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HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course
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HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman
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 Swim
Comments: Water was cold. Very cold, did I mention the water was cold? At least it was clean. The lake was actually very beautiful at the swim, if it weren't for the temperature of the water. Little to no contact until the turn at the buoy then I found myself in the middle of a pack getting elbowed and my feet tugged on. This didn't bother me much except I was inbetween two people that weren't swimming straight so I had to continually change my course in order to not make much contact with them. I eventually slowed down to swing around behind one of them and get to the outside of them. Sighting on the way out was easy, just swim directly towards the sun, the way back was a difficult just because of all the commotion going on around me. What would you do differently?: Wear booties, find some way to keep my hands warm  Transition 1
Comments: Exiting the water was when I realised my hands and feet were numb. It was difficult getting out of my wetsuit and putting on my socks/shoes/vest/helmet/sunglasses for the bike. What would you do differently?: I think this transition would have been much better if I could have moved my fingers. Otherwise it went as well as it could.  Bike
Comments: I'm very happy with my bike except about 4 miles in I felt the need to pee. Held it until I was able to get off the bike... It couldn't come soon enough. I had been tweaking my cleat position the last few weeks before the race and never really got it right. About mile 50 I felt the knee/IT start to ache. This will catch up to me on the run later. Had 1 bonkbar about 5 miles into the bike, hour 2 another bonkbar, hour 3 1 gel. 2 nuuns in 21 oz water and drank a little more than 1 full aero-bottle of just water. What would you do differently?: Pee in my wetsuit to get it out of the way. It seems I always need to pee as soon as I get on the bike. Learn to mount/dismount leaving shoes clipped in. Not be stupid and play with my position so close to race day. Transition 2
Comments: At this point I had to pee so bad that's all I could think about. Got my shoes switched, gear off and then headed straight for the porta-potty. What would you do differently?: Learn to dismount leaving shoes clipped in.  Run
Comments: I had a great pace and felt really strong coming off the bike. The first two miles I headed out too fast and had to dial down my pace to about 10 minute miles and planned on going negative split depending on how I felt coming into Mile 6. Knee was aching a bit coming off the bike, by mile 5 I had to fight off the pain, mile 9 had to go to a run/walk. IT Band/knee pain. Mile 10 my right arm started to cramp, not sure if this is fitness or nutrition related but I knew it wouldn't be long before my legs started to cramp. Luckily they didn't start to cramp up until mile 12 or so. I believe by mile 5 I still had a great chance on coming in under 6 hours according to my watch. Needless to say I'm not too happy with the run. What would you do differently?: Not fiddle with my cleats 2 weeks out from a race. Work on the cramping too. Post race
Warm down: I stretched a little bit but I was shaky so I ended up just walking around grabbing water and food until I felt better. Legs were cramping big time so I walked that out for a bit too. What limited your ability to perform faster: Even when slowing down considerably around some corners on the bike I almost wiped out due to sand. I do need to work on my bike handling and mounting/dismounting with shoes clipped in. Also not sure if the cramping on the run near the end was due to fitness or nutrition. Event comments: Post race food was just ok. Donuts and pastries. Water. Would have loved something hot like a slice of pizza. I'm also really surprised they didn't have a finisher shirt or medal. Just a luggage tag. Especially for their first half/full race. It also would have been nice to have a nice expo but there were only a couple vendors on site. Last updated: 2011-10-05 12:00 AM
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 2011-12-05 3:21 PM |
Expert  839    Anaheim Hills, CA |  Subject: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course |
| 2011-12-05 3:25 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Expert 839 Anaheim Hills, CA | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Overall not bad for my first 70.3+ Just a few things I need to work on but I think for the most part I had it down. I am disappointed in my run performance but I chalk that up to me being stupid and not necessarily due to fitness. |
| 2011-12-05 3:48 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Master 2760 Los Angeles, CA | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Love the race report man! Thank you for posting it so quickly. I'm contemplating this race next year and you are my inspiration hehehe! Your cramps sound like the ones I had except mine were right quads freezing up on me halfway through the run segment during my last race (Magic Mountain Man Oly) which was due to insufficient nutrition. It was so hot and I did a bad job (due to inexperience) refueling during the bike. I ate 3 Clif Shot Bloks @ T2 but it was too late. Anyways, I think you did great for your first HIM. With the water being as cold as it is, your swim performance and T1 was pretty good! I'm glad you didn't get hurt during the bike with the sand and all. ~Roland |
| 2011-12-05 4:43 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Member 354 Los Angeles | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Congrats on your finish and accomplishment!! |
| 2011-12-05 5:07 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Master 1799 Houston | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Nice job on getting a 70.3 out of the way. Now you have the winter to train for the next one. |
| 2011-12-06 9:57 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Elite 4583 | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Congrats! |
| 2011-12-06 10:04 PM in reply to: #3927136 |
Expert 839 Anaheim Hills, CA | Subject: RE: HITS National Championship: Palm Springs - Half Iron Course Thanks everyone! While it didn't go exactly the way I wanted it was an amazing experience and I definitely learned a lot. I'm already looking forward to my next half, and have gained insight and such a huge appreciation for everything that goes into training and racing a full and all the athletes that do them. From beginning training in March from scratch and working my way up to this race... All of that work... I can't even imagine training and racing a full. I am in even greater awe of all of you that do it. One day I may work my way up to it, but I think for now I'm good with Half distance and shorter. |
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United States
HITS Triathlon Series
Sunny
Overall Rank = 71/119
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 11/16
I was supposed to stay with a friend of a friend out in Palm Desert but at the last minute had to find a hotel to stay at. Thank you priceline for the last minute cheapie reservation not "too" far away but still pretty darn nice.
Got up at 3 AM, ate 2 toaster waffles with Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter, a banana and 2 cups of coffee. 420 cals
Not much warm up. Just some dynamic movements to loosen up the shoulders and jumped around a little bit. My plan was to use the swim as my warm up.