Foggy until right before the start! It was hard to see the other shore.

Very relaxed swim. Didn't even breathe hard. Tried to keep HR low and save my energy for the rest of the race. Had some trouble sighting but wasn't sure if the fog was outside or inside my goggles... It was hard to find the second set of buoys. I followed some people to try to draft but they were zigzagging too much so I just did my own thing. Long and slow strokes. Focused on rotating.

Nothing. Swim was fine.

Fine. Hardly remember T1. High-fived a friend who got out of the water right behind me. Took time to put on rain jacket.

Was very glad I had put on the rain jacket! It was cold out there. Never got too hot in it.

I held back as much as I could on the ride. Aimed for a 15 mph pace which is my usual training pace on this route. I knew I needed the energy for the run. As I was getting passed I kept telling myself that I'd just catch them all on the run! haha

The potatoes tasted good and the salt helped. No cramping in my calves.

None.

Took time to apply BodyGlide all over my left foot where I got blisters during the last weeks. As I was leaving T2 Bryan was finishing his race! Puts things into perspective.

Nothing.

What can I say? If we could do a reverse HIM maybe I'd do better? The run is my weakest sport. I paced myself on the swim and bike to survive the run. It went much better than last year but not as well as I had hoped.

Right out of T2 my right middle toe was hurting. The bike shoe insoles really helped with other foot issues I had last year but the toe thing still bothered me. I walked for a couple of minutes and then started a slow trot, trying an exaggerated heel strike. That worked and I fell into a faster, comfortable pace.

Thought about how good this felt, how much I had improved my aerobic capacity since last year where I got stitches on the first 100 yards of the run... Started thinking about my planned run/walk ratio, reveled in the comfort of the Zoot shoes, had a sip from the diluted gel flask, looked up to enjoy the view and see who was running on the other side...

And then the stomach cramped. Like a rock appearing all of a sudden under my rib cage. It got so bad so quickly that I stopped and bent over ready to hurl. But there was no nausea, just cramping. Started walking again, in pain, got angry and frustrated (which never helps), and thought about just turning around and quitting. I was not going to go on another death march like last year. grrrrr

Then I thought I'd give myself until the Marshall Lake turn-off and also remembered how much crying had helped last year and just bawled my eyes out for a few minutes. I mean, sobbing and snot running kinda crying. Well, that helped, not just with the stomach but also finally cleared a blur on my right contact I had all morning.

So I started running again, walked up the hill, ran where it turned to dirt, and then was also able to run the whole downhill! Last year I had to walk even that part. Back on Lake Mary Rd I fell into a run/walk rhythm, came across two groupies (Chris and Aaron), and saw Chad running strong on the other side of the road, on his way to the finish. This was about an hour into my run now, around mile 5. My goal was to stay under three hours total and I knew I could make it in a lot less with a comfortable run/walk ratio of 6:1.

Around mile 7 I started seeing lights flicker in front of my eyes and realized I was beginning to bonk. I had hardly taken any gels in (from my flask), only water at the aid stations. So I had a sip and got nauseated right away. Oy. So I walked more now, had tiny sips every couple of minutes and pretty much shuffled it into the finish that way. I hardly remember anything from the last 5 miles after the turn-around except that I kept thinking the more I'd run the faster I'd be done with the pain. And that I would never have to do this again!



Follow the training plan more closely and run more.

Had a hard time packing up my gear, tried to eat a protein bar but got sick.


Stomach. Lack of training at higher HR.


I am so done with this race course. The bumps on the Mormon Lake loop road (bike) and the traffic on Lake Mary Rd (run) really got to me this time. Otherwise it's a great race on a tough course. Well organized and supported.