Just coming off a great race in St. Pete! The St. Anthony’s olympic distance triathlon is the second largest in the country behind Chicago. I have raced this twice now and have loved it each time and was much faster this year than last, which is a good indicator of my early season shape right now. (see me in the middle of the picture with hands in the air).
The reason I am even mentioning this, is that it was a great race for me to start thinking through the Hawaii Ironman. Although much shorter, this race had an ocean swim that was 1500 meters (almost a mile) and it was rough with large swells and the temperatures were very warm, much like Hawaii would be.
My swim went very well so it gave me a lot of confidence in rough ocean swimming and dealing with the heat was not too bad because I continued to pour water over my head at each aid station to keep my core temperature down. It works.
One problem I did encounter was that the water I continually poured over my head went right down to my shoes and they did not drain well. I usually wear racing flats (no socks) and recently I had put in new insoles. Well, these insoles did not drain or repel the water, this caused my feet to slide around a lot. In the end, I ended up with several painful blisters that will keep me out of training for a couple days. Lesson learned; I need to find shoes that will drain water because I will definitely be pouring water over my head in Kona on the run especially in the energy lab (Hawaii’s version of a desert, which is in part of the run).
The reason I am even mentioning this, is that it was a great race for me to start thinking through the Hawaii Ironman. Although much shorter, this race had an ocean swim that was 1500 meters (almost a mile) and it was rough with large swells and the temperatures were very warm, much like Hawaii would be.
My swim went very well so it gave me a lot of confidence in rough ocean swimming and dealing with the heat was not too bad because I continued to pour water over my head at each aid station to keep my core temperature down. It works.
One problem I did encounter was that the water I continually poured over my head went right down to my shoes and they did not drain well. I usually wear racing flats (no socks) and recently I had put in new insoles. Well, these insoles did not drain or repel the water, this caused my feet to slide around a lot. In the end, I ended up with several painful blisters that will keep me out of training for a couple days. Lesson learned; I need to find shoes that will drain water because I will definitely be pouring water over my head in Kona on the run especially in the energy lab (Hawaii’s version of a desert, which is in part of the run).
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