Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I ended up too far outside the buoy line, I think because of the slight undertow. Also the second buoy wasn't very visible, for a while I was following others and a lot of them went too far out also. Added some time, probably close to 2 min. I sighted every third breath consistently though.

Also, the run on the beach to transition was a little longer this year, last year I don't think we ran around the dunes. The sand was VERY soft and hard as heck to run in.

Stayed in closer to the bouys.

Stupid wetsuit stuck like crazy on my right heel, somehow it got sort of rolled up and wouldn't pull off. I had a long run between my assigned rack and Bike out. I can't run in my bike shoes thanks to the speedplay cleats, and there was a hill immediately out of transition so I didn't want to try to get into my shoes while climbing. SO, I carried my shoes and socks close to bike out and put them on there. Worked pretty well.

Not let my wetsuit bunch up above my ankle!

Drank half a bottle of Perpetuem before I hit the 20 mile mark, along with a gel (not together) and my stomach started to feel gassy and bloated, bad sign. But it wasn't painful. I think I had 2 more hits of gel on the bike, and got down most of 2 big bottles, plus a bottle of water.

The course was crowded, one group blatantly drafting but otherwise went smoothly. Only a few people blocking and if you yelled "on your left" at them they pretty much moved to the right. Tried not to pass people unless they were actually slowing me down.

Drink more slowly and gradually, not gulp.

There was a mount/dismount line so jumping on or off the bike wasn't possible. THe same hill we climbed out of transition we came down into transition, even though there were plenty of volunteers telling people way ahead of time where they had to stop and asking them to slow down someone behind me crashed, and I think caused the person behind them to go down also, I didn't stop to look.

Nothing really. My transition seemed faster than this. Not sure where I was for almost 2 minutes. Running through transition I guess. With 1500+ athletes the transition area is pretty big.

Felt strong on the first lap, managed about a 9:45 avg for the first 3 miles, slower than I wanted but ok considering I pushed harder on the bike than I planned to. Had a gel after the turn around, still felt pretty good although every time I tried to pick up the pace the sciatica in my leg would fire and I thought the leg was going to give out, so I settled for slow and steady, my goal being not to walk. My stomach was still touchy but ok..I laid off the perp for the first 3 miles and felt fine. Drank probably 6 oz during the second 3 miles. Then I had another gel at I think the first or second aid station on lap 2 soewhere around mile 7. BIG mistake. My stomach cramped and bloated, I started thinking I should visit a portapotty but I really didn't want to stop. But there was a portopotty at about mile 9, when I saw it my stomach just TWISTED and I knew if I didn't stop I was going to humiliate myself. Lost 4 minutes. But had a much more comfortable run in. Tried to pick up the pace to make up the time but even though my heartrate was low and the sciatica had subsided somewhat I just couldn't get my legs to go any faster. So my "run" was more of a shuffle. Story of my summer :(

Not sure...I think I need more time between gels.

Watch for others to cross the finish line :)


Touchy stomach. Sciatica. Poor running abilities..for running this just hasn't been my summer.


As always HFP did a bang up job, although the post race food left a little to be desired.