Chisago Lakes HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I'm a strong swimmer, so I always seed myself at or near the front. I was between two people as the gun went off, and I took a couple extra steps and dove into a pretty small space in between them, and watched as they disappeared behind me. I caught the back of the previous wave within about 5 minutes, but there were plenty of big spaces to work my way through. I was looking for a 27 min swim, and I pretty much got it since the timing mat was at the top of the hill at the entrance to transition rather than on the beach.

Nothing - pacing was really good, as was navigation.

No real problems, except for the big tree in the middle of the aisle. Nobody from my wave was in transition, so I had plenty of room.

Nothing

I went in knowing this was a training day for IMMoo in September, so I did a 40 mile ride on Saturday, wanting to be a bit tired for the race. I really didn't expect to average 23, but I'll take it. I passed quite a few people, got passed by a few packs, but generally had a really strong, solid ride. HR even stayed in high Z2/low Z3 for most of the ride. Ejected one bottle on the rough road at about mile 30, and ejected another just before T2 when we had to basically jump a curb on the bike path. Found both bottles at Jerry's announcer table after I finished! Thanks, volunteers!

Maybe try to get in a bit more fluid, but I stopped to pee right out of T2, and it looked as I hoped it would - clear. (TMI, I know)

T2 went well. Same tree got in the way a bit (go figure), but didn't rush.

Nothing. A few seconds didn't make a difference for me.

I started out feeling phenomenal. I've never come off the bike with that much spring in my legs, so I took advantage of it. I started out at about a 7:15 pace, and was able to maintain it for about the first four miles. I ran through the aid stations and got two cups at each, and was feeling really good. After the third station, I thought there was another at about mile 4.5, so I thought I'd be able to get water to pour to stay cool, but the station wasn't in the spot it was last year, and my early pace was coming back to bite me. I slowed, but the next aid station was at about 5.5, so I was needing it pretty badly. Got fluid and endurolytes there, but I slowed my pace and decided to walk the aid stations to get in enough fluid for the rest of the race. This worked until about mile 8, when I started to see stars going up a hill, so I walked for a bit. After about 90 seconds, I convinced myself to get back to running. At mile 10, the aid station had ice, so I filled my hat and started to feel a lot better, so I picked the pace back up a bit. Came close to cramping up at about mile 12, but worked through it and finished strong, going 25 minutes under my previous HIM PB, and also realized my goal of going sub 5 hours. I feel like I left maybe 10-15 minutes out on the course, though, due to my decision to push hard at the start of the run.

Better pacing strategy, more focus on hydration/nutrition, even when I feel really good to start. 13.1 is still a long way when it's 85 and humid!

Walk around for 20 minutes or so just to keep moving (the nurse in the finish chute seemed fairly interested in my well being, so I'm thinking I've looked better!). Got several glasses of water and gatorade to cool down, and my girls had a good time getting more water and pouring it over my head.


Heat, humidity, and focusing on pushing hard when I should have tried to be more steady and focus on hydration and nutrition.


I enjoy this race, although more evenly spaced aid stations on the run would be great. It's pretty well organized, and I can't be upset with my overall performance. Unfortunately, the bike course would have been a great test of my training if I were doing IM Florida (really flat), but I'm doing IMMoo (Not so much), so there weren't enough hills for a really good rehearsal, but I knew that going in and had fun anyway!