Subject: RE: Gulf Coast Triathlon : Official Thread I commented a few weeks ago: "If it's wetsuit-legal and if I can avoid falling apart in the last hour of the run, I'm hoping to beat my 2003 time, which would make it my fastest half-iron since my first one in 1991, also at Gulf Coast, when I was a young lad of 42." As it turned out, it was wetsuit-legal, but I also fell apart near the end of the run. So I narrowly missed my stretch goal, finishing just 29 seconds slower than in 2003. I did, however, manage to break six hours (my primary goal), and I also averaged faster on the bike than in any race of any distance since that same 1991 race. Oh, and I managed to bring home hardware, for the first time in this race. All things considered, I'm pleased. The water was very choppy, but somehow I seemed to stay on course for a change. There was a strong west wind on the bike, but I handled it intelligently with the aid of my Powertap. The only real problem was that I had nothing left in the last 4-5 miles of the run. I still have probably not recovered all the run endurance I had prior to an extended period of injury that I got past just nine months ago. If I could only have postponed that slowdown long enough to gain me another thirty seconds.... |