Course was an awesome spectator course as whoever was watching could literally walk within meters of you along the side of the water for nearly the entire length. However, the water was filthy. I had trouble seeing even my own hands let alone the feet of whoever I might be trying to draft off of. But regardless of that it was a simple course to follow, but I just didn't have my mind in the right place and stopped much too often to 'check' where I was going...and my goggles were filling up with water which even made visibility limited with my head ABOVE the water. Oh well, everything isn't supposed to go perfect during a race I guess...just adds to the challenge.

Ask a friend in an open water training session to let me practice drafting.

Long COLD 150yd +/- run to enter transition, then another 100yd's or so to get to my rack. This was only my second time to have ever even put on my wetsuit so needless to say taking it off began to present itself as the 4th event in this triathlon...until my new hero (another competitor) apparently saw my novice method of trying to get my suit off and became my own personal wetsuit stripper..turning a long task into a much shorter one. Whoever you were THANK YOU!!! Then I checked my blood sugar (I'm a type 1 diabetic) real quick before running off with my bike.

Practice wetsuit removal on my own.

Legs were coooold and stiff for the first 10 miles or so, until the turnaround when our strong headwind became a beautifully quiet tailwind. Whether it was time or my mind I felt as though I started to loosen up at that point. Then finishing the first lap (of 2) I realized that I may have pushed a little too hard without realizing it because of the wind....but I did it again on the second lap. I definitely learned a lesson quickly as soon as I started the run about pacing yourself on the bike. Obviously a lesson I didn't learn in either of my other two triathlons, both sprints.

Perhaps I should have placed a longer triathlon than two sprints somewhere in my repertoire before jumping up to the half-iron distance.

My legs were quite a bit more wobbly initially than I expected so my run to the rack was...interesting. So I slipped off all my biking gear, put on my running gear, and checked my blood sugar again..still looking good. Thank goodness I wouldn't have to make myself shotgun a bunch of carbs before heading out.

As a former Div. 1 NCAA track guy the run is typically my strong point, and with some of my 12-14 mile training runs prior to this race being at low 7min/mile pace I was definitely dissapointed when I noticed my pace dropping from a 7:28 first mile to a 9:00+ just by the second mile. At that point I quickly realized the lesson to be learned about pacing yourself on the bike to leave some energy for the run. The race then became a survival race. I would set myself goals like "ok body...just get to the turnaround then I'll let you walk for a few seconds." So after several prayers and fits of frustration I still finished the run although drastically slower than my intended goal. But I think that anyone that finishes a half-ironman can agree to saying that once you do finish..it's feels like quite an accomplishment no matter what your results were.

Probably won't wear a Fuelbelt again during a race. There were plenty of aid stations, and it just felt too heavy especially after wearing myself out on the bike.

I used the beginner half-iron training plan from BT.com and I realize now that the mileage/time it set forth was drastically too little for the bike. the longest bike session it calls for is a single 3 hour ride. The bike is an event that I think requires training far beyond the race distance in order to perform at your peak with some left over for the run.


Plenty of traffic control which was nice and reassuring, but many turns were not marked well enough in my opinion. However, I would definitely do the event again or at least one of the other events offered in the playtri festival