i took it very easy on the swim. i really need to work on my stroke, drilling to perfect the TI method. navigating on the way back was brutal: the sun was directly in my eyes and i couldn't see anything. first time that happened to me...

learn to swim better and work on the stroke smoothness and breathing.

put sneakers on out of the water and ran to transition area. took my time and didn't rush as the last thing i needed was to forget something here. everything went smoothly until I got out of transition and tried jumping on my bike.

swim faster.

OK, so I had the worst bike ride I've ever had...anywhere, anytime. started right away: as soon as i jumped up on my bike I kicked my rear water bottle out of the cage. another athlete was nice enough to pick it up for me, but BOO for me. as soon as i got started riding: my legs felt dead. within the first few miles, my seat hurt me and my right hamstring felt like i already rode 56 miles. how can i start the ride with sore legs?? oh, and i had a side stitch that effected my brething for 3/4 of the ride. In any event, my turns were good, but the flat course felt like 95% of it was in a headwind. I got passed my EVERYBODY. i got passed by a guy on what appeared to be a Schwinn Varsity, no shirt, no aero bars, running sneakers in toe clips, not even on the drops!! and as he passes me says, "this is a beautiful bike course, isn't it?" talk about deflating...as he kept blazing past me. christ...this was getting bad. OK, so more pain on the bike, cadence was a little low for me at around 95, but if i rose it to 100, i lost speed. i just couldn't get anything out of my legs. the one large hill is a mile bridge...that was good. i like the hills, so i powered up (relative) that and then was passsed when i got back on the flats by all the people i had passed going up. closer to the turnaround, was going up another hill, spotted two female cyclists going to the inside of where a police officer was directing them outside. i went on the outside and joked, "oh sure, let the women cut to the inside". the officer said something in return but i was already past him and missed it. i am now guessing what he said" they aren't in the race, go LEFT!". i dind't hear anything, went OVER the bridge, through a traffic light and stopped with the women, looked for race numbers, saw none and then said...is this right? and one said NO!! you have to go back and turn right over the bridge! CRAP! i took a wrong turn!! and i took 10 unfortunate athetes with me! so, back on course, passing all my friends who are MILES ahead of me. next eventful happening: bottle exchange. here's how it went: I asked for water, left my left arm in the aero bar, reached for the bottle, and of course never slowed down...and naturally caught the bottle behind me and i don't know HOW i didn't wipe out...left foot out of the pedal, violent weaving back and forth, volunteers diving over the table to avoid getting hit and then...SAVE. i have no idea how i didn't crash. and the best part? i kept the bottle! great. ended up i didn't really need it bc i wasn't downing gels like i thought. they weren't agreeing with me...and i suspect that they were giving me cramps. so end result was more weight to carry on the bike. anyway, around 20 miles left, i started to feel a little better, started passing people FINALLY, but my legs were already sore and tired...so couldn't make up that big a difference. cruised into T2 and to continue the bad bike, realized too late that i forgot to take my feet out of the shoes!! i got one out, but the other i had to clip out and carry. too funny. so i walked into T2. thus ending my worst bike leg ever.

EVERYTHING!

I walked my bike into T2. took my time getting my shoes on, eating a gel, drinking some water and then leaving. also planned on running with my camelbak alterra but when i lifted it up i thought: no way am i going to carry that with me the whole run...half the time empty and left it. best race decision i ever made.

remember to ride with my feet on top of the shoes

First off, I have to say it's tremendously disheartening to START your run when others are finishing! But anyway...I felt MUCH better on the run than i thought i would. i settled into a nice pace, just trying to make sure i could finish and keep my pace under 10 min miles. i got severe neck pain during mile 3-5 but it went away. cramped up slightly after having a gel, so enough of those. i decided it was gatorade, water and endurolytes from here on out. stopped every water station for water (dump) and gatordade (drink). the best dump was down the back. that got the best cooling shock effect. IT Band flared up at mile 5 and got worse as the run went on. picked up the pace the second half of the run, forgot about the ITB after mile 10...that pain was pushed into the background. ticked off the miles as i went and stopped looking at the watch time after mile 5...just HR and spd. legs started threatened to cramp up in the last few miles but never really did. pushed the pace up each mile after the mile 11 hill into the finish. some discouraging comments made to me during the race: a friend of mine who is a REALLY good runner passed me on the run ( i was at like mile 4-5 and he was heading home smilingly says as we pass: "this blows" and i respond, "no shit!" then i think for the next mile or so "yes, this does blow!". and then at the end, after seeing my fan club (mom, dad, my kids, sister, b-i-l, their kids, cousin, cousin's husband and two of their kids) andn getting cheered on to the finish a guy (i guess with the race) says, "just 3/4 mile left". CRAP! but never slowed my pace and even increased it into the finish. DONE! I FINISHED A HALF IRONMAN!

carry more endurolytes

the bike and nutrition plan. need to put a better one together and practice it.


I finished. Am very disappointed in my bike time, moderately disappointed in my swim time, but happy with my run. I probably could have ran faster, but I wanted to finish and not blow up. Not having tested my body like this before I am happy with the fact that i finished strong.