Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I thought this was a decent swim for me. I was impressed with my straight swimming and my sighting... however my time does not reflect anything impressive... (for me, at least) was hoping to finish this in about 35-36 minutes. I don't know where I go wrong? Swam relatively hard the whole way... sighting was buoy to buoy. I caught some waves, but nothing exceptional.

Didn't drink as much lakewater as I did last year.

I did get a little flubbed up in the very beginning... I decided I was going to just start swimming, even though the water was VERY shallow... Turned out I started swimming too soon... I was scraping my fingers on the sand at the bottom... so I stood back up and started hopping/running further out... I think this maneuver wasted some time. I ran into the same types of trouble on the way back in.

The run from the swim exit to T1 is LONG. And SANDY. And I looked at my HRM as I was attempting to run it, and saw my HR jump to the high 160's. Too high for this early in the game. Decided I'd just walk (fast) the rest of the way in.

I had a hard time finding my "groove" in this swim... and that seems to be the theme of the whole day. Apparently I misplaced my mojo.

Swim faster? I don't know. I swim great in a pool. I won my AG at an OWS just last weekend. I don't know what my problem was. This was just about the same time as I had last year. Hmmmmpf. I don't know.

One redeeming thought... we all think the swim was longer this year than last. They had us start a bit further down the beach. So if my swim time is the SAME as last year, and the course is SLIGHTLY LONGER, well then I have to believe I'm SLIGHTLY FASTER. (!!!)

I thought this went relatively smoothly. I was a whole minute faster than last year. I did not wear socks on the bike, and I have tri shoes now, not road bike shoes, so there aren't as many buckles.

No gloves, either this year.

I don't know... Just be faster. (!!!)

Ahhhhh, silly silly me. This is where it all got away from me. I have a mediocre swim? I can handle it... I can make up time on the BIKE!!! Let's let 'er RIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

And I did. I rode like I was being chased by a hungry wild mountain lion. On steroids. I rode and rode and rode til my quads burned and I'd passed every person I sighted. I picked them off and passed them one by one like some sort of whacked out lunatic.

Of course, I was not able to eat or drink appropriately whilst carrying out said lunacy. And I realized I was overcooking my legs about an hour into it... but by that point I figured it wouldn't do me any good to slow down, the damage was already done, and maybe I could still post an impressive bike split and hang on for the run... I'd done it before... how bad could it be???

Unfortunately, I wasn't drinking as much as I should have been during this hammerfest. I think an aerobottle might do me good, as sometimes I'm just to engrossed to reach down and pick out the bottle and DRINK.

Nutritionally, I thought I was OK, but I think I came up a little short.

As I started the bike... I was wondering how far behind me Chris was...he passed me about 3 minutes in. Speedee!

Slow down a bit. I don't need to ride that fast. There's just no good reason... unless I can turn in that kind of bike and actually run afterwards.

I didn't know if I'd be able to run or not, I just figured the run would be hard. Turned out it was quite nearly impossible. I still had a regular blast on the bike, though... I do love to hammer. Perhaps I should take up stage racing.

I thought this was fine, but it turns out it was a little slow. I had some trouble finding my stuff because of the helicopter debacle.

Nothing really.

Implosion. I couldn't run. It was like my feet were glued to the earth's surface. They wouldn't move forward for any measurable distance at any measurable speed. It was misery incarnated.

I was able to jog/run in increments of about 200 m. Then I'd have to walk a bit... then try it again... then walk a bit... I don't know how much I walked. Too much. By this point I was wishing I'd signed up for the Aquabike.

I actually stumbled on an uneven piece of the road... around mile 9. Thank God I didn't fall. I don't know if I would have been able to get back up. I was freaking tired. My legs hurt. Like the BONES in my legs hurt. And my feet hurt too. I hate my shoes. Who ever read what I said about Asics Gel Landreths in the "What Running Shoes do you Wear" thread... I take it all back. They sucked.

Not over do the bike. Keep a little somethin' somethin' in the tank for the last part of the race... you know... the run part.

And run more in training. Herein lies the conundrum. I was coming off an injury and increased my running very gradually so as not to get reinjured. So my run wound up a wee bit undertrained. Six of one half dozen of the other. I'd rather be undertrained that injured any day of the week. But in the time frame I had, it was nearly impossible to make that work right.

Wandered around... Saw Chris... saw my other pals Jana and IP... tried to keep from crying... discussed quitting triathlon... went to the lake and dunked the legs in... met up with Katie and Pete... chatted a bit with them...then ate lots of food with Chris and his Mom & Dad and brother. Hooked up with Jon and Jen in the food tent, too.


My swim was tolerable. My bike was great. My run was a horrific slog. There's a balance in there that I need to strike. I knew my run would be uncomfortable anyway... I just had no business riding my bike like I didn't have to run afterwards. I got sucked out by some competitive guys... and the race was ON. I can't show off when I've got a half marathon to run immediately following.

And the lack of run training.

But, I have to say, my knee feels great. And that was the plan. I don't want to have to have ANY more surgery. So if it means undertraining the run a bit... well then that's OK.


My only gripe is that they ran out of food... We were discouraged and almost left for a restaurant... when more food appeared! Better planning was needed. It looked as though they went out and raided the local JEWEL.

I can't complain, though... I got plenty to eat. Some people left when they heard the food tent had run dry.