Racine 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Goal was to treat this the way I would handle the IM swim so plan was to continue to get more comfortable with people around me. Had a few moments of panic as we headed to the first yellow buoy before the turn. No idea why that always happens to me. Breathing was way too hard, I had to pop up and tread and then get going again. I told myself this would be a long day if I didn’t get my $hit together and to calm down. It worked.

Originally I had planned to stay on the inside of the buoys closest to the shore, but changed that strategy once I got out there. It was easier to keep the buoys to my right so I could see them and the boarders. I did a good job of siting off the buoys or other people around me. Some of the wave behind me caught up and it gave me the chance to try to hold my line. Much harder since they were guys. I never stopped, but I did move over to let a few by so I didn’t get swam over or clocked. I was pretty happy with this effort overall.

Not try to take my wetsuit off in the water and have to sit on the beach to pull it off because it got stuck on my chip. Was covered in sand and lost three minutes here. DUMB!

Ok, I really need to get it together. It was a long sand run and I did cover all my stuff so it didn't get rained on and that took time to deal with, but still.

First thing I saw out of transition was a guy falling down while trying to climb the small hill and clip in at the same time. He looked ridiculous with his fancy aero helmet and bottles rolling down the hill. :)

Goal was to hit as close to 85% FTP for the full ride. Total AVG W=125, 84.4%FTP, VI-1.03, I was getting really hot so I gave myself the last interval to back it off a bit as we headed back into town. My legs felt good the entire time.

Interval 0= AVGW-126
Interval 1= AVGW-124
Interval 2= AVGW-127
Interval 3=AVGW-130
Interval 4=AVGW-126
Interval 5=AVGW-117

I had a lot of stomach issues coming onto the bike—all air in the gut from the swim. I delayed starting nutrition for 30 minutes to try to work through it. It still persisted, but I was worried about not taking in fuel so started every 15 mins while working through it in the usual way. Eventually it went away.

Ingested 130 calories/hour or 400 calories which was all I had on board (kind of on the high side for me). Like my 100 mile ride, I reduced the amount of SE and increased the amount of gel to get a lower protein profile and it worked well. Added 2 salt sticks to that mix. By the time I hit the bike, the SE was warm, but didn’t seem to affect my interest in drinking it. I was a little worried about not drinking enough H20 on the bike so I tried the bottle exchange thing, but dropped the bottle in the process. How the hell do you do that and steer and not fall over? Took in two SS caps about 2 hours in. In total 48 oz of H20 and 10 oz of SE/Gel.


Drink more and learn how to work the bottle exchange.

See T1 :)

Took 1 gel and 2 SS caps with me on the run.

As usual, I turned on my GPS and never looked at it. I wanted to maintain a Z3 RPE and the plan was to walk only through the water stops and to force myself to run the rest of the time. I executed the strategy—HR was Z3 or higher most of the time post analysis and I didn’t walk any place else, but the heat sapped energy like crazy from my first step. My pace was slow even when I wasn’t walking. My legs were ok, but mentally I could not get myself moving any faster due to the heat. I drank at every water stop, threw ice down my shirt, rubbed it all over me and took about a ¼ gel in three different locations. Took 1 SS cap. Total calories-75.

I noticed some pain in my left Achilles, but otherwise the body was holding up.

When I finished the first loop the clock read 5:39, I realized I had a chance to break 6 hours since I started :39 minutes after the start of the pros so I tried to motor faster. I still walked water stops, but not as slowly. I picked up the pace the last two miles pretty sure I didn’t get the sub 6, but thought I had for sure PR’ed….I was sprinting down the last .5m as best I could….only to see the elapsed time wasn’t even a PR. I had miscalculated how many miles I had to run…thought it was 6m, but it was 7m. Got to the chute and promptly threw up three times. Medics told me not to drink anymore, but rinse my mouth out and sent me to the med tent. Why I am not sure. They gave me water and ice.


I really don't know. I am disappointed in this run time. My legs were fine, but my head was shot.

Walked around in a semi daze and then forced myself to eat a sub sandwhich which didn't sit well at all. Waited for my friend to finish and then headed to the lake to cool down the legs.


Heat for sure, but I need more mental discipline during the run. I need to run harder when the pain is great. Haven't pulled that off in either HIM yet this year.


Overall, great race. The volunteers did a super job and the course was marked well. Loved the people with the hoses. My only complaint is the lack of cold water and ice at many of the aid stations on the run. Heat was forecasted for a long time and WTC should have upped those quanitities considerably.