Brief IMChoo 70.3 race report

OK here is the brief report: it was a bit of a mess but there were a few positives

Arrival: no issues here, checked gear over morning off, all went off without too much trouble

Swim: with the enlarged field and the fact that I always seed at the very rear (really bad swimmer, literally 3rd to last into the water) I got into the water when the pros were at mile ~50 of the bike! (like 8:30ish)… they had shortened the swim and it was downstream as current was strong for the upstream portion.... best part of swim for me was the fact that the usual first 700 or so meters of panic, feeling like I'm going to drown and just cursing my stupidity for signing up for another race lasted only about 100-200 meters and then it was on to swimming. otherwise remarkably uneventful swim.

Transition: really slow but wasn't worried about time here rather forcing myself to hydrate given previous debacles in other races....

Bike: quite the mess.... overall a beautiful course and made a strong effort to keep the effort/HR down for the first 20miles or so... at mile 22 I got my first flat... no worries I have the spare... replaced and then mess up my CO2 cardtridge… no worries a nice rider loaned me there pump.... 500 meters later my spare blows out... now I'm hosed as only brought one spare.... I wait for the support car.. and wait... and wait.... finally I'm spotted by the support car/police car bringing up the rear.... ie I am in dead last place......this is after waiting literally ~1hour. I get back on the bike and parting words from the official was I had 35minutes to make the mile 35 cutoff (way faster than I basically ever ride) so everything goes out the window and I just floor it, no stopping, no aid stations, no hydration, no nutrition until mile 35... no one pulls me off the course so I keep going... tried to get some hydration/nutrition now but behind as its been hot and still worried about making the T2 cutoff...finally roll into T2. overall felt pretty good at end of bike all things considered

Run: I'm dead.... like from the get go.... cannot run... walked and walked and walked.... first mile was hell as I was desperate to just call it a day... making it to the first aid station, hydrating and getting some caffeine/calories changes my outlook so at this point I decided that my despair was really just being really hypoglycemic/behind on nutrition/hydration. forced myself to drink Gatorade at all aid stations and had 4 X1/2 gels the rest of the run... Gut felt sloshy after each aid station for about 2-4 minutes then improved. Only other thing I added from previous was salt tabs, 1 at each bike aid station, and then 2 on run as thing previously have had issues with falling behind in this....

The good: finally finished my first triathlon: it was ugly, time not where I wanted, disappointed that I did really run almost any of the "run" but it was really nice to actually make it to the finish line and not end up DNFing or in the back of an ambulance!