Spirit of Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started the swim up front of age group. Swam to first bouy and started to following group instead of sighting next bouy I followed caps ahead, got off course, sighted bouys again and swam well. Scraped my knuckles a couple of times, due to shallow water. When I came out of water felt good running to T1 .No water in buckets to get sand off feet.

Not follow caps, site bouys.

T1 went fine. I had a great spot in transition due to early arrival. My bike was right on the end easy to find and lots of elbow room. I did have extra water bottles so I was able to get sand off feet. I do not own a tri shirt so I was going to ride bike with bike shirt then change into running shirt. Bad mistake.

Wear a tri shirt on swim so I do not have to change shirts.

I put many hours on the bike before event, with each ride I tried to dial in nutrition. I thought I had it down prior to Racine. I was going to drink 12oz accelerade every hour, 1 GU per hour and 1/2 a clifbar. My goal was to stay around 300-350 calories per hour. For what ever reason I changed and decided to eat a whole clifbar every hour, then I had more GU than I had planned.
I felt good on the bike. When I hit mile 50 I was pumped up and ready to go, I had a great time the last 6 miles.

Not change nutrition last minute.

Here is were I made some mistake. I had a water belt filled with 4- 8oz bottles of NUUN, I decided not to wear belt due to cool temp. I did OK getting ready to run, but I got 1/2 way out of T2 and realized I had bike shirt on, ran back changed shirt, got 1/2 way out again and realized I forgot GU.

Plan T2 better, maybe before getting off bike go through transition in mind to visualize T2.

This is where the fun began. I felt great coming off the bike, I was going to drink water at most aid station and take a GU every 30-40 min. I made it to mile 1 and was running way ahead of estimated mph's. That was OK because I felt great, then the stomach started to grumble. No big deal, this will pass. Well the stomach pains got so bad I had to walk/ run. At mile 2 it was so bad I could not run, I thought I was finished.I had never had this problem before on any runs prior to this. It felt like gas, then I walked off course thinking I was going to blow chunks. After feeling a little better I started to walk again. I finally found a bathroom, took care of business, and felt a hundred times better. I was able to keep a good pace after that. What a relief! I finished the race strong and this would have been my best 1/2 marathon time, if I didn't have to take 15 mi. out for stomach problems.

Eat less calories on bike and back off calories 30 min before getting off bike to let stomach settle.

Walked around, iced foot, and stretched.


Nutrition on bike


This was my first HIM so I do not have anything to compare it to. The fan support was great. Thanks to all the volunteers for your time. The bike course was bumpy in spots causing people to lose everything off their bikes. Making it an obstacle course. I had a great day