1/2 Ironman #1 this Season

Just so you know I'm also doing what I'm telling you all to do....  Last Saturday was the Saratoga Springs 1/2 Ironman.... Below you will see my Utah 1/2 Ironman stats and my Saratoga Springs 1/2 Ironman stats....  I may be slow but at least I'm improving.... The Saratoga 1/2 was WAY harder than Utah so my improvements would have been much better than they were....

Here's the written story.... The stats below this:

The swim was fine.... I found myself out of the pool at Lehi Legacy center in the middle of the pack.... behind 4 and ahead of 5...  With 300 yards left the leader got out and I looked at him... He was moving... wow. When I got out of the water I heard them yell 300 left for my friend Lamoni.... I had a head start but it wouldn't be enough. Lamoni was a maniac on the bike.... more on this later...



On the bike ... my computer broke at the 2 mile mark and I  had to stop 2 times or I would not have had my stats... At that moment my brother in law happened to be passing.... Thanks for the encouragement and cheering from the nephews!!! You guys rock....  from there it was all uphill..... and uphilll.... and uphilll.... reached the top of Eagle Mountain and I thought it would be downhilll.... but no...Uphill and guess who passed me at 16 miles...... WHAT 16 miles...... It was Lamoni.  He comes up
behind me and says he's going to draft for the next 10 miles.... That changed in about 1 mile when he zoomed by me at least 5-10 mph faster than me.  Oh well.... He's a beast.  I wrote it off to "I'll try and catch him on the run".  
Over Unity Pass but that was feeling good... Over the pass and down hill but I got hit with a headwind... My 30 mph pace turned into a 24 mile per hour pace on the downhill... I didn't get discouraged as it was downhill and I felt some recovery......  Turned right on redwood road and it was flat... The wind had to hit 30 mph meaning I hit about 9 mph.... Wow this was a painful stretch of road for the next 10+ miles.....The leader passed me on the way to the turnaround... .He was 11 miles ahead of me... the next 8 miles ahead, Lamoni 5+ miles ahead.... Darn....  It was really good to see people though and I was feeling ok even with the wind.  The turnaround was at 42.5 miles and back 13 to the transition area....


Got to the run transition and the lady said... "Shew finally another person".  I smiled and asked how far ahead Lamoni was... "at least 17 minutes"... Oh  that was too far to make up in 13 miles but I took off excited to be feeling good....  My goals on the run was 1 mile without walking , walk, then another mile and repeat... You have to understand that I was walking every 1/10th or 2/10th's of a mile... This is a serious mental thing...... at 1.75 miles my right hamstring started cramping.... I promised myself that I would finish the mile before stretching.... SHEW I made it..... STRETCH..... that helped alot.....


At 6 miles (1/2 from the turnaround) Lamoni passed me on the way back.... I was only 1 mile from him.... YEAH!!!! this might be possible. "Keep to my goal", "keep to my goal" that's what was driving me.... 1 mile, then walk, then repeat....  I was trying to push it but my body kept slowing down a bit....  The first few miles I held 8:15 min mile pace and it was slowing to closer to 9's or a little higher.... darn......at 8 miles we hit one of the several hills back up onto redwood road.... Ouch that was a hard 1 mile  but I did it and ...... What?..... Lamoni was just ahead of me (Maybe 3/4 of a mile)....


To push it? or to stick to my goal?  That was the question>.......


Stick to the goal!.... but I was catching.... Lamoni would walk and look back at me and then take off fast.... The last time with only 1 mile left I finished my mile and walked...


Lamoni finished less than one minute away from me....  GREAT JOB LAMONI!!!!


I crossed the finish line when they were still cheering for him (almost), pointed at him and we understood each other.... I had pushed him when he would not have pushed himself.... He had pushed me harder than what I would have done too.....  We had helped each other....  We had become friends....


Life was good!  I love this sport!


Train hard. Race hard.






Here are the true hard facts:
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Utah 1/2 ironman times
Richard HOFFMAN
Total time: 06:27:35.0   
Swim: 00:41:03.280
Bike: 03:12:26.000
Run: 02:25:12.109
Stopped every 1/10th of a mile or 2/10th.

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Saratoga 1/2 Ironman times
Total Time: 6:18 (Massive transitions)

Swim: 38:30
Personal Best!

Bike:
Avg Speed:16.2
Time: 3:28
Distance 56.22 miles
Almost a personal best but it had much more hills!

Run:
Avg Pace: 9:40 min mile (walks too long)
Time: 2:07
Distance 13.22 miles
Personal Best!!!

Ran 1's before walking for the full 13.22 miles..
Personal Best!!!!

my walks were too long though.... Oh well... one goal at a time.


Bike on Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75260244

Run on connect:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75259995