Chisago Lakes Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon

I ended up in the last wave (still not sure how they assigned those) so I had a longer wait. Short warm up swim then had to stand around, full sleeve wetsuit was actually really comfortable for me. The air temp was about 20 degrees cooler than the water and would have been chilly standing around without it.

I was able to see the elites rounding the last point of the triangle course before my wave was staged, so that was something to have in the back of the mind. I figured just more people to pass...

Waded in and stayed to the outside at the start. I am just an average swimmer and didn't want to get caught in the group. The goal for me was to just finish the swim without over exerting myself needlessly.

Kept my head down and swam my pace the first 1/3, actually got out ahead of the majority of my wave it seemed, thought I must be going too fast but decided to just keep my own pace and not think about it.

Sighting was decent until about 1/2, then I caught myself off course a few times. On the last third I kept my head down too long without sighting and was a good distance to the outside. Lesson learned.

Swam all the way to knee deep water and exited decently.

Work on sighting more fluidly. Some more speed work would really help, but after my Olympic I just wanted to finish the swim without being a mess mentally and physically. Accomplished that.

slower jog up the beach and the grassy hill, it was quite wet by the time I was passing through.

Took time to put a calf sleeve on the leg that had been bothering me and some extra lube on the feet. Shoes on and jogged out.

I took the extra time to make sure the feet would be ok from blister and socks. First 70.3 so I didn't want to take chances. I probably could have skipped that but the time was worth it.

I was passing a lot of the sprinters through the shared part of the course, due to starting in the last wave of the swim. Felt good to pass people but was frustrating having to cross some of the "wake-up" bumps on the road when they were two wide and taking up the shoulder. Argh.

I wanted to pace in the 20-21 mph range and was averaging a bit more than that through the rolling hills, was making steady pace past a good amount of half riders and not passed my many.
Until the 25 mile or so. Lower GI cramping resulted having to pit stop at the last water stop to use the facilities. Had to wait my turn and it hurt to see people I had to pass going by.

Wind picked up towards the end but I just got low and pedaled on. Noticed my feet a bit numb around the 50 mile mark when I really started to think about the run. worked on flexing the toes a lot and loosened the straps a tiny bit. That helped my feet get ready for the run.



Still not sure what caused the need for the stop, I used no new food or hydration that I had not practiced with in training. Because of that, I really wasn't able to get all the hydration down that I wanted. Might try a different liquid nutrition the next training cycle, not sure yet.

Some toe covers are also on the list, days like today would have been nice to have that option.

I was disappointed in leaving time out on the course, I could have been right where I hoped to be but still managed an average showing.

Kept my bike shoes on for the dismount, i didn't want muddy socks for the run was my thought. Grabbed a couple GU, race belt on while running out and I was off.

Went out feeling well. Running is usually my most comfortable event.
I wanted to stay in the 7:45-8:00 range for the first few miles then see how I was feeling. Goal was a 1:40 run at least. I caught myself running along fine at 7:30 and tried to force myself to back off.

Stayed on pace through 5.5mi then hydration issue from the bike stated to catch up to me. I was feeling the need for way more fluids then I normally need in running races and didn't want to overdo it at any one station and cramp up.
Reevaluated and decided to walk/jog the water stations as needed to compose myself then run between them. This worked even though my time was hurt from having to slow down through the stations. But I didn't walk out between the stations so I was happy with that.

Half mile out ran with a couple other people and pushed each other to a strong finish.
Up that final hill in the park and we ended up on the wrong side of the yellow dividing tape. Nothing like a low squat in that last stretch. Really though, nothing was going to slow me down or stop me at that point.

Not enough hydration on the bike was my downfall. Trying to make up for that on the run was difficult without cramping. Otherwise I probably would have hit my goal time, still was in my range though.

walked around to stretch the legs a bit then got in line for quick massage on the calf which really helped. Grabbed some food which was awesome. I felt spoiled with those offerings


Not enough experience in the water, I need more time at that and include some speed work not just covering the distances. Figure out the hydration/nutrition issues I had on the bike.


For my first 70.3 and only my third triathlon overall in the first year of doing these, I was very happy with my results. Definitely have areas to work on but that just serves as inspiration during workouts. Sights set on future races.