Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

definitely the best swim ive had in a tri so far! the water was pretty freakin cold but the full suit, neoprene cap and booties made it much more tolerable. i was a little chilly for the first few minutes on the way out to the first buoy and got smacked around a bunch but soon got into a good rhythm and started to cruise. im sure that we had a good current with us because i felt like i was flying and for the first time i actually drafted really well. i found a guy who was going a little bit faster than me and wasnt kicking much so it was easy to see his feet and stay right on them. i actually ended up staying with him for about 2/3 of the swim. i would lose him for a little while because he tended to not swim too straight but then those feet would show up about 5 feet away and id hop right back on. the fog that delayed the start for an hour made it tough to sight but i actually did much better than normal and it definitely helped having the buoys on the side that i breathe on which normally doesnt happen. when i got out of the water i looked down at my watch and saw 32:xx and i was real confused lol. i thought for sure that i had hit the stop button during the swim so i looked closer and saw that it was still ticking and i was pumped! i yelled to my mom that it had only been 32 minutes with a huge smile on my face and took off for the fun part of the race, the bike!

nothin!

so this is where wearing a full wetsuit for the first time bit back...haha. i could not for the life of me get that stupid thing off of my legs!!! i pulled and yanked while sitting, then while laying on my back, then stood up and stepped on one leg with the other and pulled some more and finally after what seemed like an eternity i got it off. whew! but it was still definitely worth it to not be as cold in the water!! ran with my bike out of transition, jumped on but struggled to clip in and almost got taken out by some dude weaving all over but survived unscathed and took off to kick some butt :)

not take 10 years to take off my suit...and learn how to rubber band my shoes so i can leave them clipped in.

ahhh my favorite! i love riding my bike, especially in races where i just get to go all out and chase people :) this course was crazy flat with like 3 "hills" which werent much of hills. pushed hard the whole way and my HR was ridiculously high, in hindsight i probly should have gone a little easier but i was having way too much fun going fasssst! caught schmize at mile 10 and we did some legal drafting with 2 other guys for the next 20ish or so miles which was fun and nice to have someone to talk every once in a while until we got enveloped by peleton number 1. all of a sudden we were surrounded by a pack of probly 20 guys who were definitely not legal drafting. i think somebody had been watching a little too much tour de france because these dudes were riding 2-3 wide and about 1/2 a wheel length apart. i was really annoyed and just sat up til they were past and started riding legally behind the last straggler of the group but i was really hoping that the draft marshal would come soon and catch them! even when the marshal rode up on his harley which you could hear from a mile away these clowns didnt even spread out and im pretty sure most of them got nailed :) i think there were about 200 penalties handed out during the race which makes me happy and i wish more races would actually help clean up the bike portion! got passed by 2 more peletons during the ride, the last of which had about 40 guys in it. stuck with my nutrition of 1 bottle per hour pretty well but fell off towards the end and took a gu every 40 mins. overall it was a good ride for me especially considering i had ridden a tough 56 miles on friday night. oh yeah, i passed a pro girl with about 4 miles to go on the ride!! my parents and my best friend/"coach" lol drove around on the bike course to cheer for me so i got to see them 4 times and they were screaming and cheering which was fun. i cant wait for the big crowds at ironman :)

maybe go a little easier but i had a blast going fast!

much better T2! took my shoes off right after the last run and did a good flying dismount, i think it might be my new favorite part of racing lol. had my helmet and sunglasses off by the time i got to my rack.

who would have guessed that my run, which i have struggled the most with all year, would turn out to be my best rank in my AG!? tried to take it easy at the start but my first 4 miles i went sub 8 and my body wanted to run at 730 pace but i held back knowing that the last few miles were gonna suck. im very happy with how i controlled myself and didnt push it way too hard at the start and i was still feeling good after about 9 miles. the first lap went well and it wasnt too hot but that second lap is when the sun was blazing and it was getting humid. it was great to be able to see all of the people i knew racing multiple times which helped take my mind off of running for awhile. my HR stayed crazy high during the whole run and during the second lap i couldnt take in much nutrition because my body was telling the stomach to shut down and sending all the blood to my legs. kept popping endurolytes every 3 miles or so and took 2 gels while drinking water at all the aid stations and dumping water in my hat to try to stay cool. the last 5k was tough but i refused to walk and just kept trying my hardest to hold 8min pace because i really wanted to break 5! by the time i got to the last mile i just wanted to be done and to have something cold to drink and it felt like the race was never gonna end. finally got to the last hill and pushed as hard as i could to the finish line and made it under 5 :) sat down for a while and dumped water on myself, drank more water, drank coke, then more water, then more coke and got some ice from the med tent to wrap my leg with. i was very happy to be done :)

keep running more now that my leg is starting to feel better.

after the race i hung out with the donkey crew and cheered on our friends finishing. then we went and sat in the freezing cold lake which felt unbelievably good on the legs!


my run training has been weak this year with my leg being injured for what feels like forever but other than that the only thing stopping me is being lazy and not training more!


good consistent race for me with pretty good pacing all the way around. swim went way better than expected and bike was also faster than i thought i could do. cant really complain about the run as my run training has been weak and i still did pretty well until the last 5k. great race and im pumped to break 5 :) congrats to everyone who finished and rocked that sucker! now its ironman time baby!