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 Swim
Comments: "The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli" -George Costanza Mother nature just turned a triathlon into a $225 supported ride/run. The wife and I were considering bagging the whole thing and going home. It was blustry and cold. The thought of riding into 20mph headwinds didn't sound like fun. However, we also had our buddy from Chicago who rode in with us who would have none of that! Looks like we need to man the f@ck up and do this. What would you do differently?: No more pre-race raindances.  Transition 1
 Bike
Comments: OK, I'm just spitballin here, but I see a marketing idea. The event was sponsored by Whirlpool/Pizza Hut, maybe the the bike course could be sponsored by Miller Genuine "Draft". There was more drafting than in friggin NASCAR. About halfway to three quarters thru the race I was passed by multiple 8-10 man pelotons. Not sure if it was Team Garmin or Cervelo. I was going maybe 22mph and these guys went screaming by. This happened multiple times throughout the course. In fact, even the pros admit to drafting. There is a race blog/website by one of the pros and he even admits to it! Just Google Ironman Steelhead race reports and you'll find it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not whining about it, just making an observation. Purely academic for me and did not affect my performance/outcome. I think trying to penalize someone for drafting based on the current definition is very subjective and probably hard to prove. But these guys....come on!!!! I guess they got away with it because the penalty box was too small to accommodate all of the offenders! What would you do differently?: Nothing. Had a good ride and a PR! Transition 2
 Run
Comments: I'm actually a descent runner. My PR for a half marathon is 1:39. But, when add a swim (usually) and bike before this my performance suffers. This is only my 2nd half Ironman so still need to find my proper pace. Post race
Warm down: Waiting for my buddy to finish. Would have liked some post-run food other than power bars and GUs, but the line for food was way too long. Would have been nice if they offered food for athletes only. Event comments: Overall a hollow feeling. Through nobody's fault at the end of the day we didn't do an Ironman. But, I'm proud to be a member of the 69.1 club! We are going to get a sticker for the van! Have dedicated portapotties/food for athletes in transition so we don't have to compete with the spectators. Ironman Racine had this type of setup and it worked well. The bike course was nice, the run course was blah. Felt like we were running thru a parking lot. Volunteers were great!!!! Spectators were few but also very supportive. Last updated: 2011-08-15 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
Overall Rank = 509/???
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 72/203
Our buddy booked a room at the Loyalty Inn which is on the outskirts of town. He warned us ahead of time it looked a little "low rent". Who were we to argue? We didn't have a place to stay and he was offering to share the room. We are not fancy people when it comes to hotel rooms for triathlons. I don't sleep well before races anyway, so might as well not spend lots for a nice place. However, when we finally found the place...OMG!!! When they coined the term "shithole" this is what they had in mind. If you Google "shithole" a link to this place comes up. The folks milling about made the Star Wars cantina look like a TGIF. I was in the Navy for 10 years and lived/traveled to many third world countries and thought I had seen it all. To describe this place in due justice is beyond the scope of the race report. On the lighter side, I can say it was so bad it was good. Constantly having something to laugh at really helped ease the pre-race anxiety. However, would steer clear of this place in the future!!!
Packet pickup was easy, volunteers nice/helpful. Was around 3:30 so we went over to the park to catch the 5pm race brief and some prepaid pasta. Got to the park and at that point the sky started to turn very dark and the winds picked up. Looked like something out of a movie. Was waiting for the Wicked Witch of the West to drop out of the sky! The storm passed and we went to get some food. No food! The storm had blown sand over everything and they had to start over. Maybe food in an hour. F-that. There was really nowhere to sit because everything was wet. So, we ate the ten dollar pasta fee and went into town and had some appetizers at a local bar/pub called The Pump House. Nice place, good food.
Hunker down out of the wind and wait, wait, wait for my bike start.