Swim Bike Run Survive: Musselman 70.3: Beautiful Finger Lakes Racing

Lake Seneca is a beautiful race venue

When I was in the throes of training for my 70.3 followed by the NYC marathon last year, I declared, “maybe next year I’ll just race shorter distances.” Well, of course I finished the NYC marathon and then declared, “I need to find something else to train for!”

I decided I was ready to try a new 70.3 course, and having gained more confidence, I was willing to try some hills rather than the flat courses I had done to date. I had been following the Musselman 70.3 race reviews since Ironman took it over and decided it looked like a beautiful location and the right kind of course with rolling hills on the bike and some run elevation. It also appealed to us since we could make a vacation out of it and visit Niagara Falls.

The Finger Lakes region lives up to the beautiful pictures I had seen, and the lakes provide for wonderful swimming, boating, and dining spots. After the AirBnB I had reserved right on Lake Seneca near the race course cancelled on me, I was forced to find a new house 25 minutes away in Canandaigua, which also featured a beautiful lake and town. Barb came to help dog sit Nala and on Saturday, she took a wind surfing lesson while we did a warmup swim in the very clear, 70-degree lake.

I found some fellow Ambassadors

The race venue is right along Seneca Lake. They have you park at the Seneca State Park and walk down the path along the water for about a mile. The first time we did it to check in on Friday, it was a beautiful and pleasant walk. But having do this multiple times throughout the weekend was not ideal as you want to rest your legs, and it was too much for Nala. Furthermore, on race morning, there was a traffic jam getting into the park, so you need to allow for extra time for a race that has an early transition closing of 6:15am. If you can find lodging within easier walking distance to the venue, that is ideal. I also hope the race organizers will take the feedback that the Ironman Village logistics were unnecessarily complicated requiring even more walking and going through merchandise tent with your bike and dog to get to most events. The other disappointing thing was that the race organizers experienced timing issues, and my and about 200 other athletes did not get an official swim and T1 time, and we were placed into a special category for our overall rankings. Thankfully, my watch captured my times pretty accurately.

Here’s my race report:

SWIM: 55:34. I had gotten one open water swim practice done in which I swam the 1.2 mile distance non-stop in my Martha’s Vineyard waters, and I was surprised how slow I was. I wasn’t quite sure if it was the current, not being used to my wetsuit or what, but my goal was simply to be faster than my 1-hour rehearsal swim. For race day, I decided to go with my sleeveless wetsuit thinking maybe I would have better arm mobility. The water temp dropped 4 degrees to a chilly 66 degrees that felt cold at first, but I got over it. I accomplished my goal and was at least a minute faster than last year’s 70.3 but a minute slower than my first 70.3. I did accomplish something remarkable – I swam exactly 2100 yards, so my sighting was spot on!

T1: 9:33. No errors and pretty much on par with my T1 times since I usually take the time to put my socks on and it’s a large transition area.

BIKE: 3:26:24. I’m declaring this the best bike course of all my triathlons so far. The scenes were beautiful, the roads with the exception of a few spots that were well marked were in great shape, and best of all, there were very few cars. And we had Amish people cheering us on to boot! I enjoyed the rolling the hills. After last month’s Poconos race and my Martha’s Vineyard rides, the hills were no big deal! I executed the bike as I hoped with an average pace of 16.29 mph.

T2: 6:03. I opted for a porta potty stop so my T2 time reflects that, but I still cut my T2 time in half compared to my first 70.3 and was faster than last year’s 70.3.

Chariots of Fire Joy!

RUN: 2:24:02. I had my best run that I’ve had since Atlantic City (when I did 2:14:18). Considering the hills and the heat, I’m pleased with my time. I saw Mike twice on the course, and the second time was when he was within yards of the finish line, so I got to hear his name called. One of the highlights – during my first loop after I had conquered the hills, I was coming back down through town and there were church bells ringing out the theme from the “Chariots of Fire”. In that moment, the run felt effortless and joyous. While it didn’t feel effortless when I had to conquer the hills a second time, I carried that joy right through with me to the finish line!

My watch recorded an overall time of 7:01:34 which is within 2 seconds of the times I’ve recorded above between my watch and my official times that were recorded. My stretch goal was to break 7 hours, as I did in my very first 70.3, but considering the hills and heat, I’m very pleased with my race performance. Despite the race logistics challenges, I highly recommend this race – and that you add time on to explore the area.