Chisago Lakes Triathlon Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Worst. Swim. Ever:-(

Don't even want to talk about it... but, swam really well out to turnaround, was drafting well and in a good rhythm headed back until... around the 3rd triangle buoy I ran head first into someone who was stopped trying to sight the next buoy (which you couldn't see...) I got all disoriented and (I think:-S) because of how people were swimming intertwined (both directions had mixed together at some points...) I took off and realized after 2 buoys that I had taken off the wrong way and was approaching the half way turn buoy again! I wanted to freak out!!! Very, very upset and a part of me honestly wanted io just quit. But, I stayed calm, righted my direction and just relaxed and swam. This time taking extra caution to ensure I knew very well where I was sighting to and eventually I finished this miserable swim.

I took it as a learning experience.

Not repeat a large part of the course. Cost me a TON of time making that mistake.

Ranked 13th OA, 2nd AG.

T1 was my time to think, and focus on 1 thing that was going to keep me participating. I took my time talked to my family and just chose to be grateful for the gift that we had all been given to even be able to participate. That was my one thing for the rest of the day... remember how blessed I am to be there and participating.

I was by far the last bike off our rack but it was ok and the rest of the day was going to be great:-)

I wanted to PR the bike course for my HIM distance ride and I did by a lot. I really just stayed disciplined and aero for the entire ride. I hit every nutrition queue and focused on really putting on the speed everywhere it was possible and minimizing lost time when going into headwind, on rough roads and up hills by pushing hard, staying small (in the case of the winds) and using incremental checkpoints to keep me motivated.

The pace of this ride was fast for me and I wasn't worried about how it would effect my run, I just rode hard trying to get as close to 2:30 as possible.

I was looking at wave #'s on hands and saw that I was reeling some people back in from my wave and most of the faster ladies I started passing around mile 30 or so. I knew that I would be able to catch a lot of people on the run so I was excited to be moving back up in the field while on the bike.

Ranked 30 OA, 5th AG.

T2 went well. I was excited to have made up ground on the bike and to not be the last one back:-) Gave my beautiful girls kisses while running out of transition and I know that brought me lots of luck for the run!

Stomach was a bit unnerrved for the first 5k+ and I held the pace back a bit and tried to just get my legs under me and the stomach regulated. Skipped my first nutrition queue and just drank water through the first 2 aide stations. That helped a lot and I was able to start eating gu roctaine's again.

I just ran, and kept remembering to keep solid and controlled form. I focused on being thankful for the opportunity to be able to be out participating. It was a great time out on the run course and I really was able to push hard by continuing to target the next visible person and just focus on getting to them, then past them, and then on up the road.

Very thankful to have the running legs under me today even after pushing hard on the bike. Was hard to push the pace, don't get me wrong, but very gratifying when it was over:-)

None. Go sit in the ice bath for ~5mins.


Bad, bad, bad swim.


More swim BUOYS.

Really super bummed about the swim. It's ok, I'm thankful to have had the experience I did, I learned from it. But, it's still a bummer.

I take the fact that I had 3 pr's for the day as a personal victory... Bike PR for HIM distance, run PR for HIM distance (even taking into account the slightly short course...) and I suppose BEST of all is that I still PR'd my HIM distance by over a minute.

I learned that I can push myself past what I feel is my comfort zone and still pull off the times I know my body is capable of. The mind is powerful and I think your attitude has a lot to do with it and how you deal with race day stresses and unplanned events.

I generally enjoyed the whole weekends events. The race site is decent and I knew what to expect from racing 2 years ago and the boys doing the kids tri last year. This year there were weather issues and changes to a variety of things but the event company did a fair job of dealing with them and keeping things going.

We had TONS of fun watching our 7 and 6 yr old boys do the kids tri Sat. and to me I'd say that was the very best part of the weekend!