For most of you if you don't already know doing a triathlon in general is tough, but doing a Half Ironman or Full Ironman is hell and it will put your mind and body to the ultimate test! Last year I went to Texas to try my very first 70.3. I probably learned a million life lessons from that race and I used to them to my advantage to get ready for this race and finish with a 33 minute PR.
Here is a quick summary of how the race went:
The swim was crowded and hot. They sent all of the 40 and older in the first 7 waves and then sent the younger guys. I have never understand why any race director thinks that this ok for any reason. So nonetheless the swim was agressive but I ended up finishing it in (29:34). Now on the bike I had a totally different plan than last year which was just hammer it. This year I honestly treated the bike portion like a hard training day. I took it out medium hard and then by mile 35 I started to kick things up a bit. Unlike Alex, shotblocks are my life savor. I ate 4 cases of them and put down a few power bars. I also felt like it was a draft fest out on the course with people riding in groups or right behind. I sure hope they got the hammer from the officials. I finished the bike portion in 2:22.22 this was a PR on the bike leg by 15+ minutes. I was super pleased with that. The Run: this part of the race is where things really get tough if they already haven't. The first 5 miles felt great and then I ended up just hitting a wall and at that point it was all about finishing. One thing I learned from this is that I need to do more brick workouts so that my body is used to this. It also did not help that it was 90 degrees outside.
After all that my final time was 4:44.36. I am happy with it but I know that there is more room for improvement.
Not sure what the next tri will be, but whatever it is I'll be sure to give you an update.
