The swim itself actually went pretty well. I started out in the front of the pack and got into a good form quickly. I took nice long strokes and focused on not pushing too hard. I tried to sight regularly and it looks like I did well on the way out and around the first two turn buoys. On the way back it looking directly at the Sun and I could not see my references very well. I scaled the Garmin map and estimate with my sighting that I swam 10 extra yards on the way out (970.5/960), none for the next section, and about 21 extra on the return leg (843.1/819.8).

Better sighting, but overall, the swim went well.

T1 there was a fairly long distance from the water to the transition area, and my bike was at the far end of transition. I remembered to make sure my timing chip and Garmin were under my wetsuit before I took the wetsuit off, so no problem getting it off.

I should probably have taken a few extra seconds to put more sunscreen than I did. I didn't get fried, but I was a bit red on my shoulders. I probably should have taken a drink at well.

My goal was to keep my heart rate low, and I was not very successful here. I started out with a very high HR, and attempted to go slowly to get it down. I was partially successful. I wanted to get down to zone 1 for the first 10 miles, but never got this low. I did get into zone 2 for a short while, but was primarily in zone 3. Once I got settled in, I tried to keep a relaxed pace, but felt like if I got my HR to zone 1, I would be at around 16 mph, and I wasn't willing to go that slow. The first 5 miles, my HR we a bit up, but my breathing was very easy, so I just kept up a reasonable pace. It was cool and I didn't drink much in the beginning (more on this later). I started my nutrition at around the 20 minute point and planned to drink every 15 minutes, which ii did. I drank Perform 3x per hour and water and a Hammer gel the other time and maintained this throughout the bike segment. The first 5 miles my average HR was low zone 4. The second 5 miles, I tried to still keep things easy and my average HR was down 6 bpm and was mid zone 3. The going until the turn around was now all into or partially into the wind. My legs and lungs were feeling OK and I figured I would push some to keep a decent pace and would have a chance to rest more with the wind at my back. I skipped the first aid station as I had two 24 oz bottles and enough to get me to the second stop. I maintained a very even pace and my average HR stayed consistent. After the turn around, my pace did pick up with the wind at my back. It was frustrating, however, that I was starting to get passed consistently. Being in the 55-59 age group that went off right after the pros, I guess that was to be expected. I picked up perform at the 2nd and 3rd aid stations. The bottled Perform tasted much more bitter to me than the powdered version that I had been training with. I think I drank less for this reason. Also throwing away partially full bottles before the aid stations I wasn't keeping good enough track of my fluid intake. For the last few miles, my knees started to ache a bit, but this wasn't unexpected. I was definitely ready to get off the bike by the end of the ride. My average pace of 19.3 mph was faster than I had been training at, but was still a bit of a disappointment.

I was worried way too much about being passed and not paying nearly enough attention to drinking regularly a controlled amount of liquids. The perform on the course tasted odd to me and I should have drank more water a lot more. I think I was behind the dehydration curve by the end of the bike. Next time I need to keep more focused on my own performance rather than that of the competitors passing me. Getting passed that much just didn't sit right with me. It would have been more motivating to have started in a later wave and pass people instead of what happened.

Not a bad transition.

Have a nice big drink before starting the run.

I totally blew the run. Not drinking enough nearly did me in, literally. I started out OK keeping the pace I had originally planned on. I felt a bit hot and my hamstrings felt a bit tight at the start, but generally I felt OK. At the first aid station, I got some perform and was unpleasantly surprised. It was not the lemon-lime I had trained with but mango flavor that I found awful. I thought this really sucked. I force it down, but probably not enough. Through the first half of the run I maintained a pretty uniform pace about where I wanted to be. My stomach started to get uncomfortable and I started to get in a bit of distress after the 6th mile. I slowed for the 7th and 8th mile and my stomach started to feel very bloated and that the liquid I was drinking was not being absorbed. I switched to straight water and started drinking two full cups at each stop. By the 9th mile, things were worse but I really didn't want to start walking. At this point, my goal of 1:50 to 1:55 was gone, but I thought I might still make 2:00. The 10th mile I was really in trouble and I had to walk. My stomach was really cramping and I was feeling like I was having some trouble taking a deep breath. At one point, I felt my vision fading a bit, which should have been a sign to stop. I walked and alternated with running, but couldn't run for very long stretches. I felt my jersey and it was wet, so I was still sweating, which I thought was a good sign. I kept drinking at each aid station but was feeling very discouraged by being unable to run. I felt like I just had no willpower and couldn't gut it out. In hind sight, if I had gutted it out, I probably would have ended up in the hospital.

Keep better track of my drinking and wear my bottle belt, which I originally planned to do. That way I could have known exactly how much I was drinking and could drink more often and without stopping.

I was feeling very sick to my stomach after the race. I was too sick to drink anything at the finish and just sat in the grass until the transition area opened up. I suspect if I stopped by the paramedics, which were right by where I was sitting, They would have understood better than I did that I was severely dehydrated and in need of IV fluids. When transition opened, I got my bike and gear and walked back to my car about a half mile away. After I got my stuff into the car, I had the dry heaves and ended up vomiting a small bit of the wonderful Perform I had drank. I felt better after that and started the drive home. I was extremely tired while driving but was doing OK. I was drinking small sips of water as I went along. About half way I started getting that wonderful feeling, with my saliva starting to flow, stomach cramping, and sweating. I had to pull to the side of the interstate and vomited again. This turned out to have a silver lining, as I was now wide awake and got home with no further incidences. When I got home I weighed myself and was shocked to see that while I was 191 when I had weighed myself the night before, I was now 178. I had a yearly goal to get my weight down to 180, but this was not the was to do it! I slowly drank a 16 oz glass of water, took a shower and drank another 16 ounces. I was exhausted, but figured I had to get at least some fluids in me before I took a nap. I went to sleep and the phone woke me up about 45 minutes later. It was my brother who it an MD. I filled him in and he told me I had just put my life at risk and should have had IV fluids at the race. I couldn't disagree. I'm glad he called, because I was now more awake and could drink some more. I started drinking 16 ounces of water at about 30 minute intervals. I was still a bit queasy and didn't feel like eating anything for a while. I had some salty chips after a couple of hours and tolerated them OK. I kept drinking and was able to start eating more an hour after that, food with lots of salt. By this point, I was feeling much better. I reweighed myself and was back up to 186. I figured at this point I was out of the danger zone.


Well, it's pretty obvious I didn't drink enough. I need to rethink my fluid intake strategy. Part of me wants to stick with the Olympic distance, but another part of me wants to tackle another HIM and finish strong.


This was a well run race. The conditions were great.