Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I decided to start at the back of the swim and ease into it instead of getting swum over. This was a good move. The start was actually less crowded than I expected, although about 2/3 of the way to the first buoy got pretty jammed up as people lined up for the turn. Caught people from one and then two waves ahead of us! I didn't know if I should feel good about my swim or bad for them. I almost asked one guy if he was ok but I saw a life guard nearby so I kept going. Some bumping occassionally but overall a clean swim. Regarding the bumping that was going on jowisc summed it up pretty well "I didn't know you could do THAT in a wetsuit." I was THRILLED with my sighting. I swam very straight, which for me is a huge issue. I was also very glad I went with the new Swedish goggles. They rock. I could see great and they didn't leak a drop.

I rounded the last buoy and headed in. It gets shallow pretty far from shore so it makes you start walking sooner than I would have liked. I made a huge tactical error here. As I was walk/running to shore I saw people sitting down in the water to take their wetsuits off. I thought, hmmm, that looks like a good idea so I did it too. My legs were not ready for that. Both calves cramped immediately. I sat there feeling like an idiot. By now I had to follow through as my wetsuit was around my ankles but I couldn't move. So I had to try to stretch out the cramps and we all know how well that goes when you are in a hurry. By the time I got the wetsuit off and out of the water I had lost minutes. Then once on the beach I had to stretch out the legs again before I could run in the sand. Then the long run up to transition. It was agonizing. OTOH this is where I got my first random "Great jersey, Donkey!" so I had that going for me.

Take off the wetsuit in transition. My legs need the blood to be flowing from the run up in order to prevent the cramping. Also, not make decisions based on random stuff I see others doing on the course. Even though this is my first HIM I should know better than that.

The actual swimming part? I wouldn't do anything different other than go faster. I was very happy with this and feeling good. I was under 2:00/100M for the actual swimming.

Well, all the bad stuff with the wetsuit is in the swim time so that helps make this transition time look so good. That being said, I am happy with this. Very simple. Glasses on, helmet on, grab bike and go. Done. Got on the bike very easy and even with the hill right out of transition I got into the shoes ok.

Nothing.

Based on where my workout speeds were a month ago the fact that this split time even starts with a 2 instead of a 3 should be cause for celebration on my part. That being said, I had some highs and lows. Just a couple miles into the ride I tood a drink from the aero bottle and when I looked up I was going right into a crack in the road, lengthwise. Felt lucky to pull it out and not wipe, but my gel bottle bounced out of my bento box. Had to go back to get it. That sucked. Moving along and I felt good. There were so many people that it was hard at times to follow the drafting rules, but I never intentionally drafted and I hardly ever saw anyone else doing it. Most people were doing what I did and that's even if you were to close behind someone for a few seconds we'd weave to one side or another so we weren't directly behind them. Also, I saw the marshal riding alongside groups off multiple passers and that was good to see the rules being enforced. They can't be everywhere, of course, but they are trying. It was cool seeing the pros coming back in. At about the 30 mile mark I'm cruising along and all of a sudden I see my wife and kids! Wow, what a boost. I didn't expect them to be anywhere on the bike course. Jen continues to surprise and amaze me. Keep moving along. There's a few other riders I was playing catch and pass with. One of them was a roadie wearing headphones, which aggravated me. I got a few more "Go Donkey!" shouts, too. I noticed that most people seem to coast through turns and down hills. I kept pedaling, even if it was easy, and it helped keep my speed up. Especially in turns. When it was safe I was able to pass very well during turns. When it was too crowded I just chilled out.

It was a huge relief to finally see 40 on the bike computer. I was passing a girl at the time and I said, "We're getting there." She laughed and said, "I'm so happy to see 40!" It's funny, we're all so serious looking and intense out there but if you make a comment to anyone they give you a huge smile and friendly comment back. I felt like I lost some energy between 44-50, but then I got it back. I was cruising the last few miles. Doing really well. We got back into town and I looked at my watch. I did what little math my athleticoma brain would allow me to do and figured I was going to get in with 2 hours to do the run and make my goal of 5:30. 5:20 would call for too fast of a run but 5:30 was looking good. Then POP! I didn't know what happened but I was afraid I flatted. Pulled off to the side and felt the tire. Still hard. Pushed forward to go again and the rear wheel would not spin. Got off the bike and looked and saw a spoke hanging off to the side. It had popped off of the hub. My mind reeled. Earlier in the week I had noticed a wobble in the wheel and taken it in to the shop. When Bob fixed it he said it was pretty bad. It must have been this spoke and the tension finally busted it. I couldn't get the spoke out of the rim so I wrapped it around another spoke so it was out of the way. The real problem now was that the wheel was so bent that it was jammed against the brake. Of course, in my hurry, I didn't think to pop the brake open which would have made it slightly easier. Even after the race when I did pop it open it wasn't that much better. As I'm doing this people are riding by encouraging me. One guy yells, "Just run it in, brother!" While I appreciated his encouragement all I could think at the time was "You effing run it in." Anyway, I get on the bike and start going. At this point I don't care what bad things are happening underneath me I just want to get there. Get there, get there, get there. At maximum effort I am managing barely 14 mph (after avging about 20 for 54.4 miles). Get there, get there, get there. I get to the final hill and decide I'm not doing the cyclocross dismount as I'm not taking any chances with a faulty bike. Good move on my part. When I get off the bike and try to push it the rear wheel just skids. maggyruth was there encouraging me! I just picked up the bike and carried it to the rack.

Have a fancy set of expensive race wheels? Similar to the swim, despite the problems at the end I am very happy with this leg. I did way better than I thought I would. I drank, ate, and rode well. I never cracked, never lost focus.

Ok, after the trauma of the bike finish I took my time here. Tried to let my legs recover a bit before I started running on them. Logistically I did everything perfect here, I just didn't do it very fast because I needed to recover from the effort of the last 1.6 miles in on the bike.

Nothing. I've got this transition thing down. For this being only my third tri and only one this year I'm pretty happy about that.

Ok, I typed this whole run thing out and then my computer hiccuped and it got wiped. That is about par for how this run went.

Starting over: I headed out of T2 and didn't feel great but didn't feel terrible. The plan was to ease into the run, walk the aid stations to get water in and let my legs find a pace. Hopefully somewhere in the 8:30-9:00 range which would set me up to push the second half if I felt up to it. Ha! First things first. On my way out I saw my wife cheering me on. Detour. I needed some sugar! Got me a big ole kiss and then I was on my way. The first loop was pretty uneventful other than the guy with the hose spraying people, the pros/elites running like the wind the other direction with motorcycles and cameras chasing them, the people lining the streets to cheer, the sprinklers over the street and the eleventy billion BT'ers all saying hi to each other. Pretty boring, otherwise. I got a number of "Go Donkey!" calls. I passed one guy and girl running together and they started talking about the big carrot on the back of the jersey. The girl yells out "You must eat really healthy if you like carrots that much." I turned around and pointed to the front and said "The carrots for the Donkey!" They cracked up. Coming back in at the end first loop I felt ok, but slow. Jen asked me if I was ok and if I needed anything. I gave her my fuel belt cuz I could carry my gel in my pocket and there was enough water at the aid stations. I didn't feel too bad yet I just could not generate any speed. I felt like I was ok, but had burned out my legs dragging (figuratively) my bike the last 1.6 miles. This feeling was wrong. I had done more than burnt out my legs I just wasn't hurting from it yet. When I made the turn and started the second loop I had an immediate high/low moment. First the high, I saw the sign that said "Chuck Norris called. He wants his kick ass back." The low was seeing the lighthouse way out on the point that you run to. Damn, that's a long fricking way. I saw jmcelroy here and shared a few words with him. I also saw my bud, Schmize, every time we passed and he was SMOKIN'! The dude just gets better and better with every race he does. Great job, Scott!

The second loop was bad. After the hills coming out of the park I realized I was done. Time to shuffle it in. About 5.5 miles to go. I thought "ok, I'm alright with suffering, I can do this". It just kept getting worse. Worse than anything I've ever felt in a race or training. It was really bad. I made it to the final turn, roughly 3.5 miles to go and I had not walked yet. I wanted to at least shuffle it all the way in. My time goals were long gone (other than the minimum of breaking 6:00). I thought about just walking it in. I began an internal monologue that went like this: This sucks. Why am I doing this? What's the point? Why am I putting myself through this much pain? What am I trying to prove? I could be at home on my deck having an icy drink getting a tan. Why put everyone else through coming out here to cheer me on while I try to kill myself? I volunteered, no, I paid for this? WTF is wrong with me? Full Ironman someday? Are you kidding? This monologue continued until I was 2.5 miles out. Then, as bad as things were, they got worse. As I picked up my right leg I got my first Julie Moss type cramp in my upper right calf. My whole leg seized and I stumbled. I took two more steps and knew I had to walk. Dammit! The run is my strength and here I was falling apart. Took about 5 steps walking and then ran again. 5 minutes later the same thing happened in the other leg. So the last 30 minutes of the run was pushing myself to the edge of completely falling apart and then walking a few steps until I could run again. It is a horrible thing when your legs lock up and spasm like that. I almost went down 2 more times but never actually fell. At an aid station I grabbed a handful of endurolytes like a junkie and shoved them in my mouth but it was too late. Whenever I walked I kept it to a minimum. 5, 10 steps at a time. Then run again. It would have been so easy to just walk it in but this phrase just kept going through my mind. Donkey don't walk. Donkey don't walk. Donkey don't walk. I couldn't very well WEAR the donkey and not push myself to the limit. So I ran until I couldn't. Over and over. There was one spot where there was a kid with a hose to spray people but he was on the wrong side of the road so nobody was asking him for a shower. I hobbled over and said "Soak me". I was going so slow he soaked me head to toe and he had a big smile of his face so that was worth it. I got to the entrance to the park and decided I was running it all the in or I'd frigging fall over trying. I got up next to a woman who was running great compared to me but we were going about the same speed. She said "Everyone is saying I'm looking strong but they don't know I'm only on my first lap!" She had a great attitude. I said by and headed for the finish. I saw my kids and Jack and Julia ran out to me. Jen could tell I was in no shape to carry Joshua. I heard the announcer call my name which was cool. The crowd was going nuts and I was the only one coming in and I really enjoyed that. I pumped my arms a few times which will probably look really stupid in the finish photos. Crossed the line and hugged both my kids. Almost fell over, kissed Jen, almost fell over, got my medal. It's in the books, what do I do now?

I don't know. Obviously I was too cooked when I began the run, but was it the overall bike being too fast or was it the last 1.6 miles? Was I undertrained? Was I undernourished? This is more of a possiblity than with normal people because as a Celiac I've recently learned that even if you are completely gluten-free you can still have problems properly absorbing the foods and liquids that you take in. I think I ate and drank enough but maybe some of it is just going through me. I just don't know and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it.

Wandered past a few volunteers. One girl said, "Are you ok?" and I said "I'll be...no" and I just walked past her. Jen came around the barrier and took me to the medical tent and they got some liquids in me. They said my pulse was thready and wanted to IV me but I refused. I don't know why, I just don't like people making a fuss over me. Hours later I was wishing I had taken the IV. While I was sitting there drinking and eating I began shaking like crazy. I just wanted to get in the sun and warm up, but for some reason I kept refusing their offer of a blanket. I was an idiot. Brain was shot. Eventually managed to get up and walk over to the cabana. After some recovery cookies I went to transition and checked out my broken bike. Saw BT'ers on the way too and the way back from transition. Jowisc was nice enough to push my bike back to the cabana for me otherwise I would have had to make 2 trips. He hung with us for a while waiting for jschmitchicago to come in. He was worried about her but I thought she looked strong the last time I had seen her. I was still mentally out of it. I didn't even know what my time was or where to find out, and I didn't much care.



This has been covered extensively.


Overall I think this race is great. The volunteers at the aid station are fantastic. Very attentive and very helpful. Some people were disappointed in no pasta at the finish line but that didn't bother me. ;) The venue is fantastic and people 20 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere have their lawn chairs pulled down the side of the road and are cheering people on as they whizzzz by on their bikes.