Run with Eric + triathlon

The truth about long-distance triathlon (or any endurance sport, for that matter) is that you can't fake fitness. Sure, if you are reasonably fit and have some raw talent, you can go fast at a shorter distance. But a half-ironman is too long to fake it, no matter who you are.
So, I started the race with a solid base of swim training, some good work done on the bike, but nowhere near the consistency I would have liked to have in my run training. Life, sickness, the occasional little injury... it happens.
Based on the above, my race pretty panned out exactly how I thought it would.
Swim - 27:41. My best split in a half-ironman by about 30 seconds and my first time under 28 min. My swim training fell off a bit over the last month, so if I can keep up the frequency that I had over the winter, I am sure I can get down in the 26's. The swim itself was uneventful, aside from getting once kicked in the stomach and again in the mouth when I swam over some slower swimmers (hey, it happens). The stomach kick actually hurt, I had to flip over and do a few strokes of backstroke to catch my breath.
Got into transition, did the switch into my bike gear and was off. I still need to work on my transition speed. 3:58... geez, you'd think I stopped for a cup of coffee while I was in there.
Bike - 2:36:42 (21.44mph). About a minute slower than last year... but about what I expected. The three climbs stung a bit more than I remembered, but I felt very good on the flatter sections. My recent bike changes (new Adamo Road saddle) and switch to S-bend aero bar extensions worked out great... rock solid in the aerobars for everything but the steepest part of the climbs when I got out of the saddle. Which is more than I can say for a lot of guys I saw on super-blinged out Cervelo's, Trek TTX's and various other super-bikes with deep Zipp wheels with aero helmets, sitting up with their hands on their bar ends on the flats. Seriously, just buy a damn road bike. The conditions were the windiest that I've seen the four years I've competed here, there were a few sketchy sections. Some of the other athletes running super-deep front wheels were getting blown around quite a bit. Even with a (relatively) shallow 50mm front wheel, a rear disc, and weighing 190lbs I was holding on for a dear life on Deadman's Curve (this is a speed-limited descent where an athlete died in 2000 when the race was a full Ironman). However the wind was a quartering tail wind on the run back into transition, which made the last 10 miles a lot of fun.
Off the bike and into transition. 1:48 then off onto the run course
Run - 1:34:16 (7:11/mile). Felt pretty good coming out of transition, but I was cautiously optimistic. 6:50's the first few miles. Just tried to stay relaxed. Water and gatorade at every aid station. Added Coke to the menu at Mile 7. Based on my overall lack of mileage, I had a feeling that I might run (excuse the pun) into trouble around mile 9 or 10. That's exactly what happened. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Regardless, I stopped to work out a cramp at around Mile 8.5, walked though the aid station at mile 10, drank two cups of Coke and got back on my way. The 6:50's became 7:30's... managed to hold it together and even put on a little surge to pass two guys on the final stretch.
Overall time: 4:44:25, a whopping 34th in my AG... damn I'm glad to be aging up next year.
For those who care about this stuff... here's my nutrition plan for the race... which despite my poor finish, was pretty on target. Good nutrition can't give you fitness that isn't there..
pre-race brekkie2 cups of coffee2 slice of wheat toast, pb and jellysipped on water bottle all morningimmediately before swim - 1 GU
bike2 bottles with 2 scoops of First Endurance EFS + 1 scoop of CarboPro (roughly 300 cals each)1 bottle of water9 Thermolyte salt tablets (5 at 1 hr mark, 4 at 2 hr mark)2 GU's
rungatorade and water at every aid station, Coke starting at mile 7. 3 more Thermolytes at mile 4