So This Is How It Feels

Chisago Lakes Triathlon was the Minnesota debut (as far as I know) of Team Trinity Designs. Here are 3 charter members - Stomper, Me, and NS Rob. There were a lot of us out there and it was kind of fun. NS knew some team members through kids, but didn't know they were on the team.

So this is what it feels like. I'm trying to remember what they call this. Oh yeah! It's racing. After months of focusing on going long, keeping effort sustainable it was really really fun to ride that edge. To push on the swim and bike and hold on for the run.

For the swim I started in the first row and went out hard. Early on a guy was 1/2 body ahead so I tucked in behind him. He was a strong kicker so the water was really churned and easy to follow. I no longer had to worry about picking my way through the numerous floaters, back and breast strokers. This guy was flying. I lost him at the turn despite executing a perfect stroke, backstroke, stroke turnaround. Now I was slightly overcooked with no pilot fish. Took a few breast strokes to catch my breath and put my head down to get to the beach. Where the heck is the beach? I know I was flying on the way out and I haven't lost that much on the way back. Why is this taking so long?

Clearly the swim was WAAAAAAAAAAY long. The fastest pace in the sprint was 2:04/100m which is crazy slow. Finally:

I hit the beach and made it up the hill in 10:11. The usual T1 - not fast but not too slow - 1:59. Wow my heart rate is up there. Took a bit of easy spinning before it dropped at all. I had been hoping to hammer out 22mph for the bike but could tell early that wasn't going to happen.

Rode along at around 21.5. Being in the 3rd sprint wave there weren't a lot of people in front of me. I had expected to get passed constantly but that wasn't really happening either. There was one stretch of road that was rough (the rest was awesome!). I hit a bump and heard what I thought was a tube popping. It was windy so the handling was just squirrely enough that I thought I was going flat on the rear. Pull off, hop off. No flat. Aha. Also no extra tube that I had wedged in between my bag and seat. It had stayed in there for all of IM CDA and numerous other rides, hauls on the rack, but it couldn't last as I charged over the bumps. Only lost 30 seconds as opposed to the minutes it would have taken me to change out the rear.
Finished the 21+ mile ride in 58:52 for an official average of 21.4mph.

My heart rate hovered above 160 for the bulk of the ride. That's way higher than the 135 I'd been training to ride for 6 hours. Not sure how the run will go.

Rocked T2 - 38 seconds. Jog bike to rack, slip off bike shoes and helmet, jam on running shoes, grab pile of gear (hat, glasses, watch and belt) and head out. No reason to stand there putting on the pile. Didn't realize I had another pair of glasses in the hat. Didn't realize it until I took the hat off to dump water on it at first stop. When the glasses hit the pavement I knew. Turned around and picked them up. Now I've got 2 pairs of sunglasses. Tuck 1 into the side pocket of my Trinity Designs top and kept moving.

I didn't look at my watch for heart rate or pace. Just tried to ride that fine line - pushing up to, but not over, the edge as far as my legs were concerned. Once I hit the park I tried to kick it in. There was a woman who had gone back and forth with me on the bike. She passed me early in the run and I thought I wouldn't see her again - yet there she was as we came into the park. I tried to encourage her to run it in hard - "you've got this" she said to me.

Finished the 5k in 27:44. At the finish I was in second but it was really early. Quickly I dropped to third. I never thought it would hold up. After some post race pancakes and soft serve (sweet!) they were calling my name. 3rd place in the Clydesdale division. Sweet. I had hoped to make the podium. I also finished ahead of Stomper - so it was a good day indeed.

After some research I may have discovered what happened to Stomper.

If you're smiling this big during a sprint you are NOT riding hard enough. Keep smilin' at Turtleman Stomper!

Ramsey lost his triginity. Here he is crossing the line. Pretty impressive for a big man training for Twin Cities Marathon in 2 months. He's hooked! Looking to do another race this year before TCM. Easy big fella. We'll get you out there plenty next season.