Right before our wave went off (3rd), someone yelled out "Boom boom boom, let me hear you say wayho wayhooOOOOOOO!!" about 3x. I got a good laugh out of that, and sure enough it got stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Swim went extremely well. I've been slacking on my swimming this year and I was pleasantly surprised by the performance. I was reading the thread on ST and it seems that swim was a tiny bit short, but also with some wind going with us during the long stretch. I really stretched out and glided through the water to keep myself under control. I kept the heart rate really low, easy breathing, got out of the water feeling really fresh.

Train more

I wasn't about to catch hypothermia out there so I took my time drying off and changing into long sleeve clothing. Put on my tri top, long sleeve compression shirt and long sleeve jersey. I knew it was going to be a long day so losing a minute or two in T1 wasn't a huge concern.

Maybe lose the compression long sleeve shirt but I think it might have helped on some of the long descents.

WOW what a monster. Pictures and video just don't do this course justice. I had planned on getting in some big rides prior to the race, but with work, weddings, football games and birthdays I had a really hard time getting out there longer than 3 hours and in places that would simulate the terrain. I did a couple Mt. Weather rides out west which helped, but I was really suffering out there at parts.

Challenge #1 - Westernport Wall: You come down a long decent into Westernport and you follow the closed road to a small ramp that goes up to the main road in Westernport. I made the left turn, looked up the hill and my jaw almost hit the ground. It's a nice 12% climb up to the base of the wall, then it shoots up to 20%+ and peaks at 31% at the steepest part. To top it off, there's huge grooves and holes. I dropped into my granny gears, started hammering and went right for it. There's was nobody behind me and 2 people about 100 feet ahead of me so I had a clean shot at it. All I remember is pulling up so hard my front wheel was coming off the road. When I finally spun over the last little kick at the top I was so out of breath I almost fell over AFTER the wall. I made it and got my brick, that's all that matters! Stopped at the clothing drop, dropped off my cap under my helmet and started plugging away at Savage Mountain.

Challenge #2 - Savage Mountain: It doesn't seem so bad but all you keep looking for is SOME sort of relief that never shows up. You're spinning and all you see is incline in front of you. When it finally levels out, I see a sign that says "is this a false flat?" It was probably at 6% and I was going roughly 10mph. Ugh. Slow moving, 128/329, 45:09, avg 9.4mph.

Challenge #3 - McAndrews Hill: Nothing overly eventful but it's a nice .6 mile 9% - 19% climb that just batters your spirit. You've suffered so far, but the worst is still to come.

Challenge #4 - Otto Lane: My legs are burning here, my inner thighs are beginning to cramp. Another wonderful .6 mile 8% - 17% climb to remind you that you chose to do this, for fun. Saw a sign that had Kyle's phone number on it, I actually laughed out loud.

Challenge #5 - Killer Miller - "DON'T LOOK LEFT" the sign says. I look left, and there it is, the murderous Killer Miller. "Guess what time it is?" Oh no...."It's Miller Time!" 1.3 miles of pure hell, 8% - 22%, avg grade of 12%. These numbers mean nothing to you until you're out there doing it. Legs are cramping, heart is exploding, sun glasses are fogging and I'm breathing heavier than ever. I'm spinning at about 30 RPMs in my smallest gear, and there's a crowd of spectators yelling at the top of their lungs. Some girls on the side of the road are doing pushups saying "If I can do these pushups you can do Killer Miller!!" I slug up the hill with two other guys who are struggling to stay alive. We almost hit the peak when some guy yells out "WHO WANTS A BEER!!!!!" One of the guys slugging up the hill with me swerves over and grabs a Miller Lite in an aluminum screw top can, perfect for a bottle cage. I told him he was a freaking animal because I would have puked all over my bike at that point. Definitely the hardest part of the day. This is only at mile 40. Then the doubt starts to creep in, what if I can't finish?

Challenge #6 - Maynard Ride: This is only worth mentioning because it seemed like nothing compared to what I just endured. "Only" .25 miles I think. Right.

Challenge #7 - Mental breakdown: I hit the final rollers between 45 and 55 and started to think that I would have nothing left for the run. Calves were beginning to cramp, inner things couldn't get loose, thighs were burning on even the tiniest of hills and I'm seriously doubting if I'd have anything for the run. Just get to transition...just get to transition...

What CAN you do differently? I tried to go conservative and that didn't work. I needed a ton more long climb training.

Nothing eventful but the way I was feeling, again, just took my time. Let my legs get loose, stretched the calves, took in a gel and took off.

The run ended up being the most enjoyable part of the day. I started to run out of transition and I knew immediately that I had nothing to worry about. Inner thighs were tight but not affecting my run (too much). Legs were tired but I just kept moving forward. There was one guy that went screaming past me on the bike at mile 53 and all I could think was "why?" We're so close to transition, spin it out and give yourself some recovery time. I passed him within the first mile while he was walking. Saw him on the 2nd loop and he was still walking.

First loop: 1:00:02 - First mile was interesting, some mud, some trail, then out to the pavement. Hills felt larger than they should have but I was picking people off that obviously went too hard on the bike. Passed 4 30-34's in the first 4 miles. Then we hit the fire road. Who put this on the course? Freaking stupid. Not the fact that it was straight up, not the fact that it was loose gravel, but there's a section with literally no place to get footing. Everyone was walking through a 100 ft section because there was no way to run up it. Once you hit the turn around its a quick decent and you pray that you don't roll and ankle. Back through transition my legs were still ok, breathing was still good.

Loop #2: 1:00:06 - Right on pace. Legs were tight but not unbearable. People around me are looking like they're about to keel over. Aid station to aid station, I walked through and grabbed water, gave myself a 30 second break about every 1.5 miles. It paid serious dividends in the end. I was able to keep my pace going and came across the finish line still smiling. It's the first time I've actually felt hunger on the run. True hunger. Luckily I snagged some huckleberry gels from the aid stations so anytime I felt hungry I popped one of those. Took a gel roughly every 30 minutes and it worked well. No stomach distress and energy level was good throughout.

Not much actually. I think my legs were shot before the run so the fact that I was able to keep a solid 9 min/mile pace after that was all I wanted. Feel good at the finish line = win

Walked around the finish line area but all I wanted to do was sit down. My pops said he went into the bathroom and there was some dude puking his guts out. He told me that about 50% of the people that crossed the finish line looked like they were in really rough shape.

It made me think about how far I've come since my first Olympic distance triathlon. I've got the race report on here, it was General Smallwood down in southern Maryland. It was a June triathlon, I was undertrained, didn't know my nutritional needs, didn't drink enough during the bike and suffered dearly on the run. When I crossed the finish line I'm pretty sure I had heat exhaustion. That was my all-time low. I've learned so much since then and I really have BT to thank for that. I've gone from sprint to HIM in 3 years and here I am finishing the hardest triathlon in the world. What an amazing feeling. I may not be the fastest guy out there, but I'm having fun doing it and that's all that matters.


Could have trained more on the bike, probably not spending the last three weekends drinking beer with my college buddies.


Most of the guys that show up for this race are studs, no way around it. They put me in my place. Separated the men from the boys and I was just happy to get to the finish line.

This is definitely a bucket-list race for anyone that enjoys climbing. As someone posted earlier, the endorphin rush at the end is totally worth it. Beautiful scenery, great local and spectator support, and Kyle Yost puts on a great show. Two thumbs up.