Half Ironman

Joe and I went to Key West for a long weekend away.  And to do a half-ironman triathlon.  It was the first annual Bone Island Triathlon (boneislandtri.com).  We swam 1.2 miles in the Atlantic, biked 56 miles up US1 (28 miles up, turn around, and 28 miles back), and ran 13.1 miles along the beach.  We both accomplished our goals--we finished.

The conditions were not exactly as we had planned, though.  There was a storm rolling in at the start of the swim, so the waves were pretty high.  At the top of the waves, we still had trouble seeing the next buoy.  They started us in waves, and Joe's wave started 15 minutes before mine.

The bike was more what we had expected.  We knew there would be wind.  And, boy was there wind.  The ride out was straight into the wind.  It was probably gusting up to around 30 mph.  I usually bike about 17-19 mph, and on the way out, I averaged 14 mph.  At one point, I was moving at 12 mph and was passing people.  The way back was much easier.  I was going 20-23 mph without much effort.  I passed Joe with about 10 miles left to go.

It was difficult to recover from the wind.  The run was beautiful, right along the beach, with water stops every 2 miles or so.  We had to do 2 loops, so we passed by the same water stops 4 times.  We were not prepared for the heat, though.  I thought it would be in the mid-70's, but instead, it was in the mid-80's.  And humid.  However, we both eventually finished.  Here are my times (approximately):

Swim: 50:54
transition 1: 5:00 (minutes)
bike: 3:23
transition 2: 6:00
run: 2:44
total: 7:12

I know my transitions were terrible, but I don't care.  I dried off, applied sunscreen, lubed, drank.... I took my time.  I can usually run a half marathon in 2:15, so under the circumstances, I'll take a 2:44.  Joe finished 59 minutes after me.

at the swim start