The water was cool, but not as bad as I was expecting. This was a fast swim for me - I swam 42:xx at the Boulder races. Start was uneventful, just the normal bumping but after about 500m my left shoulder started getting really sore. I think it may have been a wetsuit fit problem - either the wetsuit doesn't fit right or I didn't yank it up enough but I was having trouble getting a good extension with both my arms and by the turn around I wasn't getting much of a pull out of my left arm. At the first right turn you could cut the corner as close to shore as you wanted so I think that shortened the course a little and would explain how I was 5' faster than Boulder. My navigation was good and I drafted on & off off of the same guy but beat him out of the water when he zigzagged at the ladders.

Need to stopping being a wuss about my long swims. Also need to figure out the wetsuit & see if its a bad fit or if I just didn't put it on right

There was a LONG run from the swim exit around the back of transition and then thru transition. I didn't rush this at all but it went smoothly.

Dry my feet before putting my socks on. My feet got cold on the bike since they were wet.

I was cold to start out, I mean freezing. My HR was high for the 1st 20' while I shivered and I felt like my whole body was tense. Once I finally dried off and it started to warm a little my HR came down and I kept it mid z2 and felt much better. I let it drift a little on the hills and about midway thru the 1st lap the wind started to pick up. The first lap was kind of empty and there were a few times where I looked around to make sure the people behind me were going the same way to make sure I was still on the course. By the 2nd lap the wind was blowing hard and between the wind and all the potholes/cracks you couldn't let up you concentration at all. I was now letting my HR into upper z2 so I put my head down and just plowed ahead into the wind. My legs had come around and although they were getting tired-ish towards the end of the bike I could still push them just fine. Even including a 3' bathroom stop I negative split the bike by a minute. Did I mention it was obscenely windy? Would have had the 5th fastest split if I didn't stop for the bathroom. Not that I'm paying attention or anything...

Plan was 1st 20 miles mid z2, 2nd 20 miles upper z2, last 14 miles uppper z2/lower z3. I played it somewhat conservatively and while I let my HR get into z3 on the hills it was never up there consistently so i think I could have pushed harder towards the end if I wanted. Not a spectacular bike but I'm not unhappy with it either.

Didn't rush, it was fine. Got a few rows down & realized I forgot my gu so I went back for that. Glad I didn't just say screw it and leave without it.

Remember the gu while I'm at my spot.

Went out and just started running. HR was low and I hit the 1st two miles at a fast pace (the wind was behind me) at which point I said to myself 'your IM mary pace is NOT going to be 8'/mile so slow it down'. And I did. The next two miles were straight into the wind - there was a guy right behind me the whole time, I nearly turned around and asked him if he wanted to take a turn pulling but I didn't feel like being snotty. Hit the porta-potty after the 1st lap. It was tougher going into the wind on the second lap as my legs were starting to get tired now. Had a gu at mile 5 & 9 but my stomach started grumbling about being hungry near the turnaround (mile 9ish) so I started taking accelerade at the aid stations even though I haven't trained with it. Just tried to find people in front of me and pick them off for motivation for the last few miles. The last mile and a half along the blvd into the wind was rough but at this point I figured IM experiment was over and I picked up the pace because I just wanted to be done. As I was nearing the chute I saw a guy wearing a speedo and a t-shirt so I gave it my lest effort to get by him so he wouldn't be in my finishing picture.

I ran this at my go-forever pace and I think it was pretty good. Even with the bathroom break I only missed my 1/2 mary PR by about 30 seconds. I was mid z2 the entire time (except the last mile or so when I picked it up) and I probably could have spent more time at a painful pace to simulate the IM mary a little better but I'm very happy with this run.

Went back to the room & rinsed of then came back down & hung out with everyone at the finish. I was STARVING - a good sign since in the other HIMs all I wanted to do afterwards was puke. Congrats to Stacie (1st AG) and Cathy (3rd AG) on their podiums!!


Went a bit conservatively at times on the bike and I could have pushed the run harder but I think I did a reasonable job of hitting my IM paces. But I don't know that I did a good job of pushing the paces towards the ends of each leg to simulate getting fatigued in the IM.


Finished feeling like I could have kept going and that was a goal so I'm happy about that. Except for freezing for the first 20' of the bike I felt good the whole time, and how could I not be happy with taking 34' off my previous best HIM? I hit my nutrition during the bike but I need to experiment with taking in a little more I think because I got really hungry on the run. Overall it was a good low-key race and I feel like I nailed what I wanted to do. Got a little sunburned so all it took was two days in Texas to turn me into a true redneck.