Being my first "real" OWS, I was very nervous. On Saturday, the RD announced that wetsuits would likely not be allowed. This was a very bad thing for me. I would have made the swim either way, but I am much more confident in my wetsuit. However, this being my first HIM, some of that confidence could be taken away by more training! Anyway, I had trained in Aquasphere Kayenne goggles and about 2 weeks ago, mine developed a leak. At the time, I attributed it to use of the goggles (the strap on the right side won't stay "locked in") So, at the expo, I picked up an additional pair and thought that would be good. The thing I did wrong though was not pay attention and I picked up a pair of clear lens goggles. Noticed that later in the evening at my hotel room. No big deal...I thought (more later). Arrived at T1 and the boys and wife sat down and ate breakfast while I set up T1. They were able to get pics of the pros in the water and on their bikes before I ever went into the water. When I was called for my wave, I waded out and "jumped" off the boat ramp and swam to the initial start buoy. The first thing that happened was my goggles started leaking, just on the right eye socket. Gun went off and I started good. However, as I have not mastered the bilateral breathing concept and can only really breathe on my left side, this caused a big problem with the sun and my clear lens goggles. Also, since my right eye was leaking, I wound up swimming the entire course with one eye closed. This caused for some interesting drifting. When I could actually see the finish line, I got a bit of extra "wind" and wound up finishing just over my goal (45 mins).

The obvious...

Lear to bilateral breathe.
Learn where to apply body glide or other libricant while in wetsuit (as I know now, it's on the left side of my neck, under my left armpit, and on the back of my neck).
Get some goggles that don't leak.
Get some "real" OWS training.

Knew exactly where my bike was parked in transition. When we set up transition earlier in the day, the racks started to fall and we were stuck there holding the racks until the volunteers came to check it out. What I didn't know was those same volunteers actually stood there through the whole swim holding our bikes up. Kudos to them. Anyway, I had laid my stiff out like I needed, and slipped on my socks and shoes, placed on my glasses and before I realized what I was doing, I shook my head to get some water out of my ear. Dumb me...there went my glasses. Since they are mutliple lens Tifosi's, of course one of the lenses popped out. I was able to get it into the frame and put them back on, put on my helmet, buckled the strap and off to the mount line I went. Crossed the line, swung my leg over the bike and away I went.

Practice more on mounting with shoes on the bike so I don't have to run in cleats.
Don't shake water out of my ears after I put sunglasses on.

I have lived in Mississippi for most of my life (34yrs) and moved to KS about a year ago. In Wichita, it's flat like it is in MS. Everyone warned me about the hills in Lawrence. I just "assumed" that it would be like the "hills" in Wichita. Boy, was I wrong!

That said, it's not like we were climbing Alpe d'Huez or anything, but from MS to Wichita, it was a bit of a change. I did decent on the ride, but around the mile 25 mark, I noticed my saddle was moving a good bit. I looked down and realized that somehow my saddle bolt had come loose. I had to stop and tighten that up, but when I tightened it up, I didn't get it done correctly, so I actually wound up with the nose of the saddle tilted up while I ride with the saddle nose down a bit. So, for the last 30 or so miles, I was cautios on the saddle. Around the BP oil spill, I was glad to get off the bike and stretch the legs a bit. Overall, I would have been sub-3 hrs if I hadn't had to screw with the saddle or BP.

Nutrition was good. I took the first gel about 10 mins into the ride. I wound up going through about 60 oz of water and about 20 oz of Gatorade. All in all, I believe I had about 60 oz water, 20 oz Gatorade, 3 GU Gels, ~4 bites of a Cookis and Cream Powerbar (I really liked that taste).

Really get at it on hill training. Hard to do from Wichita.

T2 was uneventful. I took longer than I wanted, but it wasn't due to anything that I did wrong. Got almost to the exit (was pretty close due to my higher bib number) and realized I forgot my hat. Should have run without it, but went back to get it.

Not much, but remember to get my hat.

Those sadistic RD's made us run the hill coming out of T1 twice! Other than that, the course was good. My stand alone PR in the half mary is around 1:45, so I was thinking I would be good to do sub-2. I am pretty sure I didn't run a full mile. I think the longest I ran was .8 miles. Physically, nothing was wrong with me. I felt great, maybe a little bloated (but certainly not too bloated) from the fluid intake on the bike. I think I mentally talked myself out of running when I reached mile 2 (about to go downhill toward T1 for the first time). Support on the run was great and I was able to see the wife and kids where the turn was to go back into the campground portion of the run. That was a spirit booster (what she didn't see was I stopped running as soon as I was out of her sight!). All the folks that were set up at their campgrounds cheering others on was fantastic. I would have liked to have done better on the run, but knew I would be sub-7 (when I was shooting for sub-6) regardless of if I walked the last 4 miles at a 20 min/mi pace, so I just relaxed and took it all in.

Train harder on running. My running (stand alone, not bricks) training was pretty good, averaging ~8:30 miles, regardless of distance. I think I put too much stock in that and assumed that I could run 8:30's.

Warm down consisted of getting "medaled" by Chrissie Wellington. When I waled out of the finishers chute, I asked Chrissie if I could get an autograph and picture. She never even waivered. She said sure. We got a couple of pics and she even gave my 9 yr old her medal from her neck because she said he was cute. Needless to say, he hasn't taken it off yet!


I followed the BT 20 week plan, but didn't follow it perfectly. I followed all the workouts for about the first 14 weeks. After then, I started to mess with the schedule and wound up not putting in the miles required for about the last 6 weeks. For the "taper" weeks leading up to the race, I really tapered into about nothing.


As my first HIM, I really have nothign to compare to. Overall, I thought it was a well run race.

A couple gripes, but nothing major:

1) Swim waves didn't start on time due to not enough support in the water. The pro men must've treaded water for like 15 mins. They were supposed to start at 6:30, and I think their gun went off at 6:45 (give or take).

2) Armed Forces Challenge didn't have very good support. There was never anywhere I could "register" with the Air Force (at least that I couldn't find), so I don't know how my time would be counted for the Air Force in the Armed Forces Challenge.

3) Transition racks on the back side of T1 were pretty rickety and volunteers actually wound up having to hold the racks throughout the swim.

Overall a good race, and I will more than likely do this again.