup to test you and what you can do. It is also a 31 year old race that I look forward to going back to.