Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was in the last wave so I got to enjoy watching and cheering everyone out and then getting to experience the silence of nobody being around to cheer you out. More on being the last wave later but the swim was beautiful. The water was still with minimal waves, pretty strong current moving you up the course, long enough to get spread out.

Be faster, overall the swim was a great experience.

T1 was nice except for the insane chute to get to it. I was happy with my rack spot until I saw that you have to snake through a serpentine maze to get to the transition and that added a bit of time. I was walking until I saw this, then I started jogging.

Run a little faster if I knew I wasn't going to be entering right near my bike.

I was having the bike of my life up until the 19 mile to go turn on to the Blue Star expressway. That's when the wind started pummeling myself and everyone in my vicinity. It went from constantly checking my garmin at 20+mph down to seeing it at 10mph. I started ignoring the speed and just watched the distance so I knew when it would be over with.

I started singing to get my mind off the pain... sorry folks at the aid station if you couldn't understand... It was "Bad Moon Rising".

Get much stronger on the bike. I was passed by a lot of people on the flats but made up a lot of distance on hills. I was not passing many people but the few that I did made me pretty happy.

Very fluid T2, didn't put any GU's in my jersey as I expected to take nutrition from the aid stations. It worked out but it was a gutsy gamble.

Remember to stick with my nutrition plan.

The rain started during my first loop. It was a blessing really, I didn't overheat at all during the run and the rain made for a nice wash down, eliminating the need for sponges. I had big time GI issues and kept telling myself "I'll use the porta potty at the next station" but I never actually did. My legs never really recovered from the abuse on the windy bike course so my run pace suffered.

Train harder to get to a 10 min/mile pace. 12 is too slow.

Pizza and Burgers!


Mother Nature. In ideal conditions I would have done better but you have to take what you're dealt and work around it. I did it and still finished. So I was still victorious in my eyes.


Didn't get to enjoy any post race activities. Words of advice - DONT bring a dog that's not good with big public events to a triathlon. She was like having a fussy newborn with us. We just had to get her home and calm and safe.

Although my wife and I celebrated with beers that night.