Swim was great. I didn't need to draft, didn't push too hard, and set myself up for a good bike.

Nothing.

Long run across the beach to T1. I took my suit off at the beach, a very good idea by me! I couldn't get my bike out from under the rack because my bottles were too high. So I fiddled around with taking them out, dropping them on the ground, almost leaving one behind, going back to get it, and then finally leaving transition. Took me an extra minute or so to do all that.

Check bottle height next time. Not sure what the fix is since I rack the bike nose first... tough sh*t I guess.

Everything went great for the first 40 miles, and then on the last 16 my stomach was irritable. I couldn't keep down my nutrition or Gatorade without brubing it up into my mouth. I think mixing some solid food and not going all liquid may fix this problem; all the sweetness of the GU, Gatorade, and Perpeteum may have been the cause. I'll experiment more on my upcoming long rides and see what happens. What was great is that when my plan went to hell in the last 20K I improvised a quality solution (stop drinking, and only sip water while coasting) and it worked.

Add solid food (?), attack the group of drafters on my ass. I hauled those bastards around for 20+ miles and then they dump me when my stomach went sour!

Forgot to get feet out of shoes, I was just happy to be back at T2. Whatever, it cost me like 20 seconds.

Nothing.

I started slow, attacked the hills to pass people, and watched my heart rate like the FBI. I sweat profusely and hydration is a big problem for me on long runs, so I walked the aide stations and refueled on Gatorade and water. Kept dumping water on my head to stay cool, and was happy with my run, except I walked about 0.5 miles inside the last 2 miles.

Cut out the walking between aide stations on the last three miles

Cracker Barrel! Roast beef, corn muffins, mac n cheese, hashbrown casserole, cole slaw, fruit ice tea, and bread.


Nothing. I chose to take it easy, not hammer, and cross the finish line feeling I could have gone faster and/or further.


Tom Ziebart and his crew (volunteers, police, organizers) put on the best race I have ever attended. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do: finish happy and injury free. This was a perfect test drive of my plan for IMFL. Three months out and I am on track to go sub-13hr. Now it's time to get plenty of sleep and food in me for the next couple days.