Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt comfortable the whole time. I never really pushed myself. I'm not the strongest swimmer and usually just aim to survive the swim portion of any tri. I was happy with my time considering 3 weeks ago I swam a 42 minute .9 mile at an olympic race in Wisconsin. The swim is definately my weakest!

Train with more open water swims. It's difficult to do in Chicagoland though...yes I know Lake Michigan is there but going downtown to park and swim is a huge hassle.

T1 went well, there were a couple of "sand traps" in the transition area that probably could have covered with carpets, but we all had to deal with that.

I need to keep practicing jumping on my bike to get started.

My goal was to finish the bike in around 2.5 hours and I was pretty much right on. Throughout my training I had averaged around 21 mph and knew to reach my goal I would need to be at 22 mph. I was comfortable without pushing too hard, knowing that I had to run. My nutrition plan was perfect. I took in a GU every 30 minutes along with a bottle of Cytomax and Water per hour. It seemed to work out perfectly for me.

Nothing...for next time let's see if I can't take some time off of the 2.5 hours.

I was debating whether or not to wear socks on the run. I had trained without them, and was used to that. However, I decided to take the little extra time and put them on just to prevent any blisters that may occur.

I had a plan to hold back and run 9 minute miles in order to finish the run in under 2 hours. My first mile I felt as if I was holding back and still ran an 8:45 minute mile. So I continued to run the same way and my miles fluctuated from an 8:10 minute mile to one mile at 9:02. I felt great throughout the run, drinking one gatorade and one water at each aid station and eating 2 packages of shot blocks throughout the run.

I was pleasantly surprised with the run, a few more bricks in training can help to shave some more time off of this in the future.

Does walking the dogs back to the car count?


I definately couldn't be happier with my first HIM than how I performed. I think this is a distance I can definately get used to.