Black Bear Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I had a pretty relaxed swim for the most part. Was able to follow feet several times, but not for as long as I should have been able to do in clear water like that. Had to navigate through slower swimmers from the wave ahead of us a few times (4min gap), but mostly wasn't too bad.

The toughest part was sighting on the return leg as you looked right into the sun glare, making it nearly impossible to pick out buoys until you were almost on top of them. But there were enough people that I just trusted that someone up there knew where we were going. Did hear my old swim instructor from the Y (who was in charge of the swim lifeguarding) cheer me on from her kyack. I jokingly asked her where the he!! the turn buoy was while breathing on a couple strokes, but couldn't hear her reply. :-)

Never felt great about my navigating, but never found myself way off course either. And my swim time ended up being a little better than I had expected (took most of the winter off from swimming and only got back in the pool at the beginning of April).

Try to hold onto some feet a little better.

It was only a short jog into transition after the swim this year (last year was a long, uphill run), though that time is included in the swim as the transition mats were right at the entrance/exits.

Got my wetsuit off OK--did get stuck on my heel but came off with just a couple extra tugs. Conciously tried to slow myself down as I got my socks and shoes on to make sure I had everything together--even though I pretty much knew I did, I just can't see saving a few seconds if I forget something that will cost me with well over 4 hours of racing left to go. So gel flasks in pockets, suglasses and helmet on and off I went.

Could probably speed this up a touch, but I was reasonably happy with it.

After a longish run out of transition up to the road, I mounted and took off. There was a no passing zone in the park, so I took that time to tighten my shoes. As soon as we hit the main road, I tried to settle right into an "easy" race pace--making sure I let my HR relax from T1 where it always spikes up (even though I was not wearing an HR monitor for the first time in a longer race).

I tried to keep my power in check on the hill climbs, which usually resulted in people passing me on the way up and then me re-passing them on the way down or on the flats. This was a problem a few times for me as people did not move right all the time on the descents. A couple times I was forced to scrub a good bit of speed and momentum since there was no way to safely pass.

Since I hadn't had the chance to pre-ride (or even drive) the course, I had to go by memory from the sprint where that overlapped and then just pay attention where it didn't. One place where it "didn't" was at a turn-around where the only aid station on the course was located. Unfortunately, this caught me off-guard and I only picked up a bottle of water where I had wanted to get both new water and sport drink. (Unfortunately, I learned just before the race start that this would be Heed. While I managed with it, I still thnk it tastes like @ss--especially as it warms.) But I adapted by just using more of my gels in the middle section and then relying more on Heed in the last portion.

On the second loop, I really started feeling good about my ride even though I was nowhere close to my sub-2:45 ride goal (there was some good cross-headwinds in some of the open and relatively faster portions of the course which may have robbed us of some of the few opportunities for "free" speed). A couple of the hills (especially the last one which we don't do on the first lap) were a little tougher to balance keeping power in check with keeping a reasonable cadence this time, but otherwise things were good.

Took in somewhere between 900-1000 calories over the course of the ride and ~100oz of fluids.

Not much. Maybe think about getting compact cranks for the new bike if I do this race again.

Better than T1 as I was very efficient here. Took off my helmet, slipped my shoes on, swapped my empty gel flasks for a couple gel packs, and grabbed my visor and race belt which I put on as I ran out of transition.

This was a top-10 T2 (whereas T1 was only Top-50).

Nothing.

I felt good as I started this run, but was wondering if I wasn't going too hard. At mile 1 I had my answer. A 6:43 was way faster than I would want to start an open half marry, let alone the start of an HIM run. Tried to ease back a bit after that, but still probably worked too hard during a couple of the hillier sections in the next couple of miles. I think I would have been better off if each of those first 3 miles had been 7:30-7:35 (the pace I eventually averaged for the whole run).

By the middle of the loop in miles 4 and 5, we were on the flat section over the dam. This was the best portion to run a little faster (yet still easy) as all we were fighting was the wind (though it did feel good at times) and the sun (no cover out there).

On the second lap, I wasn't surprised to find that it was starting to hurt. Miles 8-10 were tough. I walked very briefly on a couple short, steep hills but generally this was just me slowing down, especially on any hillier sections. Once I hit the dam stretch I was able to pick it back up a little bit again, but now I just felt hot & tired and walked portions of mile 12 & 13 even as I neared the finish. I think I might have been better off just slowing down some but trying to keep running staight through. This is a mental challenge for me as much as physical.

Took 2 gels with water plus several hits of Heed whenever I felt like it. Also took just water a few times too.

Go out slower. Stay mentally tougher.

Dropped into a shaded section near the finish. Took awhile to get up as my legs started cramping. Then hobbled around and grabbed some food (not as good as last year).

Checked the results and realized depite finishing 4th in my AG that I would get a 3rd place award since the fastest in our AG took 3rd OA. So stuck around to grab the hardware before heading home.

Note: I need a proofreader present for any future awards. When I got home, my wife asked if I noticed that the award was dated June 1, 2008. Doh! This can now go along with my 1st place 35-39 FEMALE award for Harriman in 2007. :-)


Hills! :-)

Probably could/should have sucked it up a bit more on the run. Think I would have been able to catch the guy ahead of me. But other than that, this was about as well as I was going to do on the day.


Really a great course in a good location. Food was a little disappointing (cold pizza as the main dish?), but otherwise a good show by CGI. The volunteers were abundant and awesome!