Swim was canceled due to high surf and rip tides.

I knew going into this that I was massively undertrained because of life getting in the way. However, I went out on the bike trying to find a good pace that I felt I could maintain for the majority of the race. I felt great until about mile 40 when the strain of being in aero the entire time started to affect me. That's also the portion of the course where you start to get affected by the headwind more heavily, so the two items combined to slow down my final time. I was pushing about 21mph for the first half! Coming back over the bridge was like hitting a wall of air, and then the cross winds for the final home stretch were enough to drop my average down to the final 18.7mph. I was still happy with that pace, but I know I could do better once I can get back into my training routines.

Spend more time training again

I took too much time in transition. Some of this can be accounted for because of the long transition chute and the fact that my rack spot was on the far side from the bike in, however, I also had my own issues. Unfortunately I still haven't put speed laces onto my running shoes, so I had to stop and tie my shoes. I also had the rare issue of having to hit the bathroom before heading out on the run.

Upgrade my laces so I don't have to stop and tie my shoes would be a huge help.

With the heat and humidity (and again, lack of training), I knew I was in for a rough one. I went with the plan to run between aid stations as long as possible, but I quickly switched to a 4:1. This actually seemed to work fairly well and enabled me to chew up miles.

Get myself back into shape and lose some of the extra weight I was carrying.

Once I crossed the finish, I took advantage of the location and dipped my bare feet and shins into the pool. The cool water felt wonderful on my legs and I think really was a good part of the reason that I didn't have any lingering pains.


The heat and my overall lack of training.

I knew it was going to be rough, and I really feel that this was one of my stronger mental days because I just kept pushing when it probably would have been very easy to throw in the towel after the bike or again after any of the first two loops.


This was a great first effort for IM Gulf Coast. The volunteers were amazing and the course was really nice. It was so cool to have everything right there at the resort. I didn't have to drive anywhere once I arrived in town!
I know people were complaining, but I appreciated that the race director was looking out for our safety and pulled the plug on the swim.
I would definitely go back next year and give the race another try and hopefully get to tackle that ocean swim!