Thought I was pushing a steady moderate pace but just didn't seem to be making much progress. Dissappointed with time coming out of the water but I figured we were all swimming the same course so nothing I could do except move forward.

Swim faster. I certainly lost some time with my sighting on a couple of occasions.

What a mess. 50-75 yard run out of transition to bike mount line was really muddy. I picked up bike to keep from getting mud etc. in the gears. Shoes were a mess by the time I mounted the bike. Lots of folks stacked up at the bike mount line putting on shoes etc. What a mess

Nothing. Did the best with the conditions. Surprised I wasn't slower.

Goal was to build into race with power around 225 watts. For the bike I ended up at AP222/NP224. Right on target. The course was there for the taking given minimal winds so I figured I would push it even though HR was higher than I knew it should be if I wanted to have a good run. Knew the run would be tough regardless so took advantage of the opportunity to have a good bike split......I'd pay for this later.

Should have backed off a bit. So hard to know whether a 3-4 minute slower bike split would make for a 5-7 minute faster run. Thats part of the game in the longer races. Effort did not seem all that hard but I should have realized I was pushing harder than I should given where HR was. It was an A race so felt I needed to take advantage of the opportunties when they arose.

Back through the mud to T2. Again picked up the bike as pushing it through the slop would have been harder. Took some extra time to wipe some of the mud off my feet. Put on socks then shoes on and out.

Again, given all that I did I'm surprised I wasn't slower.

As I was heading out on the course Andy Potts was heading in to win the overall. Should have asked him to do a relay :) Legs felt pretty good initially and I figured I would shoot for 8 min mile pace to include walking through water stations. That would usually be a pretty conservative pace for me for HIM. Stopped at the first mile to pee and maintained sub 8's through the first 3-4 miles. Then my time in the water stations lengthened and my run pace slowed. Water/Gatorade at every aid station and ice down shirt/shorts. Gu at mile 3 and again around 8 or 9. This was not so much a 13.1 mile run as it was a survival slog between the aid stations. Stopped at every aid station except at mile 12. Walked a few times and contemplated DNF at times. Found myself trying to do the math of how much I could walk and still finish sub 4:55 or sub 5. Not exactly a positive outlook at times. Nothing left at the end. Totally spent!
While it may not have beed as hot as some Eagleman races it was still hot and very humid and it took its toll on me..

Backed off on the bike a bit? But, if you are really racing the run is going to hurt at any triathlon. Knew it would be hard regardless of what I did on the bike and was just hoping to find some magic on the run to have a strong race. Probably should have taken in more fluids on the run (thought I did) as it was several hours after the race before i needed to pee.....likely dehydrated.

Sat in the chairs at the finish line for about 10 minutes drinking Gatorade and cooling down. Got a massage and some food. Checked results. Turns out I would have had a Vegas 70.3 slot if I had stayed around for awards/rolldowns but I had already decided I wasn't going to Vegas even if I got a spot.

Cleaned up. Got to the car and drove to visit family 4 hours away. Doing the grandpa walk by the time I got out of the car :)


Can't really complain. It was a solid but not spectacular result. I've made good progress. Just need to keep working hard. I learn something everytime I race and like the HIM distance even though its hard on an old man. Previous HIM in April at Galveston was 4:47. Felt like this was a harder effort...maybe the pain is just more recent.


Race was well done. Transition area was a mess but not much you can do about the weather.
Lots of really serious racers. Quality of field was very high. Guess the Kona slots bring all the heavy hitters in.