HIM FL 70.3
This event being my first HIM, I was somewhat relaxed. I brought down the whole family with me to this event. Overall, I am pretty happy with the time of 5:54. I had a goal of 5:36 setup before the race. Here was my breakdown of the goal - 36 min swim, 3:00hr bike and 1:45hr run. The results were this - 39'swim, 2:41hr bike, 2:25hr run. Here is the story
I woke up about 3am and had breakfast - oatmeal, banana, coffee and gatorade. Did some light stretching and thought of the race in my mind. Kept thinking - slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Family was a little late in getting up, which added some nerves to me, but kept thinking about being "smooth". Once on the road, we hit a detour that was not on the route I had taken the day before the race. One part of the area was closed off due to the race and found another way to get to the race. Finally, got to the race site and it was 15 minutes before the close of the transition area for the officials. Got my bottles loaded and checked everything on the bike that it was all ok. Grabbed goggles and cap and headed to the start. Waited with family on part of the beach before the start and tried to relax and have some fun with the kids early in the morning. My wave was called and within 2 minutes, I was off and swimming. I have done some oly's and sprint prior to this event, but I felt like someone had shot me with adrenaline in the chest and I tried to swim. My strokes were off and I had to refocus myself on being smooth. First 5-6 minutes was chaotic and finally I was able to gain some distance and have some space. I then counted my strokes and tried to stay on site with the buoys. Water was warm and I was starting to feel more comfortable after 12-15 minutes in the water. As I approached the end of the swim I started to think about the bike and what my pace was going to be and to go easy the first 30 minutes. Approached the bike area and transitioned in about 4 minutes. Glasses, helmet and shoes were the only things I needed to mess with. I have a speedfill and an aero bottle on the bike so no messing with bottles, just tubes. Got out of transition and started to pedal easy. Kept thinking smooth is fast. I watched my watts pretty carefully and made sure I was not spiking too high or coasting too much. Here are the bike results from WKO - TSS 177.5 (intensity factor .814) Norm Power 177, VI 1.04. I felt like I had a pretty good ride, but one thing I did not anticipate on was the heat factor. I drank on the bike about every 10 minutes. When I got off my bike my speedfill was about 1/3 of the way full still. The speedfill had 4 scoops of Infinit(about 120 cals per scoop) in it. I transitioned from bike to run and forgot to put on the sunscreen on the back of my shoulders. I did not take any fuel belt for the run and just relied on the aid stations. Started the first mile at 8:15 pace which is MP+30sec. Once I got to the 2nd mile had to take a potty break. This is where I fell apart. Going into that porta-potty in 90-95 degree heat was a mistake. I was feeling light headed and just wanted to get out. After that point, I had to refocus on my "My Box" or " My One Thing" for the next 11 miles. For some odd reason, I just could not focus on trying to keep up that 8:15 pace. So, I started to walk and try to regain my thoughts. I continued on running and walking alternating about every 1/2 mile or so. I just did not have my head wrapped around this run part. I started to think that my bike was too fast and I would blame it on that. Now that I look at the results of my bike, I see that I rode a pretty good ride. I am not one to make up excuses and feel sort of dismal about my performance, especially the run. I rehearsed the Mirror talk prior the event. Where did I go wrong? Nutrition seemed to be pretty good, also took salt tabs before the swim and after the bike. Insights and comments are appreciated.
Things I learned
If family is going with me, add an additional 15-20 cushion for events
When you feel like you pushed enough, you can go farther
Monitor nutrition a litlle bit closer
Refocus on "My One Thing"
Comments
This was your first half and my first half as well. We made some mistakes that we won't repeat and will learn from them and crush our next race. Mine is 4 weeks, yours?
Interesting that we ran into the same problems. Definitely learn from the mistakes here. Next race is a sprint on July 25th and then Full Rev 3 on Sept 12. Good luck on your next race.
@ Paul - Interesting to hear how other people manage the course. I wondered what that sloshing of items were in peoples shirts when they were running by me, now I know it was ice.
Overall nutrition worked fine, transitions can definetely improve as well as bike pacing and endurance.
Overall enjoyed the race a lot. It was my first HIM on U.S. soil (did Cancun last year and a HIM in El Salvador two years back) and the level of organization and safety is all that I expected. I will probably be coming back next year with stronger knees!