I signed up for the Tri-ing for Children’s sprint distance triathlon at the last minute. The Racine Half Ironman was only a week prior to this race. I wasn’t sure my body would be recovered enough, but wanted to have some fun. Standing in the water just before the starting gun went off, I decided on a swim strategy. I was standing in the front of the pack, which is the best position I’ve ever been in during a swim. I decided I would go out faster than everyone else, then stay ahead of everyone else and get out of the water first. The horn sounded and I surged into the lead. I could feel the whole pack jump into my slipstream to draft off of me. I’m not sure what happened next, but somehow most of those swimmers finished ahead of me. I suspect they took a shortcut… or they were faster swimmers than me. Joking aside, I intentionally went to the front of the pack and battled with the better swimmers until the first turn buoy. I wanted the practice with deep water combat to prepare me for the Ironman. I held my own and was very happy. I finished in 6:54, which was good for 46th place (on the day, not just in my wave).

The bike ride was just over 15 miles long. From mount line to dismount line I was 36:01 — just a smidge under 25 mph. My slowest leg was the first 5 miles. I think my heart rate was too high after the swim. Through the bike ride my legs felt like they had more to give, but my heart rate and breathing were telling a different story. I was doing well enough though, finishing with the 3rd fastest bike split and caught/passed nearly everyone ahead of me. Got off the bike with only 3 racers left ahead of me–one being a professional triathlete.

The run was okay. I hadn’t run much in the past 6 weeks, so it just felt good to be doing it. Couldn’t expect much from myself. Finished the 5k in 21:03, which allowed a few other racers to pass me. I ended up finishing 6th overall, and 3rd in my division.

Very nice race put on by the organizers. I hope to do it again sometime.