I felt better on this swim than any other this year but I struggled to find someone to draft off of the entire time. I started at the front-left side and got off strong right at the gun. I thought I false-started after about 20 yards because I looked around and there was nobody near me except way to my right. The first 200 yards were through a forest of kelp and I had some trouble with the weeds all over my goggles, arms, shoulders and in my mouth. MMMMMM, tasted like chicken. I tried to slowly move over and get on someones feet but couldn't get over before they were too far ahead. I think I was in no-man's land between the front group and the second group until we started catching the wave ahead of us. Once we rounded the first buoy I started having to swim around the previous waves but the course was not too crowded. The long section of the swim was tough to site on the buoys. I thought they were too far apart and almost followed the group ahead of me that went way to the right. I chose to go straight for the buoy instead of following the group. I must have passed the entire group because I made the turn at the last buoy and I was into the wave that started 3 waves ahead of me. I was passed within 200 yards of finishing by 2 girls (Ashley - aestritx and her collegiant swimming sister) in the wave behind me. They were flying and I missed the opportunity to jump on their legs and draft to the finish. I also tried to jump on a big guys feet but he already had another person sucking his draft. After bumping a few times, I decided to let him have it since he was there first. Not a bad swim, but I had been feeling so good in the water lately that I thought I could average a 1:30/100 yards, even without a wetsuit. I guess I swam slightly more than the 1.2 miles or had more trouble navigating around waves ahead of me than I thought. It's hard when you get out of a long swim to find your land legs and it's even harder to run up a hill to get to transition. I guess that would be a sign of things to come...

Find feet faster.

Good transition, once I finally got there. I was quick into my stuff but had trouble with my socks. I decided to wear sock since I had not been training much without them this year.

Move faster

My plan was to come out of T1 and settle on the bike for the first 5 miles, even if people were passing me left and right. I got into a nice pace and just started getting comfortable on the bike. Going out the 3177 was fine and I was feeling good, so I made the turn onto 290 and dropped down into a low gear and just let it loose. My average came up to 25mph and I started passing all the people that passed me the first 5 miles. I felt really good during this section and even had hopes of nice weather as the sky was overcast and we were teased with what I thought was a cool wind. After the turn off 290. I started my nutrition schedule and started to increase my calories as planned. I had been sipping on my Infinite and water up to that point. The revised section had a nice hill that was not as bad to ride up as I thought when I drove it the day before. I still felt fine, even going up the hills and by mile 15, I was averaging 22mph and thinking I was having a great day. Going down the big hill on Bitting School road was awesome, I reached 50mph and had to weave around debris in the road. It was like someone had left a trail to follow of parts with a large hydration system at the end of the trail. Once we turned onto Littig heading towards Monkey I started to feel the backs of my knees and experience some soreness in my quads. I had not been pushing hard as I was trying to keep my heart rate in Z2/Z3 at this point. Still, it concerned me so I sat up and took a break, getting ready for the fast FM 1704 section of the course. Once on 1704, I got back into aero and brought my speed back up into the higher 20's. I started the climb up the last hill on 1704 just like I had done in previous climbs by spinning and saving the hard effort for the top portion of the hill. About half way through the top part, I got out of the saddle and had to sit back down, my quads had locked up and I was in severe pain. I have never had that happen before, especially this early in a Half. I was able to get to the top but I was mentally confused and shocked by what had happened. At that point I took stock of what I had onboard, nutrition wise, and found that I was right on track with my plan. I was half way through the race and I had gone through 1.5 bottles of my Infinite, 1 bottle of gatoraid endurance, 800mg of sodium and 2 hammer gels. I have no idea after all that why I should be cramping. I got to FM 969 and tried to regroup and get back to just spinning at a high cadence but not pushing a hard gear to see if I could spin-out the cramps, everything seemed to get better during this section until the turn onto Blake Manor. I knew this was a hard hill but I almost came to stop going up. I could barely push on the peddle or pull up without getting the start of a cramp. After a long, slow climb, I crested the top and just sat up and peddled at about 17 mph all the way to Taylor Rd. I took in 2 endurance gatoraids and a water bottle at the aid station and tried to increase my salt intake in case I was short. I poured the water over my head since the temp had started to go up with the sun coming out from behind the clouds. It was going to get hot. I rode well all the way down Taylor and even thought I might have recovered from the cramping as I turned onto Decker. The slow uphill from there went well until about 3/4 of the way up and then the cramps came back. I popped another 1000mg of salt that hour hoping that, if I was hehind, I could catch-up somehow. No go, the slow climb up Gilbert heading towards FM 973 made the cramps come back, but this time my hamstrings were pulling on my back. I was really struggling here knowing that I had a short distance to go but 2 climbs left, with possibly, the biggest hill to go. I was really worried that I would have to walk up that last hill. No freaking way was I going to do that. The first little hill was not as bad as I thought, then I shot down the back side trying to gain some momentum to get up the last big hill. About half way up I saw a runner on the course going up the big hill. He had a low number (pro/elite) and he was walking. At that point, I knew it was going to be a hard finish. I was able to get up the hill but noticed that I was moving at 7 mph just to keep the cramps from taking over. Coming into the park was awesome. I have never seen that many supporters at a non-Ironman race before. The small hill heading into the park was like a mini-Tour de France as spectators were lining both sides of the road and screaming encouragement and shaking noise makers. I got to the dismount line and got off the bike to find that my leg cramps had spread to my calf, arch of my foot and lower back. Still, I kept moving forward. I have no idea why.

I still don't know. Eat more sodium the week of the race?

I was ready to pick-up my race belt and turn-in my number coming out of transition. I must not have thought about it too long since I was only in T2 for 2 minutes.

Nothing

I came out of transition looking for a race official to hand my number too and drop out of the race for the first time in my life. Instead, I saw my wife and a group of my friends. I stopped to say I was done but they kept yelling at me to keep going and see how I felt after 1 lap. I turned around and kept going. The run through the park was surreal, there was so many people cheering, spraying water, and handing out wet spoonges. That bit of recovery got me to the park gate and then I had to hit the rolling hills. I knew at that point that I would not get my running legs any time soon, so I walked the uphills and tried to run the flats (not many on this course) and run down hills. I started seeing friends on the course and it made a difference. The section of road right outside the park was brutal with the sun out. The heat was really bad and made a hard day even harder. At the first aid station, I stopped and grabbed 10 salt tablets, gateraide, water and ice and walked up that hill into the Expo center. The next 3 miles were in the direct sun and rolling hills. All I could do was run for 1 minute at a time until I started cramping again. Of course, everytime I walked, I saw someone I knew. John (jcagg90) busted me on the way out the first time. The first 4 miles seemed to take forever, and I had made my mind up that I was going to drop out when I got back to the park before finishing the 1st lap. Kari (my wife) met me outside the park and walked with me up the hill asking if I was ok. I told her I was done and needed to get to the Medical tent. One of the volunteers stopped her at the gate and would not let her through on the course, so I kept moving forward towards the transition area and the Med tent. The crowd was louder coming back than I remembered on the way out, so I tried to shuffle and get moving. I don't know if it was the adrenaline of the crowd or if that walk break gave me some recovery but I felt a little better and moved through the park, still looking for the Med tent, but with the intent of continuing unless I found a medic. I never saw anyone that I thought could help so I passed the finishline/transition area and headed out on the 3 mile loop in the park. The run down the big hill was encouraging since, in all previous triathlons at this park, we go up. At the bottom of the hill was the best aid station with a guy dressed as Elvis in black leather pants and long sleeved black shirt and matching black wig. I thought I was hot. That guy must have been on fire. I did notice that the whole field in that section was all ragweed. So, if anyone else is having congestion issues today, you know were you got it from. The hill going up from the bottom of the ragweed forest sucked. This was the same hill that I saw that pro walking. So, I walked too. No cramps going up but I was beat when I got to the top. I finished the first lap and had a real mental battle to go out on the second lap and not stop. I still don't know why I didn't stop. I guess after that much time suffereing, it just wasn't worth stopping. I knew I would not break 6 hours at this Half and now I had a real danger of not breaking 7 hours at the pace I was at. I continued to take in sodium and pour water on my head and eat ice. It worked for the 5-10 seconds that I had the ice and water but then the searing heat came back and it was just a long, slow, slog. On a positive note, I saw so many people that I know out on the course (John, Marcy, Mike, Jamie). My buddy, Richard Freer, was first off the bike and leading the race through 8 miles on the run, when he pulled out. He is doing IMFL in 3 weeks and wanted to do this race as a "tune-up". I think his engine is tuned now. The run course is bruatlly hilly and hard (weather was 50% of it) but it's a great course for support. The aid stations were incredible and well stocked, even late into the race. The second time through was tougher than the first. The cramps were coming in waves and nothing seemed to help except shuffling at a slow pace. I could not get up the hills at a shuffle so I had to walk. On the second go through the park I pulled up along side a guy in his 50's who was having a hard day as well. We talked for the next several miles and the next thing I knew, I had passed through the finish line area again without quiting. The trip through the ragweed forest was even hotter the second time. I let the aid stations know that they were the best one on the course, but that I had no plans on coming by them again. The long haul up the big hill was lonely as I seemed to have lost my walking companion. At the top, I had one of the most involuntary physical reactions that I have ever had in my life. I was walking along, after just getting to the top thinking that I had just 2 miles to go and then I convulsed and hurled striaght into the air ahead of me, letting go of everything in my stomach, including all the liquid and sodium tablets that I downed. It was gross but impressive at the same time. I didn't feel it coming and I didn't have any adverse feeling afterwards. It just came up violently and shot out about 5 feet like a fire hose being turned on for 2-3 seconds. I felt better after that but still had 2 miles to go and could not stop random cramping. My hands were even cramping so much I had a hard time holding water cups. I don't remember the finish line much but I do remember walking past my wife after the finishers shoot and going directly to the Med tent. I walked over and just bent down waiting for someone to help.

I still can't decide if a DNF would have been better than pushing through.

I was met by Ainsly, a friend from TNT, who caught me as I was about to fall down. They asked alot of questions that I had a hard time answering. One that I remember seemed really funny. They asked me how I felt as I was doubled over and my legs were seizing-up before their eyes. I wanted an IV but they rushed me over to the Advanced Rehab tent for an ART person to start working on my legs. That experience might have been the most painful but nicest thing that happend all day. I still thought I should have an IV but I got hungry and went to the Food tent to eat instead. I started feeling better after about 40 minutes and was able to get back to the stage area and meet-up with some friends from BT, TNT and local racers. Everyone seemed to be effected by the heat, some more than others. Of course, the faster you are, the shorter time you have in the heat.


Cramps and heat


This is a great race and had the atmosphere of a big time event. It felt very similar to the atmosphere of an Ironman. It's the second hardest Half course in the state, next to Buffalo Springs (in my opinion). The run course might be more difficult than BSLT, especially with the heat. Post race was the best I have ever been at. Great food, great entertainment and awesome service. Adam did the best announcing I have ever heard at a race, I think he is trying to give Mike Reilly a run for his money. Before and after photos are below.