Race Report

Well it is about time that I wrote my race report from my most recent triathlon before I forget what happened.

Last Friday we drove Evergreen Lake, just north of Bloomington IL. The drive was a pretty funny story because we were following the GPS directions, and had it set for evergreen park. After arriving in a rather run down neighborhood in central Bloomington, we figured out that evergreen lake, and evergreen park were really two separate places. Oops. After we found the rest of the club arrived we set up camp for the night. It was a really nice park, and we were camping right next to the transition, on the shore of the lake.

Race morning it rained pretty heavily, which removed my motivation to get up at 5:00 to eat like I usually do, so I just laid in the tent and ate granola bars till it let up at about 5:30. I was pretty disorganized and a bit rushed for the rest of the morning, and my pre race bagel was delayed, which I now realize was a mistake.

Swim: 27:05.80, 1:39 100's
At 1500 meters, this was my longest open water swim yet. The water was very warm, 77.8 deg, which made it very comfortable without a wetsuit, although they were still allowed. I was in the first wave with all of the collegates and elites. I managed to start on the edge, and not get swam over again, which was good, and the fasterst swim pack quickly broke away, and I knew that I had no chance of staying with them. I ended up finding a guy who swam just a hare slower than I did, between the first and second packs, so I just dropped in behind him and decided to chill out. By the time we rounded the second bouy, I was starting to feel a the start of a side cramp thanks to my delayed breakfast, so I decided to just keep plodding along. About the third bouy, Mandy and Dan caught me, and I was able to just cruse in their slipstream for the remaining 400m.

Transition 1: 00:55.60
I was pretty proud of this on, I was up the hill, to my bike, helmet on, and out. It was pouring down rain, but I still managed a perfect running mount onto my bike, flipped up my shoes (which were already clipped in) and was off.

Bike: 01:07:10.60 22.2 MPH
After a half mile on the bike I was up to speed, and it was time to put my feet in my shoes. I looked down and realized that I had clipped my right shoe onto the left pedal, and left shoe to the right pedal! AHH! I decided dispite the pouring rain, I was going to do this and keep rolling, so I reached down, unclipped one, passed it over, put it on, and then did the other. I only lost a few seconds because I was over 15mph the whole time, so I was pretty proud of myself. The way out on the bike I was being pretty cautious because it was so wet, and there were a bunch of turns. Dan was just behind me the whole way out. After overshooting the turnaround due to wet brakes, I decided that it was time to really pick it up on the way back because I needed to make up some of the time I would loose on the run. The way back was fast, wind at my back, felt like I was flying, and there were a few close calls where other competitors made me really nervous being dumb about passing in the rain. I never saw Dan again on the bike. I had a bit of a mechanical problem when my handle bars decided to rotate forward with all the bumps in the road. I had adjusted them the night before, and aparently not got them tight enough. The go so tipped forward that I could barely get to my brakes, so I just rotated them up as hard as I could and they slipped back into place.

Transition 2: 01:10.00
Again, in and out...except I tired to go out the wrong way and had to go back...oops.

Run: 49:19 7:56 miles
I felt crampy and tight for the first 3 miles of the run, but just kept moving along. It was pouring rain again, and there was a tiny rock in my shoe, but o well. After the 1 mile point I decided not to take any more water to try to let things settle out so I would feel better. Right at the 3 mile marker that strategy paid off, and all of the sudden I felt great, and picked up the pace pretty well. The rest of the way in was just like I was out for a Sunday run, and I tried to keep the pace high. By the time I reached the last mile, my feet really hurt from my wet shoes, but I didn't care, and picked up the pace as much as I could to finish strong. I was really happy to see our little cheering section, including my wonderful wife waiting for me at the finish line. Way to go cowbell ringers!

Overall it was a good race. I was happy with my swim and bike times. I really have to figure out how to pick up that pace for the run. 8:00 min miles is just too slow. I have already picked out my next race, a month from now. It is called Tri-Indy in downtown Indianapolis. It should be pretty unique because the swim in right in the canal, and the bike and run are in the middle of down town. Thanks again to Beth for being there to help me out and cheer!