Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon

a good swim. swam into a northerly wind that generated some chop, but the worst. swallowed some water, but otherwise fine. was able to swim cleanly for a great majority of the swim. Would come into crowds occasionally, and occasionally I would be overtaken. William said he had a dog swim beside him for a bit, but I never saw it.

get my kick stronger.

strippers were great. Had about 500 yards from swim mat to actual transition area including a warm shower. changing tent was crowded when I got there. found a spot and dumped my bag. got some sunscreen on and got the arm warmers on the arms. Socks weren't a big problem. loaded my pockets with my stuff and headed out to the port a potty. after a wonderful stop there, I got to the bike.

not much

about what I expected. really a decent ride for me, putrid ride for real bike riders. I was actually very comfortable through this ride once I warmed up. Granted that took about 2 hours. Those 2 hours were some of the most painful I have been in a while. The amazing part was the greatest pain was in the neck and jaw muscles. I have must have tensed up tremendously from the cold. That said, I would wear the same clothes again. once I warmed up I was good to go and didn't have to worry about what to do with gloves/ jackets etc.

on the race course, not much. on training, figure out how to get stronger and stay stronger. William and I were stronger early in the training plan and it went down hill from there. I think next year, regardless of the what the plan says, long rides will be no less than 4 hours and I will include some sort of intervals in the middle of those long rides

took my time here. when you dismount they took the bike from you. I grabbed two of the bottles off the bike then ran around the large room (football field length) to get the bag and head to changing. made my two bottles, switched socks, went to the bathroom and headed out

nothing

plan was to keep the 18:2 run walk ratio. I had my 4 hour bottle of perpetuem and a bottle with 2 fizz tabs in it. blue sky goal was 4 hours. first 5 miles I was around 8:55 pace which included walking a bit of mile 1 to get the left leg shaken out and then walking up the one hill on the course. by mile 6 through 9 I was around a 9:05 pace. At about mile 9.5 I caught William. He was having some leg issues, so we walked and ran and shuffled the rest of that lap. First lap was over 13 miles and we were just over 2:10 I think. So far so good. On the second lap, William couldn't manage more than about 4 minutes of running at a stretch. That quickly reduced to not much at all. So we walked the bulk of lap 2. We sang songs, we quoted Monte Python, we chatted with volunteers and spectators. Most importantly, we kept walking. Never stopped moving forward the whole time.

The real question is what "could" I have done differently. I could have passed William and let him fend for himself. There is some truth in the fact that I probably should have because that is part of the process for him. However, I didn't. We trained together, I was going to make sure he got across the line, even if I had to drag or roll him. At one point he said, "This is the most I have ever hurt". Then in the next breath, "I have a lot to talk about in my college applications and interviews". This statement came with a smile.

couple of pieces of pizza, put the flannel finisher pajamas on and walked back to the hotel. stretched and rolled in the hotel room while I drank an ensure. took a shower and drank a chocolate stout


training and decision making. will fix the first, wouldn't change the second


don't do this race. you'll hate it (where is that sarcasm font?) I loved this race. i'm worried that it will start to fill up faster and faster and I will get left out.
On Sunday afternoon, William looked at me and said "I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out how to go faster next year". That is probably what I am most proud of him for. I was sure that after the run, he was going to say he was done with this distance. Instead, he is like his dad, just a little slower. I was having that same thought process about an hour after we finished Saturday night. :)