Quite a day

Not quite sure what to say about IMWI at this point.  I’m working on my full fledged race report, but the summary is –

Swim:
Started out and felt great, got into a good draft.  Was easy and felt great (as compared to feeling exhausted and sloppy in the water on Saturday).  About 1200m into the swim (half way on the backstretch of the first loop) – something changed in my stroke and it went from an easy, smooth swim, to a bit of a struggle.

Bike:
Got on the bike after getting through T1 in a bit of a daze, could not get my HR down to where I wanted, or my power up to where I wanted.  Rode faster than last year because of good conditions, on almost the exact same power.  Probably drank to much water – ~1 bottle at each aid station.  That is about double what I would normally do on a ride of this length.

Run:
Started out with a hopeful, but pragmatic view of my chances on the run.  Started out about the same as last year, but heavier in the legs and gut.  Made it until about 10 miles and I quit.  Walked to the halfway point, talked with Mary – who encouraged me to keep at it and not give up.  Shuffled through the next couple of miles fighting back tears of frustration and discomfort.  Stopped around mile 14/15 for a few minutes to collect myself – than powerwalked/hiked the remainder of the distance.

All in all – definately a disappointing day, but I have another shot in 8 weeks at IMFL.  Going to take some time this week to try and understand what happened a bit better, recover, and start to ease back into training next week.