Everything leading up to the race went well and was uneventful. My wife went with me to T1 which is always nice. I got everything set up and hit the port-a-potty. Then with about 10 minutes to go, I went down to the water to get in and warm-up a bit. The water felt great - I think it was in the low 70s, which was quite comfortable. The wave start was all the men doing the half-iron, so it was fairly big. We got off to a bit of a late start because they were still setting the last buoy (which was a little concerning), but nonetheless, we were underway!
I tried to concentrate on my form during the swim and focus on high elbows and body position. I didn't get too abused during the melee at the beginning so I got into a decent groove heading towards the first buoy. When we rounded the edge of the lake and over to the buoy it was a little crowded, but not bad. Once to the first buoy, it really thinned out more and I was out in the open water. It was a little difficult to sight because they didn't have anything in between the 3 corner buoys of the diamond-shaped course. As a result, when it was all said-and-done, I think I extended the course a tad by going a bit too wide. I kept cruising along and didn't really have any problems. I was out of the water in 35:45 or so and got up the boat ramp and over the mat in like 36:00 even. I made my way up to my bike, got my wetsuit off, my helmet and shoes on, and headed off.
Swim Split: 36:00
T1: 2:43
The first 6-7 miles of the bike course are up-hill into Auburn. It's over 1000 feet up, I believe. I actually really like climbing, so this didn't really bother me. I was passing people already through this section pretty easily. I spent the first 15 minutes or so trying to get my HR settled a bit and then started my nutrition plan. Then I made it up into town and passed the finish/T2 and Emily was there to take a picture (which I will post as soon as I download it). As a went through town, I took some of the little, tiny roads (and use the word road loosely) that get you over to the other side of town. The course actually goes through the parking lot of a body shop and I couldn't quite figure out where it went after that, so I lost a few seconds. Even had a tried to pre-ride this section, I never would've been able to figure it out. In any case, I got over to the other side of town that I am more familiar with and headed out into the foothills. You basically keep gradually going up and up into the foothills along the I-80 frontage roads. Some really fast, short descents, some good climbs, and not great road quality. Once you get out there, there is a loop through a campground where you take a fun, roller-coaster style road, then a steep, curvy descent down to the river, then past the campground, and then do the 1.2 mile climb back out. As I made it down to the river and started the climb back out, I noticed the same, weird feeling on my bike as when the fork had rattled loose. I have a Felt tri bike with the Bayonet fork and thus far have not had good luck. I love everything else about the bike, but the fork has been nothing but trouble. So here I am with 25 miles to go and my fork is unstable and is causing some really weird handling.
I decided to just deal with it and stay focused on what I could control. The bike was still rideable, but I could not go into my aerobars for the rest of the race, so I had 25 miles of riding to do on my top bars... not ideal. Regardless, I kept pushing on as best I could and tried to concentrate on continuing with my nutrition to set up a decent run. As I started getting back close to town, I realized I was having a fairly good ride. Not too many people break 3:15 on this course because it has 6000' of climbing and is somewhat technical, but it was looking like I could get close to 3:10. I was still feeling pretty good and was starting to feel like I could have a good run. I made it back to T2 in 3:09 and got ready for my run. T2 was uneventful, which was nice and I headed out on my run.
Bike Split: 3:09
T2: 2:07
As I started the run, I knew I had some legs today, so I was encouraged and got started with a good mindset. I had passed a lot of people on the bike (I think only 1 guy in my age group passed me on the bike), but when I started the run, I knew I'd be passing a lot more. I did the 1st lap with a target HR of around 145-150 or so, which is fairly comfortable for me. I took my belt/bottle on the run, so I continued to drink water throughout the early part of the run. I also had 2 Hammer gels and some salt tablets with me. The course goes on some trails first and I did those easily, then headed up the hill towards the neighborhood/school. I made it around the loop at the school easily and cruised back down the hill. At this point, there's a section that goes into the state recreation area that has some hills, but it wasn't too bad. I was back from the 10K loop in around 45-46 minutes, I think. I was still feeling pretty good, so I pushed it a bit more on the 2nd loop and tried to keep my HR around 150-155. I kept clicking off 7:30 miles in spite of the hills. On the 2nd loop, there's an extra section to get it from 20K to the half-marathon distance and on this part, there's a fairly steep downhill on a trail, so I was careful on that section. Right through there, I passed one of the lead women and kept going. I did the out and back in the recreation area and had about 1.5 miles to go, mostly uphill, to the finish. By this time, I knew I could possibly break 1:40 on the run and 5:30 for the race, so I kept going. I made it back to the park and to the finish with a 1:38 run split and a 5:28 overall race time. Coming into the race, I was hoping to do a 5:45, so I was quite happy with a sub 5:30 on this really tough course. I knew not that many people would be breaking 5 anda half. I crossed the line, grabbed a drink, and then caught up with my family. They told me I migh've been top 15 or 20 overall!
Run Split: 1:38
Overall time: 5:28:38
Overall place: 18th out of 202 half-iron finishers
AG place: 4th out of 29 half-iron finishers
That afternoon, I called the bike shop and talked to the owner (who was the one who helped get me set up on my tri bike initially) and he was VERY accommodating, as he should be. When you spend this much money on a bike, you certainly expect it to be reliable. I dropped it off the next day and they were sending the frame/fork back to Felt to see what the deal was. They also gave me a Cervelo loaner that is a REALLY nice bike so I can race on that this weekend in the sprint and take it to Tahoe over the weekend for some training.
Looking back, after they posted the results, I saw that my swim time was 76th out of 202 HIM finishers and 14th out of 29 in my AG. My bike split was 30th overall and 5th out of 29 in my AG. My run split was 14th overall and 5th in my AG. I am getting stronger on the bike and am starting to be able to run fairly well off the bike. Only 13 other people in the whole race had better run splits and with respect to biking, I definitely was higher in my AG than I ever have been. Overall, I was very happy with this result and have made good progress with my coach. I was a little disappointed I wasn't slightly faster in the water and I was VERY frustrated by my bike, but nonetheless, I felt good physically and really nailed my nutrition plan. It was a great rehearsal for Louisville.
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