Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

So many people were still entering the water when the cannon went off. I was surprised when it went off. I was floating around very far behind the crowd and close to the swim entrance expecting the crowd to fill in front of me but that never happened with so many outside the water. Started to swim and had absolutely no problems with kicking or hitting or grabbing. Things got REALLY tight at the first buouy. People were yelling at each other "stop grabbing my legs!" and I just kind of doggy paddeled for a minute to figure out where to go to get out of the mess. Overall I stayed VERY WIDE on this course I was probably 30 yards or more outside of the buouys. The only thing that kept me in the course at all were the kayaks that I would almost run into! LOL. :O)

Stay closer to buouys..not be so scared to start closer to the pack in the beginning. Work on my technique to get faster.

Used the wetsuit peeler...started to run up the helix and then decided I didn't need to do that and walked. :O) I really was in no hurry. Used the porta potty before heading to my bike.

Next time I'll be quicker because this is the one place I can pick up time without hurting myself!

I dropped my chain 3 times! I was so happy to be biking the course without wind for a change! Every single time i've ridden the course it was 20+ mph wind gusts so this was fantabulous. The hills were my favorite part. I'm specifically speaking about the "3 bitches"...that's where the party was at on the bike and the party just carried you up the hill. Very fun! I rented wheels from Ironman Wheels Rental. they were ZIPP 404's the only 650 wheels they had and it worked out well. I will rent again next year for sure! Glad I didn't flat though because I have no idea how I would have changed one of those babies! :O) As for nutrition. I had 3 bottles of perform and about 4 bottles of water in the aero tank. 1 Payday, 2 Oatmeal Raisin Powerbars, 1 bag of sport beans, 20 combos - pizza flavor..mmm, and a ton of bananas from the aid stations. At Verona porta potties hopped off and went #1...also had endurolytes every hour or so.

Not get so jumpy at the top of the hills to pick up pace. That's where I dropped my chain every time. I'd go from eazy peazy gear to the big dog and then...chain on the ground, chain on the ground looking like a fool with my chain on the ground. I'd like to go faster next year. I didn't know how much to push as the goal was to just finish. I will ride the loop more next year pushing a bit so I can practice a race pace.

Coming back into the terrace building I felt like such a superstar. The line of people to clap and welcome you back was so amazing. I ran into get my bike to run bag and I was so happy to see tons of bags yet to be picked up! That meant there were a lot of people out there still! :O) I was the only one in T2 and everybody clapped for me it was pretty amazing feeling to be heading to the run!!

I stuck to my plan and did the 4 minute run with a 1 minute walk the entire course. I would walk at the aid stations just to pick up what I needed and then get back on the plan. I had a buzzer that went off at each interval. I felt AMAZING the entire run. I was waiting to crash like I have in my last 2 marathons and that never happened. I naively thought I wouldn't be sore afterwards because of how great I felt all day but I was pretty sore and tired the next few days. Drank perform for the first 13 miles with water a few times...took endurolytes every hour, started to feel like I was going to get the trots so I added more endurolytes and switched to chicken broth and started eating potato chips at each aid station for the last 10 miles. Fixed the problem right up fast!

Not a thing!...well, maybe I should have been drinking more since I only peed 3 times all day.

Watched more people finish for another 2.5 hours and had a miller lite, a piece of pepperoni pizza and then a diet coke and some water. Wanted to see the last racers come in but by 11:20 I was spent and needed to go back to the hotel and get out of my clothes and off of my feet!


lack of experience at this distance.


I was literally smiling the entire day! I was so happy to be there and be healthy and just soo happy about the weather. It was an amazing experience and I'm so excited to be registered again for 2011. In 2011 my husband will be joining me out on the course as well. Now that I know the training I did was enough I'll be going into the training with a lot more confidence!