Half IronMan CHECK!

I hope this is a somewhat uplifting post after Jessica's unfortunate ending one!  I did my first half IronMan last Sunday in Westchester, NY.  I would say that the race was appropriately called the "Toughman Half" for its extremely hilly bike and run courses!  I know I will have to do twice that amount in all the disciplines for the IronMan, but there is no way that Arizona will be as continuously hilly as the Toughman (or at least I hope not).  Additionally, now that I am a couple days post race, I am buoyed by the fact that I did not end up being too sore after the race.  Tired yes, but sore? Not really anymore that after a big workout.  This does bode well :)

Anyways, the race was great!  It was fun to get a long race in before November.  Now all I have to do is double the distance and we are all set!  The Toughman is a relatively small race, which has a bunch of benefits, one of which is the personal attention you get from the race coordinators.  For example, I am still tickled pink about the fact that my race number HAD MY NAME ON IT and my bike racking place had a nice sticker with my name and number, and said that "all of Bethesda is cheering for me".  Very cute!

One of the great benefits to doing this race was, not only was it a great prep, but it also alerted me to some non-athletic components that I must figure out and take care of before November.  The biggest one was chaffing.  I've never particularly had a problem with it, but then again, I haven't done this long of a race in a tri suit.  I got some terrible chaffing from my timing chip, my sports bra straps, and the pad in the seat of the biking shorts.  I did apply body glide before hand, but it clearly didn't help...good thing that you don't really notice chaffing too much until after the race when all the adrenaline wears off.

What a sweet bike :D

Second problem is storage while I'm biking.  My bike is really sweet and tricked out with tons of hydration holders (which this race confirmed I needed), but it lacks a place to easily store a tool, extra tire, GUs, CO2 cartridge/tool, and tire levers.  I will probably need to get another pouch to add somewhere on my bike...an excuse to invest even more $$ investment into that beautiful, beautiful machine.

My last, but most easily fixed problems, were my transitions.  They were so SLOW!  I suppose this won't matter in the grand scheme of things during my IronMan, and it is more important to have all my things before I start the next section of race (I almost forgot my timing chip during one of my regular triathlons!), but jeebus...bottom third of my division for both my transition times? Hahaha not good.

Overall, this race was great and even though it was a difficult course, I highly recommend it!  T-Minus 65 days until IMAZ!!