Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim was short, but with the current as well. Watch said 25 minutes out of the water, so that is really moving. Would like to know how long the swim actually was as this is a guess. One of my goals for the race was to catch at least one person from the Elite/Pro waive that started 3 minutes ahead of me and by the end of the swim I caught at least 2, so that made me laugh.

Nadda

Decent T1, took a minute to get the shoes on here as I didn't want to worry about the hill and getting into them, so I think if was a good idea.

Nothing

Plan for the bike was to take the first 10-20 miles easier as practice for holding myself back at the beginning of MOOO. Got to a comfortable pace and then backed off a little. Hit 20 miles in right around 1 hour which suprised me as I didn't think I was moving that fast. I didn't have the speed readout showing on the Garmin, just HR, Time and distance. Once I hit 20 I started to push a little more when I could. Got swamped a couple of times by the f'ing cheaters out there which cost me at least 45 seconds if not more as a couple of the peletons were so large I almost had to hit the breaks. One of the highlights of the ride was passing a group of about 15 people as I had had enough and just hammered to get around them. Got close to the end and felt really good. Pulled the feet out of the shoes and coasted down the hill.

Nutrition.
5/6 of a 3 hour bottle of Infinit ~800 calories
2 gels
Approx. 408 cals/hour

Might have been a little high, but my stomach felt good and was interesting what happened on the run.

Good T2

Nothing

I don't know what else to say besides AWESOME. Got off the bike and had Peggy and Aidana yelling at me to get moving. I responded with that was as fast as I was going. Got out of T2 and just started running and didn't look at my Garmin until the top of the second hill on the course. To my suprise it read something like 8:15 pace. Thought to myself "self, this is WAY to fooking fast slow down" so I tried. Got into the rythm that felt comfortable and I thought slower and after the first two miles I kept looking down and the Garmin kept saying mid 8's so I just decided to go with it figuring it wouldn't last long and I would be back into the mid 9's soon enough. Well, I walked every aid station like I had planned and everytime the Garmin would beep with the miles they were between 8:30 and 8:50 and they were not changing. After the first lap I figured that sub 5 was possible if I just held the pace I was going, and even if I slowed to 9's. I tried numerous times to slow down but it just wasn't working, I know that sounds wierd usually I am trying to speed up. The only thing that hurt during the run were my poor feet that were paying for my idiotic decision to run in shoes that only had 1.5 miles on them. The encouragement from the Donkai nation both those racing and those on the sideline was AWESOME. I have to give props to Raytownpete for one piece on sidewalk art that he did that said 'Donkeys eat hills' I saw that on my first time up the hill and started laughing out loud. The poor girl next to me must have thought I was nuts as I just kept laughing for about half a mile. I guess the only other thing that was wierd on the run was my nutrition. I had 2 fuel belt bottles with me with 1 serving of Infinit that were about 250 cals each. I figured just about one bottle on each loop. Plus I had a couple of gels if needed. Well I only finished 1 bottle and none of the gels so only about 125 cals/hour. I must have taken in enough on the bike to not need as much on the run. Going to have to do some more work on that to see if it holds true on longer runs. Started hitting the endurolytes about mile 5 or 6 as my left hammy was starting to get a little tight as were my calves, but they never cramped. I kept seeing Peter and Davey and by mile 10 decided I would not get caught. Ran with Rosshole for a while towards the end of the first loop and he was doing great. I told him I planned on slowing down and expected him to catch me again on the second loop, but as with the rest of the plan for this run it went out the window in the best possible way. I was excited. Tried to cheer on as many people and Donks as I could out there and actually got a little choked up the last 200 yards or so when I came into the finish and heard all of the chearing and almost hyperventilated knowing that somehow I went sub 5 which is about 25-30 minutes better than I thought I had in me. I guess this IM training is paying off even with the injuries that I have had this year.

Can you tell I am thrilled with this run.

Not wear new shoes. Other than that NOTHING.

Walked into the med tent for some ice for my hip and shins. Walked to the Donkai Corral and iced the sticks, chatted with the fam and ate some food. After I got some water and Coke in me I felt awesome and had a couple of beers with the Donks. The amazing thing is after each of my other 2 HIM's I have not wanted to talk to anyone for 30 minutes or so and I just felt like hell. After this one I felt great and was excited for the rest of the day.

I really want to thank my wife Danielle and my parents for coming down and it is awesome to have their support. Also the Donks, there isn't a better group of people anywhere.

Finally hit the wall about 6:00 and took a nap until 7 and then went to bed at 9 and slept like a baby.


For the first time I have to say nothing.


The only complaint I have with this race is the drafting was rampant. Don't know what the organizers can really do though if the racers don't play fair. Other than that I don't really have many complaints. Food could have been a little better, but that is minor.