Taylorsville Half-Ironman Race Report

I started out the season this year with a 1/2 Ironman race... wasn't sure if that was a good idea. But, with moving and everything going on in life, it seemed to be my only option to get a race in before Kansas 70.3.

The day started out much different than normal with crazy thunderstorms and a cold front moving through. It poured rain for a while and a lightening bolt actually hit just outside of transition area, knocking one guy on the ground! I actually felt some of the electric shock go through my clavical while I was digging around in the back seat of my car looking for something.

The swim temperature was much warmer than I thought it was going be. I ended up using the Xterra speedsuit instead of their wetsuit. The two loop course with a turn within the first 50 yards or so. That corner was super congested and after rounding the corner I was probably in 20th. I don't like starting out fast on the swim in long races like this because I know that if I ease into and find a rhythm I end up being faster than most of group. By the next turn I was in first on the swim. However, by the end of the swim I ended coming out of the water in 3rd.

The bike was incredibly hilly... which made it hard to find a rhythm... but I recently found that I'm actually fairly good at climbing in comparison to other triathletes (as far as roadies go, however... that is a different story). I quickly found myself in first on the bike ride and then by mile 10 another athlete caught me. We ended up doing kind of a slinkly motion with the hills. He was faster going down the hills and I was faster riding up the hills. Around mile 40-45 he ended up flatting and I think he dropped out the race b/c I don't think I saw him on the run. I had the opportunity to ride my new bike (Scott Plasma) and it felt great. I do have a little getting used to the Zipp 808 in the front with crosswind conditions... but I did notice some improvement with battling the wind by the end of the ride. Here is a link for the elevation map on the bike:

http://www.headfirstperformance.com/Half/bikeprofile.htm

The run was a triple out and back. I felt kind of crappy on the first loop since the sun started to come out and the humidity was rising quickly. When I got to the turn around, I asked the volunteers if it would be possible to get another aid station between the two at the end points on the run b/c it was getting hot. Thankfully they worked that out.

I ended up winning with a time of 4:23 and beat the next guy by about 8-10 minutes. I beat the last years time by about 8 minutes. I'm not sure, but I think I may have made a course record. Also, at the end of the race some of the workers asked me if I was pro. I answered with, "no... but I'm hoping to be one some day."