My Half-IronMan (HIM) time improved by about an hour, from 6:02 to 5:05. However, the time I felt I was capable of achieving was around 4:10 to 4:15, and if I wouldn't have run into the issues I had, I would have had that time, easily.
The swim was challenging because it was wave starts and my wave and I kept catching the wave(s) in front of us, so swimming around them was a bit difficult, but part of the sport, right. There were also boats going around us, so I kept going up to breathe and waves would crash in my face as I would breathe, so I was flustered by that several times. Swim time was almost 10 minutes slower than what I trained for and was expecting.
The bike part was going to be rather simple since cycling has been my focus for a couple years. I was on a Cervelo P2C with Bontrager Aeolus 6.5's with a disc cover in the rear, along with a LG Rocket TT Helmet, so aerodynamics were no issue. However, about 7 miles in I noticed my seat sliding up and down. I knew sooner or later I was going to need to fix it. There was this downhill with a sharp, off-camber right hand turn that had a pretty good uphill segment, and I charged into it, took the turn well, but then I tried shifting into my little ring, and it wouldn't catch. I had to get off the bike to fix it. There was this lady on the opposite side of the road with chain issues, so I helped her and asked if she had an multi-tool so I could tighten my seat. Check. Seat fixed, shifting fixed, and I did a good deed to help the lady with her bike :)
Bike time was 2:30, which was about 15 minutes slower than what I was gunning for, but the whole stop to fix bike issue slowed me down quite a bit.
The run. 1:49. Hurt like heck, simply because dirt got into my shoes, and started rubbing around mile 3... and 4 blistered formed, one on the outside of each foot, and one on the inside of each foot. Around mile 6 I looked down and saw red on the part of my Saucony Tangents that were supposed to be white... no bueno. My goal time was a half-marathon of 1:15-1:20, but my feet were hurting with every step, but I still pushed thru with a 1:49, so it's another finish, but not where I wanted to be, but no real issues.
Glad to have earned another HIM medal, that's 2 HIMs and 1 IM in 2010, along with other various races. Not too shabby.
Not sure what the next HIM or IM will be... we shall see
