Ironman 70.3 Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was a great swim for me. This was my 3rd time in the water this year. The other 2 were both races so for me with no practice at all I am pumped on this. I am not fast but I didn't stop once to catch my breath. I can tell that my fitness is what got me through because I didn't really get tired from it either.

Take lessons or even just swim by myself at the Y or somthing. That is actually the plan for next winter/spring so I am hoping to make some gains here. I am thinking about selling my sleeveless suit and this reinforced that because it was COLD.

I had planned on taking it slow and steady and it worked out ok. I ate a gel and sat down to take my suit off and just took it easy. I can go faster but I wanted to follow my race plan. I walk/jogged to the line and jumped on my bike. I slipped my right foot in before the hill and got my left in after the hill. I had a bit of trouble with my left because of my rubber band breaking but it was no big deal. I also started in the small ring because of the hill and that worked really well. There were some people really struggling to get up the hill in the big ring.

Nothing.

This went perfectly according to plan. I would have been right on schedule to my plan but the last 1/2 hour the cramping started a bit so I toned it down and coasted a lot more trying to get my heart rate low and hopefully digest some of the fluids that I took in. I drank my aero bottle and my downtube bottle and picked up one perform from the second aid station. I also ate one flask of gel. This was right on schedule with my plan and has worked every time in training. The main problem was that I had no real food in my stomach and I was now not digesting any of the fluids that I had taken in.

NUTRITION!!!
I think I will take it easier next time for the first few miles and make sure my heart rate is in check. I kept a close eye on it but my rpe wasn't matching my hr at all and I have to assume it was a combination of nutritional issues, heat and the excitement of racing. I will take all of those lessons (mistakes) and make changes next time.

I knew I was having issues but when going over my race plan with Jennie yesterday I planned on walking through transition to keep my heart rate down and sit and put my socks on and just keep myself calm. I could have gone waaay faster but for me at this distance that wouldn't be wise. I am not going to run anyone down even on a good day so I think taking my time and being calm is a good plan

Nothing that I can think of right now.

This was right up there with the worst experiences of my life. I already knew I had issues from the last half-hour on the bike so I told myself that I needed to not push and if my body wasn't responding that I would be able to walk and try and recover. I jogged the first 4 miles at 8:30 according to my Garmin and this was dead-on with my race planning. I thought if things went bad I would, at the worst, do 10 min pace for the whole race. Well it went from bad to worse in about 2 miles. At mile 4 my back seized up and I walked for a bit. Then after the turn around my legs started cramping. I didn't want to risk injury so whenever they cramped I stopped and walked. By the time I was coming back into the park they totally seized up and my whole body was cramped. I couldn't breathe deeply and my chest/stomach/back/legs, you name it and it was cramped up. So I saw Jennie in the crowd and explained to her what was happening and told here the next lap would take a while. It was terrible. I could feel the fluids I had been taking in swishing around and I couldn't digest anything. I was fighting off dry-heaves and pretty much walked the first half of the second lap entirely. After the turn-around I decided I would try and jog from one cone to the next and then when it became too painful I would walk. I did this the rest of the lap and at one point was able to make it 4 cones without stopping. It is heartbreaking to not be tired but have your body not let you go on. The goal was to finish without injury and I DID IT!! I even jogged the last little bit into the finish line.

EAT A PROPER BREAKFAST. Nutrition was the culprit for my failure to perform and I knew in the morning that I was making a mistake but when Jennie asked I brushed it off. I need to pay attention to the details that I have worked so hard on dialing in for the last 18 weeks and be selfish on this one day and get them right. I know I will do better next time.

I walked (limped) to the water with Jennie fighting off the dry-heaves and went in about knee deep to try and cool down and help the pain in my legs and feet.


Nutrition,Sleep,Exertion levels, etc...See above haha.


Well, I learned a lot from this race. I have taken each of the mistakes/lessons that I made and have learned from them. Nutrition was my downfall and I didn't help myself at all by not slowing down on the bike when I knew my heart-rate was too high. I know the story's of all the super fit guys walking the run bragging to others about what a killer bike split they had. I was stupid and it won't happen again. The heat contributed to my results but the real reason for my poor showing was a number of things that I have control over and I will change for next time.