TOUGHMAN Minnesota Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim went well, but my arms were not quite warmed up at the beginning since I didn't get a warm up swim in. Was in the 2nd to last wave, so I had to pass a lot of people. I wasn't able to draft much or site off of other people, so I had to do a lot of sighting, which was made even more difficult by the sun being in my eyes on the way back to shore. Happy with my PR swim, but wouldn't have minded taking it a little easier. Good learning for the full coming up.

Ran up a steep little hill and got to my spot. Took my wetsuit off. My HR was through the roof and felt like I was going to puke. I took my time getting everything ready and walked my bike out of transition in hopes of getting my HR down. It worked and by the time I mounted my bike I was much better.

Not run so hard to my spot?

Pr'd my HIM bike, but thought I'd be a little faster. Didn't push it too hard on the bike though and took in plenty of nutrition. Some nice rolling hills help rest my legs on the downhills. It was a lot of fun for the last few hundred yards with all the people cheering you on.

I feel like I could have gone harder, but didn't want to for this particular race as training for Wisconsin. So I'm happy with this ride.

Put some socks on, grabbed some nutrition and headed out.

I felt pretty good starting the run, and had a goal of 1:35. The first two miles I felt great and ran the aid stations. The next two miles I slowed down a little, but was still under my goal pace. Miles 5-6 got pretty rough, and by mile 8 I was done. I ran out of salt tabs. By mile 10 my legs felt like they were wanting to cramp. I implemented a run/walk technique where I'd walk for :30 and then try to run for 3-4 minutes. I had to walk more and more near the end. Part of the reason was I knew since I was out of salt tabs, the harder I ran the more damage I would do to myself, and it just wasn't worth it. I made my way to the end with a my last few miles being in the 9:00's and one in the 10:00's. Got to the end and was disappointed I didn't have a better run, and that I fell apart so much.

Take more salt tabs with me, and ease back on the first few miles.

A few things hurt me I believe. First was running out of salt tabs on the run. This race further solidified that in tougher conditions, I need a lot of salt tabs on the run. Second being that I didn't peak for this race as much as I have done in past HIM (a really hard weekend of working out the week before) and I think that might have made my legs give out more on the run.

Even with how bad my run was, I still did a 5:05, which is solid for me, albeit slower than I wanted.


The swim course is nice and the bike ride was really enjoyable. A lot of nice scenery with some little hills thrown in. The run course was very boring out on the highway, and some more aid stations would have helped. A two loop out and back would have been better I think. But it was well put on and well staffed. Some great volunteers and good crowd support.