Soma Tri 70.3!

Today, I completed the Soma 1/2 Iron Distance Tri. While I feel like I was under-trained for it, I am still calling it a success.  I had a few goals for this tri:
1.) Finish
2.) Have a calm swim
3.) Have a consistent bike
4.) Don't die on the run

I would say that I mostly accomplished each of those goals.  I was really worried that I would not finish before they closed the course.  Turns out, that was not too much of a problem. 

The swim went well.  I am not a fan of open water swimming or swimming in a wetsuit.  Since the water temp was 73 degrees, I opted not to wear the wetsuit.  This turned out to be just fine.  One of the other things I dislike about open water swimming is that it's hard to see and I don't like getting bumped by people.  I feel like swimming is such a calm and solitary activity--open water swimming is the complete antithesis of that!!  People push and kick and don't spot and swim into your "lane."  My goal was to keep calm and not get to worked up during the swim.  I was pretty successful at that.  I didn't feel like I really hit my stroke until about 3/4 of a mile in--which is a little late in a 1.2 mile swim!  Otherwise, I just kept steady and calm and it went alright. 

On the bike, I wanted to keep a consistent pace.  I did this pretty well.  I believe my pace was just under 16 mph.  This is great because it's even faster than the pace I want to keep for Ironman 2012.  I slowed a bit on the last lap (there were 3 laps to the bike), but overall, I felt good and even throughout the ride.  My only concern was that my back and neck were pretty sore after the ride, but I think I will keep working on my positioning and tweak my bike's set up and this should be manageable.  I have to say that my new tri bike is awesome.  There is no way I'd be riding this well on my old bike--here's to good equipment!

The run, well, it was really more of a walk.  I knew that I was not well prepared for the run.  I just haven't trained distance like I should be.  Also, it was HOT.  The temperature at the finish was 95 degrees.  The run was entirely in sun and it was MISERABLE.  I would have felt worse about walking as much as I did, except that most people were walking at that point.  It was just too hot.

The other thing that didn't go as well with the tri as I would have liked was that I wasn't feeling 100%, which meant I had some tummy business to sort out before I left home in the morning, which meant that I left later than I wanted (and encountered a car accident that closed the road I took to get to the race), which resulted in my getting into transition as they announced that transition would close in ONE minute.  I didn't have transition set up real well, so I didn't have everything in my bike pouch that I would have liked (like chapstick!!).  It's also a bit unnerving to be running that late for race start...

I learned a lot from this tri.  One, I can do it.  While I would have been miserable even attempting a full Ironman at this point, I believe I will finish when I do.  Two, I need to train.  I can't help but think about how much better this race could have gone had I felt 100% and if I had really trained to a level where I was confident about each event.  It makes me excited to work on my training for 2012.