Spirit of Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Cold took my breath away for the first couple of minutes but I quickly settled in. Contact was minimal until the girls in the wave behind caught me at about the second to last orange buoy. Then it got a little rough for a bit but was managable.

Overall had a nice easy swim, stayed close to the buoy line and was shocked to find my hand scraping the bottom along a lot of it. Lots of people walking/jogging, kind of lame. I considered it for half a second but I knew I needed the swim practice. Walking it would do nothing for me.

I'm extremely disappointed in the course layout (depth) and length. Based on my time (which included taking my wetsuit completely off and running up to T1) I felt the course couldn't have been more than 1500 yards. I did use the BT route tool and a satellite image to check it this morning, was maybe 1600 max. It's ridiculous. I sent HFP a nasty email earlier regarding the swim.

I did lose my nose clips midway through the swim, although I don't know exactly when. Guess I don't really "need" them. Haven't swam without them in probably 18 months. It did get into my head a bit once I realized they were gone, but I had no trouble without them. Will try some OWS in the future sans nose clips and see how it goes.


Nothing, swim went fine. I could swim more I guess and try to get faster, but I did set a 15+ minute 1/2 iron swim PR ;)

I stripped my wetsuit standing in the lake and ran up to T1 carrying it. Changed tops to a long sleeve as it was still cool, slid shoes, helmet, and glasses on and headed out.

Could have swam in the long sleeve, but then it would have been wet and I probably would have froze, other than that t1 was fine. With the hill coming out of T1, I didn't see having the shoes on the bike as an option.

At Kansas I thought I had an crazy fast bike split at 18.5 mph, so when I hit the hour mark of this ride averaging 19.8 I was amazed. It was crazy flat out there. I took it out of the big ring twice, and I don't ride in the big ring all that often. In both instances I could have easily pounded up the hill but I was trying to ride with at least a little intelligence.

Tried really hard to manage HR and effort. Going to need to do better at IMWI in that regard. Got passes by tons of individuals and a couple large pelotons. Did whatever I could to ride legally and stay out of trouble.

Overall the ride went really well. Took some aspirin right out of the gate because my neck was really stiff. Felt like the sand that tagged along from the beach had created a blister on the ball of right foot, but that never materialized. Battled a little saddle numbness on and off, not sure why that decided to show up. All else was good.

The last 5-6 miles I took really easy trying to get ready to run. After the last turn I took the shoes off and swung a leg over the bike for the ride down the hill to dismount. Nearly rear ended the guy in front of me, but otherwise uneventful.

Don't know, I held a consistent pace throughout, average according to my bike computer never varied from 19.7 - 19.9 so I'm happy in that regard. I never thought I'd ride at this sort of pace for a half so I'm thrilled. Pigman last year was 17.2 I think, Kansas this year 18.5, now Racine at 20.0.

Still room for improvement pacing wise, HR management.

Ran/walked back to the rack. For whatever reason turned my sock inside out before trying to put it on, fixed it and went to the other, only to do the same thing. Actually double knotted both shoes so I wouldn't have to stop in the first mile to retie. Took the long sleeve off and went with my typical orange sleeveless shirt. Added loose shorts, grabbed the garmin off the bike, my visor and was off.

Not be a dumbass with respect to the socks. I think I'll always add loose fitting close for the run, so I'm not eliminating that step. Run.

Felt pretty good coming out of T2. As per usual my run pace was pretty fast coming off the bike. Actually sub 9:00/mile for the first couple of miles (minus walking through the aid stations). After that I settled into a mid 9 pace and walked through the aid stations.

This run for me was an experiment in run nutrition. I took a gel at probably 3/4 of the aid stations. Only consumed maybe 1/2 of each with some water. Seemed to work ok, no stomach issues.

First loop came and went with out any real problems, although I hated not knowing where the turn around was, kept looking way up the road hoping to see it. Racing against, errrr with, friends definitely made it easier to keep running and not give in to a huge desire to walk.

Second loop was a lot harder. Continued to walk the aid stations and run between. When I realized they had Coke I decided to give it a shot at the next opportunity. At the next aid station I asked for it and the volunteer pointed to a group of coke cans, unopened. I decided to pass and ran off to the next. Here they had coke in cups, it didn't sit well.

I don't recall where on the second loop I was, maybe the main road aid station, but I did something really dumb. I decided to try coke again, after the first couple of sips, still in the middle of aid station, I knew it wasn't the right choice so I went to pitch it.

They have these things, they look like temporary event garbage cans. Cardboard, about two feet square, maybe three feet tall, lined with clear plastic bags. Well, being the nice guy that I am, I decide to throw my coke cup in there instead of on the ground like everyone else.

As soon as I let it go I realized what the "garbage" cans were, water supply for the aid stations. Everyhing went into slow motion as the cup flew through the air. I turned and kept moving, never looking back. My apologies if anyone got water that tasted like coke.

Miles 10-13 were hell. Pace was slowing up, legs were dead. About the 11 mile mark a side stitch made it's presence known. By the last aid station it was all I could do to keep running with it. I also had to pee really bad at this point so I walked over to the porta potty (I know, less than a mile from the finish). To make things worse, a girl from the other direction beat me to it. So I waited, it was worth it.

The short break, the long downhill, and the impending finish made the remaining run tolerable. Fan support was incredible.

Not sure, need to think this one through. I ran at a comfortable pace the entire time, never chased the clock or anyone else. Stayed hydrated, cool. Not sure where the side stitch came from.

Had a beer courtesy of Craig, hung out with the family and the donkai.


Genetics?


Still irritated by the short swim, will put this down as a 70.0 PR.