Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was REALLY nervous about this swim after our last Lake Michigan tri swim in Grand Haven two weeks ago (with 5-7' waves). Even after the Crystal Lake OWS swim last weekend I was having trouble ridding myself of the swim demons in my head. So, I purposely decided to stay back and wide at the start so that I didn't get myself into any trouble. When the gun went off I truly eased into things. Did a little breast stroke and the start and then eased into my stroke. I was really wide of the first buoy, so I didn't have much contact at all. Once I rounded the first buoy I continued to stay wide and out of trouble, but this probably added a lot of time to my swim. I was pretty comfortable during the whole swim, probably too much so. I've got to be honest, it seemed to last FOREVER. I was really done by the second to last buoy. Finally got to the last buoy and it was really cool to turn into shore and see all the spectators waiting on the beach. I loved that. But of course I was still to wide and had to angle in to the finish. I was really disappointed with my time on this swim, but was really happy that it was over and I had made it without any panic! My biggest mistake came when I saw others taking off their wetsuits in the water. I decided to try that too and kept falling over. This probably added a good 4-5 minutes to my time...I'm not kidding. This was a major error on my part. I should stick to my plan and NOT follow the masses.

I need to get my confidence back in OW and this swim definitely helped with that, so maybe now I can be a little more aggressive. My arms were definitely fatigued near the end, so I think I need to get back to lifting some weights too. Also, next time I would definitely not try to take off my wetsuit in the water.

Since I already had my wetsuit off, I have no idea what took me so long in this transition. I actually chatted with my transition neighbor who was in there at the same time as me. I just needed to be more focused. And I know that I didn't run with my bike, because no one else was. Again, I need to do my own race and not follow the masses!

Speed it up!!

I was so excited to be done with the swim and out on my bike, but things seemed to go wrong almost right away. My stomach wasn't feeling quite right but I thought maybe it was just nerves. I stayed in the small ring to get warmed up and keep the HR down for the start of the ride and my plan was to take Perp on the :15 and :45, and three CLIF Bloks on the :30, with water in between. So...about 15 minutes into the ride I take my first swig of Perp and it doesn't go down quite right but I was still feeling hungry at the half-hour so take 2 of my Bloks (instead of 3) just to get something down. That's when I started to get horrible pains in my stomach. It was so bad that I could hardly stand to be in aero position. I was also feeling a little dizzy. I tried not to panic, but I have NEVER experienced nutrition problems before so didn't quite know what to do. I thought it would pass, so when the :45 came I tried to take my Perp again, but that was a huge mistake. I had to quickly pull over because it just all came back up. That was the end of Perp for me. I decided to just take it easy and see how things went. I just took small sips of water and would take a CLIF Shot Blok here and there just to get something in. At around 25 I felt like I could put it into the big ring so I did. Just kept sipping the water and moving forward. It was really lonely out on the bike course...especially since I wasn't feeling well. At about 50 my stomach started to feel a little better and I was very thankful for that, but knew that I was in big time trouble nutritionally. I actually saw jowisc starting out on the run as I was cruising back into town and that was great. Little did I know how much he was hurting, nor he what I had been through. All this said, I still beat my bike goal by more than 20 minutes so I was thriled with this. Just think what I could do if I was actually fueled up!

Clearly I need to figure out the nutrition. I still have no idea what happened to me out there because I've never had this issue before. At dinner the night before jtopin was talking about the terrible stomach pain he gets when he mixes Perp and other products...so maybe he jinxed me? I also just need to get more long rides in so I can continue to get stronger!

You may have read about the helicopter incident in other's race reports...apparent the 'copter following the leaders flew too low and wreaked havoc on transition. Of course, I didn't know this at the time...I just thought someone stole my hat! I knew that I needed my hat on the run course, so I spent some time running around looking for it and still couldn't find it. Finally I just had to go, but I lost a TON of time due to the lost hat and it really threw me for a loop.

Put my hat under something so it doesn't blow away?!

I was shocked when I started out on the run how good my legs felt. I definitely didn't feel like I had just done a 56-mile bike ride. Well, I got to Mile 1 and my body realized it was severely under-hydrated and under-fueled and I just lost it. Suddenly, I was so dizzy I felt like I could hardly walk a straight line and I seriously started to think about finding the nearest med staff. I saw jowisc around Mile 2 and asked for his hat so I could put ice in it...in my delirious state I thought he was almost done, but once I "came to" I figured out that he was only finishing his first lap and I felt soooo bad for taking his hat! But I'll tell ya' that hat saved my race - no doubt. I did a lot of walking those first few miles. I would down water and Endurolytes, then fill my hat and jersey with ice. By the first turnaround I actually felt like I could run a bit. I also took a Hammer Gel in there somewhere and my stomach was feeling MUCH better. I lived for those aid stations...and for seeing BTers. I saw everyone on the course. MarkK, CindyK, startingtotri, whizzz, grizdog, kmarzano, jmcelroy, chirunner134. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement...it really kept me going. By the end of the first loop I actually felt a lot more like myself, although still pretty dehydrated. I convinced myself to start running between the aid stations and kept up a pretty decent pace. At about Mile 11, I caught LindaKC and a guy she was running with. It was so great to see a familiar face and that really helped lift my spirits those last couple of miles. She is the cutest and despite her own pain was still really cheerful and talkative. Thanks again Linda!! I was so happy when I saw that Mile 12 marker. I couldn't believe that I had made it. I was feeling so much better that I actually had a little kick at the end. Saw jowisc and Mrs. Hangloose (Jen) cheering me in. That was great. What a phenomenal feeling!

Considering my nutritional state, there's not much I could have done differently on the run. I stayed calm and nursed myself back to the land of the living. This was a huge learning experience for me, but now I know that it can be done. I actually only came in 2 minutes below my run goal, so I think that's pretty good considering the circumstances!

You're supposed to warm down? I actually probably should have gone to the med tent...


Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. If I'm going to continue racing at this distance, I need to learn a lot more about this. The frustrating thing was that my legs felt great! I just didn't have the energy to go. If I had been well-fueled and hydrated, I probably could have gotten another 5 minutes on the bike and 15-20 on the run. Oh well, next time. :) I'm really proud of my mental focus and ability to get myself through this race. What an experience!


This was a great race and the number of BTers make it sooo much fun! But the Lake Michigan swim is scary...just because you never know what you're going to get. Had it been as rough as it was during our Saturday practice swim, I probably would have been out there for 1+ hours! You train so hard for a HIM that it's tough to have such an unknown swim conditions. I would love to do this race in the future, but I'll definitely need to get more comfortable in Lake Mich! Other than that, well organized and GREAT venue!