blisters!!!

Pigman started out like a lot of late season races in the midwest, with a high bacteria warning at the swim venue. “Swim at own risk” really doesn’t instill a lot of good thoughts as you wade into the muck to start the race. But, I wasn’t in Cedar Rapids IA to not race, so it was on.

The water temp was 81 degrees, which meant that wetsuits were optional but if you wore one you were not in contention for awards. So, no wetsuit.

The swim started without too much drama, and I was able to find a nice rhythm and putter away at the distance without much disruption. My sighting was off causing me to swim an extra 50-100 meters over the 1.2 mi course, but that comes down to inexperience. Out of the water in 36 minutes (yuck) and through t1 very slowly, and out on the bike.

The rolling course suited me on the bike, and in hind site I should have pushed it a bit harder. On the other hand, I’m still learning the whole pacing game in terms of ‘what can I do on the bike that will allow me to perform well in the run.’ My hydration and nutrition scheme was executed to perfection and worked well. I managed a 21.8 mph average for the bike, for a time of 2:33.14. right where I wanted it to be.

T2 was slow (the bathroom stop didn’t help) and I was off for the run. The run course had two hills. You decended down out of the park and ran on flat roads to the turn around. The turn was on the top of a hill, and then it was back to the park. I went out feeling really (REALLY) good, but I also noticed that I had a ‘sensation’ on the bottom of my foot. I knew it to be the sensation of blister formation. My only hope was that my blistering would hold off until the end. But, hold off it did not and the whole way home my pace was limited by the pain my left foot was experiencing. I’ve never really had pain like that and even though my legs and brain were screaming to go faster, my foot was unabliging. I ended up running 1:39 for the run after going out sub 7s.

The culprit?? Residual sand on my foot from the swim. The one thing I forgot to do got me in the end, and I finished 38th with a 4:54 and change. File that one under learning experience.

All in all, I reached my goal of sub 5hr. My best guess is that the blistering cost me 15 minutes in the run which would have put me up around the top 20. Something to shoot for in future triathlon endeavors.

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