Had a really good first half of swim. The second half was tough for me to nagigate because of we were swimming right into the sun and the glare made it tough to see. Plus by this time, I was being overtaken by the swimmers in the other waves and was getting 'run over' a little bit. Overall, I was pleased with the swim. I was hoping for a 35-40 min swim and came close to that performance.

Learn to swim faster.

This 5 minutes included about a 2 min run from the swim exit to the bike. I had a pretty good transition. It was going to be a long day and I wanted to make sure of all my pre race plans. Drank water and gaterade, took some Thermolite capsules, put on my shirt, socks, shoes, sunglasses, and gloves and make sure to buckle my helmut strap and was off.

If I was good enough to compete for the Age Group title and a trip to Kona (not likely) I would have concentrated on being faster, but that will probably not happen so I take my time a little bit and catch my breath.

Like the swim, had a great first half, averaging over 20mph for the first 25 miles or so. I was really trying to do this bike in under 3 hours, and thought I would do it until the last part. Sure did seem like I passed a lot of people, and did not seem to be passed by many. The bike is my best part of the tri, but after 3 hours I could not wait to get off the bike to start the run.

My biking has improved immensely over the last year. I am getting faster and when I do this race next year, I should do it in under 2:45.

Again, a long day of running was still ahead and I wanted to make sure I was ready. Put on my running shoes, drank water and gaterade, took a couple of Thermolite capsules and was off---to the bathroom-- and then I was off and running

Not much...I guess I could have pretended to be a Tour de France bike rider and relieved myself while I was riding and saved about a minute or so in the transition.

Started out feeling great. Did the first mile in about 8:30, the next in about 9, the next in about 9:30, then kept the pace around 9:30 to 10min miles until I started doing 11-12 minute miles the last 5 or so. Basically felt pretty good, knowing that I was going to finish and happy I wasn't doing a full ironman on this day.

Since I took a fall from a ladder a couple of months ago, my left foot has been sore. I can know go to the doctor to get it looked at, but it did curtail a lot of running over the last couple of months. Still, when I did a 1/2 manathon in January, I was in good shape and felt good about a 1:55, so I shouldn't feel bad about a 2:12 in a 1/2 Ironman. Next year it will be under 2 hr.

Walked to the food tent and had pizza, oranges, bagels, etc


Genetics


I still don't know if a '1' in the above category rates good or bad, but the Ironman organization is first rate and takes good care of their participants. Everything starts right on time, and even though I finished over 7 hours from when the event started and there were over 2000 participants, when I finished I felt like I was treated just like they would have a pro. Overall I got my moneys ($200) worth.