Ironman 70.3 Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Water was great. Felt good and kept a nice comfortable pace. Little bit of traffic rounding both buoys. I was able to draft off of a couple of other athletes. I think that allowed me to keep up with a faster swimmer, and not to have to pick up my head to sight as often. This is the only explanation I can offer for my swim being 5+ minutes faster than last year since I'm not that much better of a swimmer than last year I don't think.

Nothing on this given day. Goggles didn't leak and was able to draft quite a bit. Wouldn't push it any harder.

This was a little slow since I stopped at the porta-poties to get some business done. Was definitely the right move. Made sure I was in a good gear before I racked my bike and had my shoes already clipped in. Rode on top of my shoes until the main road, then clipped in. Applied some sun screen and headed out. Wetsuit strippers were great, as usual.

Hard to do anything different here, just wanted to take my time and make sure everything was set and not forgetting anything and not rush it.

After I got up the hill I wanted to take it easy for a few miles and get my HR down, then not push it too hard for the first 20 miles. Didn't feel like I was pushing it, but was keeping a good pace and passing people (and getting passed of course). Legs got a little tired around mile 25 but they held on great and I didn't push them too hard over any of the course so I had something for the run. Was way ahead of my 3:00:00 goal without sacrificing my legs.

Other people said there was a lot of wind coming from all different directions but I couldn't really notice that much of a wind anywhere. Maybe it's because I was an earlier wave.

Nutrition was right on schedule. My stomach felt good (unlike last year on the bike) and was able to take in 2 bottles of Heed, 4 powerbar gels (miles 5,20,35,55) and 2 bottles of water. Almost wiped out grabbing a bottle from a volunteer but saved it!

This was a much better performance than I thought I would have while keeping my legs pretty fresh and not cramping, so it's difficult to say I would do anything different. Maybe just ride more? Would like to go on group rides with other triathletes to help train.

Legs felt good (relatively speaking) coming off the bike and thought I had set myself up nicely for a good run. Got into the shoes, put a couple of gels in my tri-top and took off, with a quick stop at the sunscreen appliers.

Happy with how things went here.

Started off doing really well and feeling very strong. Did the first 3.4 miles at a 7:27 pace which included a little bit of walking up the hills, so I was doing a pretty good pace and was passing a good amount of people. Then.... the quads started cramping.

Usually if I cramp it's at the end of the bike, so I was surprised and thought I could run through it. But they got worse and was forced to walk a couple of times on the back half of the first lap. The 2nd lap took me about 1:15 because of the cramping legs still. I ran until the legs cramped up too much to run, then would walk and try to stretch and massage until the cramps went away enough to run again.

One racer saw me cramping on the first lap and gave me a packet of mustard and told me it would help. It actually got rid of the cramps pretty quick and I thought "Hot damn we're back in business"! But the cramps came back a little bit later. Should have waited to take the mustard until an aid station, Yuck.

My stomach was kind of shutting down on the run and I wasn't able to take much nutrition. A cup or two of water at each aid station. I got new sponges and put them in my top every chance I had and push ice in my hat/shirt/shorts to keep cool since I was a hot mess.

Originally I wanted to go under 9:00/mile worst case scenario and really shoot for 8:00's, but knew once my legs cramped that was out the window. Finished with 9:58's and thought "Well 9:58 looks a lot better than 10:01 so I'll take it!"

Still came in right at my goal time of 5:45 but would have been happy with anything less than 6:00. Luckily the time I picked up in the swim and bike afforded me a cushion.

Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!

This is when things got interesting..... After the race I sat down and started to feel pretty crappy as I drank some water. Went to the vehicle and decided I needed the aid station. So I got a bottle of perform and went to the tent thinking I was dehydrated since my hands were tingling and my heart rate was still very high 35 minutes after I finished. I put some ice on my neck, sipped the Perform and felt better.

When I got to the hotel I felt crappy. I showered, made the GF do most of the packing and limped to the car with an upset stomach feeling really drained. As we started the 8.5 hr drive home, I started to get sicker and sicker. About 1.5 hours into the drive we had to pull over so I could vomit. All the perform came back up and I knew if I got sick again I was in bad shape since I wouldn't be able to hold liquids and my dehydration would get worse. The rest of the family went and got something to eat, and before we even left town I wasn't feeling that great again. I knew I needed help....

Luckily we saw a giant hospital right off the interstate in Okonowomoc (sp?) and went to the ER. I had a headache, blurred vision and nauseousness.

They asked me the usual questions and agreed that I was dehydrated. Took a blood sample and gave me a Liter or fluids. I started to feel MUCH better, but it took the nurses FOREVER to come back even though I called for them twice. Took forever to get out of there, and 2.5 hours later I felt MUCH better and was back on the road with 7 hours of driving left. Should have gotten a bag of fluids in the Med tent. I saw some of the initial warning signs but thought I was OK after the ice.

I thought my nutrition was really good, with the powerbar gels and the Heed, I really thought I was getting the sodium I needed but blood tests showed a sodium deficiency. Definitely set on getting some salt tablets now.


The cramps in my quads killed me. I couldn't stretch them out because then my hamstrings would cramp. I feel if my legs wouldn't have cramped I could have been well under 2 hours, but no doubt about it I'm very happy with this race considering the cramps.


Volunteers were amazing juts like last year and the people cheering us on out on the highway were great. Got a kicked out of one of the signs with about 2 miles left on the bike that said "Unhitch the Plow" ha ha. Definitely tried to have more fun with the volunteers and tried joking and high-fiving them. An amazing race with perfect race conditions. Also, I thought that the triathlete village was much better this year than last year.
Awesome job people of Racine and all the other athletes out there!