Ironman 70.3 Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The water is so clear that I could see the sand and some small fish. This meant I could also see the other swimmers. I was in Wave 15 out of 22 (I think) waves, which meant that a lot of faster swimmers passed me. The water would start churning and here they would come!

I get a little seasick on waves, so opted to wear ear plugs to keep the cold water out of my ears. This also served to block out the noise of other swimmers, which helped me stay very calm even when I saw a couple of people panicking and struggling right next to me.

Nothing, happy with my swim

There is a LONG stretch of beach after exiting the water before you get to transition and it was hard to jog in that. I tried something different --- just before getting out of the water I sat down and peeled off my wetsuit. A friend had told me about this tip and amazingly, it worked great! The wetsuit slipped right off and did not get stuck on my heels. The cold water cooled me off and I was able to jog up the beach feeling pretty good.

I had put my rescue inhaler in a pouch on my race belt and set that in my helmet to remind me to take a hit. This worked well.

This was the first time I left shoes clipped on the bike. There is a steep hill right out of transition and I didn't want to risk falling over while trying to get clipped in. Rode with feet on top of shoes to the top of the hill (granny gear all the way!). Worked pretty well.

Maybe hustle a little more but overall it went ok.

Roads were pretty rough, they had patched things up as best they could but I still lost a bottle and a pack of GU chomps (bounced right out!!!). I sandbagged this ride though, I was watching my cateye and trying to maintain an average of 17-18. Stupid rookie mistake, I don't think I had cleared out the prior ride, so was actually averaging just 16+ mph.

Alternated sipping perform/water every mile. It was hot out there. Ate fig newtons and some crackers during the first two hours, and took salt tabs every hour. By the last water stop I was really overheating and just dumped water down my back and over my head. This really helped. Watched some girl in front of me vomiting over and over again, and my stomach was kind of cramping. Not sure if I took in too much fluid or what, but I was worried about how my run would be.

Hammer it.

Got bike racked quickly. Chatted it up with my rack neighbor. My stomach was cramping a little. Hit the rescue inhaler again and headed out onto the hot course.

It was hot out there. I knew that there would be a lot of walking involved. I carried a bottle of water, worried that they would run out of water. This turned out to be a good idea. I filled it up at the hoses and kept dumping water on my head. Got a sponge and used that.

Aid stations were awesome, plenty of cold water, ice, orange slices, etc. Volunteers were wonderful. Residents had turned on their sprinklers and were hosing people off.

I would jog 4/10ths of a mile and then walk a tenth and actually felt pretty strong, but at mile 7 I had a strange head rush and saw a burst of white stars. It was brief but I knew that was a bad sign, so I walked most of the rest of the run. It came on so suddenly that now I understand how people can suddenly just collapse at these events without warning.

When I saw the finish line I started running again and got very emotional when I heard the announcer call my name. This was my first HIM and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Maybe run more in the heat.

Got my medal and got my picture taken, drank some water, got a sandwich. Met up with Mary and her family.


Heat!


Roads were rough.