My swim wave was supposed to start at 8:27 am, but there were one or two stragglers still swimming from the Quarter Iron event that started at 7:30; so it ended up being closer to 9:00 when we got started. When the race started, I was able to take a good line along the buoys with minimal contact and thrashing around, so that helped me get into a good strong rhythm right away. I focused on using my upper body and used the buoyancy of the wetsuit to keep my legs floating with minimal kick, so I could save the legs for the rest of the day to come. The last few months of masters swimming seemed to pay off, as I was able to keep up a good pace the entire swim and never felt too fatigued. I also drafted off of other swimmers as much as I was able to, which saved some energy. I finished the swim in just over 35 minutes, which was a very good swim time for me. One guy in my age group swam in just under 29 minutes, but nobody else in our group beat 32 minutes. For me to be that close in a long swim was a great feeling!

My plan on the bike was to go with a high cadence (90+ rpm) and keep my leg muscles from burning out. I wanted to average over 20 mph if I could, but I know my strength is more the run than the bike, so I was determined to keep the bike under control. That became a tough mental battle when a few people started passing me, especially if they were in my age group! But I've learned from past experience that I tend to see many of those same people again on the run, so I stuck with my plan :)

Heading out on the bike there was a little bit of a headwind, but I was still keeping up the pace that I needed in order to break 5 hours; so I just kept the cadence up and trusted that I would be even a little faster when I turned around and had some wind behind me (or at least no headwind). At the turnaround, I noticed that effect right away; as I picked up the speed without changing my level of effort or cadence. 5 miles into the return leg, we actually had to do a mini-loop and go back to the main turnaround point; due to some road washout caused by last year's Hurricane Ike. Once I hit the main turnaround point for the second time, I had about 20 miles to go, and the winds were now in my favor. That stretch is where I really had to fight the urge to hammer the bike and go faster, as a flat, straight road and favorable winds can really allow you to fly. I ended up just over 2:35 on the bike leg, which was 9th out of 35 in my age group. Normally I'd try to finish higher in the bike rankings, so now it was time to find out if holding back a little would pay off on the run.

The run was 4 loops of just under 3.3 miles (13.1 total). My strategy was to start off with a controlled pace, which I knew would be a little fast just from the thrill of finally being off the bike and the adrenaline rush; and then gauge at each subsequent loop how I was feeling. I checked my pace after about half a mile and I was close to 6:30 min/mile pace; which is a little faster than I could sustain, so I backed off a couple of notches to just over 7:00 min/mile. By the second loop I was running about 7:15 pace, and it felt great, so I kept that going. By the third loop I knew that I was well within my ultimate goal of beating 5 hours, so I pretty much just maintained as well as I could. The final loop is where it was time to just let go and run for the finish line. I finished in just over 1:35, which was by far my best Half Ironman distance run, and ended up being the fastest run split in my age group :)