Bassman Fall Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt really good on the swim. Great rhythm, no banging bodies, smooth stroke. I didn't push the HR too much but I felt faster than 1:55. I stopped once to cough up some phlegm that I couldn't work up without stopping. I am able to sort of hack up and swim at the same time but this one was stubborn.

Passed some in the wave ahead, got passed by some in the wave behind.

Maybe go even harder. I have gotten into the habit of not pushing too hard on the swim so I can keep my breathing under control and not get my HR too high. Could be time to step it up a bit.

Wetsuit got stuck on left leg with the timing strap.

I did have a lot to do here; suit off, Garmin on, jersey on (I wanted the warmth and the pockets), nutrition in said pockets, and shoes on (too much sand!)

Have a bento box to keep nutrition and skip the jersey.
More aggressive on suit removal

I went too fast. Period. Didn't leave enough for the run. Even though I managed 20+ over 58 miles which seems liked a great bike split for me, as has been said there is no such thing as a good bike followed by a bad run.

There was a bottle exchange at the turn around. I was planning on picking up a water bottle. They had NO WATER. I was not happy and let out an F bomb (apologies to the volunteers). All they had was Heed and I have never used that. I wanted to use the water to help eat Clif blocks and shots. As a result I took in fewer calories and less water than I wanted.

I carried 1 GE bottle and 1 water bottle, 3 sleeves of Clif block, 2 Clif shots, and 2 Mocha w/caffeine shots diluted in a small bottle. Drank all fluids, ate 1.5 sleeves and finished the Mocha. I would have liked to have had the second water and one clif shot and maybe the other half sleeve of blocks.

I figure I took in about 420 cals in 2:50, including 24 oz of GE and 24 oz water. I would have liked maybe another 270 or so, with water to help dilute and digest the blocks and shots.

All that said, I felt pretty good on the bike for most of the race. Played leap frog with a couple of guys on the first loop; one I managed to drop for good, the other dropped me. I know I slowed some on the back half because I got passed by more folks than on the front half. One guy with 62 on his calf came flying by. He must be a really slow swimmer or was insanely fast and was on his second bike loop. I was a little surprised that I passed as many women as I did. It wasn't a lot, but all women were in the swim wave behind me so any who were in front of me on the bike came out of the water ahead of me. I'm sure there were quite a few women who passed me on the swim and I never saw them again. Most of the course was two way traffic except for a 5 mile loop. I thought I'd see the leaders coming back as I was going out but must have missed them on that one way section. Around mile 45 or so I really started to feel it and was ticking off the miles, counting down the time until I could stop. That's when I really knew I had gone too hard even though I felt good for the majority of the bike. It seemed like a bit of a dichotomy; I felt pretty good at a 20 mph pace, but should have been going easier. Got to get a handle on that one. It didn't "feel" that hard but obviously it was too much.

Slow down, train better, be self sufficient for nutrition, use a bento box instead of jersey pockets.

Was planning to unclip and run in shoes because of all the sand but right shoe would not unclip so I got that foot out of my shoe just before I stopped. Had to get the left foot out at a stand still. Ran towards transition and saw my wife. I got a little choked up. She is so awesome and I could not do this without her.

Wow, I hurt. I stretched a little bit here. Got jersey off and had to kneel to get socks and run shoes on. I could not bend over! Put on race number and fuel belt w/4 bottles of GE. Didn't train with Heed so I wanted my GE. Had 3 gels in the pouch. Did I mention that my legs hurt?

Didn't press the right button on Garmin so I stopped it instead of lap (autosport mode)

Not go so hard on the bike so I could at least bend over to put on my shoes.

Ouch.

I had little left in my legs. Walked a lot, stopped to stretch a couple of time. My left ankle which I rolled about 4 weeks ago started to really hurt from the off road sections. The uneven surface was not good for an injured ankle. I played leap frog with a few folks as I did my walk/run. I joked with one guy that I should just adopt his slow shuffle because we passed each other so many times.
I drank almost all my GE and a lot of water. Stopped at almost every station. Most of the volunteers were very encouraging and supportive. I Felt emotionally low at times but refused to give in. After mile 11 I decided I could not stop to walk again because starting up after walking was just too painful.
I did managed to suck it up, dig down deep and finish pretty strong. I had been pacing a guy with an M-Dot tat. He pulled away late as I slowed. I could see him pulling further away and I made it my goal to close the gap. I closed it and created another gap with him on the backside. After the race he congratulated me on a strong finish. That felt pretty good.

What also felt good was seeing my wife at the finish line. I feel so grateful for having her support me. She gets up early on race day, puts up with my craziness, rubs my sore muscles, washes my stinky clothes, just loves me and supports me unconditionally. She is Sherpa Extraordinaire!

Take it easy on the bike.

I stopped moving. Period. Then I got the in cold lake. That was nice but in general I had a hard time moving due to my ankle and over all soreness in the legs. We got some food, I sat and ate, drank a lot of water and some Coke Zero. I hobbled to transition, packed up my gear, hobbled to the car (small race = close parking!!!) and we drove home. I stopped about an hour in at WaWa because I wanted some Joe.


Ankle pain, bike too hard.
It's possible that I was under trained. I know I have been taking the run too lightly thinking that since I came from a running background I need less work there. Wrong! In the past I have done better against the field on the run compared to swim and bike. This race my run was worse compared to the field than the other legs.


Small race and disorganized in some regards but all in all it was good and the race site was very nice. Didn't like that there was no water at the only bottle exchange so even though there was plenty of water and food on the run course they got a NO for plenty of drink stations. The run course itself was a bit confusing and I really didn't like the rough trail section. They did have folks out there directing traffic which was nice but I did feel on my own a couple of times out there in the woods.