Spirit of Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Start was fine..line up in front and a little north of buouy. No problem with clearing space or the waves. But..sighting was a big problem. After the first bouy..the waves although rollers were causing me a bit of problem. I was on a different line then most of the swimmers which worried me...but i kept on my path..but every now and then had to do a few breastrokes to sight. Then finally as i was halfway between the last buoy and the shore...cramp...Left calf...and it was bad...had to stop, float on my back and tried to stretch it..Everyone is starting to walk out of the water..and im a beached whale on my back, not moving. At this point im worried about making it to shore much less finishing the race. After a minute or sore...it loosened up...only to then deal with the way too long run/walk in the sand to T1..Gave up a few minutes between all this...but just took my time walking through the sand trying to stretch it out more while everyone else blew by me.

Practice sighting more in open water

Suit took a while to get off on my left leg...was being very careful not to trigger another spasm...it was painful as it was.

Took about 40 min for HR to get down into 130's. Goal was 135-140 range. AS in previous TRI's the swim-bike transition has been the hardest. Took it really easy (despite the HR) because of my leg..Took water, and gel in first 30 min..Then hit the infinit. By about 40-60 min mark..felt good and hr had come down...and tried to pick up pace a bit..But anytime i did, leg would tighten a bit...Just decided to stay in comfortable zone...Finished 2 gels and 2 bottles of 300 cal infinit in first 2 hrs. Stomach was ok...then tried the infinit on coure----HORRIBLE..way too sweet..just took in water the rest of way.

Practice more transitions..maybe warm up on the bike before triathlons

Nothing major...started to look for wife and kids coming into T2.. Didnt seem them..Looked for them at T2..didnt see them. Looked for them coming out of T2--didnt see them...then realized it was going to be long run.

Well, started out around 9:30 pace...HR was settling into low Z2. Left calf was holding up ok..Used my hand bottle with my own infinit--but too warm and ditched it at mile 3. Tried some of theirs (infinit)-(horrible), instead used water and ultimatley one gel for the whole run..As the run went on, physically i wore down. After the first loop, my left calf was getting twitchy and my right knee started to hurt. I noticed my HR was dropping and was having trouble keeping up a pace that kept it in zone 2. By mile 9 or 10..walked a minute or so...Started to stretch out the walks at the aid stations. Also weird diffuse cramps started to develop in stomach all over...I probably would have tried some more gels and that point for fuel but too scared with my stomach. Mentally...questioned what im doing..In pain, and worried about the kids. Pissed off that I obviously didnt train enough for this and what a joke to be thinking of IMWI next year. Finally toward the finish, saw beck and the kids. Put on a little spring to the end.

More LSD runs.

Just walked over to grass and waited for Beck and the kids to make their way. Tried a little food but nothing too appealing. Just packed up stuff and walked (slowly) with family to cars..Madsion looked horrible with his fever..and we just wanted to get back home.


1. Cramp/muscle spasm during swim..
2. Long time to warm up on bike.
3. Not enough LSD runs!!
4. Mental focus!


Overall, first half done..met goal time of under 6 hrs. But i really need to figure out what i want to do with triathlons. Do i really want to "go long" or is it better for "balance" to stick with olympic distance. Still thinking about that one.