Utah Half Ironman Triathlon

The Utah Half Ironman triathlon was this past Saturday.  It was a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.  Although, after talking with Jared Jones, my buddy from church who does tri as well, he told me that the swim was about 200 meters more than it should have been.  He knows because he was the one that set up the course and the buoys. 

I did the race with Don.  I signed up months ago so Don signed up later to do it together.  It was awesome to do it with him even though he went his super fast pace coming in 21st overall compared to my slow pace where I finished 119th place out of 340 athletes.



Before the race with Don and Dad.  It was cool that Dad came early to see his two boys off.




Just finishing the swim

I finished the race in 5 hours 49 minutes, about 47 minutes after Don.  Overall, I was happy with my performance although I know I can do better now and I know where I need to improve.  It was so fun to get the "half" triathlon completed and under my belt.  I accomplished my goal with the swim and the bike, but not on the run.  My goal with the swim was to come out feeling good even with a possible slower time than I usually do.  I get so sick in the open water that I just wanted to come out not puking.  And, after the motion sickness pills and ear plugs, I did just that with a pretty slow 50 minute swim.  In the pool, I usually am swimming that distance in about 35 minutes.  But, I was okay with it.


in the transition from the swim to the bike

 

 I felt the best part of my race was the bike.  I averaged just under 3 minute miles for the entire 56 miles.  I was stoked with that!  That was such a huge improvement for me.  I went from averaging just over 15.5 mph on my last Olympic distance race, which was only 28 miles, to just barely over 20 mph for 56 miles.  That was almost 5 mph faster this time than last and on a course twice as far.  I felt awesome and great.  I kept up with a lot of the top athletes.  I have been concentrating my training lately on the cycling aspect, so I have gotten better on the bike.  My bike split was 2 hours 46 minutes 50 seconds.

 

Don in his stylish blue attire



So, the area where I need to improve more will be the transition from bike to run after biking higher volume miles.  When I just run, like in my last marathon where I averaged a 7:49 mile pace over 26 miles, I do fine on the run.  You throw in the biking aspect, and it was a different story.  The first 6 miles of the run were okay with about an 8:15ish time, but the last 7.1 miles I just bonked.  My legs were spent, but I think it was mainly mental where I just wanted it to be over.  Plus, I unfortunately lost about 10 minutes while using the bathroom.  My stomach was killing me and super upset from all the food I was taking in.  Plus, running is a natural laxative.  I could have easily have finished with about 15 minutes faster and topped the Top 100 list, but I just decided to just enjoy the race this first time.  All in all, I had a blast and it was a great experience.  I definitely want to do the "half" distance again!

Coming into the finish line...yeah!!!

After the race with the gang