Reflections On Beach2Battelship

The further I get removed from Beach2Battleship the more I think about how it went.  Thinking through all the elements of the weather, I really think I could have gotten under 5:45. Shaving 10 minutes from the bike, considering all that head/crosswind, really seems doable.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still psyched about finishing in 5:54 but I know I could have done better, even with my level of conditioning.

I never hit the "wall" in terms of nutrition.  I think I completely nailed my nutrition plan and will continue using it going forward.  Even post-race I never really felt like I was "dragging".  Granted, the prospects of  the beach house were enticing enough.

For the next half-ironman, I really think I could do much better on the bike and run.  The one outlier is the swim.  Not sure how many courses will give me a sub-30 1.2 mile swim.   I felt like a Styrofoam cup floating in the water without really pulling through it (consequently, the race director said a bag of chips could complete the 2.4 mile swim in under 90 minutes). I think I'm definitely going to have to do the Masters swim sessions with Doug Hayden to improve on that.  I just need to figure out when the best time it is to work that into my schedule.  We will have to see.

Since my last post, I received some more photos from Mike (TKB's Dad) and "found" some more:

For the record, I'm still a fan of orange but I'm full yellow for this race.  Top, Shorts (piping), and gloves.

woo hoo!

jump

Quite an awkward pose but I like the color saturation.

What's next?  Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas Marathon.  I've already decided that this race is going to hurt.  I did a 15 mile run about ten days after Beach2Battleship and the legs hurt a full 24 hours later.  I don't remember them hurting this much after the half-ironman.  I am breaking in a new pair of shoes, so that's probably one reason.  I've also noticed my foot strike is more on the toe end of the shoe than mid-sole, which is my typical form.  I've been trying to shift my strike forward to better cushion my landing (not sure if that's truly why).  So I'm bagging my sore legs on that.

In order to go from 13.1 to 26.2 in under four weeks is going to be more about getting my marathon legs under me than cardio.  From a cardio perspective, I felt great after the 15 mile run.  My muscles just hurt.

Joe and I have started planning our 2012 year for about a month now.  Hoping to have the details of that finalized soon so I can get the training plans in place.  Will be posting about that as soon as I can!