Chisago Lakes Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

the water was warm. I seriously doubt it was 78 degrees and thus wetsuit legal. they must have went out to the center of the lake and went deep to take the temp

I tried to take easy with nice long strokes. WHile really focusing on my side to side pivot. I got very warm, in the middle of the swim i unzipped my wetsuit at the small of my back about six inches to let some water in. that helped.

With about 300 yds left i felt my cap falling off so i grabbed it. I swam with it in my hand the rest of the way. I do not know the rules of having your cap fall off, and i did not want to be DQed. It started to come off about 1/3 off the swim and i stopped and pulled on more.

My main goal of the whole race was to save for the run.

Make sure my cap is secure. otherwise nothing.

my transition felt like it took forever. I walked up the steep sloping sideways grassy hill. then my wetsuit got stuck on the "temporary" timing chip

overall the time was not horrible though

be more diligent and efficient.

i really focused on going easy the first 10 miles. it helped that this was flat and with the wind. then after that i tried to keep my heart rate relatively low. It spiked a little on the hills, but no awful.

I also wanted to make sure i took in enough water and nutrition. For the most part i was full/burpy the whole ride, so i achieved my goal. i want to be strong on the run.

20.2 is much faster than square lakes bike leg last year, with a ton more energy left .

possibly have more bottle options. and even get a between the aero bars bottle with a straw, so i could just pour in the fluids from the bottle exchange. It is a challenge when the bottle exchange is "bottled water and gatorade" as opposed to bike bottles with fluid in them.

this transition was bad in many ways. I lost one shoe when i hopped off the bike. I was able to recover the quickly though. then i could not find my rack to save me soul. I swear i was wondering around forever. then i put on socks and shoes and was on the move.

it should have been half of this time. that would have gotten me another 10 places.

lay out my run gear better. practice the bike in, like I usually do.

this is where my race strategy fell apart. I had planned to negative split the run. I wanted to be strong at the finish and not in pain. this is a training race, so i working out hard this week. (starting tomorrow).

I got off the bike and felt GREAT. i was running what felt super easy. then i looked down and i was going 7:20, I knew it was too fast. but i thought to myself: it feels so easy i can hold this all day.

after 2 more miles i started to slow down. first 30 seconds then minutes. so much for doing that all day. what happened to negative splitting? i let my inexperience get the best of me. In an OLY i can " hang on" to a hard pace. Not in a HIM. Not enough miles under my belt to do that.

so the run was painful and about 10 minutes slower than i should/could have ran.

I also have to look at the garmin data, but i am pretty sure the run was short. as miserable as i was i am pleased by that

stick to my plan.

jump in ice pool. felt so good


my own foolishness, lack of miles and fitness


Overall i was very impressed by the amount of aid station on the bike and run. the volunteers were great. also the residents who put out sprinklers and hoses on the road was amazing.

I am grateful that it was overcast most the race. It really got hot later in the day.

I beat my square lake time by about 3 minutes, and sq lake is a shorter distance. so overall i cant complain.

I do think i am evaluating whether i want to do HIM distance though. 5 hours of an event feels a little long to me. I am already registered for square lake in 2 months so i am doing that. But who knows what the future will hold. I enjoy racing more then just enduring and event.

also the food after was very disappointing. that cold coke was the best ever, but who wants cheese and dry turkey wraps with cheese after a HIM.