Miami Half Ironman

This was my 4th Half Ironman this year.

The weather was perfect except for the wind on the bike when it was not blowing in your favor! Which was most of the time!

This race was extremely well supported and very different from any other Half we have done because of the Zoo “flavor”

There were concerns about the temp in the lake being too warm for wetsuits. Got there on race day and they posted the lake temp as 77.9 - .1 degree away from being a no wet suit swim! Whew……..that was luck in my favor!

The swim was 2 loops, and once out of the water there was about a ¼ mile run to my rack which was the last rack before you went out of transition – that was nice!

My swim I thought would be around 48 minutes – my best ever – boy was I surprised when I came out in 54 minutes --- ugh!!!! What does that mean for me? More time in the cold pool at the Rose Bowl Sunday afternoons with Barry!

Because of the long run back to my bike, I had left a pair of running shoes by the swim exit to run back the ¼ mile to the bike. Oh... and they did have wet suit strippers!

My transition was s l o w, but got on the bike and started on the ride. My gluts were on fire! Was kicking during the swim more than I usually do because that is what we have been practicing in the “Sunday at the RB with Barry”. Guess I got MUCH more work to do to get those muscles ready for action!

The bike course was all flat – with wind – the tail wind was the BOMB! The cross wind was merely annoying and the headwind was 11 to 13 mph!

The bike went by fast...

Also, let me make a note on the weather, although there were winds there was also a cloud cover so it made for an ideal temp from the time we arrived in the morning at 5:45 through the race!

Then came the run – I think I was 2:43 or something equally horrifying! Needless to say I will be working on my swim and run in the off season. I have been doing a faster time since training with Mackel so I now need to get my endurance dialed in!

The highlights of the run were running through the zoo (twice). None of the animals were caged so you would be running and look up and there was an elephant or a monkey or a 300lb turtle - that was very cool!

The aid stations were extremely well stocked with Hammer gels, water, Gatorade, bananas and oranges and ICE! And they gave out great goodies:

In looking at this race - I ask myself what could I have done better with? Well, it is not like I know better, but there is this thing called recovery and going into a race well rested.

Yeah...don’t quite have that aspect of this sport down yet!

But all in all, this was a great race and I would definitely do it again. It is a good race to bring kids to because of the zoo factor.

This was a good race to end the year with. However, as I got on the plane after driving though the various road blocks set up for the 70.3 World Championship in Clearwater...I can not help but want to be here next year for the World Championship with SOME of YOU reading this report!

I placed 2nd in my age group in Miami Man!

Swim:54:14; T1 5:21; Bike 3:05:31; T2 4:00; Run 2:43:47
Overall Time 6:52:53.