High Cliff Triathlon - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I really enjoyed the swim. The lake is shallow to start and alot of people were running quite a ways. I just powered n a little, dove and swam a bit, got up and dove again and swam the rest. It was a murky lake, the bits of floating algae made visibility about 5 feet and clearly about 5 inches. I started on the outside block again - seems to work again. I never fought with anyone and just slowly worked into the pack by the first buoy.

From there- I felt good and never overexerted myself. A few good bursts here and there - I got to the furthest point and hit the buoy cleanly with no issues as I slipped past a few other swimmers on the inside. From that point I stayed inside the pack and stayed fairly arrow straight going buoy to buoy. I swam with two other swimmers about the same pace. I actually got on the heels of ones and drafted for about 250+ yards. It was amazing how easy it felt. I slipped out once cause I thought I would pass, no I worked harder to stay with him. So back in I went until the last buoy before the turn. Then I put it on until the turn in.

Hit the turn and into the sun we went. I settled into an easy pace. AND THANK YOU ANDY!!! He pointed out the Football Posts for the swim and I just swam towards those the whole way. It made it really easy to fly in. I bursted again for a good stretch to fly to shore, then coasted in for about 150-200 yds to let the HR level out. I was swimming into Sprinteres at this point, they were walking and running - I was swimming. When I stood up the water was about knee high for me -



In the end I felt really good about the swim. I hope I can piece things together like this again. I will also remember to find LARGE land marks like the tree football posts for future swims to make returning to shore easy again.

I also am going to try to line up on the outside front again - good luck to me for IMWI and getting that spot

0 for 4 this year on getting into shoes on the bike! I just nail it in practice but never in game time. I will succeed One day. I did have the left heel get stuck.

Move faster and put sun block on the lower back - nice burn afterwards.
I was in no great hurry but did move better to my bike this time versus IMCA70.3

I came out T1 and ready to rock - I ran to the road past alot of other riders. BUT once on the road, I could not get the right foot into the shoe and the hill was coming quickly, so I stopped popped off the bike and put on the right shoe and off I went. The first hill was tough, but manageable. Once to the top I did not feel over winded. Just pooped into moving and sped up quickly. Nothing real technical today for the ride. After Elkhart Lake this seems EASY. So I kept rolling. We did have a wind in our faces heading south, but nothing too bad. THEN all of a suden I heard a weird noise, it was an eeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww, eeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww. After about 30-40 minutes, Rob caught me on the bike. Like he promised, he slapped my donkey to get me to giddi up. I rolled with him for about 2 mins and then , he was gone. I rolled alone most of the ride. I got passed a few times, but not often. I even repassed a few of them. I did not pass too many overall, but when you are in wave 2, there are not many people in front of you.

So I rolled along steady. Darn motorcyle and course official were around me alot. Only once did they check me as I was passing someone to make sure I did it fast enough. I actually saw two others get penalties.

At about mile 40, jszat came eaaawww'ing up to me. I tried to keep the pace of donkeys for a while but could only hang for about 10 mins. I just do not have the engine or rocket he has. When there was 10 mile to go, I told myself I can do some intervals - so I would work hard for about a minute and then roll for about 2. I repeated this until 3 miles to go and hammered for a mile. Then I just kept it steady until the final half mile and eased up on the gears and increased cadence and decreased heart rate to prepare to "RUN"

Nothing. It felt really good and I think I di very well. I did have a sore back and stiffness at about mile 10 but I worked through it well. I stood up more often to pedal, but it changed my position and made the back better. Overall a strong performance, I could have done better, but jeopardized the run. I was top 25% where I belong and am very happy with this especially after being and still being sick.

I dawdled! I easily slipped out of the shoes prior to entering T2, jogged to the rack and set up for the run. Put on socks, shoes, shorts (with extra endurolytes and gels ready), grabbed the CARROT, drank another TORCH, and even Sun Blocked- which as I found out was not totally necesary with all the shade.

I could have been out faster but no real rush, wanted to be able to finish the run and not die during.

If I cared, move faster, but it was for safety and being prepared - I am not going to win. IF I would have finished 6hrs and 1 sec, then MAYBE (not really) would I have cared.

So my adventure began. I had 3 objectives - 1> better swim (beat it by over 3 mins) 2> break 3hr on the bike (done by 11 mins) and 3> FINISH the Run without Dying

And Up the Hill we go. I saw 2 people run all the way up and they probably gained 100 yds on me by doing it. Everyone else was walking. So up we went, and to my surprise - it was a shaded trail route - MY FAVORITE - cooler and softer. Great for the knees. I was trying my new theory - run .5 mile and walk .5 mile ( Note - I do walk about a 12:00-12:30m/m average.) So I did the turn here turn there and just , I hate to say it, enjoyed the run. The first lap passed by as if it were just moving along. I did not hydrate well at first cause I did not know the frequency of stations. But I did get the hang of it - instead of just grabbing one cup of water and one gel - I grabbed 2 of each. The lesson from IMCA 70.3 paid off - I drink and GU only with a spattering of endurolytes. I took about 10 endurolytes and 8 GU on the run. I never had a cramp or evenathe resemblence of one. It worked well. I paced it to a 1hr 10 min half way marker NOT BAD . . .

Then the second Lap- Itried to run a bit but the legs say NO. SO I just settled into a good speed walk and passed about 5 runners over the next 4 miles. I just did not have it in me to run at that time. I just said - I gotta work tomorrow and it is not worth it to explode. So I kept going - got passsed by many. And did not care. tripletmom01 passed me up and gave encouragement - all I had was a body moving forward that felt like I had to pee, poo, and puke. (yeah she cauhgt me at a bad moment) I stopped at a few stations to fuel up and get ready to keep going. I told myself just get to mile 11 and run to 12. I got there and a IMCA 70.3 jersey came by. He was there this year and we ran for most of the next mile together talking about the Cali race and how much fun it was. After a while we realized we were going faster than we really wanted. So we slowed down just before mile 12 marker and walked a bit -I walked ahead and within a minute he ran by. But now there was only a mile and change to go. I still reserved the energy and PW'd the next 3/4 mile including down the hill where several people encouraged me to speed up - another NOTE - I am like a grizzly running down hill - I WILL ROLL if going to fast so just stuck with the plan got to the bottom/ where it flattens a bit and ran it in! The crowd fired me up, firstnet911's brood cheered for the carrot, I was told I was carrying a Popsicle by Mr announcer, carried the CarroTorch to the line - HI Fived the Tri Donkai speedsters - Joe and Rob, and THE DAY WAS DONE!

Nothing - I think it went well. I did PR on this distance!

After I crosse dthe line, I typically walk it off for 5 mins and then return the timing chip. They had me cornered and I was going nowhere. SO I stopped and the body went into mini shock when I bent over. So I just dropped to the ground. I was really hot now. So to cool off the ladies gladly dumped about 4 glasses of REALLY cold water on me - Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! that felt good. Then I realized the clock said 6 hours. What tha . . . .? I broke 6 hours? Then I went into shock again and just laid out on the ground - They continued to puor more water on me and I just laid there for about a minute or so. Once the body equilibrated - I sat up absolutely stoked! I did chase the carrot today and did really well. ( Well by my standards - I finished in the top half overall - not bad for a guy who was in the bottom quarter in IMCA&).3)


Knees and Illness. Now imagine if I was trying to peak for this race and tapered. Imagine if I was not coughing up a lung or blowing my nose every 25 minutes (sorry about all the snot rockets on the course). Imagine if did not run 16.3 miles a week ago and the knees were fully responsive.

Imagine . . . .

go ahead do it for me, I do not have the energy anymore to even imagine


Fun day with a Pace of Donkeys. Will definitely return to race - whether sprint or HIM.

Awards -
Best Slap - Rob at mile 10
Best Aid Station - Ladies with ICE!!!!
Best Volunteer- Guy with Beer cooler just before the ice and I almost accepted one.
Best Swimmer - not sure I did not catch him
Best Finish - jmwebs, pulling a TRUE donkey move and being stubborn enough to finish with a serious IT pain
Best Finish II - firstnet911 after the EL Oly misfortunes and all the worries - he did it
Least Sportsmanship ( hate to say this but) Team Weisconsin Multisport ( I congratulated most of them and encouraged them with all but 2 women and 1 guy actually acknowleging my presence - man lighten Up!! I am so glad to be a donkey - we are so much more fun and accepting than what they showed)

Congrats to ALL!