Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

1197/1287

IT went ok. We all slowly entered the water. First sand bar was close and that kinda screwed everyone up some. The water was really cold and having the wetsuit was great. Definately required for this swim. I could draft somewhat at the start but getting hit too much. I really was swimming all over the place on the swim and could not stay on course let alone draft. I got out of the water and I was pretty dizzy. not used to those sized waves even though small.

need to work more in open water and siting. I need to bilateral breathe more so I do not drift to the left do much. have to stop look at the life gaurds and watch where I am going.

well I was not very organized and I left garmin on duiring the swim. I was worried he would not make the race. I did not take long and the bike jersay was hard to get on. Though I think it was a better choice than the tri top that is a little too short for me.

tri top would help as well as being used to tri shorts for the bike. it was not bad though. I took 11 mins off my transistion time I did at the rockman. I need some hydration though in t1.

1269 / 1277

First hill I was going to walk it but I decided to go ahead and bike it and I made it up the hill. I was also not super sore after it. I really impressed myself with that climb. Whizz was right I could make it.

Well I brought a camel back which is good. I did not fill it up though and I had to do it at the first aid station at mile 15. So basicly 2 hours into the race is the first time I got hydration minus lake water I drank. This was not good. I had troubles getting my left cleat back into the pedal when I was leaving first aid station. while on the course to the second aid station I thought that I must have lost a screw or 2 and sure enough aid station too I had to be helped out of my shoe so I could take a look. I was down to 1 screw out of 3 in my look cleat. This is never a good thing. I was not sure what to do besides tighting it down. I figured if I lost the last screw my race was over. I can not pedal 31 miles or less on 1 foot. Let alone what would happen when I got to T2. I decided to take 1 screw from the right foot and put it into the left. I tested both feet out to make sure I could unclip and I was ok to move on. Though I had this fear that I would drop another screw. I got repast by alot of people I pasted early on.

my knee started bothering me some around mile 30 so I made sure I was spinning and not trying to gring through it.

Though I did met Megan who became my riding buddy for the last 15 miles. We would pass each other constantly and gave friendly words as we did. Though we did ride next to each other for some time but there was no one in front of us and no one behind us for miles. She crossed t2 before me but I did beat her in because of chip timing. She was upset about this but she did offer to let me go down the big hill first. We road side by side for the last 8 miles when we got back into racine. In fact I beat her on the bike by 20 minutes.

make sure the cleats are on tight. I guess they must have been lose. more road riding would be useful espically around courners.

Nothing like T2 in a triathlon. It means once again I survived the bike and I was going to finish. My time is screwed up so that is about how long I took in t2. I almost left garmin on the bike and took swhile to get him off after I racked the bike. I changed into my running clothes and a little something to eat. Then I was back out there.

less clothe changing would help alot but confort was important when on such a long course for me.

know idea how I did overall too many people's times are screwed up.

It was nice. I got to see many Bters on the course as well as my fellow Apline runners.

I pretty much walked expect for the down hills. My knee was hurting so I did not want to push it. I did try to keep my pace around 15 min miles which was about what I did. At this point I just wanted to get through it and not worry about my finishing time. I do not think I could picked up 1 more spot in the rankings and frankly I did not care. I tried hard to stay cool and get through it

HAving my knee brace might have helped. I just need to fix my weak hip that causes the bad knee. Also dropping more weight would help alot. Given what I had I think I did the best I could.

I finished walked to the food tent sat down and ate. I talked to the lady who I could have beaten accross the finish line but I figure it wa not worth hurting myself


I have not trained on the bike as much as I should. Injury slowed me down also.


I really liked this race. We had good weather and a good time. It got a little hot for me but for the time of year we really did get lucky. I would definately do it again. Maybe the new 101 course.