Racing for Recovery Triathlon - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I got hit in the head, crotch, legs, swam over...no biggie. I was very comfy on this swim. I passed quite a few red caps (men) and had a fine groove going. I used the bouy turns Tony taught me and it worked like a charm and I wasted NO energy! :) I still swim crooked though. Swam to the right on the out and left on the back, and even crossed and bumped into a fellow going the other direction. :0! My bad! I was very pleased to see my time when I got out though...I wasn't gassed at all, and I felt really good. I did the in the water wetsuit removal, which went ok, saw Dave and Nell and they ran up along side me to t1...:)

Not much except pee my wetsuit before I start racing and do a little warm up if possible. Missing the wetsuit pee was NOT good!

Sighting still needs work...as always. I sure hope Rev3 and IMFL have nice calm water like this race did. :)

It was a looooooonnnnnnggg way up to transition, but I'd walked and run it the night before, so no big deal. I was a little discombobulated...This is my first tri this season, so I don't quite have my routine down. My feet were pretty sandy...even after the long run and I had to wipe them off a bit, and my glasses got knocked (or blown)off my helmet, and I had to find them on the ground. Gotta speed it up in transitions!!!

Run the whole way? Have a more set routine with no thinking. Practice Practice Practice! Work on the flying leap junior edition! ;)

This is where I thought I'd have to totally reel it in to stick with my coach's plan, but as it turned out this is where my race went kaflooey! Heading out of T1 I hit lap and was expecting to get my bike screen on my 310xt garmin as I'd set it for auto multisport with transitions. It didn't give me the bike screen, which meant I had no power number or heart rate...everything I needed to execute the bike portion of the race. Shit. I was slow rolling out of the park to try and make it work. Nope, not happening. Then I hit Waterworks road which is full of potholes and is really rough. Still not working. Double shit. Finally got the watch turned off and turned back on and set to bike so I got my power/hr info. Whew! Time to motor...it was windy, and gusty, and the road had tree litter on it. It wasn't really raining, so that was good. I made it to the first loop and started in. I hit S. Huron cruising along on the rough road and then it happened...I flatted. FOCK! It seemed like forever before I could get the tire off the rim. FOR FRICKIN' EVER! I hit my lap button cause I wanted to know how long I was off the bike, but I have it set to autopause so, nope...I didn't get that info either! Lots of teammates and racers asked if I needed anything, which I didn't, except for maybe a clue on how to be faster at changing a flat! I thought it was mighty cool that so many athletes offered to help though. :) Finally after about 18 minutes (the best I can figure using start times, splits etc.) I was rolling again. And I had to pee. :( I made my way to the end of the first loop and there was my swim buddy Scott ready to hand me my heed! Tall Scott and Tony were there too! I yelled to them that I flatted, grabbed my cup (yes... a messy cluster fock of a cup, not a bottle) of heed and kept going. Drank as much as I could and tried to pour some in my aero bottle...HA! That was useless. And messy. I kept up my nutrition with my gu and fluids and got a bottle from Scott the second loop. Much better. I actually got all of the heed from that one. Did I mention I forgot to pee my wetsuit before the swim? Um, yeah...I REALLY had to pee on this loop. I tried to let it fly while riding, but just couldn't. UGH! It was getting very unpleasant. I kept trucking and got a cup again on loop 3...Crap. I just drank as much as I could and chucked the cup. Finally I'd made the turn to head back to the park! Did I mention I really needed to PEE!!! UGH! I was bitching outloud about how I needed to go! It was that bad! BUT... I got to pass a few folks, saw Beth on the bike, and the dude I'd seen on the way out rockin' his 1980's pink road bike with yellow bar tape...kickin' it old school! :) I also saw a few other victims of the crappy roads with flats and one kid who was just dying on the last 5 miles. He was one bonkin' puppy. So sad!

My power max was supposed to be 183 on the bike. I was shooting for riding in the 175 range and fell mighty short of it. With the wind and gusts, I was trying to not to toast my legs...minding the feeling of when I hit the 190's when I ride and avoiding it. It was hard with the conditions to never exceed 183, but my average ended up being 157 with a max of 404. According to the data I did get on the garmin, I averaged 19.1 mph, 148 hr and 161 watts for the first 53 minutes pre flat (not including that slow rolling fight I had with the garmin) and post flat 1:52 minutes was 19.4 mph, 147 hr and 157 watts.

Lots of stuff!
1.PEE MY WETSUIT! Goodness gracious that was awful to have that much discomfort on the bike.
2. Push higher watts...my coach wanted high endurance, and I had 25 watts to spare on average. I really need to trust in my coach, and my ability to perform at the level he prescribes for me.
3. learn to pee on the bike if need be!
4. Last but not least, I really need to become faster changing a flat. 18 minutes kept me out of 3rd in my agegroup, and drove my bike split into the pooper. :(

Chickened out on swinging my leg over and running off the bike. I just wasn't feeling it and HAD TO PEE! I was ok in this transition, but still lots of room for improvement. My lovely coach yelled at me "Get moving Mother Hen" and Domino yelled "the whippersnapper (my nickname for him) is DONE! Smart ass.

Not chicken out and do the run off the bike. Need to practice lots and lots so no thinking is required. But not too bad for my first tri this year.

The course was kind of confusing, but everybody was in the same boat. Right after I passed the timing mat at T2 I hit the porta potty (forgive my bluntness, but if you're reading this, you're proabably an athlete, and get it) where I had THE BEST PEE OF MY LIFE! And I've had kids and ultrasounds when pregnant! :) I must have been in there a couple minutes at least! LOL! Totally worth it! Right after I exited, there were volunteers with banana's...should not have taken and eaten one. Oh no. There would be one more potty break for me during this run! I was hoping to go 9:30's for the first half and negative split the second half, so I was forcing myself to slow down on loop one. It was still windy and cool, so that was good as the new course really didn't have much shade to speak of. Tony was out on his mountain bike and checked up on me on loop one. That was cool. :) I had to hit the potty on loop two...I pulled on the door of the outhouse, and oops...it was occupied! :0! I had to go, so I just waited. Add another couple minutes to the run from potty break two. I really enjoyed having so many smiling faces at the pavillion....I felt like a rock star with so many teammates and Dave and Nell cheering me on! It was great to see so much green out on the course too! I even got a "looking good Trish" from Marie (I have some major hero worship going on with that Kona girl!) I got to run with Pat for a while, saw Diane, Greg, Pam, and John out on the course. I chatted with the volunteers, and Lil Trish came to find me on the last bit of my run. The last lap seemed a lot longer (the sun came out too) so it was great to see Trish. She brought me up to speed on her race at Hawk Island that morning and before I knew it I was finished!

1. No banana!
2. Push the pace a bit more. This run was short, but my hr was below my max coach had me to run at except for the last quarter mile.

3. At some point my glutes and right knee were getting sore. I need to keep working on the itb stuff to keep this under control.

Just walked and drank water and cheered on friends still out on the course. Stretched about 40 minutes after finishing and getting something to eat.


Inexperience at the distance, fear of not having enough in the tank for the run, FLATTING, needing to go potty too much! :)


I was really suprised at how good I felt after finishing this race! I know I had an 18 minute break for the flat but I was still surprised how good I felt.

I'm feeling the love for my coach, Tony. I followed his pacing (on the easy side of things) and his hydration/nutrition plan and I felt really good at the finish. Seriously, I love that man! Especially after seeing the kid bonking on the bike!!! It isn't easy coaching me...I whine a lot, have a ton of questions and push back on his answers at times. He has been patient and matter of fact with me, and I don't always appreicate that, but I sure did at the end of this race! :)

It was AWESOME to have such a big cheering section of teammates from Fraser and Dave and Nell. It really makes the race when you share the experience with friends. :)

I learned a lot. What I did right, where I went wrong, where I want to improve, and that I'm capable of more than I thought I was (but Coach and Ranger knew...)

A special thanks to my #1 training partner Ranger, who I cheered for a year ago at this same race, his first HIM, never dreaming I'd be racing it a year later with him there to cheer me on. :)