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Spirit of Racine Aquabike - Aquabike
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 Swim
Comments: Because the fog had been so bad for all the races this weekend and the water was so cold, they had moved the buoys in closer to shore so people could walk if they felt like they needed to. And indeed it was hard to see the buoys sometimes because of the fog. Supposedly they moved the buoys further apart to make up for having moved them in closer to shore, but the swim was obviously way short as I normally can't do an olympic distance swim in that amount of time, let alone a HIM swim. Just guessing on the distance. Being in the aquabike division, my wave was the very last to take off. I'm a slower swimmer so I figured that would mean I would be alone for much of the swim. Surprisingly though I stayed with the crowd decently well. Among those swimming I did well and was definitely able to catch a number of the people who chose to walk most or all of the swim. I was really surprised at the number of people who decided to walk the entire thing. What would you do differently?: No much. I started drifting towards shore for one of the middle buoys because I couldn't see it until I was right on it and I was to the inside of it. But it turns out if I bilateral breath and can sight at least every 9 breaths, I actually swim pretty straight. And even having not been able to see that one at all since the last buoy I wasn't as far off course as I would have thought I would be. I was about 15m to the inside so it wasn't a big deal to get back out and swim around it.  Transition 1
Comments: This transition includes a 1:50 run up the beach to the transition area. I had a terrible time getting out of my suit for some reason. Usually it's not problem at all, but I got it down to my knees and it didn't seem to want to go anywhere. Having everything still be half numb probably didn't help. What would you do differently?: Not get stuck in my suit.  Bike
Comments: My coach said "Since this is a race and you don't' have to run after, let's blow the bike out some." This is my version of that. Was at 16.8 at 30 miles and then I went as hard as I could for the last 26 and brought my overall average up to 17.4 by the end. :) I got on the bike and spun it out for a couple miles in an easy gear. I started to pick it up and stayed solidly in zone 3 for a few miles. Then I encountered a woman from a relay team who kept boxing me in when we would come up on a slower rider and then get in front of me when I went around them so I had to drop out of her draft zone. I knew if I could get away from her I would be able to ride faster so I put it in the big chain ring and started pushing. And then she tried to draft off me for a couple miles, which made me lose what patience for her I had left. I decided I didn't care how it might hurt or what it might do to my race later, I was going to lose her for good. I found a hard gear I knew I could ride for awhile, and road it until she couldn't keep up. I backed off a little after that but decided to go ahead and try to keep the stepped up pace. And I didn't ever let myself get out of the big chain ring, even though I usually don't ride in it. That's about the time I started my mantra to "ride like you run" which means I just keep pushing no matter how much it hurts. The last 26 miles I went as hard as I could and let it hurt as much as it would. The last couple of miles were excruciating (which may be explained in a minute). By the time I reached transition my legs were toast. What would you do differently?: Not much. With IM training I've done almost nothing but soft pedal at a low HR and wasn't even sure if I would know how to ride hard. Since I didn't have to run I decided I would have fun and experiment a little to see where I was with things. This is one of the few times I really had a lot of fun on the bike the entire time, even when it hurt. Post race
Warm down: I seemingly rode into transition just fine and went and cheered everyone else in, but when I got back to transition I had a flat and a huge gaping hole in one of my tires (like a half inch in diameter size gaping hole, torn through the tread and frayed). Not sure how or where that happened because surely I would have noticed if it had happened while I was riding. However it happened, the whole tire will have to be replaced. What limited your ability to perform faster: I haven't been training to ride fast, I lack power on the bike in general, and I just need to keep riding and working on getting stronger. Event comments: Just as with last year we had a BT dinner the night before and it was a blast to meet people. It also made the race itself fun. This is my second HFP event this year and I haven't been as impressed as I was last year. There are plenty of volunteers and things are together in that way, but the websites aren't as helpful as they could be, the bike course isn't marked quite as well as it could be in a couple places, they don't get the information out as well as they could, and something else just doesn't feel quite as together as I was expecting after my experience last year. Still a great race though. Last updated: 2008-05-10 12:00 AM
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 2008-07-21 7:44 PM |
Expert  968    Wellington, North Island |  Subject: Spirit of Racine Aquabike |
| 2008-07-21 9:23 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
| , North Carolina | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike And "blow the bike out" you did! Nice job. Weird about your tire. I'm glad it didn't happen on the course. Great race for you. |
| 2008-07-22 6:28 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Regular 94 Westchester, IL | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Your hard work continues to pay off. Congrats on a great bike split. You swimming has also gotten real fast |
| 2008-07-22 8:09 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Master 1473 Southwest Chicago 'burbs | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike You were in the last wave? I thought for sure you went off with the F0-34 wave that Ellen was in... but that would explain why I wasn't able to find you before the race! Great job out there, Kelly! Great swim time and stellar bike. Fun hearing how you dropped that chick that kept trying to draft you, too! And the gaping hole in the tire? Totally bizarre. Be proud of yourself! All of your hard work is paying dividends. |
| 2008-07-22 8:56 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Elite 3518 Madison, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Awesome job Kelly and it was finally great to meet you! |
| 2008-07-22 10:11 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Extreme Veteran 443 Olathe, KS | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Great job out there! You rocked the bike! You are going to be great at IMOO!  |
| 2008-07-22 10:25 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Master 1980 Waukesha, WI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Great job Kelly. Nice meetin' you at the BT dinner. Keep on keepin' on |
| 2008-07-22 12:59 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Extreme Veteran 536 Wauwatosa, WI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Great job Kelly, and it was cool to meet you!!! |
| 2008-07-22 1:24 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Iron Donkey 38641 , Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Nice seeing you at the end under the canopy! What a great job on the race! So, you think you rode part of the bike with a flat? |
| 2008-07-22 3:43 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Expert 1145 Ann Arbor, MI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Great job on your race, and a fun report to read too! I'm looking forward to reading about IMWI. Everyone raves about that race, so I'm sure you'll have a terrific time. |
| 2008-07-23 7:52 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Expert 1357 Mukwonago, WI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Awesome job! Way to hammer it out there! Keep workin' hard! |
| 2008-07-23 8:28 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Champion 5490 Whizzzzzlandia Silver member | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike I wonder if your tire got that hole from coming down hill into transition... did you brake hard? Sometimes that can heat things up and blow out a hole... Lucky for you, it was LATE in the race! I'm very impressed with your bike split. See? You do have it in you. Push push push til your quads burn. Get that speed on the bike and you will be freaking unstoppable. Perhaps I should stop with all the bike advice. Didn't we determine you were going to be in my age group soon? Hmmmm. Heh.
Nice job! |
| 2008-07-23 9:11 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Master 1671 West Bend, WI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike |
| 2008-07-23 9:23 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Great Race...doing aquabike is so different as you can push harder than ever on the bike...I like them a lot. I hate riders that do that..boxing you in I can see as they are sloppy riding but then drafting..plain right out cheater. Glad you dropped her for good. Sweet way of negative splitting the bike and finishing strong. Glad your tire issue didn't happen to hamper your bike.
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| 2008-07-23 9:55 PM in reply to: #1547305 |
Elite 2468 Racine, WI | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Yes, VERY nice job dropping that drafter! THATS the way Kelly! Your confidence on the bike has improved so much, I'm so excited for you and glad I'll be at IMOO volunteering so I can see you in all your ironman glory And that mantra...I can push push push on the bike when I want to, but not so much on the run. I'm going to remember that....you will be with me during my mary training |
| 2008-07-24 10:29 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Regular 80 Oak Park, Il | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Nice work on the bike. |
| 2008-07-24 11:35 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Pro 5123 Canandaigua NY | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Your IM training is certainly paying dividends! Especially on the bike. Great job!!! |
| 2008-07-24 11:35 AM in reply to: #1547305 |
Expert 1148 NW Suburbs, Illinois | Subject: RE: Spirit of Racine Aquabike Nice race, Kelly! Way to hammer the bike a bit. You now know that its in you. Keep it up! |
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Victory Man Racing
65F / 18C
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Overall Rank = 24/28
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Drove up the day before, did packet pickup, went for a short dip in the icy cold Lake Michigan water with Grizdog, StartingToTri, jniekrasz, and Ellen and then showered and met everyone for the BT dinner. Woke up the next morning around 4:00 and by 4:45 we were out the door and on our way to transition.
Mulled around with everyone in the insane fog wondering how they could ever hold the swim since the lifeguards would obviously not be able to see us and we would never be able to see the buoys. They delayed the race a little over a half an hour waiting for the fog to lift enough to make it safe. After the 20 minute walk up the beach to the swim start we hopped in the icy cold water again to swim a bit and get rid of the "take your breath away" feeling such cold water gives you. Since the water didn't feel so bad after awhile (eventually everything goes numb), I decided to just stay in the water until my wave start.