Ironman 70.3 Racine - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was a pretty good time for me. There was the usual jostling for position at the start, but after I rounded the first buoy, I was out by myself and fell into a nice rythym. My sighting was good as there were plenty of buoys marking the course. I found myself a little far away from the actual buoy line, but I had open water so I just kept up my stroke. Rounded the last turn and picked up some traffic. It got real shallow so I popped up and ran in to the beach, stripping the top of my suit off. Saw my time and was pleased. My wife was on the beach to take a picture and she knew I would meet my goal time (45 minutes including T1)

Swimming closer to the buoy line may cut some time off, but I was happy to be "alone" in my swim.

I am admittedly slow at these. We had a long run through the sand to the path and then some more running along the back side of transition. Found a wet suit stripper and used him for the first time. Nice, although my suit got caught on my heels. Made my way to my bike and got ready. I took some time to make sure I had everything set as it was going to be a long day. My wife was there and warned me that the bike start going up the hill was crowded with people having issues.

Get faster at these, although I am not terribly disappointed with this time.

Coming out of T1, I had myself in the small chain ring up front and an easy gear for the push up the hill. I got to the mount line and could not get my right foot in and start pedaling. At one point, I thought my chain fell off. Turns out, I somehow shifted to my 12 on the rear. I quickly shifted down 5 gears and got going.
Main street was rough. It was hard to get settled in for the first couple of miles. I tried to tell myself to slow down, it was a long, hot day but I saw my avergae pushing 19 mph. I just felt good and was pushing (will pay for this later). The ride was uneventful for the first 15 miles. My wife timed it perfect and saw me at about mile 16. Doing fine. Successfully did a bottle exchange as I was already going through water and Infinite in huge quantities.
When I got to the second aid station around mile 35, I actually stopped, refilled my water bottles and got some Perform. I also needed to wipe my face as I was sweating profusely. Not a good sign. Got started back up and then I hit mile 40.
I don't know what it was, but I just started to lose it here. I wanted to be off that bike so bad. 16 more miles. 15, 14. Ugh, is that a headwind now? Was riding up on the hoods rather than in aero. Finally started getting closer to town and then the final turn, down the hill and into T2.

Better bike fitness, better hydration and nutrition strategy.

This is where it really went bad. My goal was to be done with the bike and swim in 4 hours and I was at 4:07. Racked bike and just stood there, deciding if I really wanted to run or not. I was physically and mentally spent. I was sitting on the ground, putting on my running shoes and I did not want to get back up. I really do not know what happened here. I was not in any type of distress, I just had doubts that I could do the run. Decided to try, telling myself that I could drop out if I wanted.

Not sure.

Complete failure from the start. I just could not run. I was not in pain or in any heat-related stress. Starting walking immediately. Thought if I had some water and nutrition at the first aid station, I would feel better. Nope. Unfortunately, I have never practiced run/walk so it turned out to be a mostly walk. I would run for a few short segments, then resort to walking again. My goal time was 2:30 and that went right out the window. Now it was just finish. Several times, I felt like thowing up and that would have been it for me. Completed the first loop and just took a very casual attitude the rest of the race. I thanked the volunteers, talked to some other walkers, ran with a few people and saved some back so I could run to the finish. Felt a little hypocritical running the last 1/3 mile since I walked most of the race. but I wanted to run across that finish line. High fived some people in the chute. Did not notice my wife came back over for the finish, She was going to track me online, but my bib # was not working for her and she thought I was in trouble and had dropped out. It was a relief to see her after I was done.

Better run fitness. I thought I could roll right off the bike and do a HM with no problem. Fail.

Got a bottle of water, my medal and hat. A women asked me how I was doing. Felt fine, legs a little wobbly. "Do you need some ice"? Sure. Next thing you know, I am in the med tent. The gave me a nice big bag of ice and a chair to sit in. At that point, I saw my wife and assured her I was OK, just needed a cooling off. A couple of people asked if I was OK and I really was. After about 10 minutes, left to get food.


Learned some painful lessons today. My training has been lacking the last couple of weeks. In hindsight, I probably peaked too early and a vacation disrupted my schedule. Then it got hot here and I never really got in the run volume I needed. Got my arse kicked and I know I am to blame. I'll learn and come back stronger from this. But I finished and my wife and friends let me know that on a tough day, first HIM, I did OK.


Good race and the city really embraces the participants, especially on the run. Could have used some better food at the finish, but I was not really ready to eat anyway.