Spirit of Racine Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I got up to the front of the start line of my wave because I figured I would be able to outswim more people than not. I did not want to get caught in a pack and not be able to get around people. I went out OK and by the time we got to the bouy (only about 25-30 yards out) about 25% of the people were in front of me. I had to weave my way around a few people to get in some clear water. I found someone else in a yellow cap and hung just behind and to his right and followed him. Along the way, we got into the pack of the group in front of us and then into the pack of the group two in front of us. Getting through those peope was a bit of a challenge at times. at about the second to last bouy, I made my move to pass the person I had been drafting on and passed him just before the last bouy. We got to the beach and I glanced at my watch. It read 20 minutes and some seconds. I thought something went wrong and it had stopped at some point but another glance confirmed it was still running. Amazing I thought. Then there was that run across the loose sand to transition. That was rough. However, I got to the transition area and all was good. I had alotted 30 minutes in my overall plan for the time I wanted, so after the swim, I was now just over 7 minutes better than my plan!

I should probably charge harder at the start line. I lost a small amount of time trying to get around people once I was able to swim. Other than that, I couldn't have asked for more. 24th overall is great.

I had alotted 2 minutes for transition in my overall plan. I was right on. I got to my area and the wetsuit came off fine. I put some gel and sportbeans in my shirt pockets and threw on my helmet and glasses just fine. I lost time trying to get my socks on though. My feet being wet and some sand on them the socks did not slip on very well. That is probably where I can gain some time in the future. Shorter races I can skip the socks, but in this race I needed to wear socks. Blisters would not have been good. Once I got the socks on, I took my bike off the rack and ran to the exit area. I had rubber banded my shoes on the bike and planned on pedaling up the hill before slipping my feet into the shoes. Pedaling up the hill went fine, but I could not get my feet in and had to stop once out on main street to get my feet in the shoes.

I need to decide what to do about getting into the shoes. This is the second race I have tried slipping into the shoes after I had started biking, and neither time went very well but this time was the worst having to stop.

My rakings are not very good, but I was happy with the time at this point in my triathlon career. I just started biking 1 1/2 years ago and that includes a 9 month layoff after my accident. I had alotted 3 hours for this leg in my overall goal so the time being 9 1/2 minutes faster than that was great. After having the great swim I had the problem getting into the shoes and then I had people passing me left and right. There seemed to be a lot of people riding in packs because there were a number of times when a whole group of people passed me at once instead of individually. In any case, I was sticking to riding my own race. It is always dishartening when someone passes you looking like they are not putting out much effort (and I had that happen a lot) but I just kept telling myself to ride my own race. During the bike part, I alternated 1 package of sport beans, gel packet, sport beans, and gel packet. These were about evenly spaced throughout the ride. I washed them down with 2 bottles of gatorade that I had along with me. I really tried to turn it on at the end once we got onto Main Street and ended up with the 19.7mph average. I need to get my bike computer calibrated though because it only came up with 55 miles which gave me 19.2mph on the computer so I was thinking along the ride I was going slower than I actually was. Maybe that helped me.

I just need to leard what I need to do to get faster on the bike. Comparing to everyone else in the event, this was my lowest ranked area so I think I can (and have to) improve the most in this area.

After the problem I had getting the shoes on, I was not going to play around with anything getting them off. When I got to the dismount line, I just unclipped, stopped the bike, got off and ran with the shoes on to my transition area (that is if you call what you can to with bike shoes on as running - it is probably a cross between a race walk and walking on hot coals). I got to my area and powered on the garmin so it could acquire the satelites while I did everything else. I got the bike shoes off and the running shoes off just fine and took off the helmet. I took a little extra time to take some electrolite pills and a big drink of gatorade before leaving because I was worried about cramping. I grabbed the garmin and put it on my wrist as I was running for the transition exit. I had the garmin on the same wrist as my regular watch, but I didn't care how I looked - I needed that garmin to see how I was pacing.

Just as I said about getting onto the bike and into the shoes, I need to work on getting off the bike. I just have not practiced getting out of the shoes and the race was not a time to do it.

Going into the run, I was really worried about cramping. When I rode the bike course two weeks ago, I started getting cramps in my left quad when I started running. Also, two hears ago when I did the sprint distance in Racine (which was my first ever triathlon) I got cramps at the turnaround. At this pont looking at my watch, I knew I was about 18 minutes ahead of where I wanted to be to meet my goal time. I had alotted 1:56 for the run so my plan therefore was not to push it and drink plenty of water. The last thing I wanted was to over exert myself and cramp up. I took the electrolite pills in transition. Coming out of transition, I really had to pee so I stopped at the port-a-john just before the first water station. At the water station I took a banana - again thinking it would help prevent cramps. I set out again and got into a rythm. The Garmin said I was running at about an 8:30 pace and it felt good. I stopped at each water station along the way to get some water and walked a few feet while drinking (I still choke if I try to drink while running). I had a packet of sport beans on the way back on the first loop about mile 4-5. When I got to the turnaround I was starting to feel pretty wiped out but I made the turn at 55 minutes so I was feeling pretty good. If I could just keep this pace I would blow away my expectation on the run as well. I took another banana at the first water station and continued stopping for water at each aid station. I also got tow more electrolite pills at the station at the top of the hill after leaving the beach because I was starting to feel some twinges in the legs. My pace was slowing to over 9 minutes per mile which was still goot, but I was losing energy and walked for about a minute at about mile 8. After I started running again I took my last gel packet just before the last turnaround. After that it seemed that I got a second wind. I started running at about an 8 minute pace and felt good. I skipped the last water station and coasted in to the finish with whatever energy I had left and finished the run at exactly the time I had hoped for in my overall plan.

I think I should do more and longer brick workouts. That way I can train my body for what I need it to do and I will not be so worried about possible cramps. This might allow me to skip some water stations. I also need to learn to drink on the run.

I walked and stretched. I waited and paced by the exit of the finish chute for some people I had seen on the run course that were not that far behind me, but after I finished stretching, I went to get some food. I was really hungry.


I think my lack of experience in this distance and not knowing what to expect my body to do limited me. I also could probably do some longer bike rides and train a little harder.


I learned a few things from this race:

1) Body glide on the back of the neck and inside my swimsuit really help prevent chafing.
2) My swim is and probably always will be my strongest area.
3) I really need to improve on my bike. I have been riding a bike since I was about 5 years old, but only riding to race for about 1 1/2 years now.
4) I either have to really figure out how to get into my shoes while riding or give up on that and put them on before I mount the bike.
5) I should practice drinking while running instead of having to walk each time I take water.
6) I seem to work better with gel packets than the sportbeans. I think the sport beans were good to get something more solid in my stomach, but the gel gave me much more energy.

This was a great race. I beat the time I wanted by 17 minutes. This was my first 1/2 Ironman so I really didn't know what to expect. The competition was very tough as you can see by my rankings but I am happy with my times. I was thinking this race would be a test to see how my leg held up to see if I wanted yo try the full Ironman next year. My leg was ok, but the race was hard. I have to think about if I want to try 2010 or wait until 2011 when I will be in the next highest age group and will have had more experience under my belt. I guess the saga is to be continued...