Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim was great for me. The water was a nice temp and not too choppy, just some rolling waves. I felt really comfortable in the water. I took my time and didn't push too hard. I just wanted to be comfortable. I remember somewhere in the middle thinking, I could do this all day. I'm thinking that means I may not have been pushing as hard as I should have.

Next time I will definatly go for a faster time. Work on my breathing and relaxing in the water. My breathing was pretty good for the first part and then I got back into it at the end.

I really took my time here cause I wanted to make sure I had all the stuff I would need on the ride. I'd rather take an extra couple minutes here than suffer on the bike because I forgot something.

Speed things up a little.

I really enjoyed the bike leg and the volunteers handing off the water bottles were real pros. I grabbed a bottle of gatorade at one hand off location and was putting it in the holder underneath my seat, it slipped and went into my back wheel and then shot out the side. It was the wierdest thing. Scared the crap out of me cause I thought I was on a one way trip over the handle bars but there wasn't even damage done to the spokes. My nutrition was pretty good. I had 2 water bottles of perpetuem and the bento box full of gel shots, clif bars, a couple fig newtons, e-caps, and jelly beans. I gotta tell ya the jelly bellys, for some reason, was the best tasting stuff in the world on that bike. I'll definately have those again. I could feel myself getting some gas pains around mile 35 or so. Nothing to severe but that's when I stopped with the clif bars. I think it's the soy or something, but it gives me a nice bout with the gas. All in all I was happy with the bike. I could have gone faster and I know I will the next time I do it.

Bike a little faster. I took two potty stops which added some minutes to my time.

I felt pretty good about this one considering it includes a trip to the port o potty.

Nothing.

I felt great in the first couple miles, but really really really slowed down after about 4 miles. I think I was being ultra cautious with this being my first half IM that I almost scaled it back too much. I walked the water stops which was my original plan. I pretty much just walked until I could drain the cup of water I had as well as having a few sips of gatorade. So I know that added to my time as well. I had a gu at mile 5 but after that the thought of gu or any kind of solid food made me feel like I might toss my cookies. I didn't really feel bad or anything but I just had the little gag reflex at the thought of another gu. I did have some grapes at a couple stops though. The last few miles were a real test of mind over matter. It was just time to put your head down and put yourself on auto pilot. The people cheering were great, especially the cowbells. That really really helped push me along. And then came the best sound in the world.......I could hear the announcer welcoming in the finishers. That put a little spring in my step. I crossed the finish line and there was my sister snapping pictures and then theres me trying to hold it together. I had to take a little walk before my sister could get to me, so I could just let out a few tears. I was overwhelmed. Completely overwhelmed. I friggin finished it. Holy crap how did I just do that? It was amazing and I'll never forget that feeling.

Run faster. Train better.

Didn't really do a whole lot of warm down stuff. I should have stretched but I didn't. It just didn't occur to me what with all the joy of finishing. I got in line for some food and this was the only real downside of the race. The food at the end. Pizza Hut was one of the sponsors so of course they had lots of pizza. It just wasn't my thing after a race. Too salty. Then they had garlic bread. Once again way to salty. Then I though I'd try some wings but they were really spicy and on a hot day after I've just come in from a 13 mile run, spicy wings are not very refreshing. So, I had a few bites of food but ended up throwing the rest away.
I spent time with a couple friends who did the race too and my sister who came up from Chicago just to see her big brother finish. We chatted for a while and then I packed up my gear and biked back to my car with my medal proudly hanging from my neck!


I did this race very cautiously because I just wanted to see if I could finish. I held myself back a lot for fear of completely hitting a wall on the run. Now I know the HIM is doable for me and next year I plan to kick a little tail. I think I can only improve from my time this year.


What a great race. Soooo well organized. The only problem I had was the food and that's just me being finicky. It was a beautiful course and definately plan to do this next year.
The volunteers rocked. They were soooo incredibly nice and supportive. It was also a picture perfect day so for my first race, I couldn't have hoped for anything better.