felt like a lot of work to hold this pace. all weekend i was having problems getting my suit to fit well over my shoulders. near the end of the swim i tried to pick up the cadence, which worked well. two guys/girls were in front of me but i just couldn't catch em. caught most silvers before the 1st bouy, so that really didn't impeed progress.

freaking gorgeous swim location. ~2 minute PR on this swim from 2 years ago

nada, sighting was on point, breathing felt fine (even at altitude). oh, there is one thing. dont use mulitsport on my garmin. it always freezes at the exit of the swim. i dont know why i haven't learned this yet.

couldn't get my wetsuit off my wrists, stupidly swam in the garmin 310xt again, and yet again, it froze when i hit lap to new sport. perfect.

also, had to but arm warmers on, that doesn't work well with wet arms.

get out faster

2500 vertical climbed. in 57.X miles.

i dont want to make excuses, but this ride really freaking sucked. this race was my first half 2 years ago and i rode a 2:49. fast forward to now, and i have put in hundreds of more miles, had a great base build all winter, and i GAINED time?? r

emember that pre ride check i did? well, i must have sucked at it. by mile 5 i was stopped on the side of the road doing brake adjustments. somehow i got it tight with only my fingers and hopped back on, eager to make up for lost time.

i felt strong, i was zipping along at a high cadence (dont know speed or cadence or HR #s due to frozen garmin). if anyone passed me, i kept them in sight for several miles, no one really blew past me, except for ryan, who rode a freaking 2:33!!

somewhere around 20 i noticed that i wasn't spinning up hills anymore. i checked my brakes (this time from the seat) and could see daylight, so just wrote it off. turns out, my tire was rubbing on the seat stays. dont know how i didn't flat my tubular. which really would have sucked.

anyway, decent was fine, rollng along, got all my nutrion down before mile 55, perfect timing, and dismounted feeling ok, but nervous about my time (since i had NO idea)

triple check wheels and tires (dont race wheels after only 1 test ride)
computer to back up garmin?

pretty long t2, but that wasn't the big thing. since i didn't know the bike time, i asked rob and lori, who were nice enough to spectate us, what time it was, when i heard 12:35 i almost shit. "i started at 905. i swam ~30 min, that means i rode a 3 hour ride?! i wanted to break 5, and i know my legs cant run a 130 right now, even with a perfect ride. my fitness just isn't there. fuck."

honestly, these thoughts were the wrong thing to think about before starting a 13 mile run. bad mentally.

think happy thoughts

after that mental collapse in t2 i was just happy i ran 8 minute pace. like all race, i didn't have a watch, so i really dont know how i paced it, but i made it to mile 8 before i had to stop for a pee break. walked twice more after that getting ice and water in the system. felt pretty good considering. my stride was nowhere to be found, but at least i kept on going. ended feeling strong, except mile 12 took FOREVER holy crap i bet that mile was long.

have a watch for splits.

ate some grapes. and some chex mix rip off. yum


me.
1) didn't race a bike that was in working order (a little harsh but true)
2) used a watch in the swim which has broken before in a swim
3) got mentally demolished with a half marathon to go

+'s:
1) didn't taper for this race
2) felt amazing on the bike when shit wasn't rubbing
3) felt i could have run a 2 hour 1/2, which would be a 345 marathon (goal for canada)
4) had an absolute BLAST with Erin (2nd AG) RB (7th AG) SB (5th OA female) in her FIRST HALF IRONMAN. holy crap. fast chica


one comment. aid stations kinda sucked. i know its a bad thing to say, and i really do appreciate the volunteers, but they need to know how to sell what they have. "WATER HERE" "ELECTROLITES HERE" something...anything!

Luke McKenzie raced this race. fuckin awesome :)

oh one more last gripe. if you race in the elite wave, you shouldn't be able to win the age group. sorry, but if you are starting with 20 ppl and get your own bike rack and are racing for $$ you dont get to double up and win age group. not athletes fault, RD