We had a pre-race briefing the day before where we racked our bikes and the organizers explained the rules. If you read the fine print on the waiver, you notice words like 'dangerous,' 'permanent injury,' hospitalization,' and 'death,' so they also take great pains in the briefing to help you understand how to avoid these things. Kudos to Kurt, Alan, Vicki and all the great volunteers who made the event such a wonderful experience. It was a massive undertaking and I am grateful for the work they put in.
I got up at 4:00am and headed to Lake Cunningham. I am a very organized person, so setting up my gear was not all that difficult. Also, one of my training partners, Denny, drew a rack spot right next to mine and he helped me think through where to place things. I also watched what other people were doing and just copied them. Transition is a place where things can go really well or horribly wrong, so being set up right is important. When I looked at my transition times after the race, I realized I could have shaved almost five minutes of my overall time if I had trusted myself a bit more. From swim-to-bike I geared up and stood there assuming I had forgotten something. I hadn't, but spent a few minutes under the distinct impression I had, like when you leave on vacation convinced you left the oven on.
Swim
I started swimming in February of this year. More precisely, I started dog paddling in February. I'm not kidding. This was recommended by Sandy, a friend who is an Ironman and USAT coach. I took her advice seriously, and would get in the kids pool at Life Time and simply paddle back and forth. If you take challenging yourself seriously, it often means forfeiting your pride, and on more than one occasion small children would walk by and stare at me with looks that clearly said 'Wow, I can swim better than that grown man.'
This lasted a couple weeks, then I started working with fins and floats in the lap pool. Sandy also taught me some technique, but I did not have a lot of time to really hardwire it because I needed to start focusing on endurance and distance. I had so much great support in this area from my friends who told me I would be fine, even when I expressed concern about ending up on the bottom of the lake.
On race day I decided to swim without my tri shirt for the first time because I heard the water was really warm and it was time to just get over my misgivings about my pale Irish skin. Looking back, I was not that nervous, and have to chalk this up to good preparation. I had worked hard in the open water and participated in the practice swims offered by the organizers. This allowed me to anticipate the conditions, especially trying to swim in a pack with people pawing at you, swimming over you, or knocking your goggles off. We all jumped off the dock and bobbed around for a bit, then they told us to hit it.
The event went well and I was able to enjoy looking up at the post-dawn moon when I went for air. I focused on the present moment and did not worry about the next event or how fast I was going. I was also a lot more aggressive that I thought I would be, even at the buoys where there was normally a big mob going into the turns, I got right in there and churned with everybody else. I came out of the water and heard my wife Catherine and son Aiden calling to me. I looked up and there they were, just a few feet away on the dock. This was one of the best parts of the entire day.
Bike
This was probably my strongest event of the day and definitely where training on the course paid off. I felt like I did not have to think about much except getting out of transition and staying consistent. I was ready for the hills and knew where I could step on the gas. I was again able to have moments where I was not focused on the physical demands or how fast I was going and simply take in the green fields and trees.
The only challenge came about a mile from the finish. A cyclist in front of me went to re-cage his water bottle but missed, sending the bottle skittering at me at high speed. I was trying to shift into high gear for an upcoming flat off the hill, and had one hand on my shifter and one hand on the right break. This was not a great situation as I only had one hand available to brake. Normally this would not be an issue, but normally I did not have a water bottle rocketing at my front tire while I was traveling 40 mph downhill. In hindsight, hitting the brake was probably not the best idea because my back tire fishtailed wildly and I thought 'Okay, this is the end of the race for me.' The 'permanent injury/hospitalization' part of the waiver was about to be realized. Fortunately I managed to get the back end of my bike to calm down and cranked down hard to pass him. He did, after all, have another bottle.
Run
I was putting on my shoes, and a person I used to work with, Caryn Kusleika came by, so we ran together for the first bit of the 10K. It was a shot in the arm at the perfect time. The run was the most difficult event of the day because by the time we got on the course the merciless mid-west heat and humidity had cranked up. I saw a couple of people throwing up along the way and one guy staggered up a hill muttering to himself in what sounded like Latin.
My experience running helped with this event, but it was very tough going. I attribute this to the fact that it came on the heels of a nearly one-mile swim and a 24 mile bike ride, plus weather conditions that make you feel like you are trying to run while wrapped in a hot, wet towel. Your sweat does not evaporate so it becomes nearly impossible to cool down and your body starts to tell you that you are an awful person. In spite of this, I finished with a smile on my face. There were some great cheerleaders like Jody and Sara on the course and some other people I could not really see because there was sweat and sunscreen in my eyes. I appreciated all the yelling at the end. It helped me through.
My experience running helped with this event, but it was very tough going. I attribute this to the fact that it came on the heels of a nearly one-mile swim and a 24 mile bike ride, plus weather conditions that make you feel like you are trying to run while wrapped in a hot, wet towel. Your sweat does not evaporate so it becomes nearly impossible to cool down and your body starts to tell you that you are an awful person. In spite of this, I finished with a smile on my face. There were some great cheerleaders like Jody and Sara on the course and some other people I could not really see because there was sweat and sunscreen in my eyes. I appreciated all the yelling at the end. It helped me through.
Post-race
If you look at pictures of me after the race, the only conclusion you could come to is that I had a great time. That was my goal. I challenged myself and did it with great people. I am fortunate to be able to do this, and blessed with some of the best people in the world to do it with. I drank five bottles of water and two Gatorades, then got to see my friend Lisa get to the podium for winning first in her age group.
I signed up for the Hy-Vee triathlon about 24 hours later.
I signed up for the Hy-Vee triathlon about 24 hours later.
