Water was cold. Colder than the Sound was last weekend. Swam nice and easy, just wanted to come out fresh. Left shoulder felt tired for the first half mile, then went away. Didn't zig zag much, and came out feeling awesome. Maybe this was my warm-up.

Came out two minutes faster than last year.

Uh, swim? Swam only 23,000 yds this year, and only a half mile in the last six weeks. I may be fast once I actually start swimming!

Minute faster than last year, but I had trouble getting my suit off and getting my socks on clean. Quite a balancing act on the towel and out of the mud puddle that was the transition area. This was compounded by my usual state of dizziness after swimming.

Not run through mud. Felt a squeezing by my toes, realized after a second it was mud pushing through the drain hole in the sole. Thankfully there wasn't much grit and it didn't irritate my feet.

Rode ten minutes faster than last year. Stayed conservative and tried to spin up the hills, rather than attack and beat up my legs. Finished loop two feeling great. Did the hills on loop 2 feeling fantastic, then might have pushed a little too hard on the out and back in to a headwind. My HR hung up and my stomach began to shut down. I could feel bloat coming on as my body shuttled water to my GI system. Not good and it wouldn't go away even after I slowed and dropped the HR below 165. Finished still feeling OK but was ready to get off the bike. A little lube on my saddle area would've gone a long way.

Not much other than go easier on the out and back on loop two, but what was to occur would've just happened a bit later.

1:20 better than last time. I always stand there for a few seconds thinking I forgot something. Debated changing to fresh, dry socks, but it was so muddy I didn't see the point.

Just keep moving

Started out with immediate, stabbed-with-a-knife cramping in my side, which I knew stemmed from my GI issues. This caused me to be unable to take a deep breath, which lead to an ever-increasing HR. Lather, rinse, repeat. At first aid station, I took in a sip of water and quickly vomited a bit in my mouth. As some of my breakfast bagel was still in my gut, I knew I was in for a world of hurt. In essence, I would be unable to take in ANYTHING for the entire run, fluid or solid. I knew I was doomed, just not for how long. It was like hearing a countown clock tick, though I wasn't able to read the numbers. I decided to see how long I could last and pay attention to what my body would do under the circumstances. Kept a decent pace (would have gotten me sub-6) for the first loop, and checked the time as I came around. I had 1:04 to do loop two, which was 2 min. slower than loop one, and make it home under the goal time. Ran the next mile at roughly 8:40 and ran headfirst in to the wall. I think the wall was running at me, too for the force it took me down with. I kept running, though it varied from a 10:30 to nearly 13:00 shuffle at times. It hurt like a b$%^h, but I needed to keep running. I walked only the length of the aid stations and parts of the steepest hills, less than 1/3 mile total. Ran 90% of murder hill both times. The backs of my legs and my groin tightened so much that I couldn't extend fully or kick back much at all. It was ugly, I'm sure. I never felt very dizzy or lost my balance, which is when I told myself I walk it in. I wanted to see if my muscles would give out, but not at the cost of a hospital stay from passing out. NEVER though of stopping, which was all I thought about last year.

Waved to my ladies cheering me on before the finish line and crossed it with my arms raised for a 20 minute PR. Took a sip of water and threw it up. Nice.

I need to find a better nutrition source. Over 170bpm, I have a tough time, but with a 206 limit and 185 LT, that creates a BIG problem.

Hobbled over to the fam, picked up my bike, and went for ice cream. An italian ice was all I could stomach and it was nearly an hour after finishing. Kept it down, though.


Same as always, training. I can cop-out and blame nutrition, but I am MUCH faster than this. That said, I had a lot of choices this year about where to focus my time. Tri was way down that ladder and it shows. I'd like to be very good at this one day, but it will take a lot of work over several years. I'm fine with that, as two years from now I'll have what will feel like almost too much time, considering how tight it is today.

Had I not had the GI problem, sub-6 would've been in the bag this time around. Had I been more fit, I'd have had it even with the issues I faced. I have two choices:
1: Find a nutrition source that works at a higher HR
2: Train more to get faster at a lower HR.

I'll take choice 3 and do both one and two.

What I take from today is that it was a victory. Last year I would've walked (and did, with even less hardship) a large portion of the run feeling like I did today. This time, I knew what was coming, ran towards what was right around the corner, and kept running through the pain until I finished. I said earlier this week that you don't know what your limits are until you hit them. I didn't break mentally even though my body said stop. Bring it!