Well, another half-Ironman is in the bag; that’s number 11 for me. I don’t think I imagined that I’d be doing these so regularly when I started in 2016.

This wasn’t my best race, by a long shot, but I don’t feel bad about it. These races are hard and if you don’t smash it, you learn from it and, perhaps, you learn a little about yourself in the process. The race was different than my other 70.3s because the swim got cut sort due to high winds (15+ mph). I thought that was actually an overreaction by the race officials, but they have their rules. So instead of the usual 1900m swim, we only got 800m. So things were weird from the start.

I had a very quick swim, clocking in at 2:11/100yds. Instead of wearing my Form goggles (which had to be replaced because the display failed), I was back to Roka R1s. I guess I didn’t have them adjusted properly because they fogged up shortly after the start and, when I pulled them away from my face (while swimming) to clear them, they ended up leaking for the rest of the swim. Perhaps I didn’t have the strap tight enough. I think in the future I’m going to carry a small water bottle to the start of the swim so that I can wet my face and goggles to create a better seal.

I had a great bike ride, really too great. It was very windy up at Hawi but I hammered out a 3:32:19. That was about what I always do this ride in, except for 2022, when it must not have been windy at all and I came in with a 3:20. The tubeless tires worked out great, I got through an entire bottle of Perpetuem and hydrated well with Nuun. It was extra windy this year, and I put in the extra effort to have a good ride.

I paid for that on the run, where everything that could go wrong did. I felt a little tapped out when I started and 3/4 of a mile in, I got a cramp in my left hamstring that took a while to work out. When I finally got going again, my back started really hurting. It wasn’t the usual disc issue that I have – instead the left side of my lower back was really sore. Maybe that was from the bike effort or maybe something else is going on. But the pain made it hard to run. I had Advil but unfortunately I left it in my run bag – now there’s a lesson for the next race. In the first couple of miles I also ended up with a cramp in my right hamstring.

Since it’s so hot, they always have ice at the run aid stations, so I figured out that I could ease the back pain by putting ice down the back of my jersey. Since I wear a run belt, the ice generally stayed in place. That, plus making sure I took the salt stick tablets got me running a bit more. There was a point where I felt pretty good and ran about 3 or so miles without walking.

I had to pause the running again when my stomach did a couple of flip-flops. I usually have some cola about halfway through the run for a bit of energy, but this time I started it early since I was already a bit sluggish after the bike. A little over halfway through the run, I was looking for a restroom. Of course I had passed one not too far back and as doing the math of backtracking versus running into the woods. Fortunately I made it to the next aid station and took care of the problem in a more civilized fashion. I was kind of a mess at that point, but got it together to run the last couple of miles to the finish line. So whatever time I had saved from the short swim was spent on the run. Ugh!

What will I do differently next time? First of all, I think I have to be done with cola drinks. I should just eat the Honey Stingers that I know work well in my stomach. I carried two of them, but never at them. I probably also need more than two. I usually eat a bar (like an RxBar) in T2 but I didn’t do that yesterday – not sure why I skipped it but that would have helped my energy levels. I probably needed to eat one on the bike in addition to the Perpetuem. I need to figure out why I’m getting the leg cramps and back pain. I drank nearly 2 bottles of Nuun on the bike ride (no cramping there) but somehow cramped up on the run. Maybe I need to double to Nuun dosage on the bike ride – two tablets per bottle instead of one. And I realized the Perpetuem doesn’t have significant electrolytes in it, so maybe that’s something else to fix. I think I also need to do more brick workouts and longer ones as well. Maybe run 5k off-the-bike more frequently.

These races are always a bit of a science experiment. After 14 races (11 70.3s and 3 full IMs), you’d think I’d have this dialed in. Things rarely go perfectly in these races and we’re all human and make mistakes. I have another 70.3 in September, so that’ll be another opportunity to do a little better.

I do want to give a huge shout-out to all my friends who were at this race. I had friends who just came out to see me on the course as well as a group of friends that volunteered at one of the run aid stations. In addition, I met one of the race referees the day before and she remembered me and said “hi” from the back of her motorcycle while I was doing the Kawaihae climb-out – that was super-cool and very motivating! All of the cheering makes a difference in addition to the camaraderie between the athletes while we’re on the course. I had several great conversations during the run as we helped keep each other moving forward.

Aloha!