This was my first ocean swim. I was nervous about how the salt water would affect me. I did swallow a bunch, but never ended up feeling sick from it. The sea grass was heavy in some spots, which weirded me out a little since I was scared there would be jellyfish somewhere in it, but I got over it quickly. Sighting was decent, although I did find myself straying a couple of times. Got swam over by a few big guys, but I'm used to it, so, it didn't bother me so much. The water was refreshing. This was my fastest 1.2 mile open water swim ever.

Of course I would swim faster, but I'm definitely happy with my performance. 51 minutes isn't fast by most people's standards, but for me, it was 5 minutes faster than my last HIM swim time. So, I'll take it!

I knew the sun was going to be strong being that this is in Miami, FL. So, I took my time here to make sure I dried off properly and had enough sun block on. I didn't want to risk a burn.

Obviously move faster. Maybe start using spray sun block instead of the lotion. I think that might save me some time.

There was a patch on road on Highway 27 that made me feel like I was getting a flat tire. Turns out it was just the road, but it did freak me out a little. Didn't want my worst fear of a flat tire coming true. Tons and tons of people were drafting. I saw motorcycle officials everywhere, so, I was a bit surprised to have seen this. It's not fun to have a pack of 10 guys going 25 miles an hour fly past you so close that you could feel the wind from their pack. I've heard this is an ongoing problem and that drafting was bad in previous years. You'd think the refs would have done something about it this time around. This was a pretty boring route. I took a Gu and salt tab every hour and bites of my power bars every 10 miles or so. I did not really start feeling the sun until around mile 40. There was a TON of wind. There was a cross wind which turned into a head wind on the way out. Then, at the turn around, I had that once nasty head wind blowing against my back which made me fly at a consistent 23 mph for about the first 5 miles on the return. Then, the highway turns east slightly and that awesome wind to my back turned into a cross wind and then a nasty head wind again as I approached Miami. It was an interesting, windy ride. My nutrition was spot on the whole time and I drank plenty of water and Powerbar perform. The aid station hand offs went flawlessly. Overall, a decent bike segment for me. I finished 5 minutes faster than I did at the Racine HIM. So, a bike PR for me!

I PR'd, so, I'm not complaining, but of course, I would like to train on getting a little faster. Maybe also train in more wind.

Had a decent transition, nothing out of the ordinary here. Just took the time to apply more sunblock and drink more water and Perform.

Faster, faster, faster.

Up until this point, I was feeling really good. Then, I started to feel the blaring Florida sun. There was hardly any shade on the run. To make matters worse, only a couple of aid stations had ice. Seriously, why not have ice available when it's in the 80's and we're running under the STRONG Florida sun. Anyway, I kept decent 9:10-9:30 minute miles when I wasn't running up those darn overpasses. Holy cow! Those overpasses were brutal! You'd run on flat ground for about 3 miles, then you'd hit the nasty overpass which you'd go over and then quickly run down, only to turn around and have to go over it again. Every time I went over this dear MacArthur Causeway overpass I felt like passing out. Neither of the aid stations at the beginning, nor at the end of the overpass had ice. This sucked royally. I just kept reminding myself that once I went up, I could only come down. Somehow I made it through without walking (Except for the aid stations) this whole run (although there were several times I really really wanted to badly). This was a mediocre run for me. The hot Florida sun and lack of shade really got to me here. Also, I found the spectator support to be lacking. The Racine 70.3 spoiled me as it was such a fantastic race, especially in terms of spectator and volunteer support. I felt there were not many spectators and the volunteers could have been more plentiful on this race. As brutal as the heat and sun was, I remember the last 3 miles came fast. I remember saying out loud "Just another shitty 5k!".....and then 2 miles later saying "just another shitty mile!" And just like that, the race was over.

Train more in the heat.

Stretched a bit and soaked in the fact that I just completed ANOTHER HIM! This is addicting! Suddenly was overwhelmed with sadness knowing this was my last race of the season, but also glad that I could take the training down a notch and enjoy a relaxing winter without the thought of races hanging over my head. Ate some much needed rice, beans and chicken from the post race tent.


The HEAT! Ugh, I really hate running in heat!


I LOVE how represented the Latin community was in this race! It's a one of kind experience, I'm sure. I met people from Brazil, Venezuela, Spain, Colombia (my favorite because my parents were born there)! I thought the race needed more volunteers. I think the course was a bit boring. With this race being in Florida I thought there were other places that would have been much nicer to race through. Highway 27 was boring and running over that danged MacArthur Causeway bridge was terrible. I did enjoy myself, however, I do not think I will do this race again. The best part of the race....I PR'D! 2 minutes faster thank my Racine HIM time! So, this definitely made the race for me!