Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was an interesting swim. Because they had pulled the buoys in, a lot of the swim course was walkable ... and it surprised me how many people WERE walking the swim. I probably stood up about 3 times to try and figure out where the next buoy was (the fog had lifted, but not enough so that you could always see the next buoy), but otherwise just swam.

Not a bad swim for me. I hear that the current was helping swim times -- which would make sense, since even with the shortened course, my pace was over 10 seconds per 100m faster than last year. A LOT of people were cheating and were on the shore-side of the buoys ... the fog and current pushed a lot of people off-line ... and I was surprised that a lot didn't even make an effort to go around the buoys. About 75% of the way through, I found myself about 20m or so on the shore-side of a buoy and decided that while many people were doing it, I wasn't going to -- so I swam back and around the buoy so I knew I followed the race course. Not that it matters a whole lot, honestly.

Got out of the water around 34:10 -- about 11 minutes faster than last year -- which made me happy. :) The long slog up the beach added another 1.5 minutes or so to my time...

Not a whole lot. Like last year, little did I know that this would be the best I'd be feeling all day. Swam strong and without panic. Could have drafted better, but that's a skill I'm still working on.

While swimming in the cold didn't affect me, T1 was definitely problematic because of it. My left hand (because of the broken arm + 4 surgeries) has some permanent nerve damage that makes it somewhat cold intolerant. By the end of the swim, my left hand wasn't just numb - it was pretty painful. And useless. That made getting out of the wetsuit much more difficult.

Nothing, really. Circumstances dictated how this transition went.

I have no idea what happened on this bike ride. On the surface, I did everything right: kept my HR where it was supposed to be, took in 900-1000 calories on nutrition. But was feeling sluggish and not all that happy to be biking from the outset, and it just got worse. After about an hour on the course, I just didn't want to be there anymore ... for no real reason. Wasn't feeling great, but wasn't really hurting either. Keeping my HR below z4 kept my effort comfortable. After that, it became a mental struggle that I lost somewhere down the line. When I asked myself why I was doing this, I just didn't have a good answer. I think long course racing gives me too much time to think.

Around mile 40 I caught up with Ellen. I slowed to chat with her for a bit, and suddenly a dog darted across the street. And then another - but that one was moving much slower and both Ellen and I had to take evasive action to avoid. Ellen looked back -- the dog only had 3 legs! I guess he played in traffic and lost at some point in his life....!

At around mile 45, my Garmin gave out. Well, actually, it told me the lap database was full and then incessantly beeped at me so I turned it off in frustration. After that, probably raced a little harder than I should have, but not overwhelmingly so. Played leapfrog with another lady for awhile, which made the time pass more quickly.

I have no idea. That's the frustrating part. I still don't really know why this was such a bad bike ride for me. The time wasn't too bad -- I knew it would be slower than last year because I was holding back for the run -- and my overall performance was at least average, but I had almost no fun out there.

By this point, I didn't care. One of my shoes had popped off my bike when I dismounted (that's the second time that's happened now... should look at that if I want to continue with all this), and I carried it back to my transition area, where every bike was already back. In frustration for not having a good/fun/positive race up to this point, threw the shoe into my stuff and gave long thought to quitting. In the end, I didn't know how I would face everyone without having a good reason other than "I didn't want to" for not completing the race.

I wasn't running or hurrying. Didn't care all that much, either.

I said this last year.... it was a death march. Except that this year, it didn't turn into a death march, it started out as one and continued to be one until I finally crossed the finish line.

From the first step to the last, this run hurt. Mentally and physically. I had essentially already given up the race while on the bike, and I couldn't give myself a good reason as to why I was out there killing myself. And - the mental struggles begat physical struggles -- my feet, hips and ITB were all yelling at me. I still had my Garmin with me, and I thought to turn it on to just see what my HR was doing... I was supposed to keep it no higher than high z3 until the last 5k... well, I wasn't even putting forth enough effort to get out of high z2/low z3. So, finally I just turned it off and put it in my back pocket (where it then rubbed me raw in two spots on my back). I didn't even bother to keep my split times on my other watch (and those of you who know me, know that this is definitely not my normal style) ... just didn't even care, knew it was going to be slow.

Last year it was fun that this was a two-loop out and back course so you could spend time watching for people... this year, I just wanted to not see anyone, not have anyone tell me I was "looking good!" or to "keep at it!".

Got to the 10 mile mark and decided to run/shuffle/whatever the last 5k. I just needed to be off the course as soon as possible. Starting to run again was HARD. Just hurt so much. Every small incline or decline was painful. I mostly had my head down, wasn't paying too much attention, but kept looking for the 11 mile marker. And I didn't see it, and didn't see it, and didn't see it....I was ready to just about fall apart. Finally - I saw the 12 mile mark - obviously, I had missed 11 - and that's when the crying started. I was just so relieved that I only had a mile to go. By the time I hit the finish line, I was a sobbing, emotional mess. I had just wanted to be done so badly, and I could finally stop.

Not do this again?

Stood around while volunteers anxiously tried to figure out whether I was overjoyed or injured or just a little bit crazy.....

Got some water and then wanted to just disappear for awhile, but I knew that Ellen was just a couple of miles behind me, and I needed to see her finish. So, I stood around in the finish area, trying to make my brain put together coherent thoughts (and no, none were really to be had by that time). Kelly and Laura came to find me and see if I was all right ... which I was ... and wasn't... just depends on your viewpoint. And of course, in that state I manage to run into at least 5 other people I know. Perfect.


I dunno. I think that mentally I just might not be a long course kind of gal.


Course is nice, volunteers are the BEST (all over the place, and incredibly helpful, friendly and supportive!) and there are plenty of aid stations along the course. The downsides -- the website is difficult to navigate and find any kind of information, they didn't even tell us when transition opened, expo was difficult to find, and overall organization seemed to be lacking this year.

Overall, it's a good race, though, and if I were to do another HIM, I'd consider it.