Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

As of January this year I couldn't swim a lick, so naturally open water has been an area that I needed to concentrate on and overcome some deep rooted issues. Lake Michigan rollers pose a formidable challenge, and race day was no different. I've been fortunate to have access to Lake Superior and have booked a few yards this season in it. That really paid some dividends for this race. It was a wave start by age group so I hung back a little to avoid the masses. I'm slow due to my experience, but I felt I had a good swim. Because of the rollers it was hard to see the buoys and I went to wide which cost me a few minutes, but for the most part I was comfortable and found a groove. Not bad considering twelve months earlier I would have drowned.

Attempt to sight better and maybe not be so cautious.

Okay so I need a little work here. This was only my 2nd tri and I tend to be so happy to have the swim over that I forget the urgency. At least I didn't forget anything for the bike portion.

Practice before time.

This is a flat course that I looked forward to considering I've been training on the Ironman WI hilly loops for the last six months. I found out I missed the variety that rolling courses offer.

I rode okay but i learned a lot of things that will help me improve in the future.

I had decided early on to train with Perpeteum and my intentions were to stay strictly with that based upon my initial experience. Racine was a further testing ground for this intention. I used a concentrated mixture in an insulated 25 oz. bottle and it served me well(more on perpeteum later). I had another insulated bottle of water and an Aero bottle. I will change that routine in the future and rely on course water bottles only. I grew tired of the constant slopping from the aero bottle and the act of filling it back up. I'll continue to use it on my long practice rides, but leave it home on race day.

I need to figure out a better way of doling out Endurolytes to avoid slowing down and potential crashes. I had them in a ziploc in my tritop pocket and that proved to be clumsy. I've since purchased a bento and will be trying that.

I expected to find out that I need to spend more time in my aerobars. In general I need to spend more time on my bike, but I've done what I can to this point(2006-1600+ miles) and can't make up for the rest of my life time. I'll keep working on it and hopefully by IMWI it will be better. Overall, for this point in my training I was pleased.

Ride, ride, ride.

Refer to T1. I'm the happy guy in transition with no apparent sense of urgency. I would love to watch a video of myself.

Realise that Christmas is coming some day too.

My legs felt great and I thought I would have to walk to get started, but this really wasn't the case. Based upon this I now know I probably could have gone harder on the bike. I grabbed a fresh, cold bottle of the Perp mixture for the run and that sustained me well. I will change into dry sock next time, and also stay away from dumping water over my head that ends up in my shoes. I ended up with some hot spots on my feet that did not hurt me in this event, but will at Ironman for the longer run. I actually enjoyed the run and probably could have gone faster. By this time I knew I was going to beat my goal time and decided to take it easy.

Dry socks and no dumping water over my head that ends up in shoes.

Pasta, Mountain Dew(?), Recoverite and a beer. I was happy with the peformance of the Hammer products throughout the race, and was surprised to actually find out that I was not that hungry. In the past I could eat a horse or two. I was worried about nutrition going into IMWI and this helped me grow confidence in my plans.


Experience.


Well organized and nice people. Good job Racine!