High Cliff Triathlon - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Sherwood, Wisconsin
United States
Midwest Sports Events
63F / 17C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 20m 40s
Overall Rank = 101/431
Age Group = M25-29
Age Group Rank = 13/24
Pre-race routine:

Got up to High Cliff State Park on Saturday around 12:30. Headed to registration and picked up my packet and headed to the campgrounds to meet up with firstnet911, amyjotris and maggyruth. Got to the site and hung out with them for the afternoon until peterAK and his wife Laurie showed up. Proceeded to relax and have a beer or 2 until we made dinner and relaxed at the campsite some more. About 8:45 Danielle and I headed to our hotel in Appleton and after getting lost ended up checking in aroun 9:30 or so. Started getting everything ready and hit the hay around 11:00. Slept like shat, and woke up at 3:45. Ate some toast with PB and Honey and a banana and started loading the car back up. Left the hotel about 4:45 and got the event site right as transition was opening which is what I wanted and proceeded to get my transition setup. Talked with all of the donks that were there and at this point my nerves had me going nuts as I had no idea what to expect for the day. Headed down to the water at 10 to 7 to get a little warmup in.
Event warmup:

Jumped in and swam about 300 yards or so. Everything seemed to feel good and I really wanted to get in and see how the fact that the water looked like Pea Soup was going to affect me, which it didn't.
Swim
  • 31m 30s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 29s / 100 yards
Comments:

Swim was very shallow and even after starting to swim I got up and did a couple of dolphin dives as I kept hitting my arms on the bottom even though I was pulling right along my body. After that I just kept swimming and tried to get into a rythm. Had a guy that was doing about the same pace that I stayed with most of the swim and drafted off of him when I could. I haven't done any swims with chop like yesterday, so that was something that I wasn't ready for and had to get used to. Despite that inexperience I felt like the swim was going OK, but nothing special. Rounded the last bouy and had the sun in my eyes, so I was trying to figure out where to go. It hit me at that point that I remembered reading TriDDS's RR from last year and him saying that jmwebs had told him to look for the goalpost trees. I did the same and upon finding them just locked on and swam straight towards them. Got to the point where my hands hit the bottom and stood up and started running. About half way to shore my right hamstring cramped really bad and I struggled to work it out. I should have swum a little farther but oh well. Exited the water and the cramp hit again on the run up to T1.
What would you do differently?:

Swim a little more coming up to the beach and do some more OWS with larger waves.
Transition 1
  • 02m
Comments:

Hammy cramped up again something fierce as I was putting on my helmet and trying to get out of there quickly. Had to stop and and put pressure on it to get it to release. Said hi to my wife and parents and headed out. Didn't do the flying mount as there were a lot of people standing around trying to get on, so I just got going normally.
What would you do differently?:

Not have a cramp.
Bike
  • 2h 44m 2s
  • 56 miles
  • 20.48 mile/hr
Comments:

Winds were out of the north, so it was fun going out as it seemed mostly downhill going out as well. Hills were not that bad IMHO except for the mountain that you have to climb to get out of the park. Started on my nutrition which consisted of Perp on the 15's and gel on the 30's, changed this up after 1 hour as I think I was taking in too much and my stomach told me to stop, so I cut back back on the gels and cut back a little on the Perp. Hit the Endurolytes hard after my cramp at the end of the swim and kept hitting them up throughout the day. Took in 4 gels and 1.5 bottle of Perp that were mixed for 1.5 hours each, and 3 aero bottles of water. Plan seemed to work until I hit the last aid station and dropped not one, but two bottles water on the pass so ended up riding the last 4-5 miles with no water, which sucked.
What would you do differently?:

Not drop water bottles. Readjust my nutrition as I didn't need what I thought I did.
Transition 2
  • 01m 55s
Comments:

This was better than T1 as I didn't have the cramping issues. Could have gone faster, but I wanted to make sure I had everything for the run. Said hi to my wife and parents again and headed out for the run.
What would you do differently?:

Not much.
Run
  • 2h 01m 10s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 15s  min/mile
Comments:

This was the part I was worried the most about going into this. Started out with the urge to pee and stopped into what I thought was a bathroom and it turned out to be a shower, so I said screw it and headed out to run. Ran most of the first hill and only walked on it for about 15 seconds to get some Endurolytes in. Turned onto the trail and was happy to see it was through the woods so we had shade. Felt really good and thought to myself let's just run and see what happens. HR was in the low 160's for most of the run which turned out to be just fine. I even averaged in the 8's for 1 or 2 miles which made me happy. I haven't done any trail running to speak of, so that was new to me, but I really enjoyed most of it except running on some horse trails which were a bit uneven. I would have to say that was the only part that bugged me was the uneven footing as it put some strain on me feet that I wasn't used to and have 2 blisters to show for it. Had 3 Fuel Belt bottle of water on and 1 of GE which I went through most of. Used the aid station water mostly to dump on my head and drank a little each time. I really felt 1000% better on the run than I thought I was going to and ran the whole first lap and all but maybe 1 minute or so of the second lap. Jszat passed me around mile 5 or so and had a couple seconds to chat before he took off. I was running around 8:19 and that point and he took off looking strong. Chatted with a couple of other runners and really tried to just stay positive and run my run. Caught up with firstnet911 after I started my 2nd lap and he was starting his first and ran with him for a little while and then ran on. Saw scoobysdad a couple of times on the run and said hi and he said I was looking good, I felt good almost the whole way until aroun mile 10-11 and by that time I was starting to hurt and was ready to be done. Saw a group of donks that were chearing after their sprint race as I made the final turn down the big hill and I got a little choked up with emotion knowing that I was almost done. This hurt as it made the HR jump and I started having some breathing issues, but just kept pushing. Got to the bottom and saw the finish line and just ran as hard as I could to get across the line and almost freaked out when I saw my time.
What would you do differently?:

Not much at all, REALLY happy with this run as it was only 6 or 7 minutes slower than my only other Half-Mary and that was a standalone.
Post race
Warm down:

Had some trouble breathing at the end so I walked it off and ate some food which really helped. Gave my mom, dad, and wife a hug and talked to the other donks and just tried to cool down.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Experience, this was my first, so I had no idea what to expect and I am thrilled with the results. I think if I keep working on my running and my biking I think I could get closer to 5 hours. I have only been doing tri's for less than a year now, so I am extatic with this result.

Event comments:

I had a blast. The support from my family, the donks, and everyone in attendance was great. I really want to thank firstnet911, amyjotris, maggyruth, peterAK and his wife Laurie for helping me try to stay calm the day before. I was sort of a wreck mentally on Saturday as I really wanted to perform well but didn't know what I had in me. I really want to thank my wife Danielle for putting up with me and helping me get through this. My goal was 5:45 and secretly I always wanted to do under 5:30, but didn't think I had it in me. I am amazed that I did 5:20 and cannot wait to do Steelhead to try and better this result.




Last updated: 2008-06-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:31:30 | 2112 yards | 01m 29s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/24
Overall: 50/431
Performance: Good
Suit: Sleeveless
Course: Clockwise 1 lap course.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Below average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:00
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
02:44:02 | 56 miles | 20.48 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/24
Overall: 47/431
Performance: Good
Wind: Strong with gusts
Course: Course started on the North end of Lake Winnebago and headed south, had a loop at the north and south ends. Not too bad on the hills, but the wind sucked.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:55
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
02:01:10 | 13.1 miles | 09m 15s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/24
Overall: 142/431
Performance: Good
Course: Mostly trails, with some hills mainly the one huge one coming out of transition
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4