Got out to the buoys with about 30 seconds to start. I barely had time to think about anything before we were off. I don't know if it was the chop but things spread out fairly quickly. I didn't notice the waves at first but they were big. A few hundred yards into it and I realized breathing to the left was not going to be an option, or at least not a very good option. I breathing every 4 strokes to the right side and when I couldn't catch a breath on the right I had to really exaggerate the roll on the left to catch a clean breath. Easily the choppiest water I've ever been in in a race.

Honestly though, I kind of enjoyed it. Long swims can be really monotonous and it seemed like I really had to work for every stroke I was taking. I couldn't just stroke mindlessly and let the wetsuit do all the work for me. That said I'm really glad I had the wetsuit because it would have been far worse without it.

Sighted well to the first buoy and turned quite well into the waves. Holy smokes, it was a short section into the chop but a difficult one. No side was safe to breathe on and it took a lot of energy to get to the next turn. I was in the homestretch now, heading into the finish. There was a LOT of people cutting the inside of the buoys on this stretch. I made a conscious effort to get on the outside like we were supposed to and just made my way in. Like every swim I was glad to get to the exit when I did.

Nothing. I've never experienced that sort of chop before and in hindsight was quite glad to only be about 4 minutes slower than expected.

Came into transition ready to get going on that bike. Passed Kevin and he asked me how the swim was. "Fun!" I told him, then proceeded to my bike. Was getting out of the wetsuit and putting the helmet on when I noticed Rodmy a rack away doing the same thing. He just shook his head when I asked how the swim was. Ready to go, I ran out of T1 after that.

It was a big transition but was still a little slow. 2:30 would have been better

This was the first HIM I've done where I've been a little freaked out by the bike portion of the race. Coming into today I've done only two 50+ mile rides in preparation. Other HIMs past I have had at least 7-8 under my belt beforehand. So the goal was to bike conservatively, which if you know me is really hard to do. I was exhausted coming out of transition so I dialed it back to get the heart rate under control. Within the first mile or two both Kevin and Rodmy passed me. I waited another mile before kicking it in and heading out past them. The course was cool to start and everything felt under control. I think we had the wind at our back and I just really enjoyed myself heading out to the first turn around.

Coming back I noticed the wind for the first time, although it really wasn't that bad. You've got hills in Kansas, we've got wind in Iowa. I was getting passed a lot and had to keep the ego in check a bit because I knew my bike fitness wasn't where it has been in past seasons. I couldn't expect to put up a huge split and have a decent run after that. Hit the first water exchange and tossed out the crappy gas station bottle for their replacement. Unfortunately they had a cheap replacement too and decided to cut off the flip top cap to these bottles so when I tucked it into my aero bottle cage it was dribbling out the top. It took me awhile to realize why my legs were getting all wet and I really hoped the people I was passing didn't think I was peeing on them. I was expecting a pull open spout like on a bike bottle like the bottles they handed out at IMWI last year. I guess I could've put the bottle of infinit up top and the water on the downtube, but you don't really think that clearly during a race. Fail WTC Fail.

Attacked the hills and wind with gusto on the second half of the course. I really really enjoyed this bike course. The hills were great, not quite wisconsinesque but great nonetheless. Fun and challenging. Wish I had hills like that to ride on here at home. Towards the last third of the ride I felt the legs start to get a little toasted. With the limited bike training and the hills that was expected. I wish they had kept bike splits on the course because I'm pretty sure I was 20+ until the last ten mile or so.

We got back into the park with a few miles left and down a huge downhill had to maneuver around a guy and his flying water bottles when his bike went into a full frame seizure-esque shimmy. Rodmy had caught up to me at that point and we were both amazed that the guy had managed to retain control. I thought for sure he was going to wipe it hardcore.

Not much after that. Cruised into transition ready to run.


Train the bike more. I'm kind of ashamed of how many long rides I've done outside. Too many easy spins on the trainer this year. It just doesn't compare with hard work outside.

Was happy to have a good flying dismount. Ran in. Helmet off shoes on. Wait! There's a rock in my right shoe that's going to be uncomfortable. Took that shoe back off and wiped the rock away before putting it back on and heading back out.

Wipe the feet off prior to putting in the shoes. Probably would have been closer to a minute. T2 seemed way shorter than T1 however

Oh boy, where to start here? Things started off good. I had decent legs coming off the bike and was thinking things were going to turn okay. The quads started to cramp just before the first mile marker, but I walked at the aid station and took down some perform to make those a distant memory. Saw Kevin's family cheering for me soon after that. Even though most of them had only met me the day before it was beyond awesome to have a cheering section out there on the run course. They were awesome for those two hours I was out there I even got to joke with them when I knew Kevin was about to catch me on the second loop.

Headed down to the asphalt beach and had a conversation with a guy about how 10 minutes ago I wanted off the bike and now I wanted back on. Powered back up the hill, running the whole way up (this was the only hill on the run course). Turned into the campground still feeling good and weaved my way through there.

Eventually I started to get hot. The sun was out despite the stormy predictions and waters on the head from the aid stations just weren't cutting it. I can't remember which one it was but they had ice and I remembered how ice down the back of the tri top (along with sponges) was a life saver at wisconsin last year) So I dumped an entire cup down the back of my trisuit. Well, apparently the one piece suits don't retain the ice the same way the tri tops do because they don't have that elastic band that keeps the ice in the small of your back where core cooling is optimal. The ice slid ALL the way down to the ass/crotchal region. OH MY GOD that was cold! Now I know what my brother must have felt like when he tried to take a drunken dump in that snowbank a few years ago. I felt like I was running in an ice filled diaper, which was awkward and uncomfortable to say the least. At least it took my mind off other pain for a bit and fortunately it had all melted within a half mile.

Hit the halfway point feeling okay, but pain was starting to mount in the gut. I've dealt with quad cramping and general gassiness in other races but this was different. It eventually became so sharp I had to walk a bit to alleviate it. Once it went away I tried running again but it didn't take more than a few minutes before it came back. Thought about jumping into the porto-john at the asphalt beach to try and relieve some pressure, but it really didn't feel like that was going to do any good. Bowel trouble and gut trouble are different So I suffered through the last 5 miles like that. I tried the bargaining system where I promised to run for 10 minutes before another walk break, but I never made it. Eventually I got to the point where my only goal was to beat my first HIM time and it became a battle to beat that toward the end. I was never so glad to see the yellow brick road and pull it in through the finish line. Although it was a subpar performance it was very cool to have Chrissie wrap the finisher medal around my neck

RUN SPLIT 1: 2.5 mi 2.5 mi (19:31) 7:48/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 7.75 mi 5.25 mi (41:21) 7:52/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 9 mi 1.25 mi (14:55) 11:56/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 13.1 mi 4.1 mi (43:35) 10:37/mi

Suck it up, buttercup

Walked and found the food tent. Pork sandwiches, chips, oranges, bananas. That's it? Fail, WTC Fail


Training fair and simple. I think this has been the theme of all my race reports this year. I HAVE to put in the training to expect the results I've had in the past few seasons. That's all there is to it. Different course but still 40+ minutes slower than my PR. There's a lot of work to do before Wisconsin this year if I want to have a chance at going sub-11 or even beating last year's time.


This was my first WTC 70.3 event. Great course and I would like to come back here again!