Lakes Country Triathlon Recap

It's not often that I have a race that's an after-thought. Normally, I tend to obsess over these things, but in this case the Lakes Country Triathlon was really just a sideshow to Kate's first triathlon the day before in the Cities. I'm going to let her recap that one (she said she would!), so we'll pick up the action the evening after Kate's triathlon, the night before mine.

The part where I eat like an idiot:

This part is pretty self-explanatory. We went to Olive Garden in Baxter the night before the race because... well.. I'm not very smart. Now, eating pasta the night before a race is not a bad idea. However, eating cheesy, loaded pasta and a ton of breadsticks and more raspberry lemonade than a person should ever drink is definitely not very smart. I waddled the rest of the evening.

The part where I'm not sure the race is going to happen:

It stormed overnight--like thunder and lightning and winds and heavy rains and all that business. So, when I got up around 5:30 I was less than sure that the race was going to happen, but a check of the radar showed that the heavy storms were just passing. It just looked like rain ahead. So, we packed things up and headed down to the race, which was 15 minutes away from our hotel.

As we pulled up to Whipple Lake the rain had slowed to a drizzle and things were looking up. I was racing. So, I had better figure out pretty quick what the heck I was doing. Thankfully, I now have a checklist, so setting up the bike in the transition area wasn't nearly as difficult as it used to be. Things were pretty well organized. I had some extra time to ogle the super nice bikes that signified this was a race with actual fast people, and then Kate and I walked around for a bit, and I used the port-a-potties a half dozen times because of nerves (this is, as far as I can tell, completely normal).

The part where we race:

The lake was exceptionally clear!

This triathlon began with a 1/4 mile swim in Whipple Lake. The weather was cool (low 60s) and the water temp wasn't all that much higher. My "warm up" in the lake was not so much that as a "Oh my God I can't breathe cuz it's freaking cold!" OK, that might be overstating things, but I did find as I did a quick 50 meter swim that it took a minute to catch my breath in the relatively cool water. I don't have a wetsuit, so I suppose this is a struggle that could be fixed with a little technology if I wished... but whatever.

The race started in four waves with the first being males 39 and under (hey, that's me!), then males 40 and over, then women 39 and under plus relays, and then women 40 and over. Waves started every two minutes, meaning that I was likely to get clobbered by at least one wave of faster swimmers... maybe two.

As the starting gun went off we descended into lake swim mayhem. There were probably around 40 people in my heat but it felt like 400. Some clearly had not warmed up in the lake because, only about 25 meters in, with weeds still grabbing at our legs, there were guys floating backwards, trying to catch their breath. I meandered around them, trying to find a rhythm and making sure they didn't try to grab me and take me under.

By the time I got to the third buoy, which was over 100 meters out, I got into a nice rhythm. In fact, for the first time ever in a triathlon, I was ENJOYING THE SWIM. That's right: that is worthy of caps. I had a nice rhythm, I was swimming in a (relatively) straight line, and I was even passing people. What the heck?

With about 150 meters to go my enjoyment was briefly squashed by the inevitable wave of faster swimmers from the group who started two minutes behind. One guy basically swam over me, pushing me under briefly in his hurry forward, but I sagely moved 20 feet or so off the buoys and gave the faster guys some space and the rest of the swim went well. I was only caught by one person from the third wave--a woman who was INCREDIBLY fast. I know because my swim time wasn't that bad. 10:02! Which included a short uphill sprint from the beach. Overall, I was happy.

We hit the transition area and, according to the chip timers I've studied/obsessed over after the race, I passed 11 people in that first transition. That's what organization will do for you! Then I hopped on the bike and struggled for a block or two to get my feet in my shoes, getting passed by a couple of people in the meantime, but finally I got my stuff together and I was riding. And I was riding HARD.

The course for the Central Lakes Tri is astoundingly good. Smooth blacktop, sheltered roads. Nice rolling hills, then flat for the last 8 miles. This was 14 miles of riding bliss. And I realized, very quickly, that I was having a really good day. Maybe that pasta wasn't so bad after all. I started passing people almost immediately, checking my bike computer and seeing I was holding 22.5 to 23.0 mph for the entire first section. That's good enough, but then I realized something even better: I was riding uphill.

I was giddy. As it turned out I had a bit of tailwind in that first section (of course, because I'm not THAT fast), but my pace was good even as we turned into the wind. I was holding over 21 mph even on the small hills. The only people who were passing me were on triathlon bikes. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had the fastest time in the whole event for people riding standard road bikes. About halfway through the ride I told myself that I was going to see how fast I could do this, even if it cost me a bit on the run. I was having a blast.

One guy on an orange tri bike was ahead of me for almost the entire ride. I was 25-50 meters in arrears, always keeping him in view from the first corner to the last straighaway, but on that last bit of road I decided I needed to catch and pass him. And I did. My last moral victory. I finished the bike in 38:21. An average speed of 21.9. I can't underscore enough how happy I am with that. Oh, and by the way, I improved 42 places on the bike.

I also flew through transition 2. In fact, my best placing on any discipline for the day was my time through T2--a mere 35 seconds--which is especially good considering the whole transition area was around 100 meters long itself.

I was off and running a 5k, and for the first time I was paying the price for my breadsticks and lemonade. There really isn't that much to say about the run. I got passed by a couple of relay folks and two of the faster women (it was kind of fun to see all three of the women's podium pass me by, but only one of them did so before the run).

My run was fine. 23:17 overall. I had left a lot out on the bike and ran of out gas somewhat toward the end. As you can see in the video I am a bit spent; I don't even hear Kate's cheering. But I was really happy with the result. I finished in 1:13:48, 27th out of 152 overall. My full results can be found here.

Afterwards, I went and took a dip in the lake to cool down, then we hit the road. It was time for vacation... where I would once again eat like an idiot. Some things come full circle.

Bean is happy that I finished and we can start with the vacation!

Post script: On the subject of eating like an idiot, I am trying to lose 15 pounds by November 1. I don't really like doing this publicly because I feel like it reeks of "look at me!" but I do feel like accountability also helps, so this might be the only time I'll say it but wish me luck! (I'm going to need it)