Ouch.

Why am I "feeling" an Olympic way worse than any half..or worse than just about anything else except brutal yard work for that matter?
I can understand the yard work part. Odd muscles used, lots of bending/squatting.

Is it adrenaline carryover from a half?
Is it because I went for broke and hammered on the bike?
I suppose it could be a training difference. Yet, I was in pretty good shape for this one. Last year I was I probably only 75%. This year, easily close to 100%. I cooked on the bike. 1.8 miles an hour faster than last year. Slightly different course. Still all flat, brutal wind for what felt like 3/4s of the course.
Run was a minute slower (likely do to pushing on the bike). Swim was a minute slower, could be anything. A buoy off, a little more meandering..
Is it because I am a little older? As of this year, I've inched into to the division with people who's age starts with a 5.

A tad worried, being as how I may or may not have signed up for the ol' bucket list race of a lifetime distance this year.

The run was 'rough'. But...I kept going. I figured I was practicing winning some mental battles. As of yesterday, I was thinking...."man....no way".
But then today, even with a little stiffness....I do keep thinking, no way would I ever hammer like that knowing I was going to ride more than ~25 miles. Also, when I stop and think about it, I really only need to do that run 3 more times and then some change. Mix in a little more strategic walking. And a boatload more training.

But yeah, I'm feeling like I raced yesterday. It was nice to get out of the water and see the racks (by age) less than half empty...and come back to see them way more than half empty. Rough seeing all sorts of people young and old pass me on the run. But, I'm used to that and don't expect that to change a whole lot.

Great race. If anyone's looking for an early-ish season Olympic, I can highly recommend the St. Louis Triathlon. Year two. They've ironed out a few of the tiny bumps they had last year (a fire at the packet pickup location the night before last year)...and a few other things. Swim entrance is better. They again put plywood down on the only set of train tracks. And they had part of a state highway totally shut down. Coned off the rest of the way. The race directors are racers. Sure, they're operating a business. But it's not a massive profit driven corporation and their sole source of income. The walk from car to transition is a grueling 50 meters at worst. The racks are glorious. 2x4 rigs with rebar hoops for your tire. All bikes fit...tall or short. They're not rickety. You end up with "designated" ground space simply by default because the bikes are a fixed distance from each other. And there's even extra space in the wood framing for bags and such so they're out of the way. Dead flat bike and run. It's not terribly picturesque or anything. The run is around the lake in the park on a trail. There's other joggers/walkers/etc. using the trail. Not a big deal. It's plenty wide. Fairly shady at times. Beautiful weather 2 years in a row. I think these folks originally may have looked at replacing the Kansas branded 70.3 a few years ago. There was some news burble about it and I even saw planned bike routes (which would have been pretty tough/hilly) presented to some of the city councils. I'm assuming Ironman is wary of hooking up with a brand new race. I'm wondering if these folks might now just be content continuing to sell out their race and continue to fine tune it and not bother sharing the results of their efforts with anyone else.