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

This was a terrible swim. There we so few bouys that I had a terrible time picking up where to go as I was trying to site. (And the ones they had were not big enough) I'm sure I added a few hundred yards to this swim by swimming all over the course.

Plus the water was veeeeery murky. I literally could not see my own hand when I extended it to stroke. This led to a lot of people swimming in to each other. (More than usual.)I got kicked in the face at the turn, which caused my goglles to fill up. So I had to take time to stop and fix it.

They had wetsuit strippers. Which - as always - was awesome.

Nothing

This was a training race for me, so my intent was to not go too hard. But when I got out on the flat smooth course I couldn't help myslef. I probably went to hard, but in the end I survived. (Although I felt in on the run.)

It was hot. Really hot. Africa hot. (Did I mention it was hot?)

I started with a nice easy pace. Tried to take in fluids and keep comfortanble as much as I could. I had told myself that I would take it easy, and if I had anything left in the tank push the end of the run. When I got to the turn I felt pretty good so I started pushing. At about mile 9 the wheels came off. The last 4 miles were an exercise in suffering and trying to keep down the liquid I had taken in.

Not a great run. But I'll take it given the conditions.

Go easier on the bike and wait longer in the run to push the pace.

I laid down in the shade afraid that I was going to pass out.


Heat.


I'd give this race a B-. It was well organized, with plenty of super nice volunteers. But there were some problems. The swim bouys really messed with my swim. There were no porta potties anywhere on the course. (I had to find a tree to duck behind on the bike course.) Most importantly, while there were plenty of aid stations on the run, they only had water, gatorade and hammer gels. A race of this distance really needs better nutrtion available on the run course.

Oh yeah - minor complaint - but the announcer for the race was really annoying.