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Chisago Lakes Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon


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Chisago City, Minnesota
United States
DuTriRun
Precipitation
Total Time = 7h 05m 33s
Overall Rank = 397/410
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 51/52
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 5:15 and had a bagel and some coffee. Since the race site was only 3 miles away, I rode my bike over to avoid taking a parking spot from someone else. Got all setup and marked and relieved prior to the race. Did a very short warmup swim and then it was time to listen to the pre-race announcements.

This was my first HIM race and also my big goal race for the year. It's also my home town race. So I was really looking forward to it. This has been my first full season of doing Tri's. I did one sprint at the end of last year. So a HIM was a big stretch for me. I wasn't looking to achieve any time goal. I mainly wanted to finish with a secondary goal of not having to walk outside of water stations on the run.

Unfortunately, I suffered a cold leading up to the race. I think Wednesday was the worst day and then I was slowly recovering. But I wasn't fully healthy by Sunday morning and I still had congestion in my lungs. So I wasn't quite sure how the race would go. But I really wanted to at least try.
Event warmup:

Just a short swim to make sure my wetsuit/goggles were fitted and working as expected.
Swim
  • 46m 46s
  • 2112 yards
  • 02m 13s / 100 yards
Comments:

This was my first 1.2 mile swim. Though I didn't expect it to be all that different from my Oly swims. I was in the last HIM wave and I started near the back as I usually do in my races. Congestion wasn't too bad and I didn't have to deal with any significant contact.

Heading out to the first turn, the lake was fairly calm. I had to swim through just a little bit of weeds. The second leg of the swim (furthest out from shore) got a little choppy. It felt like we were probably swimming mostly into the waves as I felt it more on the top of my head. It made sighting a little bit harder, but not too bad. I also felt the waves moving me up and down just a little bit. On the last leg of the swim, we were swimming through weeds pretty much the whole way through. I can't say I enjoy weeds. But this was a bit different from other experiences where the weeds were high enough to be brushing against my face from time to time. So that added an extra element of ick.

But I finished off the swim and felt fine. When I checked my watch, my time was within the ballpark of what I was expecting. I made it through my first leg and my cold residue didn't seem to be affecting things yet.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I was satisfied with how this leg went.
Transition 1
  • 02m 32s
Comments:

I fairly swiftly walked from the water into transition. I wasn't going for a certain time, and my main goal of T1 was to try and get my HR lowering and to make sure that I didn't forget anything for the bike.

I got out of transition without forgetting anything and with breathing under control. So I met my goals.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I did what I wanted with the transition.
Bike
  • 3h 19m 50s
  • 56 miles
  • 16.81 mile/hr
Comments:

The time that I listed here is different from the official time as I stopped to help someone who had a flat, and I subtracted that from my official time as it wasn't me having the mechanical problem. It was about an 11 minute stop.

My game plan for the ride was to take things very easy and to ensure that I was taking proper nutrition/hydration. I think I succeeded in those goals as best as I could. But mother nature made things more difficult. It was windy to begin with and it only gained strength as the ride progressed. The wind was mostly a factor at the very beginning, and then for a good chunk of the final 1/3 of the course. That ended up making things more difficult as I naturally tired a bit from the distance. We also got sprinkled on a handful of time. But so significant precipitation at least.

It was about the half way point where I stopped to try and help with a flat tire. Although it was unsuccessful. The replacement tube (which didn't seem quite the correct size) popped when filling it even though I checked both the inside of the tire and the rim for any cause to the blowout and didn't feel anything. A course marshal had stopped as well and headed out on my way after the failed attempt. Hopefully the guy was able to get going again.

I ended up bringing my own fuel that I had been training with. I ended up drinking most of 4 bottle of perform and also supplimented with some granola bars as I had done in training. I probably averaged about 300 cal/hour.

Coming off of the bike, I was glad to be done. The wind had knocked me down a few pegs and I was starting to tire out. I'm guessing a lack of training and my cold were starting to catch up with me. But my time (not including the stop) was still in the ballpark of where I was hoping to be. So I was still moving ahead as expected.
What would you do differently?:

Train more. I probably should have had a couple of more full 56 mile rides under my belt. But life and sickness got in the way of that.
Transition 2
  • 03m 55s
Comments:

After racking my bike and switching into my run gear, I made a stop to go pee. This was the only time during the race that I used the bathroom. Based on the output, I was probably a little dehydrated. It was probably due to poor hydration in the days leading up to the event rather than my race day intake. I was taking in good amounts during the race and the cooler weather was keeping my perspiration down.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing again. I wasn't going for speed and I didn't make any mistakes.
Run
  • 2h 51m 55s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

Here is where things fell apart. My goal for the run was to actually run the whole time except for water stations. I can't seem to run and drink from a cup at the same time without swallowing a bunch of air.

Coming off of the windy bike, and my cold, I wasn't sure how this was going to go. But at a minimum I was determined to finish. So I started off at an easy pace and knocked off the first mile at about 10 min, which is not far off of my normal mile time on my long runs. So I was a little optimistic. But the subsequent miles were slowing down, and soon I was hitting close to 12 minute miles.

At this point, I knew that running the full distance was probably not going to happen. But I thought at least I can run to the half way point. So I did. At the 6.5 mile mark, I started walking. For the next few miles, I switched up between walking and jogging. But each time it was harder to start running. I could feel it in my legs and I could feel the cold in my chest. So with about 4 miles to go, I walked the rest of the way. But I made sure that it was at least a brisk walk. And my brisk walk was only about 1.5 minutes slower than my jog/walk combo per mile. So at this point, why push my body beyond what is wise just to save 6 minutes or so?

So I watched lots of people pass me up on the way back in. But most of them were encouraging me as they passed and I was giving them "good job!"s as they passed me. The volunteers at the water stations were also great. Especially this late in the race as they had probably been there 4+ hours already.

As I made my way back to the park where the finish line was, I saw my family waiting for me. My poor wife had to deal with keeping our 3 and 5 year old kids entertained there for much longer than she was expecting to. But it was good to see them. My son evidently was pretty excited with all of the racers and he wanted to accompany me through the finish line. So we started jogging in through the park. He saw another racer a little ways back making his way into the park and that made him kick it up a notch. So I ended up running the last 100 yards or so to try and keep up.

So I finished with my son and they put my medal around him. I guess that's one benefit of being that far in the back of the pack when there's almost nobody around you. They make allowances for something like that. My son actually thought the medal was his because he finished in front of me. It was pretty cute.
What would you do differently?:

Not be sick would have been a real help. But also training more would have helped as well. My longest run leading up to the race was 10.5 miles. I wanted to do more, but I let thing go too long and there wasn't enough time to ramp up without making too big of a jump week to week and I didn't want an injury. It would have been interesting to see if I could have done it if I had been healthy.
Post race
Warm down:

They were just about to start closing down transition when I finished, so there was no warm-down. I just grabbed my stuff and we headed home so my youngest could get down for a much needed nap. I also needed one myself.

I was disappointed that I didn't do better. I've never come off of a race thinking that I'm not sure if I ever want to do that again until now. I'll be taking a week to recover and hopefully get well again (my cold came back thanks to the big exertion) and see how I feel about it after that. I have another HIM in 5 weeks. If I can get back into the swing of training and get better prepared, I'll give that a shot and then see if HIMs are in my future next year or if I keep it to sprints and Olys.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My cold and my lack of sufficient training. It's hard to know which was the bigger contributor to me not being able to run the entire last leg.

Event comments:

The race was done really well. Everything was pretty clear and there were plenty of volunteers to keep things running smoothly. There were also lots of racers. But where I was, congestion wasn't a significant factor.

I would recommend this race to anyone and it will be at the top of my list for subsequent years.




Last updated: 2014-01-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:46:46 | 2112 yards | 02m 13s / 100yards
Age Group: 38/52
Overall: 317/410
Performance: Average
Suit: Xterra Vector Pro
Course: The course is laid out in a triangle pattern going in a clockwise direction. You start on the beach in waves of approx 100 racers spaced out 2-3 minutes apart.
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:32
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
03:19:50 | 56 miles | 16.81 mile/hr
Age Group: 47/52
Overall: 390/410
Performance: Below average
Wind: Strong
Course: The course is a single loop with mostly flat/minor rollers through out. There is one section where you descend down into a river valley and then have to climb back out. It's not horrible, but it does slow you down.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 03:55
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:51:55 | 13.1 miles | 13m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 51/52
Overall: 405/410
Performance: Bad
Course: The course is an out and back through residential roads. Most of it is exposed to the sun and there are just some minor rollers every so often. But it is mostly flat.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2014-07-29 11:27 AM

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Subject: Chisago Lakes Triathlon - Half Iron Course


2014-07-29 1:44 PM
in reply to: #5032047

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Subject: RE: Chisago Lakes Triathlon - Half Iron Course
Way to power through! Nice job on the finish.

Don't be discouraged. The jump to HIM takes some time to get used too. Being sick on top of it makes things doubly tough. Make the adjustments to your training, and keep at it. HIM is a great distance.

What race in five weeks?
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