Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I am really happy about this swim. My time wasn't great but I might be able to look back on this race and think this is where I overcame my open water swim anxiety. I just stuck my head in the water and kept swimming the entire course without freaking out. Hopefully, a huge confidence booster in the future. I might even be able to swim hard in the future instead of worrying about freaking out.

After the swim you ran along the sand up to the boardwalk. This was one of the few times you saw a lot of spectators on the course. It was pretty cool to run the chute up to the boardwalk. Running on the sand wasn't that bad.

Not listen to the pre-race course talk when they told you there would be orange buoys, then 2 green buoys then one last orange one. I saw a green buoy and then about 4 more green buoys until I finally saw the last orange one. Oh well.

Ok, so I am the slowest transition triathlete out there? I just don't get too wrapped up in trying to make it lightening fast. However, for Chicago I'm going to have to do better. There was a long run from the swim to transition and I had to use the porta potty in transition, but this is still slow.

Have a bigger bladder. Hurry up.

I really tried to hold myself back. I knew I couldn't hammer this and hold on for an entire half marathon on the run. I watched my heart rate closely. I was hoping to keep it in the low 120s but I was normally in the high 120s. However, PCE was low. I may have been a little too conservative, but I thought if I erred low I would get it back on the run. If I erred high, I was toast on the run.

As I was coming back toward transition, I heard this "Go Daddy." It really sounded like Caroline but I didn't see them because I was going too fast right there and it was not where I was expecting to see them. Later, I learned it was her.

I drank my two bottles of PowerBar Endurance, then I believe 3 bottles of Gatorade Endurance. I ate two Triple Threat PowerBars. I broke the cardinal rule of not trying anything different by taking in two e-caps during the bike. I don't think I really took enough for it to help or hurt me too much. They were hard to swallow and felt like they were in the back of my throat but overall they probably helped a little.

1) Probably could have pushed it a little harder, but I thought I raced pretty well.
2) Again, have a bigger bladder, because I actually stopped and used a bush once. Lots of laughs from the other riders on that one.
3) Finally, I need to do another time trial to check my training zones.

Once again, I was slow and had to use the porta potty.

Bigger bladder.

As I left transition, I saw the whole family with their signs waving. They had to run to make it to that position and it was great to see them there. It was almost 11:00, the temp was in the high 80s and rising quickly and I had a half marathon to run. It was great that they made it there.

Similar to bike, I really tried to hold back as much as possible. I tried to keep my heart rate down which was hard in the heat. Anytime I saw it go above 140 I tried to slowdown and get it into the high 130s. My original plan was to keep it in the low 130s (I have a really slow heart rate), but like the bike I took the risk of a little higher rate. My plan was to make it to mile 8 to 10 and then at some point stop worrying about heart rate and let it go. The abundance of aid stations was awesome. I was pouring water on the back of my neck, slurping water and gatorade and carrying ice in my hands. Pretty much anything to make my heartrate go down. Everytime I poured water on the back of my neck, my heart rate went down about 5 beats.

I felt really good until about the 7th mile which seemed to take forever. At about mile 8 I was starting to feel it a little bit. Sort of going back and forth between hurting and feeling good. When I hit mile 10 I was supposed to turn it loose but there wasn't anything left to turn loose. I told myself to let this women I was running near go because she seemed to be doing better than me. However, I kept close to her which helped because we passed a lot of people. By now, a huge portion of the race was walking due to the heat. I kept telling myself I was doing well and not to give into walking. Mile 12 was really hard. A slight incline that lasted forever and I was hurting. I had passed the women I was near and then she passed me and got right in front of me. At the 12 mile marker I passed her again and all I could think of was that she might not have finish line etiquette and she is going to pass me right at the tape.

So all of the sudden I find this burst of energy in me and I finished the last 1.1 like a champ. Where was that energy hiding? I think I did the last 1.1 in about 8:30. I left the woman I was running with behind, passed a bunch more people and came down the chute strong. I saw my family again in the long finishing chute. The kids were yelling and I gave Mere a high five. And yes, I could have passed one more person but I stopped so as to NOT screw up her Kodak moment.

Not much on the run. I think I did well by holding myself back early. Turns out I could only pick it up the last mile, but that wasn't too bad in the heat.

Drank a bottle of water. Found my family. Walked the boardwalk. Went back to transition so I could get my recovery powder. Mistakenly took the endurance powder so I didn't wind up doing my recovery drink until 3 hours after the race, UGH!!! Went back and sat in the lake with Molly (my 22 month old) on my lap, the cold water felt very good. Ate my free meal, then went back to the hotel.


Tough to say, I may have been too conservative on the bike and I'm still not a great swimmer. On the other hand, this was a 1/2 ironman so I think you can't get too bummed out comparing yourself in your age group. My age group placements for my swim and bike are kind of lame, but I think the competition at a 70.3 event is pretty amazing. More experince will help but I am not disappointed.


I thought it was a great race. They did an incredible job in a year the attendance tripled!!! The volunteers were superb and I thanked a ton of them. The volunteers on the bike course took their job in the hand-off so seriously, it was great!!! As I said before, the number of water stations on the run course really helped my time, that was so key for such a hot run. I would definitely do this race again.

I do have a couple of negatives. I think they are easy to fix and would make a good race turn into a really excellent race. One is the comment I made on the run course above which I will not repeat. Second, treatment of the athletes post-race was lame. Yes, there was a great spread of food but you had to wait in this huge line and who wants to eat that heavy food right after the race? It would have been nice to be able to grab a bagel or banana. Also, I drank one bottle of water and went back to get another and the guy told I couldn't get back in the finish area to grab another one. Sorry, but this wasn't a cheap race and that was not cool.

Last comment on this event, there were no shuttles to take you back to the parking lots after the race so I had to put my huge back pack on my back, sling my wetsuit over my shoulder and walk my bike almost a mile to my car.

Finally, a few comments on the Half Ironman distance. I learned a ton about the sport doing this distance. For me, this was a true endurance event, much more so than the Olympic distance. I feel like there are large portions of the Olympic distance I can hammer, but in an HIM if you go too hard too early you can set yourself up for a very ugly day. This is a huge test of patience, making yourself hold back so you have more for later in the day. I think I can make bigger mistakes and get away with them in an Olympic, but that doesn't work during an HIM. Nutrition is huge at this distance. You have to practice and have a good idea of what is and is not going to work for you in particular. Nutrition is important in an Olympic but again not close to what it is for the HIM. Great experience overall.