Pigman Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Since this is my first summer at tris I have not had much time to devote to swim training so I simply went in hoping to minimize my losses on the swim portion. This swim was my longest swim ever. I did a decent job of navigating buoys on the first leg of the triangle. However, on the second leg I somehow started following 4-5 swimmers that I thought were heading towards a buoy. Unfortunately I realized after about 4 minutes that they were off course so I had to re-adjust my line. Anyway, I finished the swim, but I have a ton of work to do before Ironman Wisconsin in 2006.

Navigate better and train a lot more before 2006

Had to pee pretty bad so that slowed up this T time, which negated any benefit of not having to fool around with taking off a wetsuit. Should have stopped in the water to pee before exiting swim but I didn't want to stop. Live and learn.

Pee in the water!

This represented the longest bike distance I've ever done, so again it was a learning experience. I raced a 50 mile bike race a couple of weeks ago, so I had pretty good confidence that I would finish OK going into this portion of the tri. I had plenty of people in earlier waves to use as targets so I passed a ton of people.

Just get more miles on my legs for 2006

Things seemed to go smoothly. Didn't get too rushed.

nothing

Being a marathon runner just recently trying out triathlons, I was looking forward to the run. My legs felt very good from the beginning. I couldn't believe how many people were walking within the first mile. My first mile was around 6:48 but it felt like I was going much slower. Then I eased into the 7:05-7:10 range and then slowed a little on the hill at 11 mi. Last 2 miles felt decent. Could not believe how many people I passed. Got a lot of encouragement from slower runners that yelled "great pace!"

Nothing

Kept moving for about 5 minutes.


This was only my second triathlon ever, after having done an Int'l distance in July. I didn't even decide to start doing tris until mid-summer so I had minimal swimming mileage under my belt. I had done a fair amount of biking as part of training for x-c ski racing so I was satisfied with my bike performance but I think I have the potential to significantly improve my bike and swim abilities.


I would highly recommend this race. Swim and transitions were held in a state park that was clean and had a lot of room. Parking was adequate. Volunteers were great. Great food (spaghetti, pizza, fruit, yogurt, bread, fluids, etc.). This is part of the Midwest Multi-sport Series -which after each event Gear West gives away a QR tri bike, QR wetsuit, tri bag with running shoes, bike shoes, helmet, other stuff inside the bag. So, everyone sticks around for the door prizes at the end. I missed the bike giveway by one digit. I will return for this race in 2006 and will likely do the sprint distance earlier in the summer at the same venue which is also part of this race series. High marks all around on this race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!