Half Ironman

Completed Santa Rosa 70.3 this Saturday 5/13.  Felt like most of the weekend was actually spent shotgun in the truck with a motion sick fur kid on lap.

Coach suggests post race report to be even more ready for the next event (IM AZ in Nov)

Swim: 0:53:03
T1: 0:15:20
Bike: 3:50:57
T2: 0:06:45
Run: 2:23:02
Total: 7:29:07

Prerace--

• Rehab strength session 2 days before was cutting it pretty close.  Epsom and rolling seemed to help, but that was right under the wire.
• Didn't swim it day before because would rather not deal with a wet-wet suit the morning of and still think that was the right call for this race.
• Should have recorded observations when driving the whole bike course more seriously with more thorough notes-- there was dodgy pavement and big rollers later on in the course that I was aware of but they still surprised me
• Good pre-race eating decisions (no booze, tomato soup, pork sliders, sushi, ravioli, etc.).  
• Caffeinate before the race or go off of it entirely and time withdrawal symptoms for recovery week (this is budget friendly but logistically tricky if you're using starbucks as an office between workouts while on sabbatical)

Swim--

• For rolling starts at races with 3K people, eat gel painfully late, like well after elite women have left.
• I went 18% further than I had to because agoraphobia.  Coveathlons over the summer should be good practice.

Transition 1--

• This was mostly frittered away walking up a BIG hill from boat launch.
• Oversized booties were a drag to swim in, but saved me from the traditional surgical removal of gravel.
• Heat mitigation hacks be damned.  Just wriggled into a dry tri-top, sleeves, jersey, vaseline lubed socks, running shoes.  wasn't cold on 40 degree descent.  

Bike--

• Visualize the yard sale of debris people will be dropping over the first 5 miles
• Bring something to blow your nose on
• Chocolate covered espresso beans and peanut M&Ms aren't going to work on hotter races
• Skipped aid stations because I didn't like the queue for biffs.  Probably won't be able to do that on full unless I'm on liquid fuel and it is incredibly dialed in and compact.
• Second computer, not just for battery life but watch kept pausing when it bumped up against aero bottle.  

Transition 2--

• Abusing a biff as main priority
• Didn't bother with any elaborate gear since I was already in shoes, run course was shady and the bag I had hung on the bar instead of dropping on the ground was now entangled with my neighbor's bag and covered with bike chain grease.  Just grabbed a bib and hat and went.  

Run-- 

• Felt like a cakewalk.  Stuck with 1:30 run - :30 walk with alerts on the :30, but eventually got sick of pacing with the same people and I didn't feel like I was suffering as much as they looked and I had a better feel for availability of aid stations.  Plus there were stretches that felt like single track because people were doubling back and I didn't want to jam up traffic by walking.  
• SCAR rehab strength work held through mile 12.  Worst pain was pressure from tracker over front of ankle.  Maybe I'll loosen that after the swim next time.  
• Spearmint Clif bloks taste like dentist, mocha gu tastes bad even when you are deep in caffeine withdrawal.  This is the drawback of Aid station roulette. 

Belle's remaining bucket list pinned here.