Going to [YAWN] Nationals

So last weekend was interesting. I participated in my 2nd Half Iron (or Long Distance Triathlon) down in White Lake, NC. My goal was to participate in a half iron early in the season so that i could improve on my bike/run times (because when i morgantown last year, it was ridiculously hot). Funny thing happened on the way to doing that. The conditions (in May mind you) were hotter and windier than morgantown!

The temperature was definitely in the 90's for the run and the dew point must have been in the mid 70's. To top it off, the wind was howling due to a low pressure front coming in late in the afternoon. In other words, the worst possible conditions for a triathlon (windy and oven-bake hot). AND to top it off, they announced the lake temperature in the morning - 79. Ouch. So no wetsuit.

Knowing this was a possibility, i picked up a (pricey) speed suit to mentally compensate for the slower swim time i was expecting. Long story short, my swim was the best part of the day. I broke my morgantown (w/ wetsuit) swim time by a minute or two! Felt really good for 95% of the swim (especially the end). The bike was kind of miserable though. Windy and hot. And some jerkstore passed me on the right (illegal) and clipped my front tire. i was absolutely sure i was literally going head first into a ditch but somehow avoided it. Then the run. Oh man. You want to know what hot it. Body temperature already up from biking, sun beating down, reflecting off pavement. No shade. And i had apparently no electrolytes because i cramped severely. One guy i ran with tried to explain how he needed a new hobby. No kidding. Brutal.

But apparently my survival skills won out because i ended up PR'ing (by like a minute) AND i qualified for the Halfmax Long Distance National Championships in October. So I am SOOO going to that. I researched it a bit and it is legit. It is one of the 11 or so National Championship events put on by the USAT. I have a lot of work to do between now and then though. I really want to avoid getting bottom 10% (which is COMPLETELY possible given the fact i just barely qualified). 5 or 6 tris between now and then (including an olympic and a half 3 weeks before the event).