This race was going to be my first half ironman distance race and there was a lot of uncertainty in my mind on how things were going to play out.
I had a few ailments going into the race including shin splints in my right leg that were still present as well as a blister on my foot that was not fully healed. To treat those ailments, I packed a mini medicine cabinet along with a gel pack brunch on the top tube of my bike. My plan was to take two Advil around mile 40 of the bike to prep me for the run and prevent the shin splints from acting up. I also traveled with two strips of mole skin that I planned to place on my feet during T2 to prevent the blister from bothering me during the run. The Advil ended up working perfect for preventing the shin splints but the moleskin disappeared during the run and my feet ended up blistering. The blistering ended up being the least of my problems as I will explain later.
The swim leg was in the Russian River which was an interesting experience. Parts of the the river were so shallow that I had to alter my stroke to prevent myself from scraping my hands on the bottom. Many people were actually walking at these shallow points which was a weird sight to swim through.
At the start of the swim I tried to find a fast guy in my wave to draft off, but I kept on swimming up on his legs so I decided to take off on my own. Overall, the swim felt fantastic. The water was the perfect temperature and there were no waves or current. It felt like I was swimming in a pool. I actually wish the swim was longer, which is usually not the case for me during open water swims. I end up leading my AG out of the water with a swim split of 24:37.
Because I was in the 11th wave to start, there were a lot of people already on the bike course in front of me. I actually liked that because it provided targets to catch up to during the ride. I was expecting the 56 miles on the bike to seem like for ever but the time went by quite quickly. The scenic vineyards and overcast weather helped make the ride a fairly pleasant experience.
I maintained the lead of my age category coming into T2 with a bike split of 2:20:51. I really like the pic below :)
After a really strong swim and bike, all I needed to do was bring it home with a strong run. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The run is where my race went south. In the past, I occasionally had stomach cramp issues that I attributed to the jostling of liquids and gels in my stomach. To prevent the cramps, I went light on the Gatorade and gels towards the end of the bike leg and into run. This was a mistake.
By the time I got to the loop around the winery at the half way point I was losing it both mentally and physically. My mile pace had dropped from just over 6 minutes to well over 7.5 and even pushing 8 minutes. I was definitely bonking and I knew I needed to get some fuel in my body stat. From that point on, every aid station was like a Vegas buffet to me. I was double-fisting coke and Gatorade while I had an energy gel hanging out of my mouth. I actually thought I was going to have to open a tab for all of the refreshments I was taking. I eventually got some energy back around mile 11, but it was definitely too late to make up for the majority of my run. I ended up with a meh 1:31:20 half marathon...something I know I can improve on with the correct nutrition.
I was happy to have made it through my first half ironman distance race and definitely think it was not as grueling as I was expecting.
Final Results:
Time: 4:20:15
Placement: 3rd AG, 9th Overall Amateur
The third place finish was good enough for me to capture a slot in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, NV on Sept. 11th. I am looking forward to it and know what I need to improve on...mainly, be smarter with my nutrition and get ready for some heat.
Special thanks to my Parents, Aunt Sue, Uncle John, and Cousin Steve for traveling to the race to take pictures and cheer me on.
As always, a special thanks to TriSports.com for their continued support. I suggest venturing over to TriSports.com and browsing their extensive selection of multi-sport products. If you find something you like, you can use coupon code MTRIPP-S to get 10% off your purchase. Using the coupon code will also help support me with my triathlon endeavors :)
You can also check out an excellent gallery with some additional photos of the happenings at Vineman at TriSports University. There happen to be two pics of me in the gallery.
Next up is the hometown Hermosa to Manhattan Beach Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim on July 31st.
Mark, 3rd place that's awesome!!
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