A full IM consists of 2.4mile swim, 112 mile bike, and marathon run (26.2) ...
so a half is -you guessed it - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13 mile run.
The swim went remarkably well - based on my 500 splits in the pool I was targeting around 40 minutes. That is slow for a strong swimmer, but fast for me! And I came in at 38min so I was stoked!
Hopped onto the bike and quickly realized it would be my worst leg of the event (which sucks when it's your STRONG SUIT!). My back objected to the TT position as early as mile 10 and I fought it the rest of the way, even getting OFF the bike 3 different times to stand and stretch out. That is not what you want to be doing during a race... it was so frustrating to not be able to put power to the pedals, and to watch my average speed drop. drop. drop. I was shooting for 2.5 hours on the bike but it ended up being 3. That was a precious 30 minutes I didn't have to lose!
The Run went as well as could be expected: I stayed under 10minute miles which I was pleased with -and mentally did well, even despite the heat, because I did a good job with nutrition and hydration. However I had done so much damage to my overall time on the bike, that by the mid-point of the run I counted 20 women ahead of me and knew I'd lost my chance at a podium finish.
And I was right - I finished 6th out of 21 in my age group... definitely not the result I had hoped for -but it exposed some issues that I can now focus on resolving before the Ironman rolls around.
Truth be told -yesterday was the season's first official CX race and I was really wishing I was there instead of at the triathlon ;)
