PrairieMan Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Tried to take things at a brisk but easy pace. No one wins triathlons in the water. Wanted to save my energy for the bike.

Longer long swims in training. I found it hard to keep my mind focused as I got to the final 1/3 of the swim.

Came out of the water running. I'm already passing people! 2nd fastest T1 in my AG. Definitely was excited to get on my bike and see how well my new tires worked.

Learn to get into my shoes after I'm on my bike.

Felt good as I got on the bike and quickly up to speed. I was really excited to see how my new race tires would do. I must have passed 8 or 9 people before I even got out of the park. As soon as I made the first u-turn the wind hit me. It's not unusual to have wind on this course, but this was particularly strong. Got on 360 and headed south. I don't think my average on this stretch could have been any more than 18MPH. The wind was just that bad. I ate a Fig Newton around mile 6 on the first nice long flat I came to. Passed Jen at mile 10 as we both crested the hill at the same time. A minute or two later the rain started. Not heavy rain, just a light sprinkle, but it still didn't make things any better. Made the turn and got out of the headwind and back up to full speed finally. I did everything I could to get my average speed back up. Had another Fig Newton near the turn to go over to Lakeridge. This time the headwind was even stronger. Passed over the first bridge and up the hill while struggling to keep 15MPH. Still was able to keep passing people; one every minute or two. Made the u-turn as the rain started to let up and really hammered it to go strong into the second lap. The wind was still pretty strong when I turned onto 360 for the final time and I decided to have an eGel. Took a water hand-up at the 1st aid station. My sock was bunched up around my toe on my right foot, so I had to pull it out of my shoe and adjust things before I could start pedaling again. Ended up doing this 4 times on the last lap just to be comfortable. Tried to really push things this time around and held a much better average the second time out. Started to eat my Clif Bar right before I made the u-turn. Suddenly it felt like the wind had completely died. I was pushing near 28MPH and making up alot of time. Still trying to eat whatever I could and drank my entire AminoVital bottle and 1/2 the Gu2o bottle. Never need the water or Pedialyte ones. The wind was back when I turned onto Lakeridge but not nearly as bad. Got passed for only the 2nd time. Made it to the u-turn before I decided that I just couldn't wait to pee any longer. This was the fastest part of the course so I hammered as hard as I could and stopped at the top of the only hill to pee. Got back on my bike and flew down the hill and back into the park. Got out of my shoes on the final curve and balanced on one foot as I hopped off my bike running.

I didn't drink quite as much as I expected and still felt over hydrated. Not really sure what to do about that. Could have put my sock on right in T1 so I wouldn't have had to adjust it on the ride. Otherwise it was a great ride (considering how strong the wind was).

Came off the bike running into T2. Maybe a little too fast 'cause the bike nearly got away from me. Grabbed my gels and jelly beans and put them in my shirt pocked, put on my running gear and put together my flag pole as I was running out. 2nd fastest T2 in my AG.

That was about as clean a transition as I could have done. But did forget to throw away the trash from the ride which I had stuffed into my pant leg.

Went out WAY too fast again and did the first mile in 7:41. Saw Chris Legh as he was cruising in. Second was no where even close. My gels were bouncing around too much in my back pocket so I took them out and stuffed them into my pant legs. Threw away my trash at the first water station and accidently threw out my jelly beans as well. The eGel was too heavy to want to stay in place so I just carried it in my free hand and ate it earlier than planned at the second aid station. Slowed myself down quite a bit and did the 2nd mile in a much smarter 9:15. Suddenly at about 2.5 I felt dizzy and was afraid I would black out. I slowed my pace to a crawl faster than walking and felt better after a minute. I definitely felt over hydrated and could feel the fluid sloshing around in my stomach. Mile 3 was uncomfortable and all I really wanted to do was throw up and get everything out of my stomach. No such luck. So I walked and slowly jogged when I could. Got to mile 4 and only took a mouthfull of water at each aid station. David passed me around 4.5-5 and soon afterwards I had that about-to-black-out feeling again. Walked for a bit again and once I could see the end of the dam I suddenly felt alot better. I resumed my regular pace and made the turn around for home. Great feeling. I felt good again and knew that if I kept up just 10 minute miles I could finish in under 6 hours. Kept myself moving on auto-pilot and saw Jen going out as I hit mile 8. All I wanted to do at that point was get off this f#*&ing dam! At least it was overcast 'cause on sunny days you get slowly cooked out on that stretch. I finally got to the end of the dam at mile 10. Just had to hold my pace and I would make 6 hours with about 10 minutes to spare. Saw the finish line as I wound around the last small loops of the course. Made my sprint to the finish (maybe it wasn't a sprint, but it was faster that I had been going), passed one last person before I crossed and have never been more relieved to be done.

Start out MUCH slower on the first mile.

Apparently I was handed a finisher shirt and mug as soon as I came through the chute but I don't remember any of that. My parents and a few friends were waiting for me at the end and I just immediately sat down on the ground and all I could say was, "HOLY SHIT!". The second thing was "Where's the food?" Got myself a cup of water, a plum, 2 slices of pizza, and a banana. Talked to David for a minute and then went to check the results while my friends threw a steak on the grill for me. Found out that I was 2nd in my AG (turned out to be 3rd 'cause the 2nd overall finisher was in our AG and he was listed seperately on the preliminary results). David (dgillen) beat me by all of 54 seconds! Saw Gary (ghart) again before I went to go stretch out and sit down for a while. Not long after, Jen (jldicarlo) came around the final turn and did her signature cartwheel before she crossed the finish. Found her afterwards and we had a beer (Fat Tire as promised) and talked. Ate some bites of steak now and then between cheering for the BOPers coming in. One kid finished with just over 20 minutes before the cutoff. It was his 21st birthday. Me and Andrew rushed over to find him and gave him his first legal birthday beer to celebrate. Got my stuff packed up and hung around to get my 3rd place AG award.


WIND! Absolultely killed my bike times. Wind ins't uncommon out here, but it was horrible today. The rain didn't help on the bike, but it didn't last long so it wasn't a big deal. Could have started the run a little smarter.


Jack always puts on a great race. I wish the wind wouldn't have been there so I could have really torn it up on the bike, but I'll take it in exchange for cloud cover on the run. It was great meeting all the BTers out there. Hope to see ya'll again soon! For my first HIM I just wanted to finish, but had 6:30 as much secret goal in the back of my head, so to break 6:00 is fantastic.