Door County Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Good swim. The first long leg of the swim heading northbound was with the current/wind so it was fairly effortless. However coming back southward had a fair amount of chop and required much more effort. Overall I paced myself well and put forth a good swim.

Nothing.

Pretty decent T1 despite some struggles getting the bike off the rack when my brake handle got stuck in the spokes of the bike next to mine. Luckily no damage to either bike thanks to my lazer fast reflexes and brilliant awareness of what was happening.

Wanted to push the bike a little harder than last year and see if I could replicate a similar run to what I had last year, knowing that today was going to be tougher (hotter) conditions. I am training for IMWI so my volume is much greater than it was last year, but I still knew going in that this was going to be a tough test of my running skills. I really wanted to use the day as a speed day on the swim & bike and then see how the 'ole body could handle a very stressed out run in hot conditions.

Put forth a pretty consistent work effort the entire ride. There are a couple of hills, but overall this course is very flat so it was easy to stay consistent. Drank 2 bottles of water, 4 salt tablets, 80% of my Perp bottle, 50% of Perform bottle and half a Cliff Bar.

Had an uneventful ride until the finish line. Came into the chute and the volunteer yelled out, "keep going, the dismount line is ahead". So I kept going but definitely slowed way down and the next thing I know I see the timing mat and a guy is yelling at me to "DISMOUNT NOW". I immediately stopped, which happened to be on the timing mat, and I dismounted. The official yells out "PENALTY" and writes down my number. I got penalized 4 minutes for basically dismounting with my front tire 1 foot over the timing mat, I think. I say I think because I never really did know where the dismount line existed. I wasn't going to argue or worry about it and just kept moving on.

Dismount my bike when a volunteer says "DISMOUNT area is up ahead".

No real issues.

None

Due to an off season injury I was not able to run most of the fall and all of the winter. Running has always been my weakness, so not being able to get back to it until March certainly affected my training plan. I feel like I did make great strides since March and knew if I could have done better here it would have really shot me up in my AG where it seems everyone's strength is the run. However, my goal today was to figure out some pacing, nutrition and run items for Wisconsin & I feel like I accomplished that.

Coming off the bike I felt pretty good, but knew this course is very tough and that the heat was also going to affect me greatly. The first hill around mile 3 wasn't a problem and I got through the first 5 miles averaging about 9:45 which was close to my goal pace. However, with the increasing heat and my harder-than-normal push on the bike, I was forced to walk a good chunk of the hill at mile 6. From that point on it never got any better.

From the halfway mark, I was unable to get back into a comfortable pace. From the hill at 6 to the hill at 9, I was walking about 30% of the time which wasn't horrible, but it brought my pace to right around 11 minute miles. Part of the problem was that my stomach also shut down which for me is always a sign of going too fast, too soon & pushing pace a little too hard. I was okay with all of that because it was expected. I knew at this distance I could get through and finish, but obviously this type of strategy would never work at the full Ironman distance, so I am glad I toyed with it here.

From mile 10-12 it is totally exposed and very hot and I was walking quite a bit. At the final aid station I found the coke & freezy pop to be the first thing my stomach liked. Not sure if it was that or being chicked by my training partner & friend Ruth at mile 12, but somehow I found a way to run the last 1.1 miles at a 9:59 pace. I think the walking between 10-12, let my stomach settle down and finally accept some nutrition. Classic case of stomach shut down.

Pace things a little better. Probably 5-10 minutes slower on the bike would have saved me 15-20 on the run.

Medal, chip removal, and an immediate soak in the tub of ice water. That was a really nice perk they had at the finish line.


Just my pacing strategy.


Everything about this race is well done & the venue is superb. I would recommend both the sprint and the HIM to anyone.