The swim was my big question mark coming into this race. Last summer I had gone 38:19 at Timberman. Since then I had increased swim training by a lot, and by February I had 2100 times in the 32 minute range. However, after that my swim training kinda fell apart, and I lost some fitness. I really didn't know where I stood, since I haven't done any TTs. I was hoping to PR in this leg, seeing 35:00 as a reasonable time.

I lined up towards the outside to avoid the chaos. Gun goes off and I take the start slowly, letting everybody else jockey for position. I just find some open water and start chugging along at an easy pace. I get in a rhythm early and put it on cruise control. I'm going at my "forever" pace, since I knew the other legs would be tough and didn't want to risk overextending myself. I do a pretty good job navigating, and feel comfortable the entire way. I exit the water and check my watch, which reads 32:15. I'm amazed by how "fast" the time is, and head off to T1, which is a couple hundred yard jog away. My official time was 32:41, so I guess they took the time way up the beach. Right now I'm glad to have the time in the bank, as now I have some leeway to slow down on the bike and still PR.

Nothing: executed it exactly as I wanted to.

I'm slow at transitions. To be honest, I just don't care about them. I didn't rush it and got out of there when I was ready. Though I actually forgot to grab my clif bar, which probably ended up hurting me.

Grab my clif bar.

A few miles in to the bike I quickly realize something. My faster swim time allowed me to start the bike before the large group of triathletes that are slow swimmers & uberbikers. So for the first 20 miles, I feel as if I'm not moving, with everyone flying passed me. The course is tough and quickly gets to me. I never really get into the rhythm that I want. While the 4500 feet of elevation gain is large, that wasn't the factor that hurt so much. It was how the course was laid out. There was never a flat area where I could get into a rhythm and get going. I was out of sorts the whole way.

The fact that I've been training almost exclusively on my roadie and no tribike causes problems too. By about 45 minutes in I'm having trouble staying in the aero position. Luckily the hills give me an excuse to frequently get out of it without feeling too bad about it.

Miles 20-40 go better. With the uberbikers ahead of me I can concentrate on slowly passing the other mediocre riders. I slowly and steadily do that. This is the hilliest section of the course, and I watch my cadence very closely on my computer. I'm trying to spin as much as I can up the hills, but in some sections I physically couldn't get it over about 65 rpms.

By mile 40 the field has spaced out, and I usually have a few hundred yards between me and the nearest competitor. I start feeling bad in this section, just wanting to get off the bike. My quads aren't shot and my heart rate isn't up. I think the problem is nutritionally-related (though the lower back and neck pain from trying to stay aero isn't helping). During the bike I've ingested 5 gels (4 Clif Shots that I brought and 1 gu which I got at an aid station). Mental note: don't take gu's at aid stations, my body was used only to Clif Shots, and I nearly puked upon ingesting it. I also have 1 pack of Clif Shot Blocks, 1 aerobottle (41oz) worth of Gatorade endurance formula, 2 20oz bottles of water, and 1 20oz bottle of Cera Sport (got at an aid station). Towards the end of the ride I have two quick episodes where my leg muscles spasm and try to shut down. Both times it was the muscle (I don't know the name) running alone the inside of my left leg. Both times I just slow down and stretch it out. It quickly goes away and I cruise into T2.

I come in at 3:02 (10 minutes slower than Timberman). I'm not crazy about the time, but there aren't that many bikes in transition yet so I feel ok about it. I've been working the bike hard this spring and had thought I'd see a much better result.

Better nutrition.

I again take my time here. No problems.

I start off slowly. Very short strides. Opening section is downhill, and I begin to slowly overtake a half dozen runners in front of me. I feel like I'm going very slowly, but I guess everyone else is just going slower. Even though my quads felt fine coming off the bike, they never really have the strength to open up my stride. I chug alone like this, with short, quick, strides through about mile 3.5, where I hit the big hill. I slow down and begin to wilt. By mile 4.5 I'm forced to walk. My running up the hills had gotten quite tiring and I was going slower than walking, so I saw no point to try to run just for running's sake. I walk the steep sections and jog the flatter ones. I check my watch for the first time at mile six (55:xx). I was surprised, expecting it to get closer to an hour, so that's good. I check my watch again every mile, and watch my lead over a 10 min/mile pace (which became my goal once i started doing the run/walk) erode. It feels like the whole field is whizzing passed me, and I just can't respond. I'm stopping at every aid station to take in nutrients. During the course of the run I take in 4 more Clif Shots, and countless cups of water and Cera Sport. At mile 9 I'm at exactly a 10 minute mile pace, and I know i won't be able to hold it. There are still two big hills to conquer. I just keep trudging, averaging a bit over an 11 minute mile. The aid station at mile twelve is at the foot of the final hill, so I stop and take in all the Cera Sport I can.

For some brilliant reason, they chose to place a race photographer most of the way up the hill. I run/walk up most of it (more walking than running), and when I finally get up to the photographer he picks up his camera to take a picture of me and then puts it down without taking a shot. Guess I looked that dead.

At about 12.9 miles, I have another muscle seizure. This time my left calf shuts down. I walk for a sec and it comes back. Then I jog in to the finish.

Run was 2:16, compared to a 1:44 at Timberman. Obviously that's disappointing, but I have a feeling most of it was nutritionally related. I have an Ironman in 3 weeks (my first), so this wasn't a good dress rehearsal. I'll definitely need to iron out the kinks of that before my race. I think solid food during the bike will be a key part to my new plan.

I should mention that as everyone flew passed me on the run I got so many words of encouragement. Everyone tried to motivate me and get me to start running again if I was walking. It really helped me get through the final miles, and I can't thank you all enough!

Nutrition.


The course was brutal, but it was advertised as so prior to the race, so I can't really complain. The race was very well run, and was worth the higher-than-usual entry fee.

Obviously my times (other than the swim) are very disappointing, but I'm just glad it happened here and not in my Ironman. Now I have a three week period to take it easy, recover, and come up with a nutrition plan.