Summary:

1.2 mile swim (river): 44:31 (2:06/100yd)
T1: 7:23 (includes 0.5 mile run from beach)
58 mile bike (yes, 58): 3:13:17 (18.0mph)
T2: 2:41
13.1 mile run: 2:22:43 (10:54 min/mile)

Overall: 6:30:28 (26/35 AG)

Brief history:

I've been running for a little over a year and a half and done numerous road races including two half marthons this spring.

June: first triathlon. A sprint distance event conveniently located a few miles from my house. How could I pass that up! The swim was brutal for me (nearly hit my max HR on a swim! Very nervous, panic attack, etc), the bike fun, and by the run I was too tired to do much of anything.

July: A sprint distance event with a pool swim. Felt better.

August: An olypmic distance event with a hilly bike course. Swim was great, bike course killed me, run was fine. Overall a great day and felt good. I had previously decided that if this race went well, I'd sign up for the half-iron. It went well. I signed up!

With only 3 weeks since the olympic distance race I had a recovery week, a big volume week and a taper week. I'd been training assuming I'd do the half, even though it was a long shot. I've been really focusing on the swim and doing a similar run build up as I did for my half marathons earlier in the spring which ended up being about 25 miles a week with a long run in the 10-11 mile range very weekend. I got in a long bike ride every weekend, but knowingly neglected a more structured bike volume. In fact my bike volume is terrible, I'm embarassed to say. I think 70 miles a week was my biggest week on the bike.


Patriot's Half (as in, half-iron)
Sept 8th, 2007
Jamestown, VA.

The race site is only about 30 min from my house, so I didn't have to get up too insanely early. This is the first year for this race and the only local half-iron I'm aware of which is odd since we're surrounded by water in this part of Virginia: ocean, river, lakes. We've got a fair number of sprints and a few olys, but no half-irons until now.

Parking was easy and I carted my bike, bag of stuff, and box of stuff over to the transition area. Body marking and chip pick up was a breeze. There were plenty of volunteers and they all seemed to know what they were doing. I walked down to the swim start and checked out the area, then walked back up and set up transition and grabbed the wetsuit. Someone had found a pocket of water that was 76 deg out in the river, so it was wetsuit legal. I returned a minute later for my swim cap. Oops! Fortunately I remembered before getting too far.

The pre-race briefing was amusing. "The swim course looks long. That's because it's 1.2 miles". It really did look long. Without my glasses on I could barely see the second yellow turn buoy.

Swim (44:31) or "The Warmup"

In the shallows by the shore it was easily low 80's, but did cool off out in the current. The water was nearly flat with just enough ripples to know it was water. The skies were a clear blue. Air temps were in the 70's. I couldn't ask for anything nicer!

The swim started mostly on time. I was in wave 3 and the shore is so shallow we did an in water start about 50 yds out (barely knee deep). At the air horn, my wave began, high stepping to get to water deep enough to swim in. I lagged in the back a little on purpose. Passing the first red buoy was easy since we were half way there already. We took a right at the yellow buoy and swam up river with the incoming tide. There was the usual occasional bump from another swimmer, but nothing bad.

Two more red buoys later, we made another right turn at a yellow buoy. This is where nearly everyone made a mistake. The swim exit is not in the same place as the swim entrance, which I knew, but I had never visited the swim exit to check out where exactly it was. We did the typical 90 deg turn thing and swam for shore. I couldn't find any red buoys so I just followed everyone else. One advantage to being a slow swimmer is having plenty of people to follow. It turns out there was a red buoy but it was nearly at the shore and it wasn't really visible from the turn. It didn't help that we were now staring directly into the rising sun. Midway to shore we all did a course correction. It seemed to take a long time, but finally my hand hit sand and I stood up and ran up the beach.

Knowing that it was a half mile to the transition area I decided to step aside and strip my wetsuit there before it dried out too much. I think it was a good decision, though I did end up losing my swim cap and goggles somewhere on the run back. Oh well.

I'm really happy with my swim. I was very relaxed, calm and nothing phased me at all. Compared to my first open water swim race where my heart was racing, I was very calm and relaxed waiting for the air horn. I think I probably could have swum it again if I had to.

T1 went well considering the run over sand, gravel, gum balls and freshly mowed lawn. I took some time to wash the grit off my feet. I ripped the wrappers off two Clif bars and jammed them and a zip lock baggie of S-Caps into my tri top pockets and hit the road.

Bike (3:13:17)

I've ridden the bike course one other time, and though I don't have it memorized, I'd get flashes of things I'd seen before which made the ride feel faster. The course was very well marked with volunteers at every turn, and police on most turns. We cross a few rail road tracks and there were folks waiting to mark down your number and time for later deducation, should you be held up by a train. Fortunately I didn't have that problem, though I'm guessing some folks did since I saw a train pass me going the other direction later down the course.

Not surprisingly, my butt was getting tired of sitting on the seat around mile 45. I consumed 2 bottles of gatorade, 2 bottles of water, and a clif bar. I took a salt tab on the course too about 2/3 of the way through.

The bike course was long, and even marked as long. On the way back we passed mile 55, then 56, then there was even more to go. I figure it's in the 57 range, but the official distance is apparently 58, and that gives me a flat 18mph average, so I'll go with that one.


T2: Nothing special here. I was a little slower than normal, but wanted to make sure I had everything. I have to turn off my watch to switch to run mode (a flaw in the Polar series) and some how got a single grain of sand jammed in the seam along the main button so I couldn't do anything. Grr! I was afraid I'd be stuck without any time display AND no pace display. I managed to fiddle with it on the run and get it fixed witin the first half mile though, so that was good.

Run (2:22:43)

I started out well, even a little fast. I slowed back to 9:00 min/miles for the first few miles. The sun was up in force now and clear blue sky as far as you could see. Temps were now in the lower-mid 80's but not too humid. The run starts on the Colonial Parkway -- broad white cement. The leaders were returning as I started the run. They didn't look tired at all.

I had specifically packed the sun screen and completely forgot to apply it before the race. I thought about it on the bike, and then promptly forgot during T2. I could really feel the sun and was regretting my forgetfulness. I had a hat on so my face/eyes were ok, but my bare shoulders ended up taking a beating.

I hit a porta-potty at mile 1 for a quick pee break. I was glad that my hydration was sufficient to require it!

Aid stations and porta potties were every mile, as promised, and were a great relief. They were serving Cytomax and water plus ice, bananas, oranges and some other things. The volunteers at each were great at keeping up with demand. I walked through all of them to drink a cup of water and pour a cup over my head to cool off. Every other stop I had a banana half. Around mile 4 we turn off into a neighborhood and run a few more miles, then turn down a mile-long fully shaded road, turn around and come back.

I never tried cytomax and didn't want to experiment on race day so I had brought salt tabs so I could drink water on the run. I took a salt tab at mile 1, and a second at mile 7 (so about 1 an hour). My shorts were caked with salt at this point and when I wiped my face you could feel the grit. The mile 7 salt tab was a bit stressful since I had chewed a corner off the zip lock bag to get a tab out earlier. Water had gotten in and partially dissolved at least one tab. I tore off another corner and ended up littering the road with a few before I knew what was going on. Fortunatley I bought well more than I needed just in case of disaster (for me or someone else who might need one). As it turns out, they had some salt tabs (Hammer brand probably, which I've never tried) at most aide stations in a big tub like candy. It made me laugh to think of people walking by (which they weren't) seeing athletes taking these huge white capsules.

My legs were getting progressivly more tired and wooden-feeling. I was wearing my heart rate monitor, and knew I could push more (HR was only in the 75-80% range) but my legs just wouldn't let me. I never had cramping issues, but my left calf threatened a few times and my left IT band was getting tight near the end.

My goal became to run to the next aid station, but I ended up walking a few more stretches between aid stations as well. I was actually surprised to see a lot of folks taking walk breaks on the course. I've never done this distance, and while I assumed I'd be making them at some point, I'm a back of the pack guy, so it was a bit of a surprise to see others doing it too. Granted, most of the fast folks were past me already and I probably never saw them.

As I approached the finish line I saw DW and DD (nearly 22 months now) waving and shouting. I gave a big smile and happy wave and ran through to the finish, got my medal and walked back to see them. At that point, I got all choked up and teary. DW asked if I was ok, which I was, just a bit emotional. I walked around and tried to eat and drink some more but really didn't feel up to much. After about 30 min of that we packed it up and came home.


Post-race thoughts:

I'm really happy to have participated and finished. This was a big thing for me, bordering on "not so smart". Apparently my training was enough to get me through in good shape though, and I'm very pleased considering I made it all up based on an amalgamation of sources. You virtual companions on the forum are a huge part of making this happen for me. All the encouragement and inspriration is truly remarkable. Four months ago I'd have thought this was absolutely insane (which I suppose it still is!)

If anything is a disappointment for me, it's the run. I suspect my low bike volume hurt me here by sapping too much leg power. The heat wasn't a help either.

I'll do some more running races before the end of the year, but this was my last triathlon of 2007. I want to end on a strong note and I have school starting up again on 17 September (masters degree on top of my full time job). I was fortunate enough to get the summer off only because no classes were offered that benefit me.

I'll still be doing a weekend bike ride at least, and plan to focus on the bike this winter with maybe a weekly swim or two to keep a feel for the water, but just a lunch time jaunt that doesn't eat much time. My run schedule will be the same as normal.

The day after I'm feeling the sunburn on the top of my shoulders, and my quads and calves are a bit sore. My left shoulder was really tight at the end, which is probably from the bike, and my neck was a little stiff from being in aero position on the bike and craning to see the road, but that's all but gone now.

Thanks again all for the support and kind words. It's wonderful to find such support and assistance.