It was a water start, and people started hopping in the water about 15 minutes before kick off. I walked along the sea wall and stayed dry and tried to keep my right shoulder warm (old baseball rotator cuff injury). Hoped in the water about 5 minutes before the start and got my face wet. The water was a good temp. I wanted to approach the swim as a warm up to the day, and to take it nice and easy.

Once the cannon fired, it was so crowded I couldn't get into a rhythm for what seemed like 1000 yards. I was planning to find a good candidate to draft off of, but it took too much energy to keep them in my sights. The water was very murky, and I had to keep popping out of the water to see if I was still on their feet. Finally I was able to get into a good stroke pattern until the turn around point. At the turn around, it got crowded again, and it took a bit of time to get back into the zone. I got clobbered a few times, but nothing like I expected.

Eventually I could see the swim exit, and my left calf started to cramp. I did a few frog kicks and it went away. I had no issues with my shoulder on the swim which really surprised me. I had to cut swim workouts short for the last month of training because it started to flare up.

Was shooting for a 1:20 swim, so I was happy with my time.

Get further up in the group and swim harder at the beginning. It took too much energy and time to get out of the initial mass of swimmers.

Wetsuit strippers were awesome. I changed outside the changing tent because I was staying in my trisuit all day. The dead, dry grass was all over my feet, and it was a pain to get off.

Decided not to wear my long sleeve Under Armour, as it was warmer then I expected.

My bike was racked in an ideal spot, so I didn't even have to think about where to go. End slot on the last rack, closest to bike out.

Bring a towel and water to rinse off my feet. Half of my T1 time was getting grass out of my toes

I was aiming for an optimistic 19mph pace, as I know my run is really weak. I wanted to save as much time on the bike as I could.

The first loop, I felt really good. I think I averaged about 21mph. The second and third loop were slower, as the wind picked up and I wasn't able to makeup as much time on the way back.

I tried to save my legs on the last loop, which worked out nicely.

Not much. My right foot was numb most of the ride. I need to adjust my cleat position I think.

Had to deal with grass again.

Nothing

Definitely my worst leg. I knew going into this that I would need to walk the last half of the marathon. I just didn't put enough time into running.

Started running off the bike and my legs felt shot as I expected. Ran the first few miles and a 12 min pace, when my stomach felt off. Walked for a mile and took a pit stop at the next aid station. Felt better after the stop, and was able to run/walk at about a 13 min pace for the next 13 miles or so.

About 7 miles in, I tossed my water bottle of CarboPro and just used aid stations for calories. After finished the first loop (13 miles), I felt like I could continue the pace for the remainder of the race.

On mile 15, I had stomach issues again that forced me to walk for about 30 minutes. This caused the balls of my feet to badly blister (which has never happened to me before). I tried to start running again, but my feet were just too painful.

I decided that I should stick to the plan and walk the remainder of the race. It was frustrating because my cardio system and legs felt fine, but the blisters were holding me back.

I walked 90% of the rest of the race and ran the last half mile to the finish line.

Figure out how to prevent blisters. I usually blister on my arches, so I really worked on a routine to avoid that. I ended up blistering on a totally different part of my foot instead.

I also need to figure out how to avoid feeling nauseous on the run.

Met my family and watched friends cross the finish line a while later.


Blisters


First time Ironman. Really happy with my results given the fact I was only able to get about 60% of the training done.

We had our first child 6 months out from race day and I wouldn't have been able to do what I did without my wife picking up all the slack. It's very difficult to train with a new family member, but definitely possible with the correct support.