Door County Triathlon Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Great swim! I got swam over a few times, and same over a few others. But all in all that was good. I swung WAY wide on the turn to the right, and then way wide outside the straight bouys going out (oops). took me about 200 yards to find some open water to swim in, but once I found it I was gone. After the turn around the chop started. I tucked myself in on the bouy line on the back stretch to help with the chop some. I felt really strong through the swim. Hand touched the bottom, stood up, cap and goggles off. Had a little trouble finding the zipper cord on my suite, but i got it. pulled it down below my waist, sat down and had my wetsuit stripped.

Practice sighting a bit more. That may have helped my swim time some. Very pleased with this portion!

socks on, ring on, shoes on, helmet on. I didn't really pay attention to where I put my wetsuit (which I'll have to do next time.

could have been a bit faster with a little practice (but 15 seconds at most)

Once on the bike it took me about 10 minutes to get my HR under control and my RPE was low but the HR was still in the 140s, so I went with it, thinking that my HR would come down. No such luck, now I understand what "eating the paste" means! Very easy ride down to sturgeon bay, felt really strong down to there with a very slight head wind. No major hills through this section to report

Came up on the first aid station and grabbed a water to get some cold water in my aerodrink. Kept with the pace, but my HR was still in the high 130s low 140s (which is too high), but I still felt good so kept with it. Made it out onto the "stick" portion of the stick and loop out and back. This is where the roads got pretty rough and the hills started. I kept the pace as easy as possible (as my gearing would allow) up the hills. At about mile 26 I saw the support crew , which was a REALLY nice pick-me-up because I was starting to feel a little down because the heat was starting to really kick in.

Rode the loop portion without incident. Picked up another water bottle at the aid station. Most of the back trip was into the wind, which was very tough mentally because the heat was just STARTING to get at me.

Saw the support crew at the same place on the way back. Again a VERY nice pick-me-up which was very needed. Continued back into Sturgeon Bay, Under the bridge and snagged another water at the aid station (a majority of this one went on my back/neck to help cool me). This is where the suffering started.

Riding out of Sturgeon bay the hills became steeper and more numerous, on top of that, the wind was mostly at our backs, so the heat REALLY started to hurt now, but I made it up over the last big climb and started the descent down the bluff. Descent went well and the turn back towards Murphy park. I tried to grab a water at the aid station just after the turn but dropped it (bumbed about that). I ended up running out of water about 4 miles from T2. Finished up the ride, trying to keep the HR down. My stomach was a bit uneasy coming in, but I didn't think much of it.

I have to get faster on the bike, badly. It would have REALLY helped with my shoulder's being sore on the run later and would have helped drastically with amount of time I spent on the run course. More time on the bike is all. Oh ya, and not eat the paste, that made the run HURT!

I had some chafing issues as well, so possibly some Assos in T1 would have helped.

shoes off at mile 56, feet on top of the shoes. Hopped off no problems! I ended up heading to the Port-o-john to take a pee before heading out on the run

not have to pee is the only thing that would make this faster.

Only one word can describe this.... Pain. I ran the first 4 miles but had to walk cause my HR would just NOT come down and I was already starting to hurt. I was taking water and ice at every aid station. I had to resort to a run/walk plan usually walking uphills and running downhills. My stomach really started to hurt and cramp, I didn't take any other nutrition other than a gatorade on top of the hill (which didn't help). I was doing more and more walking. Once I made it to the bottom of the hill before mile 6 I very quick decided that any hope of a 5:30 finish were gone. I made it to the top of the hill past mile 6 and ran all the way down to the aid station in Egg Harbor (downhill) and walked the aid station. Then just tried to keep moving forward.

I made it to the bottom of the bluff (mostly running) then walked the bluff which was very physically challenging. Made it to the top, dunked myself in one of the dunk tanks they had and took more water and ice. This is where I had to walk. I walked the next 2 miles (10.5-12.5). I finally started talking with someone who has done several HIM (usually around 5 hours) and IMMOO and mentioned that this was FAR harder than the IM even with the heat being so brutal. That made me feel a TON better. I asked if he wanted to run the last half mile with me, he agreed so we went.

Going down the hill felt GREAT. About half way down I let my stride open up and down into the finish shoot I went, slapped hands with a few people and gave a heel click for the finishers shot!

Pace the run better. I knew it was warm and should have been smarter/more disciplined on the run. I should have gone for a negative split here, start slow, end fast, kind of thing. Lesson learned for sure.

took the shoes off, jumped in the cooling pool (it felt GREAT!). Once I got out, put the shoes on, grabbed my medal, went to talk with my mom, brother, and Erica. Returned the timing chip, and went to go law in the water for a bit.

We ended up going to lunch pretty much RIGHT after, which turned out to be a bad decision for me, because of some heat exhaustion. I got EXTREMELY nauseous and asked if I could go out to the car to cool off. On my way out I had to lay down on the sidwalk cause I couldn't see straight. The waite staff quickly got me some ice and I moved all over my body to help cool me off, that helped a lot. I layed in the car and napped with the dogs. My stomach was in rough shape from all the Gu's and Gatorade, cause I don't think it digested...


HEAT! I definately need to get stronger on the bike, looking at my placement amongst both my AG and overall its just bad... REALLY bad! I'm very glad I put in the long bike (75 miles) that I did. Some more run volume wouldn't hurt either, maybe run in the heat some more for acclimitization.


Sean Ryan does a GREAT job of putting this on! It was SOOO well organized. PERFECT frist HIM for ANYONE!