Qualified for World Half-Ironman Triathlon Championships

I make the podium at the Korea Half-Ironman triathlon on Sunday finishing in second place among the 44 entrants in my age group.

As you can see I am happy to make podium in a triathlon (one thing for me to make the podium in a run event, but triathlon has been a bit more challenging/competitive)

My time of 5:11:37 falls short of my dream of breaking 5 hours, but it is my PB for the distance by 6 minutes: 

Swim -   43:37

Bike -  2:42:52

Run -  1:39:19

T1&2 -   5:47 

Total -  5:11:37

Swim- My swim felt strong, but when I look at my watch at the end, I am a bit dismayed to see that I am still swimming way slower than the pace I consistently raced at several years ago (even slower than the splits at my two Ironman distance races – both splits at Frankfurt where I swam a 1:16 in a wetsuit with a broken zipper).  I have done far more quality swim training sessions in 2015 than any other year.  The more swim training I do, the slower it seems that I swim. 

Bike - I don’t really allow myself to worry about my slow swim though as I stagger into T1. I tell myself that a slow swim is not fatal to my overall race time goals given the relatively small weight of the swim in a half-ironman triathlon, and I manage to turn my attention to consuming gels and powering up to race pace on the bike.  






I also manage pay some attention to the picturesque mountain setting - Gurye is nestled in a mountains of south, central Korea –an ideal venue for a half-ironman with the flat river plain. 









I averaged 33km/hour on the relatively flat, fast bike course – my strength ebbing slightly over the last 20k or so. It was during these last 20k thatI caught my mates Henrik and (amazingly) David who I presumed was far, far ahead of me, but was having an off day.  It really helped to have the teammates to pull me along.  My shortage this year of long bike training sessions was starting to make an impact.  This lack of training did not seem to have actually affected my race performance yet – though it would take a toll on the run. 

Run - I chatted with David in the transition tent, and when I passed him at the start of the run he shouted encouragement at me to break 5-hours.  Breaking 5-hours would entail running an extraordinary pace for me given how trashed my legs felt from the bike. But I told myself that I felt strong, I would give it everything I had or die trying, and soon I was actually running close to 4-minutes per kilometer pace.  Amazingly all the way through the first lap of the 2-loop run I managed to maintain this suicidal pace. 

But when we started the second lap things deteriorated. From 12k to 16k was just a bad, bad period. I hear other endurance athletes talk about being masochistic – enjoying the pain somehow.  Well, I would prefer to minimize the amount of time I spend at the level of misery I felt during that section of the run.  After walking through the aid station at the turnaround at 16k and starting to head back toward the finish line I managed to regain strength and achieve a better mindset and focus on “form under duress”.  

I felt pretty satisfied with my effort as I crossed the finish line and the medical staff dragged me to the massage tent and I thought about how my hard triathlon training was finally over.  And I’d vanquished the ghosts from my debacle in the Taiwan half-ironman. 

 

Oh.  And I qualified for the World Championships. 

Making it to the Worlds had been something of a goal for me to justify the training and feel like a real triathlete again. But spots in the half-ironman championships next September in Australia have become increasingly coveted.   

I was ready with my credit card in case I did qualify. Yes, they charge you for the entry fee and even expect you to pay right on the spot.  People have asked me if I received any prize money or cool stuff like in running events..  No, no, no – remember triathlon is targeted at an upscale demographic market segment.   Basically in triathlon if you place well you just earn the privilege of registering for even more wildly expensive events.  

Actually tho the registration did include this dorky hat and this really keen combination bottle-opener/keychain