Great Illini Challenge - Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

There really weren't a lot of women doing this race, so I figured I would line up near the front and see how things went. I usually prefer to stay to the outside to try and avoid the washing machine, but how bad could it be with this few people??

The men went off and then the gun for us went off 3 minutes after... and we were off! And... I'm in the washing machine. And... I get an elbow straight to the chin that cracks my teeth together hard enough that I see stars. And... that's me heading now to the far outside to avoid everyone else.

My sighting was absolute shyte! I couldn't believe how badly I was pulling to the left. Every time I looked up it seemed like I was getting farther and farther away from the buoy line, which also made the cornering atrocious. I was about 20m off to the side of the buoy line at any time, and added so much extra swimming that was completely unnecessary. I also had no one to try and draft off of, but there were really too few people in the entire race to get any drafting done on the swim. (or am I just saying that because I was no where NEAR anyone else on the swim to actually know that?) But... on the plus side, I had nothing but clear water in front of me?

Coming to the shore I had decided before starting the swim that I was going to take off my wetsuit in the water. I know I'm pretty quick at taking it off in the water, and it would mean that I don't have to run with it on up into transition and then try to take it off standing at my bike. It worked like a CHARM and a guy who saw me called out to me as I was running, "how did you do that so fast?"... my reply, "I'm just THAT good!" I also saw Tony who told me that I was the 5th woman out of the water! SWEEEET!


Both loops felt fairly strong but I got out of the water seeing my time and was mentally kind of crushed to see that I was in the water for SO DAMN LONG! I've since found out that the course was long, but I was still beating myself up about it for a while.

Also, I need to get more comfortable swimming in the mix - there won't always be the option to easily get myself out of the washing machine.

I didn't hurry though this to make sure my heart rate came down a little and to grab extra sport chomps, Gu's and spray some more sunscreen on my shoulders. It was already gearing up to be a ridiculously HOT day.

Nada. :)

For the most part, I'm REALLY happy with this bike ride. I felt really pretty awesome for the entire first loop and made myself take in water whenever I was thirsty, a GU or Chomps every 15-20 minutes and a salt tab every 45 minutes. I also had a couple of PayDay bars with me, but didn't end up having them. The nutrition plan seemed to work, and had no digestive issues at all, which was great!

I get part way through the first loop and to give my legs just a bit of a break I switch to the small ring to spin out for a minute and when I go to put it back to the big ring, the chain drops. WHAAAAT? You've got to be kidding me! Okay, off I get and get the chain back on. It didn't take long, but it ticked me off that I needed to stop.

Back in the saddle and things are feeling pretty good, I've made it to the split for the Olympic distance and FINALLY get to the aid station which is just on the other side of a really tight 180* turn... not a great place for an aid station, but at least now I know where it is. My plan was always to try and refill my aero bottle with the course bottles and keep mine for emergencies - which worked pretty well for the time being.

Once past the aid station, I figured I should see if the chain was a one time thing, or whether I was going to be fighting with George, my trusty steed. Back in the small chain ring with no problems, but try to put it back into the big ring and, you guessed it... dropped chain. Again. ARGH! Okay, stop to put the chain on again and just decide to use the big ring. Sigh.

I finally get to the turnaround where I get to see Tony and that gave me a HUGE boost after having my chain drop twice, and this is also where the other aid station is, and they've got it in the worst possible place - in the middle of a mini triangle where the riders are expected to slow down, make a super sharp turn to the left, grab a bottle with the right hand, another super sharp turn to the left and do all this without crashing. It was such a bad decision by the RD.

I started the second loop thinking that even with the mishap with the chain, I could potentially break 3 hours on the bike - let's get this thing DONE! Everything started out quite well, and I was having a great time saying hi to everyone on the bike, to the volunteers, and anyone else out there, until I realized that I was having to work a lot harder... what the? Awww man. The wind has picked up! Oh well, it's just wind... but it's also starting to get really, really warm now. I start to hear a weird noise and still having to try and crank the pedals to get anywhere when a person passes me and lets me know that my water bottles are rubbing on my back tire. Huh? I stopped and looked back and the heat has warped my water bottles so that they're drooping off to the side and rubbing on my back tire. I knew it was hot out, but wow! I get them standing up again and start on my way when about 10 minutes later I hear the noise again. Pull off to the side and yep, there they are again. Drooping off the side of my bike. I try to re-arrange the damn things as well as possible and just get this done.

I got close to the end and both my legs are stinging, but I just don't care... I'm ready to be done with the bike, my back is starting to scream at me and it's freakin' HOT out there!!

Um... figure out what the heck is going on with my chain rings???

And maybe find someone to follow me around on a motorcycle waving palm fronds over me to help keep me cool and shaded when it's ridiculously hot out. :)

I pulled into transition and racked George and realized that it was going to be even hotter on the run. Grabbed my visor, tried to spray more sun screen on me, but my fingers were too wet with sweat to do any good and so just left it.

However, as I started out of transition, I realized my legs were still stinging and looking down, they were bleeding! The chafing from my tri short had made actual cuts on both my legs that were bleeding. Not cool! I ended up folding up the bottom of the tri shorts to head out onto the run to alleviate the chafing. OWWWIEEE!

Not much

Holy mother of little baby 8lb swaddling Jebus is it ever freakin HOT out.

Thankfully I saw Tony just as I was heading out and he said that he'd do at least the first loop with me, so I tried to start my 4min run/1min walk plan and I get through 2 rounds of that before realizing that it's just NOT going to happen. I see a lady ahead of me so catch up to her and we start chatting. We walked and chatted until she reached the Olympic turn around and Tony and I kept going to the HIM turn around. We met up with a bunch of other walkers, a few of which were in some trouble. I gave away some salt tabs to others who were in need, and took in water, some coke and dumped ice down my tri top at every aid station. There was NO relief from the heat at all. No shade at all, no wind, and the heat was coming off the pavement in waves.

Running was absolutely out of the question, and it was somewhat eerie to see pretty much everyone on the course walking/plodding/trudging along. It was miserable. Seriously miserable. As we kept up with the death march I realized that there were shoe impressions in the tar in the pavement. The tar was melting to the point that my shoes were getting sticky from walking.

As we got closer and closer to where the turnaround was, I made the decision to pull the plug. It just wasn't safe out there, and as this wasn't my 'A' race - I didn't want to risk getting heat stroke/sun stroke, severely sun burned, or worse. It just wasn't worth it. I handed in my chip to the RD, jumped into the lake, and got into the car which had been sitting in the shade... and still read 98F.

I don't think there's really anything I would do differently under the circumstances.

I'm happy with my decision and I have no regrets at all - I think I did the wise thing for once in my life! :)

Jumped into the lake to try and cool off and then into the car to drive to Indianapolis.


The heat! It was over 100F and humid, and gross.


A HUGE thank you to the volunteers - they were out there in the heat with us, and some had no where to hide from the sun. They were AWESOME!

On the other hand, I have a LOT of reservations about doing this race ever again unless the date is moved. The swim should never have been wetsuit legal. The bottle exchange stations were placed at ridiculous spots, and I think the run should have been cancelled once the PAVEMENT STARTED MELTING.