Chisago Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim went pretty well. I stayed relaxed the whole time and got out quick and in the front right of wave 9 so there were no traffic issues with other swimmers until I started catching the traffic from previous waves. I was actually able to get a good draft off of someone going my pace for about two buoy lengths on the way back. The only hard part of drafting for me was trusting that the person was staying on course. I kept spotting and that was causing separation between the person in front and myself. Hit a good deal of traffic and lost the draft... it was nice to get in that groove while it lasted:)

Not a whole lot. I still feel like I could be pushing harder with the wetsuit on, but I need to practice some shorter all out tt's to gain confidence in pushing LT pace in open water.

T1 went well. Suit came right off while helmet and glasses were going on. Took a sec to throw wetsuit on rack spot to keep the already cluttered trans area less cluttered. Hoisted the bike up and over the crowed column to the aisle and jogged out. Saw Sarah holding Sofie with the boys cheering behind the fence at the mount line and blew them all kisses:)

Nothing

My goal was to keep on 20mph with rpe of about 4 maybe 5 because I didn't want to repeat a run time like SOR Half last weekend (7:37/mile).

The long stretch up Cty 30 was into head wind which was to be expected. That's the most common direction of the wind up and down 61 which is why I usually like riding those areas east-west in training...

Taking a queue from the horrible gut pains experienced at SOR I completely changed my nutrition plan. Rather than Gatoraid/Maltodextrin mix I made a multi-hour bottle of Perpetium (had never used before but took the risk!) and nursed it over the ~3hr ride. I gulped on the mix every 15mins with some water as chaser, and I ate a portion of cliff blocks at the even hour marks and took one Gu 15 minutes before transition. I know everyone says not to change anything on raceday, but this time it worked out really well so thank the Lord!

Train, train, train... Next season 22mph average?

Saw the whole family and Dad just after exiting the tunnel. It's fun to see them cheering! Transition was good, I was a bit slow getting out of the run exit because of all the traffic of the finished sprint people.

Run THROUGH anyone standing around;) j/k

Hmmm. I was hoping for a very best of 7min/mile pace and had a realistic goal of 7:15min/mile. Achieved an average of 7:17 so I was just short.

Got pretty hot during the run with minimal shade along the way so I'm very glad I took advantage of the two ~90deg days that I did long runs on during the training cycle. If nothing else they helped me get a mental affirmation that I can still run in 80-90 deg sun and still survive (hadn't done that for 3 years or so)!

Not too much. Feel like I should be hitting 6:30's next year with a more serious training cycle but we shall see!

Just walked around a bit.


Just lack of current muscular endurance on the run and force/power/muscular endurance on the bike. All those things should continue to come one I have more than 1 20week training cycle under my belt.

Plan to do a winter cycling training cycle to increase LT using power based plan and try to join a masters swim group to push the swim times under 1:25/100yds.


I listened to a number of people complaining about the organization of the event, but I think it was fine. T area was a bit cramped but oh well, suck it up and move on. I guess it would have sucked had I been short and trying to lift my bike over the others to get it out... Maybe the RD will hear some of the complaints and try to give a bit more room for it next year.

This was the last race of my first triathlon season. Training started in middle of March (ending my 3 and 1/2 year period of zero physical activity while finishing my degree) and ended with Chisago Half. I tapered for my "A" race last weekend wich was Spirit of Racine Half and had a light recovery week to prep for this race. I wanted to test my fitness and take advantage of my peak period and doing 2 Half's 7 days apart seemed to do that. After everything is said and done I was extatic to go sub 5 on both of them and learned a huge amount about how pacing on the bike affects the running legs (especially @ mile 9&>), etc...

Now on to marathon training and then a monotonous winter of indoor training:) Be back to tri's next spring!