Since this was a rectangle, I ballparked each buoy turn to be about 500 yards, for the 2112 total. So I was pretty pleased I was more than halfway to the first buoy before the next wave start went off five minutes later.

I'd never started a race with this many folks so it was a bit interesting with all the jumble of arms and legs and I tried to find a pace and person to follow.

My joy soon dissipated as soon as I made the first turn as the water became increasingly difficult to navigate and the winds picked up. I found myself breaking and treading water, dog paddling forward, breast stroking for a bit to catch my breath! Never done that before in a race!

I just kept saying "Get to the next buoy" but would turn to see just how far away the finish was and a couple times thought "OMG, I might have to bag it."

By the last buoy turn, the home stretch, when they were still doing wave starts, I was overjoyed. Seriously, I thought I'd been out there 90 minutes. Knowing I was gonna make it in under an hour (still not my goal) gave me renewed spirit.

Swim more. Although I feel ok in the water, and all along felt, OK, my last OWS Oly swim was 31 and some change. This is a few hundred longer. It surely shouldn't have taken me some 20 minutes longer! So definitely a tough swim. Maybe I'll train now at the local wave pool :->

Ranked 1150 overall. After the phenomenal, awesome most fun I had in the race of being wetsuit stripped, I decided, heck, it's a long-arse day, I'm not "racing" so I walked to my bike and got my gear. I pretty much planned on a 5 minute T1/T2 anyway.

Nothing. If I'd wanted, I coulda ran, but I wasn't per se racing, so conserved a bit of energy and wanted to drop my heartrate down.

The course itself I think is great! There are some hills but nothing a flatlander couldn't handle -- albeit at a turtle's pace.

The first few miles are downhill. Whoo-hoo. Get the heartrate set, start to think about nutrition/hydration and doing my own thing, ignoring the speedsters passing me by.

The first 20 miles I did in 1:20 so was feeling pretty happy.

Till the torrential downpours.

It really began to wear on ya, then followed by headwinds and you could never follow if you'd get the tailwind or not. I was demoralized a good couple times during the race. Especially when I couldn't find the next aid station and my bladder was going to explode.

As the day wore on, I became increasingly frozenized, dreaming of my rain jacket, wondering what exactly happens when you get hypothermia. I noticed my MPH began dropping along with my heartrate. It looked like I was just going to make my 4 hour prediction.

I think I may have an issue of OVER hydration. I get so freaked out with all the admonitions to hydrate that I felt pretty bloated by the run. Especially given the cold/wet temps.

In retrospect, and looking at the absolutely HORRID ActionSports race photos I think I screwed up electrolyte intake vs. water intake. I am SO bloated I look like I'm carrying an extra 10 lbs which led to a bad run.

Need to work on proper hydration / electrolyte intake.

I was so cold, so wet, a bit demoralized by the weather I needed all my mental energy to keep my body in motion to even care about time. Even putting on my dry T2 run socks didn't help because I was so soaked and it was still raining so it didn't really matter.

I was in the beginning stages of a migraine but fig'd I'd tough it out b/c the pain pill s/times makes me sleepy, but I guess I couldn't been any slower than I was :->

I really shouldn't have been faffing about so much with my T2 bag, I probably coulda gotten outta there in my goal time of 5, but again, I just didn't care by this point.

I gave myself 3 hours to do this, and by the end of the first loop, I was pretty spent. I didn't know what to do to make myself feel better. I was so cold, and my hips were a bit sore so even running faster to warm up wasn't an option. All I knew is that even if I *walked* the last loop I'd still make it in while the dude was announcing.

Obviously the second loop I took 11 minutes longer so did walk a substantial portion of it. I was doing things I'd never did in training, eating a banana, chips, pretzels, drinking Coke, anything to cure the bloatedness I felt. The thought of ingesting the Gu I had made me wretch.

Work on my run. I dislike running and need to work on HTFU to make me go faster, well a little faster.

Hobbled through the finish where they took what most likely is a god awful dreadful picture of me. Picked up my gear and limped back to the hotel with my main fan and took the hottest shower known to mankind and ate some pizza.


IMHO the BT 20 week beginner plan is OK, but I dislike the RPE format vs. a HR Zone format. This plan could use longer bikes and runs.

It will get you to the finish like it says, but only with strong mental fortitude.

I should have worked harder in training to not have gotten to the finish in such ugly fashion.

Spring/Summer '08 I had an awesome base that I wanted to carry through the fall/winter into this HIM training. But the end of summer thru the end of '08 I was hit with some personal tragedies that limited my ability to mentally put forth the effort to maintain that great base. By January, I had to scale back to a more Beginner plan.

In my perfect world, this woulda happened with me doing the BT 20 week HIM *Silver* plan and I think I woulda been better prepared.

I really felt undertrained for this, BUT I do wonder what my day woulda been like had the bike portion not been so horrid. If I hadn't been cold and wet, who's to say, I mighta hit my goal?


I think the organization and volunteers were top notch. The fan support was great too! For the entry fee, there truly was a great deal of support and direction given the magnitude of putting on a race like this.

My *only* complaint is I think they coulda used a portapotty or two randomly placed on the bike course. You get these tips "oh, if you don't pee by mile 18, you're not drinking enough" but then where do you go? It doesn't even need to be a manned station. You're warned over and over not to use the bushes or what have you but the aid stations were farther apart than I cared for. I was in tears by the last aid station my bladder was so full.

Also a HUGE THUMB'S DOWN to the 2:00 p.m. start. I highly recommend against it, *especially* for a first timer. I thought the time would hamper my physical ability being a morning person but the mental toll it took on me I think contributed to my poor performance.