Finally got to do a half ironman last weekend at Deer Creek in Ohio (just below columbus). Boy was that more difficult than I could have ever imagined! I started training for Tris this srping and have done 4 sprints leading up to this.

Everytihng was going good with the training and my taper for this race. Then, the thursday before woke up with a sinus infection and sore throat. Did whatever I could to get rid of it and by Sunday morning the throat was ok but still very congested. I know I spent as much time on the bike and run blowing my nose as I did concentrating on the tasks at hand!

The day was VERY windy. The swim went ok, a little choppy but not too bad. Our heat (30-39 age group) started after the sprint and olympic heats and we did a couple of times run into quite a few people from the earlier heats, but not too bad. Swim time was ok at 31:08 (I was shooting for under 30 but was pleased with my time given the conditions.

The bike course was fairly flat with two small hills at the end of the loop. It was an 18 mile loop we did three times. The problem was the last 6 miles was directly into the wind. I could hold 22-23 when I was out of the wind, 27-28 going with the wind, but the last six miles were all at 14-15 mph! Nothing like being in a full tuck and pedaling as hard as you can to try to hold 15mph. It was very frustrating, and of all the bike racing/time trials and training I have ever done those 6 miles (three times) were some of the toughest miles I've ever done! Bike time ended up ok at 2:49 and I averaged 19.9mph ( I was shooting for at least 20 so I wasn't too disappointed.)

Then came the run...ugh. The first mile was ok, just getting the legs loosened up. Then, there was a section over a grass dam that we ran and as soon as I got off the grass and back on the concrete the outside of my foot started to throb. Don't know why, maybe I took a funny step in the grass. All I know is every time my foot hit the ground it was painfull. I could run a mile or two, slowly, but then would have to walk a hundred yards or so to give my foot a break. It then got worse because each time I re-started running my quads would beging to cramp. I would run through it but then as soon as I felt like I was able to hold a comfortable pace the foot pain would make me have to stop and walk. I did this probably 7-8 times and struggled through the 13 miles. I am not much of runner to begin with, but I have run a 1:50 half in training, with several hills, so I was shooting for no worse than a 2:00 half on a flat course. I ended up with a dreadfull 2:30 minuite time for a total of 5:50.

All in all it was a good experience even with the wind. Just frustrating to work so hard on the bike and swim only to have a disastrous run as I did!

I'm definitely going to work on the run this off season and look forward to IMWI which I signed up for!

All in all it was a good experience even with the wind.