Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim went well. I found open water early on, and really had this open water for a majority of my swim. I was hoping to jump on some feet, but the first pair I found were navigationally challenged and the second pair were very late in the race and ended up being someone from the wave behind me FLYING by so I had a hard time keeping up with him. I was really surprised at the number of people not swimming the tightest line next to the bouy's. I swam the bouy line the entire way and the water was very calm and not crowded.

Nothing really. This was my first HIM so I probably could've gone harder, but I wanted to stay in control and not fight for any breaths. People were saying it was a long swim, and hopefully it was, as I was hoping for a 33:xx swim. Oh well, we all had to swim the same course.

Transition was going well, but I felt like something was wrong with the sole of my right foot. It was really burning, but my adrenaline wasn't allowing me to feel the severity of the problem just yet. I had apparently stepped on something either coming out of the water or on my way to transition, and SLICED MY FOOT WIDE OPEN. As I hopped on my bike, I was having a hard time getting my foot on top of my left shoe and that slowed me down for a few seconds.

Well, my mount was terrible, but that is something that usually doesn't happen, so I'm not going to dwell on it. Obviously if I had the choice I wouldn't step on anything to slice my foot open as I knew I was in trouble.

Felt strong on the bike, and because I started in the 3rd to last wave, had the opportunity to pass a ton of people, which makes you feel good. Was passed by a few people, but I knew the speed I was carrying and there was no way I could match them and still have a run left. Was hoping for a 2:30ish bike split, and thats exactly what I had. A bunch of riders that I passed early on and put a significant gap between ~4-5 min came flying by in a paceline somewhere around mile 45 im guessing, it was ridiculous. They were about 100 yards behind the draft marshall and they were working well together, pulling for a bit and letting the other guy have a turn. There was even a girl on the end of the line looking like she was doing all she could just to hold on. It really pissed me off, but there was nothing I could do, I wasn't about to jump on myself. I'd by lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Just train the bike more efficiently, plain and simple. This is my first full year of racing, and my bike splits have made me pretty happy thus far. The bike is obviously my strength and I fully expect to be able to post a top bike split at every race I enter, and it will come with time.

Uh-oh. Throughout the bike my foot was hurting more and more. Obviously something was wrong, and when I took my feet out and put them on top of my shoes, I could feel a piece of skin folding over. I really started to feel depressed as I was pulling into transition, but I knew during the bike that this was going to happen when I got back. I had to come to a complete stop when I hit the dismount line, and immediately my foot started killing me when I took a step. I hobbled into transition, found a medic and had her come over to my rack and take a look at my foot. It wasnt good, I had sliced my foot open and had a nice little flap of skin hanging off. It really hit me now as I was sitting on the ground that my "race" was over and I was going to have to go into survival mode. I was sitting around 3:15 total time at this point, a little off what I had planned, but not much. Now it was a matter of surviving the run. I almost had tears sitting there getting my foot taped up, I had put 5+ months into this race only to have this BS stop my race early.

Nothing. Not step on something earlier in the race.

I had heard the horror stories about heat and the terrain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. The sun was out, but nothing different than what I had trained in the last few weeks before the race. Of course my "run" turned into a walk/jog combo as soon as I stepped out of transition, so I'm sure the heat was easier to deal with than if I was really pushing the pace for 13.1.

Can't really do anything different. My run problems were out of my control. I'm not sure if I would've been able to put down a 1:50 run like I wanted, but a 2:00 was probably doable.

Sat around really depressed for a bit before I went into transition to get my stuff.


Well the biggest thing was my foot injury. That was just a freak thing, but it really prevented me from posting a time that I thought I was able to post. A time just over 5 hours should have been realistic, but I'll have to wait until next year to show this race what I can do. Also, I had planned on being around 200 when race day arrived, but I was still at 215. If I could've been lugging around 200 instead of 215, that would've helped. I also didn't hydrate enough on the run thinking that it wasn't needed, but I lost 8 pounds by the end of the race, which is totally unacceptable.


Next year hopefully I'll be able to race the entire race. I've got at least one more HIM planned this season, maybe 2. Learned some things about myself during this race regarding nutrition that will prove to be beneficial, so some good came of this race. Also, I suppose that I could've packed it in after the bike and taken a DNF but that was not an option, especially my first HIM.