I have finally figured out how to avoid the chaos of the open water swim start. Remember it is a clockwise loop. I started way on the left, and immediately swam off line to the left. Therefore, none of the faster swimmers behind me had to swim over me! Anyways, I got myself back on course, and headed straight for the first turn buoy.

Over the course of the swim, I found that breathing to my right kept me swimming straight much more so that breathing left. I found this odd, because in the pool when I practice "blind swimming" I can make it the entire 25 meters breathing left, and usually hit the lane ropes breathing right. Whatever, I just went with it. I found a line very close to the marker buoys. In fact I swam to right of the buoys as often as to the left.

I was determined to swim better than in my Olympic race two months ago. Two key changes occurred: 1) I changed my pull to be with a bent elbow and pulling across my body. In otherwords, my forearm is moslty horizontal during the pull, as opposed to vertical as it had been. I believe this to be the right technique. 2) I made my mind to not be completely at leisure during the swim. I knew I could make the distance, so I made sure I had a good pace.

Overall, my time of 40:12 was only 1:24 slower than my Olympic swim split. That was a huge plus. I was hoping for something under 45:00, and my watch split was actuall 39:07. Awesome.

Nothing at all. Except maybe not drink quite as much before the race.

I did not try to hurry through the transitions. Look, it's a Half Ironman, so 30 seconds off your T1 and T2 times are not going to matter that much. My thought as I jogged to my bike was "Look at all these bikes! This is awesome!" I was pretty pumped about my swim split. I found my spot, put on my bike jersey, stocked it with the gels and bananas for the ride. I had decided the night before to wear a bike jersey on the bike (to hold the gels and the bananas) and my tri-shirt for the run. Put on my socks and shoes and walked to the line. Had about half a bottle of water before leaving transition.

Nothing. I was also lucky to be on the second rack from the bike in and bike out, so my walk with the bike was extremely short.

Took off onto the bike course and as usual started passing a few folks. I settled into what felt like a nice easy tempo, but my speed was up near 22 MPH and my target was 20 MPH. I decided to go ahead and go with it, because I did not feel like I was over exerting myself. I held that pace for the first 8 - 10 miles without any problems. On the last "climb" of the first leg, I could have been called for drafting and/or blocking, because a girl passed me on the outside, and in keeping my cadence high, I went right past her up the hill. It was not an ego thing, I was just trying to climb the hill by keeping my cadence high as I always do. Luckily, no race official was near, and I wonder if they might have been a little more lenient on the hills. On the way back down that hill, I passed someone, and as I was coasting down the hill (at 30+ MPH) a guy re-overtook me on the inside... Not sure if he got flagged or not.

So the first loop went by pretty uneventfully. My plan for hydration and fueling was to drink plenty of water and Gatorade Endurance. I took a water bottle at each hand up, and drank G-E at the rate of about 7.5 oz every 15 minutes. I also had either a banana or a Clif Shot every 15 minutes. After about two hours of this, I began to fill a little fullness, so I skipped one of the Clif Shots. Overall, I think that was enough fuel, but maybe a little bit too much fluids.

As I went past the end of the first loop, I hit my lap on my watch and it read 1:19:31 - which forecasted into a 2:40 bike split. Ahead of my target, but I felt great. Except I began to feel like I had to pee. I bypassed a port-a-john at the water hand up at mile 34 or so, because I thought maybe I could make it back to transition. At mile 40, I began to lose speed because the overriding urge to pee was stealing my focus. I honestly tried to see if I could go while riding, but I just couldn't. Finally, at mile 45, I pulled over and took 2 minutes, yes 2 minutes, to relieve myself. Funny, I stopped just in front of a bridge. After I got back on the bike, I saw a guy relieving himself on the other side of the bridge. What can I say, I'm a trend-setter!

So the last 12 miles were at 21.5 - 23 MPH because I felt a LOT better. The lesson is that when your body is telling you that you have to go pee, go pee! I traded places for about the 20th time with a girl in a silver Zoot tri-suit and sped back into transition.

Three observations from the bike leg: 1) I remarked at the distance that I have traveled since my first tri in March. The bike leg there was 14 miles, and at mile 14 of my Half, my average speed was about 3.5 MPH faster than my average speed for that entire race. 2) Cornering is important, even in triathlon races! This bike leg featured six turnarounds and six hard turns. I passed people on almost every turn by going boldy into it and having lots of speed coming out. That also saved me some effort by already being nearer my target speed out of the turn. 3) I forgot what the third observation was.

I noticed that it was a clear, sunny day, and that it was getting pretty hot. I made the tactical decision to keep my bike pace well above my target, because I knew that I was going to lose some time on the run. Looking back, I still think this was the right thing to do, but in my Ironman race in April I have to have the discipline to stick to the plan, because you cannot fake a marathon.

Again, I took it easy on T2. There was no need to hurry to the run. I had taken my shoes (and socks) off in the last 1/4 mile of the bike. (I put my socks on the end of my aerobars... I have STI shifters...) Sat down, got my running gear and my visor and began walking towards the run out. I had three Clif Shots set aside for the run, and as I began running, two of them dropped out of my back pocket. I decided to let them go, because I was already feeling full, and I figured that one shot and Gatorade would suffice for the run.

Maybe I should bring my little pouch from my Fuel Belt for gels on the run. My shirt seems to be unable to hold them while running. Everthing else was ok.

Here is where it got really, really tough. I knew that it was hot, but I did not realize how hot until about the third mile. Knowing that I left transition at 3:28 into the race, and that I was capable of a 1:45 Half Marathon, I was thinking maybe I could threaten 5:10 total. I was wrong. My plan was to start at 8 minute miles, keep it there for the first six miles and then drop it down if I could.

Here's what actually happened. The first mile was 7:45. Maybe a little fast, so I backed off. The second mile, now completely out in the sun, was 8:23. OK, I'm at my average, now hold it. I knew I needed to make sure I was well hydrated, so I walked after each aid station to dring one cup of water and one cup of Gatorade. I took my last gel at mile 2. (Inside, I was pleased that would be my last gel for quite a while...) Mile 3 was in 8:30. Mile 4 was 8:40, and Mile 5 was 9:05. In Mile 6, I had that ole familiar feeling from the bike, so I stopped on the side of the road and peed. This time, it only took a minute. Funny thing this time was that I stopped about 400 yards in front of a port-a-john, but at this point I could not imagine stepping inside of one of those things. Yeesh. Now my friend in the silver Zoot suit was crouched on the side of the road about a half mile after I had stopped. I asked her if she was ok, and she embarrassingly said "Yea!" Only then did I realize that she was relieving herself as well! Look, it's a freaking Half-Ironman, and the normal rules of common decency do not apply. So mile 6 was 9:35 and that included 1 minute of not moving. Mile 7, which featured the secret hill was 9:35, and that was all forward movement. At this point, I am thinking that it is absolutely as hot as I have ever felt in my life ever. Later on, I talked to a guy who did the bike leg of a relay, and he rode his bike out on the dam during the run and the thermometer on his bike computer read 100F! Sweet Fancy Moses. Now I decided that maybe I had some steam left in me, because honestly I felt like my RPE was still low for the first half of the run. My plan at that point was to try to pick it up for Mile 8, rest on Mile 9, hard on Mile 10 and rest Mile 11 before turning on the afterburners for the last two.

Here's what actually happened. I ran Mile 8 in 8:36 with a fast cadence. I noticed that my right hamstring was starting to complain a little. After 8 miles, I began rationalizing. Come on, it's a 5.1 mile run from here. 5 miles is nothing. How many times have you done the 5 mile loop at home with dead legs? Do it again today! Mile 9, I relaxed and ran at 9:10. But then I realized that the relaxed pace from Mile 9 was really all that I had left in the tank. Uh-oh. At this point, my right and left hammy's are barking. Mile 10 (the hard one, remember?) was in 9:24. I had decided to walk one solid minute at the end of mile 10, but it was right before the downhill off the dam, so I ran that, and then I ran 200 yards to the aid station. OK, turns out I walked about 2.5 minutes after Mile 10. Now, it's just a stinking 5K! Anyone can run a 5K! But in truth at this point I feel that I am very near death. This was one of the few times in recent memory that I did not enjoy running. So my new plan is to just get through Mile 11, which I did in 10:30, and run the last 2.1 home. Holy smokes did it hurt, but I began to run as quickly as I possibly could. I made Mile 12 in 9:22, and the last Mile, from 12.1 - 13.1 was in 9:01. Did I mention that you got two peeks at the finish line before you finished because we did the picnic loop and the lake loop again? Yeah, that was cruelty on top of brutality. Those last two miles, although they were 1:00/mile slower than my usual pace, were all guts and willpower. As I was finishing, both hamstrings and my left quad were slightly cramping. What a tough day!

Now, coming around the final turn, I wiped the grimace off my face and remembered to smile for the camera! Woo-hoo! I finished! And, I beat my time goal!

It's hard to plan for such extreme heat. I think that I would not have tried to pick up the pace as much on Mile 8. Other than that, I did the best that I could.

As I was gutting out those last two miles, I kept thinking that the quicker I could move my feet, the quicker I could get back into the lake. When I finished, a volunteer poured some icy water on the back of my neck (thankyouthankyouthankyou). I downed some Gatorade and water, then made my way over to the lake to just cool off if I could. I stayed there for about 15 minutes, and visited with the other finishers, placed ice bags on my head, etc. At this point in my life, I noticed that a) everything I did made some part of me cramp and b) it all required that I utter a low, "Unhnh!".

After that, it was a Jamba Juice, a few slices of pizza, call my wife to let her know I was still alive, and wait around.


THE HEAT. I think I ran a great race from beginning to end. If the heat had not been there, I really feel that I could have ran a 1:45 or so Half Marathon. As it was, I ran 1:58, and that was the fastest time among Clydesdales.


Comments on my race: My target, if everything went well, and I had good weather, was 5:15. My attainable goal was 5:30. I finished in 5:27, so despite the brutality of the run, I still beat my goal. That's awesome.

Comments on the race in general: Great setup from beginning to end. I talked to Dave Scott again after the race about the heat, and he basically said that if you are not acclimated to it (which I think I was as much as possible, living in South Texas) you are out of luck because it just takes so long to get your core body temp down. But it was neat to meet Dave Scott, the race was organized very well. Overall, I would do this one again, as long as they put some clouds on order for next year!

Comments on my season: I am pleased that I met all my goals. This is my first year of triathlons, and I made it from just a fairly fit guy to Half-Ironman in good time in eight months. Dedicate yourself to the program, make it a priority and it can happen for you!