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Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Garden City, Utah
United States
Gold Medal Racing
90F / 32C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 06m 10s
Overall Rank = 70/133
Age Group = M 30-34
Age Group Rank = 16/20
Pre-race routine:

Wake up at 5:30 am. Eat some oatmeal and mix up some smoothies and prepare a couple of water bottles with them. Head over to transition and get set up.
Swim
  • 36m 54s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 45s / 100 yards
Comments:

Swim went okay. Had a hard time finding my groove in the first part of the swim, but managed to find it after the first couple of buoys. After that, the swim went well. We were all bunched together and it made it very difficult to swim without either getting hit by someone or keeping from swimming over someone.
What would you do differently?:

Stay on the outside of the swim - start there. Also, get in the water a bit earlier and get warmed up and used to the water. Part of my discomfort was putting my face in the water. Even though it wasn't cold, it's always a shock.
Transition 1
  • 03m 17s
Comments:

This was an okay T1. It was a bit unfair because of the way the transition area was set up and where I was. For some reason, I was completely on the opposite side from most of the other Half Iron participants, and this year the race had 750 participants, so it was a pretty long stretch to the Bike Out gate. That probably added a good 15-20 seconds to both T1 and T2 for me. Tore my sock putting it on, so I had to take them off and put a different pair on (fortunately I had more than one pair with me).
What would you do differently?:

Work on getting off my wetsuit faster, make sure my socks are good, get a better position in transition, and just take transitions more seriously. Honestly, I thought I could take more time since this was a Half Ironman. But I don't think I needed to :)
Bike
  • 2h 57m 5s
  • 56 miles
  • 18.97 mile/hr
Comments:

Got out, headed out on the bike, riding strong. Was flying past everyone, holding about a 21 mph pace. Hadn't been passed once... until I heard a "bang, fsssstt". FLAT TIRE!! Errgh! I don't plan for those, esp. on races!! First one ever during a race! I was about 15 miles in when it happened. Fortunately I had a spare tube, but all I had was a mini-pump. And it seems to take twice as long to change a tube when you're under the pressure of a race. Spent the next part of the bike trying to make up some of the several minutes of lost time when about 45 miles in, I started hearing a "thump, thump, thump...". Pulled over again, and found my tire was coming off of the rim and my new tube was bulging out. Guessing it had to do with the low pressure in the tire (can't get it much over 50 psi with the hand pump). Deflated the tire, popped it back on the rim and pumped it back up. Kind of feeling beat up by this point and somewhat discouraged. I was determined to finish though.

Then I get yelled at by some jerk in a truck who wasn't giving anyone any room on the shoulder. I went around him on the left (down the center lane) and was told "I give cyclists a bad name". Seriously??? This is a race, butthead! He apparently ticked off another gal doing the Olympic. Had a good chat with her, and she decided to give him a "souvenir" middle finger when we got back in front of him. Made me feel a little better :)
What would you do differently?:

Not get a flat?? Wish you could plan for these things. At the very least, I need to get a CO2 cartridge pump so I don't have to mess around with the worthless hand pump. What a waste.

My time on the bike was 1:44 and some change on my Garmin, so I think if I hadn't had to stop, and could have focused 100% during the ride, I could have squeezed out 21 mph avg.
Transition 2
  • 02m 53s
Comments:

This was an average transition. Again, I was at a disadvantage because I had to run across the entire transition area to rack my bike. Not so fair. Also, the half gate was on the same side as the Bike In -- however, I went out the wrong Run Out adding an extra few seconds and distance onto my run. Oh well, things weren't going great by this point :)
What would you do differently?:

Pay attention to where I need to go, and quit forgetting to get out of my shoes before I get to transition. It's quicker when you can hop off in your socks, run and rack your bike.
Run
  • 2h 25m 59s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 08s  min/mile
Comments:

This run kicked my butt. The heat was unbearable. It got to about 90 degrees which made it brutal. On top of that, there simply wasn't enough shade, and the tiny water cups aren't quite enough on the course, forcing me to resort to a run-walk. I wasn't the only one doing this. Many people resorted to this strategy about 4-5 miles in. After the bike problems, it was very difficult given the conditions to motivate myself to run through the 13 miles. Fortunately with the help of a really nice guy on a mountain bike who was strolling the course, I mustered up the energy to pass a couple others in my age group out on the course in the last mile. Almost ran the entire last mile because of his motivation. I really needed and appreciated that.
What would you do differently?:

Put myself in a better mental state, and hydrate better on the bike portion. I think I was a bit dehydrated when I got to the run, feeling the effects of heat exhaustion. I may have bonked a bit too, because the energy levels just weren't there like I was hoping. Not sure if I ate quite enough for the bike and run.
Post race
Warm down:

Stretching and celebrating! Despite having a rough time getting through my first Half Ironman, the fact is, I COMPLETED MY FIRST HALF IRONMAN!! That was worth celebrating. There will be other opportunities to better my time, and heck, now the bar will be easy to crush!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

A few problems along the way and a discouraged attitude prevented me from doing my best on this. That and the anxiety of this being my first Half distance. I wasn't sure what to expect, although I expected it to be hard. I wasn't as prepared as I thought for how tough the run was, and it taught me that the Half Ironman has to be respected! It's not easy!

Event comments:

I love this race, and this course. The Half Ironman course is excellent. Quite amazing that it all works out like it does distance wise all from Rendezvous beach. Despite just wanting to get through this, I'm very tempted to train and try it again next year to see if I can do it right... We'll see. In any case, loved this race! Won't ever forget it.




Last updated: 2011-08-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:36:54 | 2112 yards | 01m 45s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/20
Overall: 0/133
Performance: Average
Suit: Orca Full
Course: Diamond 4-buoy counter-clockwise course approx .5 miles around.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:17
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
02:57:05 | 56 miles | 18.97 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/20
Overall: 0/133
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Flat with some short, steep rolling hills for the middle section out and back. Makes for a challenging route when you're doing 56 miles.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 95
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 02:53
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
02:25:59 | 13.1 miles | 11m 08s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/20
Overall: 0/133
Performance: Bad
Course: Mostly flat, out on the highway and through farm country. 3 of the last 4 miles are dirt road and slight hills.
Keeping cool Bad Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2011-08-30 4:39 PM

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Regular
62
2525
Draper, Utah
Subject: Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon - Half Iron Course


2011-09-05 4:39 PM
in reply to: #3666430

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Expert
1157
10001002525
Tremonton, Utah
Subject: RE: Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon - Half Iron Course
CONGRATULATIONS, BUDDY!!!

That WAS an Amazing Race.  

I know how it feels when the race gets in your head.  It's happened to me a couple time.  Especially on my Oly.  Only instead of the bike being the problem child ( although it did have it's moments), it was the swim for me -- could swim on course to save my life.

Get you a CO2 Cartridge set.  Worth their weight in gold.   I love how well it works, and with the right cartridge, you will get nearly 100 PSI in the tire.

And heat on the run is DEFINATELY not fun.  

At anyrate -- great job.   I'm glad GMR started that venue at Bear Lake.   That was definately a big win.   I saw the BBSC did a race there 2 weeks before GMR, and well, only had about 150 participants total.
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