Chisago Lakes HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I'm not a good swimmer, but I can swim. Having finished two other half Ironman races and a full Ironman I can obviously get the distance done. It's not pretty to watch, but I can move forward in the water. Even after 170,000+ yards this season I haven't improved much. I have become more relaxed.....or so I thought. The swim went like this...
My wife and I started at the back of our wave, which was the last wave. This meant there was no one behind us. This being her first race I kind of wanted to keep an eye on her and make sure she was OK. We started out just fine...then maybe 5 minutes into the swim I started losing breath. I breast stroked a few times then went back to freestyle. Only a few more strokes and things got worse. I couldn't catch my breath. This continued to the point that I really started to worry. When I'd stop stroking and come up to catch my breath my heart rate would spike and I'd start wheezing and gasping for breath. I've never felt anything like this before even though I've had several bad swims. This was different. My lungs were not taking in air at the rate they should. Was it panic? Asthma attack? Or some other medical problem....I don't know. There was no reason for me to panic. The water was calm. I wasn't crowded. I don't have asthma...or I don;t think I do. I continued to swim. The wheezing and gasping progressively got worse. At one point I was very close to calling over a kayak to hold on to just so I could regain my composure. This was by far the worst experience I've had during a swim. If I had to go another loop I would have DNF'd. Another strange thing as a result of this "episode" was that my legs were burning like lactic acid was building up. Hypoxia? If anyone knows what the hell was happening to me please share.
I finished ahead of my wife by about a minute but I decided to stand at the edge of the water to wait for her so we could cross the timing mat together. This only added maybe a minute to my swim time.

I would love to figure out what the hell is wrong with me and the swim. If it's panic then why wouldn't I feel nervous or scared of swimming. I'm neither. If it's medical...I don't want to know what it is because Ironman Wisconsin is 6 weeks away. No time to fix the problem. I do know I have a heart condition (leaking valve) that causes blood to back flow into my left ventricle if I'm under too much stress. In a worse case scenario blood can be pushed into my lungs. If this is what is happening then I'd probably be coughing up blood, which I wasn't. I was coughing like crazy....but no blood.

Ahhh....cycling. My saving grace. I was hoping to have a faster average but I went into this race with absolutely no taper and 13 hours of training in my legs from the prior 5 days. I wasn't expecting to be fresh. After mounting up I headed out from the back of the pack. Remember...I was in the last wave and one of the slowest swimmer so I had a schit load of people to pass...including short course athletes. This would be one of very few complaints I have about this race. 70.3 athletes had to mingle with the shorties on the bike course, which was dangerous to say the least. About 2 miles in I was blocked by several obese women on mountain bikes riding three abreast having a chat. Yes, they were racing too, but obviously had different goals than I. I yelled two or three times that I'm passing on the left. They continued chatting blocking the entire path we were on. Yes, for a short while we had to ride on a path. Anyway....I finally yelled..."You're blocking the road. Move over!" One of the ladies budged just enough to let me through. Once on the road I found my groove and began pushing the pedals. This course was relatively flat, with a few rollers and one or two "hills". Under ideal circumstances I should have been able to hold an average of 24. This wasn't going to happen today. Legs were still infused with lactic goobers from Ironman training. None-the-less I pushed at a fairly high Z-3 effort.

Secure my aero-drink bottle. I made it two steps past the mount line when it dropped off of my bars and hit the ground spilling most of it's contents.

I entered the run deprived of calories that I failed to take in on the bike. I knew that if I tried to play catch-up I'd either puke or schit myself. So my plan was to nibble on gel starting at the second water stop and continue to drink and nibble for the first 6-8 miles. This seemed to work because I was able to get in two gels in 8 miles and only came close once to sharting on myself. Sorry....just the facts.
I tried to bury my head and just run a comfortable pace as long as I could and ward off walking until I absolutely had to. This came around mile 7 at a water stop. I began walking the water stops to drink and eat then immediately go back to jogging. I was surprised that I was able to finish the entire 13.1 without walking more than a few feet.
I crossed the finish line at 5:18....roughly 23 minutes PR from my best 70.3.

Pay closer attention to my nutrition and not cut corners.

Ran to my car to grab my camera so I could photograph my wife's finish. Had a few minutes to spare so I ate an entire watermelon.


Lactic acid build up. Poor swim skills. Possible underlying health problem. Obese chicks on mountain bikes. Mosquitos.


The race director and volunteers did a great job. The road conditions were a little rough...but there's a limit to how much control they have over that. Volunteers were friendly and plentiful. The finish area and food were very nice. They had stacks of Swedish pancakes and loads of watermelon. All that an athletes needs and desires.