Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

First race in the new wetsuit, my old one got a huge hole in it at my last race, and it fits quite a bit better than my old one. I positioned myself toward the outside about 1/3 of the way back. My swimming has been good this year, and I expected to swim 1:10-1:12 based on recent training. When the gun went off, I just tried to stay calm and not hit anyone or swim over top of anyone. The contact wasn't too bad until about 400 yards in when the guy next to me continually punched me in the head with every stroke for about 15 straight strokes. That was annoying but what can you do in a mass start of so many people? I bailed out further outside at that point and found clear water. I felt fine but just slow, and my navigation was HORRIBLE! I kept drifting way too far outside and off course. I probably swam 500 yards extra over the course of 2 laps. My neck chafed really bad on the second loop, forgot the body glide on there...oops. Other than the poor navigation, the rest of the swim was slow and uneventful. Got out of the water and saw the time, and I was disappointed, but stayed positive about the rest of the day.

Navigate better, maybe move inside more to see what the contact was like on the 2nd lap at least.

Must have taken a nap during this transition heh, but yeah the run to transition just takes a while, and put all my bike nutrition in my pockets before I pulled my top up to put my heartrate strap on, which knocked everything right bck out and slowed me down. Should have been better but it wouldn't make or break my day anyway.

See above, do things in the right order...

Starting off on the bike, I just felt a little off from the very begininng. Not sure what it was, but I didn't ride to my potential. I didn't let it get me down though and just gave the best effort I could and focused on nutrition and hydration, and saved as much as I could for the run. I crashed my bike fairly hard about a month ago, so I was very tentative on the downhills and turns, so I'm sure that cost me some time. The big hills at the end of the loops were just awesome with the crowd support! It definitely made things easier! I tried to stay on top of hydration and electrolytes, but I think I got a little behind on the 2nd loop, as I started getting a headache toward the end. The rough roads beat my feet up a little too, nothing too bad though. I actually picked it up a little on the stick back into town, I wanted to at least get in under 6 hrs. for the ride, and barely got there. I felt really bad for the 2 guys I saw wrecked on the side of the road less than 2 miles from the end of the bike. That would really suck! All in all, not my best effort, but I wasn't going to let it get me down.

Drink more and maybe up my electrolyte intake. Legs just never came to me during the ride so I'm not sure what I could have done about that. I really need to get over my wreck mentally, that definitely slowed me down.

Pretty quick given I changed shorts and socks, tied my shoes rather than using yankz, stopped for sunscreen, and hit the portojohns.

Nothing really...

For the first time in the race I actually felt my legs coming around in the first few miles. I was able to run 8:00/mi with no difficulty. I had planned to run about 8:40/mi, but I was feeling good so I kept going. I carried a water bottle (which I filled every 4 aid stations), drank 2 cups of perform and one cup of coke, and grabbed sponges and ice at every aid station, but it wasn't quite enough to catch up on hydration. The first loop went well though and I was feeling good up until mile 17 or so, where my quad and hamstring on my right leg both cramped up badly. I stopped and stretched and after a minute or so it loosened up enough to run again. This was a repeating problem the last 9 miles. I cramped again at least 25 times. Eventually I had to do a run/walk strategy to keep from cramping. I had great energy so I just need to get hydration a little better and I think I can throw down a pretty fast IM run. The last mile to the finish felt great, and I hit my goals of a sub-12 finish and 1 hr. improvement over last year's IM.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

Stretched, got some pizza, took some pictures, grabbed my bike and headed back to our friend's house to shower. Headed back out to watch finishers!


Just didn't have A+ stuff today for some reason. Poor navigation during the swim. Also didn't get quite enough fluid or electrolyte in during the bike.


Great race and fun location, and as always big thanks to the volunteers that make it happen!