Ironman 70.3 Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The time includes a LONG run up the beach to transition. My calculation coming out of the water is around 43 min. I started a little slower than usual, as was my plan. On the way into deeper water, I rinsed my goggles one last time and was ready to swim. I took it easy, swam from one bouy to the next and enjoyed it. With the waves 4 minutes apart, there wasn't the usual cluster of people to deal with. Not much contact at all; this might have worked against me as I tend to lag a bit if I'm not getting pounded. Anyway, I was kind of sad to see that last red bouy and get out of the water.

Nothing really. Today was a learning experience about pacing and how to finish a HIM. Next time I'll worry about going fast.

The run up to T1 was long and I walked much of it. There were wetsuit strippers, but they were in the sand. No way was I lying down in the sand. Gross! I did stop for the sunscreen girls though. Even though it was cloudy, I knew I'd need it later. Otherwise this was a typical T1 for me.

Of course, I somehow knocked my bike out of gear and had to downshift on that steep hill. Not a real problem, but still an annoyance.

My goal was to keep the HR around 145 and the speed around 17. At the 1 and 2 hour mark, my average was around 18 mph. HR was still low, so I went with it.

Getting out of town was a little tough as the roads were bad and there were lots of people. I figured I'd start on my ShotRocks once traffic thinned a bit. I had changed to the new aero box which is a bit smaller than my old Bento. I had to rearrange some stuff on the fly. Shotrocks in the box along with some salt tabs. Gel flask and the rest of the salt in my pockets. Glad for those pockets!

It was really tough to pace myself and not try to chase down the throngs of people who were passing me. Not that I could have caught most of them, but it was tempting to chase. I had to let them go and ride my own race. Tough lesson, but I stuck with it. There was one guy that I passed a couple times and finally dropped.

Mile 34-38 were really tough and I'm not sure why. Maybe the newness of the day was wearing off. Maybe it's because in training, I usually took a little break around that point. Anyway, it was a tough stretch. I took a bottle at the aid station around that time, not because I really needed it; I just needed a break from the task for a minute.

After that, I regained focus and kept at it. My feet were getting numb and sore in spite of the new shoes. Still need to work that out. I unclipped each and tried to get the blood flowing again.

Not sure. I was spot on with HR and pace. Nutrition seemed to work also. Could I have pushed it more? Probably. Would it have been a good idea? Who knows. Today was about learning to pace and have a steady ride. Check!

This was not the time to jump off a moving bike. Came to a full stop and stepped off. Just the usual T2. I decided not to take the racebelt pouch since I had the essentials in my pockets. I did grab my ITB strap just in case.

Nada.

Running just sucks. After 56 miles on the bike, running sucks even more. Not much more I can say.

Along the course there were several people with sprinklers or hoses running to help us with the heat. They were awesome! I'm not sure how much worse I'd have felt without them. I had to make one potty stop early on, but I had planned for that too. Aid stations every mile helped a ton too! My initial plan was to run between aid stations and walk through. That lasted about 4 miles. Then I was just trying to hang on. My pace was slipping and I was not having fun. I saw Bill around mile 4 and he looked just as happy as I did.

As I started the second lap, I was pretty miserable. But at least I was halfway done. I'm not really sure how I got through the rest of that death march. Chatted a bit with the fellow sufferers. Looked forward to the hoses, sprinklers and aid stations. When I finally saw the finish line, I found some energy and picked up the pace a bit. What an awesome feeling to cross that line and be finished with 70.3 miles of racing!

Who knows? It was a hot day and I think I survived pretty well. I will admit that my training lacked long bricks, except for those 3 races in June. Next time (yes, there will be a next time) I will be sure to do a couple 2 hour bike/1 hour runs.

I picked up my finisher medal, shirt and hat and went to find Jeremy, Wendy and Zach. Never saw any water which would have been nice. While we were waiting for Bill to finish, I stretched and took off my waterlogged shoes. They must have weighed 10 pounds! After that, I went and stood in the lake to cool the legs some more. It felt great!


The simple fact is this... I'm slow. This race was about learning the distance, and I felt that I did OK on that. My swim and bike were fine. I've got a lot of work to do on the run. It's a fine line for me between running enough to make progress and getting injured. This time I was cautious, and in being cautious I skipped some of the 6-8 mile runs.


I'm super happy to have finished my first HIM. It was a great experience and I'll put this race back on the calendar for next year. How long can I wear the wristband before it's a huge faux pas?

Gender results
418/549 overall
344/549 swim
315/549 bike (excellent!)
478/549 run