times yet and I didn't pay attention to my watch all that much, but
here's what transpired.
Swim: I started out very fast and hard for the first 500 meters or so
because I was so freaking cold!!! I had to heat the ole engine up. The
first half of the swim was pretty solid. I got in a group of 3 swimmers
and was able to draft for about 70% of it. A couple of times I found
myself alone (drifting or they were drifting) and so I reconnected. At
one point, I was following 2 swimmers who were side by side! Imagine
the draft on that!! Rounded the buoy and couldn't seem to find my guys.
The second half of the swim was a bit more difficult as I had no one to
draft off of. We were bobbing and weaving in and out of the earlier
groups (2) and the leaders of the last group were just starting to catch
me... got out of the water and was pretty light headed, but felt good,
except for my feet, which never warmed up.
Came up out of the water at 33 and change (on the beach). Not the
official time. I was either really fast or the course was a bit short.
Either way, I was pretty happy.
T1: Transition was much slower than usual as I was more out of it than
usual and my hands / feet weren't working properly due to the cold. I
also didn't wear my normal jersey underneath my tri suit as I didn't
want it to be wet for the bike. So I fought with that to put it on.
Got my gear on and headed out for the bike.
Bike: I was looking forward to the hills because I was really cold.
Hit the hills and didn't warm up at all. As a matter of fact, my toes
and about 1/2 of each foot was numb for the ENTIRE bike ride. Mile 1 of
the run I got feeling back! I guess being cold at the beginning of the
ride with 49 degrees outside temp will do that to you. There is a long
section on the bike from mile 12 to mile 25 or so, so I put the hammer
down and went pretty hard, hoping to warm myself up. On the turn East
towards Bennett, we had a bit of a head wind (no trees or protection)
which made that section a bit more challenging.
To my surprise, the aid stations didn't have HEED like
advertised...which I had banked on. That meant that I only had about
600 cals on the bike, 300 cals short of what we were shooting for. That
being said, I made the best of it and focused on being consistent on
that course. Once we made the turn in Bennett, we got the wind at our
back/side a bit, but faced more rolling hills. I'm not a fan of rollers
and I don't ride them particularly well. As I've been logging miles,
I've discovered that I love to climb, like the plain flats second, and
would never choose to do a ride with rolling hills. I fought through as
much as I could, jumping out of the saddle to give my back a break.
Speaking of which, my back really hurt today...more so than usual. I'm
pretty sure that it took away some watts on the second half of the ride.
I need to work with the docs to figure this piece out.
No stomach probs on the bike as I paced my cals pretty evenly, and did
quite a bit of sipping instead of gulping. I could tell when I finished
the bike, however, that I was a bit light on the cals. I was hoping to
be around 3 hours for the bike, slower than what I've done for that
distance historically, but this course was much tougher than any other
1/2 I've done due to the hills. I'm guessing I wound up around 3:10ish.
T2: A little slow again, as I had to dig for sunglasses (didn't expect
the sun to come out for the 5 mins I was in transition). I also took
one bite of a powerbar to make sure I had enough cals for the run. I
also forgot to put on my HR monitor.
Run: Had a great run and really laid it down. The first mile or so
were rough, as usual, but then I got into my rhythm and went. The
running course is windy and hilly, which makes it challenging. In
addition, you run on concrete for the bulk of it. Anyway, I had a goal
of going sub 10's per mile, which I'm pretty sure I did. I gauged my
time between mile markers 4 and 5, and then again between 7 and 8, and
was in the 9's. I really wasn't focused on my timing (thus the reason I
don't have the exact performance metrics). There was a guy I was riding
with on the bike that was in front of my a 1/4 mile or so...I saw him at
the turn and decided I was going to try and reel him in. I did at mile
9, and we ran together until mile 12, at which point I had to slow to
take water and down my gel, he kept going...I was not able to catch him
again. I'm guessing miles 9 through 12 were faster than any of my other
miles, as we were running at his pace, which was slightly faster than
mine. I started to feel the effects of running that hard (I'm guessing
I was in the high 8's). The finish of the race is difficult, as you
have two or three steep hills to run up (with recoveries in between)
before you get to the finish. As I approached the finish, my kids were
standing outside the chute ready to run with me across the line, and my
Mom, stepdad, wife, sister, and brother in law were all there yelling
for me...what a great way to finish! I hammered the last 1/4 mile as
best I could (once I got up the last hill) and finished very strong. I
forgot to stop my watch so I'm not sure what exactly my time was, but it
was faster than my other 1/2's. My wife said my run was almost dead on
2 hours!!! WOW, that was pretty strong! I'm guessing I was just over 2
(2:02 to 2:05 or something). Either way, my fastest run by far at that
distance. Needless to say, I mowed down a ton of people on the run and
was feeling pretty good. I took down 3 gels spaced evenly on the run,
with water. No stomach probs.
In Sum:
A great race today. My bike was average, but my swim and run were
incredible. Very strong and very fast!!! I'll upload my PT data
shortly.
DT
