What was your first HIM finish time? (Page 2)

This is very interesting for me..I'm doing my first HIM 9/23.

I have a rough goal time in my head but will adjust it as my training progresses. I like hearing what folks learned from their first HIM and hopefully I can learn something and maybe not have the same issues...nutrition is key and pacing as to not blowing up on the run.

My goal time and yours (generic you) probably should be vastly different...we have different skill sets, backgrounds, age, sex, so I see that as a personal thing. It is hard but important not to compare but do the best we can for ourselves. What I'd be thrilled to finish in, many of you have posted finished in that time and were bummed and disappointed.

I did 5:26 at SOMA last October.  This was my first HIM and first year of racing, but like others have stressed was my lack of nutrition on the bike.  I'll be doing IMAZ next month and have learned the importance of nutrition (sodium, carbs, hydration) on the bike and how it helps SOOO much on the run. 

Good luck! 

6:15 @ Racine last year.

I had been training my red bike off (heh) and I was quite scared of the distance. Swim went well, I pushed the bike as hard as I could and figured I'd just suffer through the run... and I did. I had a chronic knee injury all last year... (not an excuse, just a fact) and I had significant pain on the run... but I knew my run would suck anyway, so I hauled off on the bike and figured I'd just EEEEEK it out on the run.

I was actually pretty proud of that time... I've had my knee fixed and I'm looking to improve upon it this year. Improvement in any increment is fine with me.

6:18, 5% slower than my "goal" (6 hours).  I wasn't real happy right then, but I consider it respectable now.  Finisher #712 (50th percentile) finished in 5:44.  Maybe he/she though their time wasn't "respectable."  It really depends on what your goal is, and whether you've trained properly to achieve your goal.  (I knew going in that I hadn't run as much as I should have.) 

6:19 at Timberman last year

My run went pretty OK (2:11) but I know I could've trained harder for the ride to go faster overall (3:14).   Getting a new bike given to me by a friend just a few weeks before the race was a blessing/curse in that I wouldn've loved more training time on it, but simply had to roll the dice.   The bike worked fine, but the rain and my unpracticed aero position didn't help much.

My computer is doing funky things today.  So here is my story behind my 5:35 at Steelhead in '06.

I was thrilled with the whole experience.  I went into it pretty intimated by the distance, but I let that help my performance not hurt it.  First, I did have time goals but I made them wide open.  I wanted to do it under 6 hours but I understood that might not happen and I would be a fool if I thought all that training was for nought because I didn't break 6 hours.  In the back of my mind, my "I would be ecstatic..." time was under 5:30.  The point here is I made the goals really wide because I had never done the distance and I didn't know what was going to happen.

The second thing I did was I used my head all day long.  I went out and did my normal slow swim (I'm working on that this winter).  On the bike, I kept telling myself, if you go too fast you could be cooked for the day, but if you go too slow you can probably get it back on the run.  So I probably went a little too slow on the bike, but I really think I did get it back on the run.  It was pretty hot on the run course especially considering there was almost no shade from mile 2 to 12.  My half marathon was under 2 hours which was pretty good that day.

The third thing I did was I followed my training plan almost exactly which included some training days several weeks out from the race which were not far from doing an HIM so while I had never done the distance I had come close enough that the whole nutrition thing was not that much of a stretch once race day arrived.

Sorry for tooting my own horn, but there were a lot of posts from people preparing to do their first and this is just one recipe that might allow for it to be a good day.  You should also notice while a lot of folks are saying they didn't like their time, you also didn't see one note saying "I would never do that again and I don't know why I did." 

The finish line brings a great accomplishment.  Go for it, good luck and have fun.

P.S.  To answer your question, you'll know better after an Oly Dist race, but if you can just double that time and finish the HIM, you'd have a respectable time IMHO.  Most people have to double + add 10-30 mins, or more. 

I'll tell you April 1 , but wanted to echo Shane's advice.  Yes, I have a goal time, and I have a dream goal time, but I really hope that doesn't interfere with my enjoyment, and I am not let down if I don't meet the goal.

Hell, I am a former couch potato that even as of last year avoided doing a particular tri because it had a 4 mile run, which was too long for me, and here I go with a half mary after swimming and biking.  I know it sounds corny, but I've worked damn hard to get to the point where even toeing the line is a possibility, and knowing I can go the distance, only question is how long it will take.

Anyway, this post is more for myself than anyone else at this point

Miami Man 06, 6:02:52 - S 0:43, T1 0:10, B 2:55, T2 0:06, R 2:08

I started training in May for it and was going for a 6 hours.  I had Transition total of 16:29 minutes, I used the facilities as there were right there!  I had a serious sinus/chest infection just 10 days before and hadn't swam for 6 weeks as I had a bike crash.  I didn't worry about things and was set to just have a good time and enjoyed whatever came my way.  I duplicated Bears nutrition plan which I'm sure he got from others and had a decent run given that it was sunny and pretty warm that day.