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 Swim
Comments: I am not a strong swimmer, so I was very pleased with this result. I don't tend to like contact at the start, so I started to the outside and cut over when I cleared some people at the start. I had a little trouble breathing early on, but settled in by the first turn buoy. I did a great job of navigation, I was never more than 20 ft. off the buoy line. I wasn't pushing at all so I probably could have gone a bit faster. I found some good feet to follow for portions of the long stretch parallel to the shore. I am usually terrible at drafting so I was really happy I was able to do that. I was in a really good rhythm the whole way down the shore, hit the final turn, and pushed into the finish. What would you do differently?: Push a little harder.  Transition 1
Comments: This transition time is not too bad due to the length of run to transition. Other than that, everything went smoothly, and I got out on the bike. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Bike
Comments: I knew with the heat I was probably not going to be able to run much faster than last year, so if I wanted to break 5 hrs. I would have to get it done on the bike. So I set a very hard pace from the very beginning. Around mile 2 my SaltStick pill bottle fell out of my pocket when I hit a bump in the road, so that was kind of a setback. I adjusted my hydration strategy to include more Perform than usual to hopefully compensate. Some of the roads were repaved to my delight, but overall there are still quite a few bumpy roads on the course. But it is still a fun ride, and starting in one of the last swim waves I was passing quite a few people. Around mile 30 I made the decision to back off a bit on the bumpy stretches and into the wind (which was starting to pick up some), and really hammer the stretches with the wind and on smooth road. That seemed to work well, came within a few seconds of cracking 2:30 for the first time and took several minutes off last year's time. All totaled, I drank about 75 oz water, 70 oz Perform, and took about 350 cal. Hammer gel. Probably a little too heavy on calories, my stomach got a little upset toward the middle portions of the run. What would you do differently?: Not drop my salt tablets, but beyond that, not much. Transition 2
Comments: Good transition, just took a while to get the Camelback on and position the ice, but it was well worth the extra time. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: It was hot, but the Camelback full of ice and the ice bags on my back and chest really helped with staying cool. I was able to hold my target pace of 7:50/mi without too much trouble early on, with the exception of the 2 large hills. Drank from the Camelback between aid stations, and was sure to take 3 cups minimum at each aid station. Lots of local residents were kind enough to put out hoses and sprinklers which really helped. The hills on the second loop were tough, and it was really getting hot. Around mile 8 my Camelback was empty and all my ice melted, but I was still more or less holding pace. Hit the turnaround the last time and made sure to get extra hydration at each aid station. I just read Macca's book, and he goes into a lot of detail about not letting negative thoughts creep in during races, so I tried to keep my thinking positive the last few miles, and I really do believe it helped. I would not allow myself to slow down. Mile 11 to 12 was particularly tough, my stomach was not feeling well and I got some very warm Perform at the aid station which didn't help. Last half mile to the finish I picked up to 7 min/mi because I knew it would be close on 5 hrs, made it to the finish in 4:57! Total I drank approx. 100 oz. water and 25 oz. Perform. No solid nutrition for the run. Heat index was over 100, so seems that was a good amount to drink. What would you do differently?: Nothing, left it all out there today. Post race
Warm down: Saw my fiance who gave me the good news about my time, got my medal and hat, and walked down to the beach and layed down in Lake Michigan for a few minutes to cool off, packed up transtion, headed to the car, and hit the road. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat and humidity. Event comments: Had a great time racing and set my goal despite difficult conditions, so it was a great day! Last updated: 2011-04-07 12:00 AM
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United States
HFP Racing
93F / 34C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 123/2150
Age Group = Male 30-34
Age Group Rank = 20/233
Another fun race and fun race report. In the days leading up to the race, all the talk was about the heat and the heat index, so I was sure to hydrate very well on the drive over from Iowa. Got into town around 3 PM and headed to the hotel with the fiance, which we booked through Priceline. Apparently the hotel didn't get the memo because they had no record of our reservation. So after a frustrating hour on the phone with priceline, we got upgraded to a $250/night hotel room a little further away from Racine. So after that ordeal, we did packet pickup, which went really smoothly. I found a new tri top for really cheap too so that was awesome. We went to Olive Garden for dinner, and the wait was actually not that bad. It was a long day, so it was great to get back to the hotel and soak in the whirlpool tub for a little while before bed. I got to sleep around 10 and slept great until the alarm went off at 4:45. I filled my Camelback with ice for use on the run, and filled 4 bags and a small cooler with ice as well. My plan was to put them on my back and chest to keep my core cool for at least a few miles of the run, and also hold ice in my hands to help with temperature management. We got to the race site around 5:45, and had to park about a mile from transition. I got tranistion set up, put air in my tires, and headed out by 6:20. We walked back to the car to drop stuff off and get a cooler for my fiance. After that, it was a lot of waiting around. My wave didn't go off until 8:13, so we had more than an hour to kill. I just tried to keep hydrating, I drank about 50 oz of water and sport drink during this time.
Put the wetsuit on with about 20 min. to go and splashed around in the water a little to try to acclimate to the water temperature.