The swim started out very rough for me as I doubted my decision to go with a swimskin rather than a wetsuit; every time someone grabbed on to my feet I sunk and I was gasping for air. I kept on telling myself that its a long day and don't get discouraged the decision was made and there is nothing I can do about it. I got out ~ 3-5 minutes slower than what I expected and got on to the bike course.

I believe I found my race nutrition this time, I was eating cliff bars (x3 with each bar cut up into 6 pieces to be consumed ~ 10-20 minutes) and drinking 3 bottles of PH1000 to keep my electrolytes "balanced". At mile 40 I developed an irritation in my left hamstring where its in contact with the saddle and I couldn't generate the power that I was putting out earlier. I had to stand for 10-20 seconds, sit and pedal without any pain and then a few minutes later the pain would come back. I just told myself that its a "bad training day" and just get home, i.e. T2 and see if you can do your brick workout otherwise its not worth risking an injury. My bike time was 3 minutes slower than my best at a 70.3 so it wasn't as bad as I thought.

I started my run with heavy legs but no pain in my hamstring so I decided to continue the race. I walked through some aid stations to take in fluids and stuff my kit with ice but I was in a good running form and wanted to be more on the safe side considering the rising temperature. I finished the race really strong and when I checked my time, I had a new PR of 5:18:51 that beat my previous by 1:57! Its amazing how when you stay in the moment amazing things happen, I guess I had a "good training day" after all :)

(Picture from the last Ironman 70.3 Vineman in 2016 before it became Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa)