Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

When the horn sounded we plunged in the frigid water, I was dolphin diving until the water was waist deep and then cave manned the swim until the first buoy. My face was so cold I didn't want to swim with my head in the water. Finally manned up and started swimming and luckily my face/hands/feet were numb pretty quick. I was swimming in a full wetsuit for the first time and got major neck burn but ignored it. I was swimming hard but also was trying to minimize head slap and neck strain just hoping for no headache. The neoprene hood really helped keep my mellon warm. I was moving a good clip and started noticing people making the turn to the beach, I hit the last buoy around 25 mins and thought we were turning at the wrong yellow buoy...hit ground at 27 mins and hauled butt up the beach for a 27:42 swim. The swim was 150-200M shortish and the undertow helped move us down the beach. I was ahead of my crappy 34 min swim from last year. First Mission - Accomplished.

Not too many mistakes - never really found a draft though.

Took my time - smooth is fast - fast is smooth.

Mission Two - Accomplished.

Nothing much. Ahead of last years 4 min transition were I just sat down and thought about DNF'ing from the headache.

The bike is your vechile to get you to the run. There is no such thing is a good bike split without a run to back it up. I had been reminding myself of this racing philosophy all week. I didn't want to go out hard and completely blow my race apart. I thought I could hold 19.5 mph and run a 1:50 for a big PR. I was racing with a bike computer for the first time ever so I could make sure I wasn't going to cook myself early. I was holding 22mph pretty easily through most sections, and felt good, but was a little worried I felt too good, I starting hearing tick tick tick and couldn't figure out what the hell was making that noise, then I realized my sensor was hitting the wheel magnet and then I hear the nastiest noise ever, I thought my fork was ripped off - instead the sensor was at the bottom of my fork and I carefully reached down to pull it back in place. That was the first scare on the bike. My knee started to hurt around mile 38 (Too many miles at Hell Week) and I started to ease the pace on the bike, I didn't want to have to walk the run because of knee problems. The second scare was on a small downhill, I hit a pothole and launced a CO2 out of my bento box - the sound of metal bouncing down the road scared me to death. I had no idea what just fell off my bike!! The last few miles I sat up and soft peddled as my knee was hurting and I was feeling the effects of the bike ride. I was ready to be done by the time I rode by the run course. I finished with 20.38 ave - I little too fast but wasn't completely cooked.

Mission Three - Accomplished

Slow up a tish. Not get caught up in the big surges early in the bike

The dismount line was tight quarters so I didn't do a flying dismount just stopped. Put on my shoes/race belt/hat/second watch/arm coolers and off I went

Mission four - Accomplished

Nothing.

By the time the run started the stormy clouds were gone and the sun was beating down on the course. I had arm coolers on which was nice - especially when filled with ice. I had put on a second watch while running out of T2 to make sure I could monitor my 1/2 mary time without having to do math. The first lap I was running low 8's but my HR was too high - bouncing around 176 (179 LT) so I knew it was only a matter of time before my body would start to slow up. I wanted to bank as much time as possible and slowed down slightly just focusing on running proud. I finished the first loop in 56mins and changed right about 8:30 pace which was my target pace. The second loop my knee was burning and mentally it was tough to hold the pace. I was fighting my body and trying to maintain form through the second loop. I started to really slow down at the aid stations to make sure I was getting enough to drink and keep the HR in check. When I hit the last aid station I knew I could walk the last mile and still hit my goal time. I wouldn't need to walk though and just found a nice steady rhythm for the run through the backend of the zoo and by the time I hit the long downhill I was flying and into the finishing chute. My 1/2 time was 1:56:17. I lost about 5 mins on the second loop.

Run through the last two aid stations....

Waited for my girlfriend to finish her first 1/2 Iron. She debuted at 5:26!


I think a slower bike split (just south of 20mph) would have resulted in my 1:50 goal run. I PR'd every split and took 40 mins out my previous PR on the course and at the distance. Very happy overall and next year we're going 4:55- book it :)