Musselman 70.3: A Humbling Race

Friday night dinner at a vineyard

After really enjoying this race two years ago, and Mike winning a free entry to it during the Tri Club raffle in Maine, we decided to come back. It was a Tri Club championship race so the Philly Tri Club showed up in force. Two years later it would prove to be a very different experience.

Last time I finished in 7h01 so I thought I had a good chance to break 7 hours, but I knew the heat would be a factor. There was also the issue of my plantar fasciitis for the last month. And there was the threat of a non-wetsuit legal swim, but race morning the water miraculously measured just under the limit. 

 

We arrived on Friday, checked into our Airbnb, and headed to dinner at a beautiful vineyard overlooking the lake. With our house only being only one mile from transition, we avoided the crazy parking situation and rode our bikes down on Saturday morning for efficient registration and bike check in. Saturday afternoon Mike and I went to visit one of Mike’s work friends who has a house on Lake Cayuga. We returned for perfect timing to make our pasta dinner and hang with our housemates, Amy, Shuntae, Tom, and my sister Barb. We were in bed by 9am, and I had an unusually good sleep, waking up just before my 4am alarm. Like clockwork, we left at 5am to walk down to the race, got set up, and lined up for the race. But the race would turn into a different type of clockwork.

Swim: Ironman improved the swim entrance and exit from our last race (when we and over 700 athletes didn’t get a swim time due to a timing malfunction). I line up in the 46 – 50 minute seeding and to my surprise there are not many people in the seedings behind me so I’m in the last group of athletes to enter the water. I confidently follow all the sighting buoys with near perfect swim navigation, finishing in 57:57, just over last time.

 

T1: I’m delighted to see Barb cheering me on as I exit the water. The transition area was closer to the swim area this time, so I clock a 5:30 and go on my way.

 

Bike: After doing hilly Maine last year, I thought returning to this course would feel so much easier. As one of the top ranked bike courses, it is a magnificent ride through Amish farmlands with views of both Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. Knowing last time I averaged 16.29 mph, I start out strong, but I feel my energy draining on miles 20 – 30 so I stop for a bathroom break at mile 30, refill my water bottle, and take a gel. I pick up the pace somewhat but the heat is starting to wear on me so I’m surprised when I finish at 3:50:31, average 14.46mph, 25 minutes slower than previously and 5 minutes slower than the hilly Maine course. But, I’m always happy with a successful bike completion with no accidents or mechanical issues, no matter the time. I’m once again delighted to see Barb welcoming me back to transition.

 

T2: I take my time a little more than usual to regroup myself, with T2 at 6:08.

 

Mike had a great race!

Run: I start at my prescribed race pace for a few miles, stopping at every aid station for water and putting ice in my tri kit and hat. As I hit the “big hill” at the first loop, I walk it, run some and then walk more when I hit the next couple of “big hills”. Coming back down, I go into run mode but the heat is really starting to get to me. I pass the Philly tri club tent and Barb and teammates give me a boost of energy. Barb can see I’m starting to hurt so she walks aside me giving me motivation. I begin to run again, only to get sick to my stomach at mile 6. At this stage, I think I’m going to have to drop out but with a little rest I’m back on my feet. A volunteer who knows an athlete struggling like me, gives him a big pep talk telling him, “Jeremy, don’t get in your head”, “you’ve got this”, “the app still says you will finish on time’. I soak in that pep talk and keep going. 

 

I see Barb again and tell her I got sick, but I’m ok and can still finish it. Doing the math in my head, I know I probably can’t walk the whole time though. Jeremy and I are both on a run / walk protocol for the second loop giving each other encouragement, with more walking than running. I know if I get sick again, that could be the end of my race, so I watch my heart rate and try to balance forward movement with stopping for water and ice and walking. My watch isn’t showing my total race time, so I keep doing the math in my head for what I think my splits are to judge what I need to do to finish in regulation time.

 

Down the finish chute

I have never been so happy to arrive at a finish line. Barb and Mike are cheering me in. Barb captures some of my best finish running photos – I look stronger than what I feel. I immediately take advantage of the chair right after the finish line. Soon after I finish, I see Jeremy sitting next me and we acknowledge our mutual accomplishment of finishing under the 8.5 hour regulation time cut off. I finish the run in 3:22:42, for a total time of 8:22:46. Turns out my calculations were pretty accurate, as I thought I had around 3h30 for the run.

 

And then I vomit. I gratefully accept the wheelchair escort to the med tent where I find myself amongst other athletes suffering from the heat. I’m in better shape than some who must be forced into an ice bath. They give me ice, hydration and after getting sick to my stomach again (right after I told the doctor I felt better and he wrote discharge orders), they give me anti-nausea medication. Barb and Mike pack up my gear, and Mike rides home to get the car. After a cool shower, I feel well enough to join the Philly Tri Club for dinner, where we celebrate our 5^th place Tri Club podium award.

 

I have never come this close to not finishing a race. At one point I thought my blog post was going to be about my first DNF, but the real lesson was one of perseverance in the face of adversity. It also showed me what it’s like to be in the back of the pack. The race course really clears out of athletes and the exiting athletes and spectators get in your way. The volunteers, however, were amazing and stayed with us to the end, many working in the hot sun the whole time. At the finish line, they ran out of finisher hats, but compensated with a nice Ironman hat. Every race has a story and lessons. This one truly humbled me.

Celebrating PTC's 5th place award

Signing the "Wall of Mussel"

The story of "The Wall of Mussel" https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/geneva-ny/points-of-interest/wall-of-mussel

TriDot Pool School: Getting My Swim Groove Back

The April 2024 Boston Pool School Crew

Ever since TriDot launched its Pool School a year and half ago, I’ve been pining to go. For a while I had plateaued in swimming, and more recently I’ve been getting progressively slower☹. Finally there was a school with dates I was free and in the nearby Boston area. 

 
I received the homework videos and began practicing the moves on dry land, which felt oddly foreign to me. Maybe it’s because the dog kept licking my homework…. The Karate Kid video clips describing the importance of the Miyagi method reminded me that it’s all about patience and building muscle memory. 

 Twenty-something of us arrive at Brandeis University on a rainy April Saturday. We are greeted by a multitude of coaches and given an overview of the 12 grades we will progress through the next couple of days and told to keep an open mind. We are assigned approximately four to a lane with two dedicated coaches. We begin with a kicking drill and then spend the rest of the day “finding our FASST”, which seems to be eluding me since CEO Jeff Booher kindly takes me aside to my own lane to help me find the right body position: Fingers flat, Arms stretched straight, Shoulders at a 45 degree angle, Spine aligned…from tail to crown with head anchored down, Thumb on thigh… with palm to the sky. Sounds easy enough, right?! My biggest problem is getting my shoulder at the 45-degree angle so I’m not “stacked” beyond that. Finally it clicks! 

Once we’ve found the correct body position, we progress to adding the arm motion – “Pinnocio” as they call it, a high, forward-facing elbow, finger trip drill. Four hours of instruction and drills actually pass quickly! Perhaps it’s because watches were prohibited with threat of confiscation! We wrap for the day and enjoy a fun evening socially at the nearby Craft Hall.

The next day we pick up where we left off and begin adding “the glove”, reaching out with one arm first, moving to two arms as we progress. Before I know it, they say it’s time to take our 100-yard time trial test to see if we have improved from our baseline 100 we submitted before the school. I hardly feel ready – after all the drilling I worry I’ve forgotten how to swim for real! One of our lane mates volunteers to go first, and he beats his baseline! Then the next one goes and beats his! I’m encouraged but still wonder if I will really be faster. In I go, and the first 50 feels good, but I feel like I’m losing steam on the next 25. My lane coach Courtney yells “kick Cathy, kick”! And so I do, and I finish and look up to my other lane coach Scott: “1:54,” he cries out! That is 12 seconds faster than my 2:06 benchmark!!!

My lane mates and coaches Scott and Courtney

As all the results come in, every single person improved – amazing!!! Our school saw a 15% improvement over baseline, with some pretty dramatic improvements, including my one lane mate, Amy, who went from a 2:01 to a 1:23! TriDot has grown so much over the last few years with coaches and subscribers all over the world, with former pro triathletes like Mark Allen and Miranda Carafae as coaches, with Mike Reilly as the Chief Motivation Officer, and as an official partner to Ironman. But the focus on training efficiency and science based, measurable results has stayed core to Jeff’s mission. I was beyond impressed that he showed up as one of the coaches. “I want to make sure all of the coaches have fully grasped the teaching methods,” he told me. Given our class success, I would say they have.

Amazing - we all improved!!

Ironman Maine 70.3: New PRs!

As we searched for this year’s 70.3, we settled on Augusta, Maine since it was the Northeast TriClub championship, figuring we would have a good Philly Tri Club crew. We signed up early and 40 other club members followed our lead. Then I studied the bike 3200’ gain elevation charts, and said, “what did I get myself into”?! It looked harder than the Poconos tri I did last year that I had declared my toughest bike yet, and that was only an Olympic. 

Leading up to the race, I did as much hill training as I could on our Martha’s Vineyard hills but it still didn’t feel like enough. I was grateful for my Amity Island running friends who accompanied me on many training rides. My first race rehearsal went well, but my second one was a disaster, with a rear flat tire, defective spare tube, and mechanical issues getting the tire back on. My nutrition got completely thrown off, and I arrived home with GI distress. Mike had his own issues having been diagnosed with Lyme Disease a month before and on antibiotics for 3 weeks. Given all this, neither of thought there was even the remote possibility of a PR.

 

Adding to our pre-event calamities, Mike’s flight back to Martha’s Vineyard was cancelled, causing me to have to pack for both of us and load and transport our bikes. He rented a car and met me in Boston, and we were on our way to Maine. First stop: a seafood shack in Kittery, ME for a lobster roll. We arrived mid-afternoon, got checked into our Airbnb and headed to athlete check-in and the TriClub party event. Mike being the accountant declared that the odds of winning the raffle were good and so we stuck around. When the last prize – a race entry to next year’s Musselman 70.3 – was about to be called, I looked at Mike who was wearing last year’s Musselman shirt and had a feeling he was going to win – and he did!

 

Our roommates Kristin and Terri arrived late that evening. Kristin and I are TriDot ambassadors and had been roommates for the first ambassador camp. Besides checking in our bikes on Saturday, top of the list for me was doing bike and swim course reconnaissance. I was relieved that none of the hills matched the steep uphill grade of the Poconos course but the whole course was rolling hills. I knew the key would be getting as much speed on the downhills as possible to make the uphills easier on the legs. Saturday proved to be an uneventful, relaxed day that concluded with a pasta dinner with another TriDot ambassador, Kristin M., and Kristin and Terri and an early bedtime given the necessary 3:30 am alarm for a 6:00am race start!!!

 

RACE DAY: We left our Airbnb at 4:45am and unlike other races, we were pleasantly surprised no traffic jams and easy parking, particularly since we had access to close TriClub parking, which we had spotted the day before. Thank God for the evening rain that broke the heat wave that had been prevailing for at least a week. We got our warmup walking 1 mile to the swim start.

SWIM: The pros went off on time at 6:00am and 14 minutes later the first pro was out of the water!  WOW! I hedged my bet and seated myself in the 43-45 min wave, as I had heard the downriver swim saved people about 10 min last year. Once in the water, I didn’t feel the pull of a strong current, but boy were the buoys coming up fast.  Before I knew it, I was at the last turn buoy and couldn’t believe it when I looked at my watch and saw a time of 22:24 as I exited.

T1: The .25 mile uphill run from the swim exit gave the legs an early workout. I was happy to still keep my transition at 9:59.

BIKE: I actually was having a ton of fun on the rolling hills for the first 20 miles, hitting nearly 40 mph on one downhill. True to the race director’s guidance, things got harder on miles 20 – 30, and true to my own assessment, it was the cumulative effect of the hills throughout the course that made the bike tiring. I decided to take a quick bathroom break at mile 30 since the porta potty was open and refilled my hydration system. My moving speed was 15.1 mph for a time of 3:44:36.

 

T2: Quick at 3:55!

 

RUN: I hadn’t done any run course reconnaissance but based on the elevation charts and what people said, I knew the hard parts came at the end. I was actually feeling energy coming off the bike, so I pushed my pace in the early parts, particularly when downhill and shaded. I started doing the math and realized I could break 7 hours if I kept a good pace and did a 2h30 run. As time went on, it got hotter with less shade so I started stopping at every aid station for a quick drink and walk break. The hills – in the sun - appeared in miles 9-11. I took a walk break during the long uphill and looked at my total time. I was on pace to actually get a 70.3 PR! Once I started back down the hill at mile 11, I began running again. As I came into the finish chute, the Philly Tri Club cheered me on to give me the final boost to the finish line with a view of the Capitol, finishing the run in 2:24:53.

 

I was beyond thrilled to finish with a time of 6:45:46, a PR by 8 minutes against my flat course Atlantic City 70.3!!!  Mike also had a 70.3 PR of 5:27:17. Pushing the run did land me in the med tent sick to my stomach but by dinner time, I revived myself enough to join the Philly Tri Club at the local brewery for the evening dinner.

 

This race was a lesson in never underestimating the possibilities! 

Amity Over 50

Amity Over 50 is born

October 22, 2022: a name is born celebrating our five decades life status, and a plan is hatched. A group of my Amity Island Running Club (AIRC) friends and I are sitting on the beach on a beautiful fall day contemplating upcoming races. Our club has just taken over the Martha’s Vineyard Winter Classic 20 miler road race. Before I know it, people are registering relay teams for a race I previously had no desire to run…“it’s too cold for long runs…winter is for speed work…God knows what the weather will be race day…” are all going through my head.

I cave. “You had me at t-shirts!”, I text my friends that Mike and I have joined the party and registered as “Amity Over 50 Team Nala” relay.

New Years Day Polar Plunge

Before I know it, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are upon us and with all the travelling around to family, my training is sporadic. Returning to Martha’s Vineyard for New Years, I start the New Year off right with a club 5K and polar plunge and Thirsty Thursday night runs. Mike and I start to join the weekend training crew and actually enjoy the long winter runs – ok, maybe it’s really the brunch and comradery afterwards. Each week our Amity Over 50 crew takes turns selecting a route and hosting brunch after the run.

Thirsty Thursday Night Runs

“I ❤️us”, is declared with lots of confirming emojis. These are the most compassionate, caring people I am so proud to call my friends. Our professions are varied (teachers, police chief, engineer, accountants…) but our passion to live a social, healthy and active life in our fifties and beyond is our common bond. There is inclusivity (yes, we do welcome young ones to join us) and no drama. Having all been married to our spouses for multiple decades, I get the sense we’ve all learned how to form and keep good relationships.

Weekend Brunch Runs

February 18, 2023: We are treated to a blue sky, full sun race day. It’s brisk in the thirties but pleasant running weather. I take the first 10-mile leg and the 2nd leg relayers cheer me on. When I see Mike a little over a mile away from the relay station, I tell him, “you better get to the station.” “No worries,” he declares. Famous last words as I give it my all and run into the relay station, and he’s nowhere to be found! I see him casually walking in the distance (my multi-decade relationship conscience just sighs, “that’s so Mike…”). He quickly jumps in, and feeling guilty for his delay, keeps a fast pace and PRs his 10-mile time, even with bruised ribs from a bike mishap a couple weeks before. I didn’t have a 10-mile time to compare to, but my average pace was faster than my fastest standalone half marathon. My friends all had great races too with some of their own PRs. And, AIRC won the club cup for the first time!

Amity Over 50 20 Mile Relay

While PRs and a trophy give us a sense of achievement, the real win has been finding each other and nurturing our friendship these last few months. Amity Over 50 is living our best life.

#amitymeansfriendship

Amity Over 50 Helped the Club Win the Running Club Cup

Buzzards Bay Triathlon: Surviving the Swim

Being in my 11th year of triathlons and having done every triathlon distance, I’ve been thinking maybe I should change the name of this blog to Swim, Bike, Run, Thrive. This confidence that I’ve gained over the years also led to my ingoing thought about this race: “it’s just a sprint”. Mother Nature has a way of reminding you to never say that!

We heard great things about this race, held at Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA. Being a 9am start, it also meant all of our Martha’s Vineyard fellow triathletes could take the 5:30am ferry and arrive in time. Mike and I opted to stay over the night before so we went and checked out the venue and picked up our packets. The night before, the water was choppy, nothing too crazy, but here is how race day went down…

We arrive around 7:40am, around the same time all of our friends are arriving. The wind is whipping westward and wow, there are real waves. I give my friends Tony and Theresa some pointers about navigating the transition area as this is only their second duathlon, the last one having been 9 years ago. We’ve been biking and running together all summer so I’m excited to see them engage in the sport. We make our way to the beach and I see my friend Stefanie with a concerned look on her face. She tried a practice swim and was pummeled by the waves. The waves are relentless, coming one after another, and it must be low tide because it’s on one hand too shallow to dive into them, but on the other hand, they are pretty powerful. My race goal becomes to just survive the swim.

At the swim start, the race director tells us that if we can’t breathe to our left, we’ll be learning that day! Thankfully I’m a natural left side breather. While I practice bilateral breathing in the pool, in open water I usually default back to my left side for comfort. Stefanie, Shelly, and I are in the next to the last wave, so we watch how others do. In addition to the waves, we have to account for a down current, which should help us in this point-to-point swim, and we have to get out far enough past the buoys so the waves don’t break on us and we don’t get pulled into shore. We watch as the first swimmers learn these lessons the hard way – many angle too close to the buoy only to be swept past it before able to make the left hand turn. At one point the jet ski comes in to help a swimmer, and we see some swimmers come back to shore.

The race director, a former pro, gives the next victims some advice – swim straight out and go past the red buoy before trying to round it; do not angle in; do the hard work first and the rest will be easy. Well, we’re not too sure about the rest being easy but before we know it, it’s go time. We send Shelly first since she has the most experience with crazy swim conditions; I go next, and then Stefanie. I’m a little hesitant and hear Stefanie’s encouraging “Go Cathy” as she runs past me. It is not easy going through each wave but I do it, and thankfully see I will make it past the first buoy. Once swimming, there are some pretty large swells, and I can’t really see the next buoy but I just keep calm and keep at it until eventually I see it, and at my current trajectory and accounting for the waves pulling me in, I know I need to swim further back out so I pull hard to do that, and I’m relieved to get past it. Once I’m on shore, I see an official take the chip of the guy who exited before me, telling him he had not rounded the buoy and was therefore disqualified. Phew – glad I read the currents and made the effort! I’m surprised to see my time isn’t too bad (12:39, 2:22 min/100m).

T1 requires a quarter mile run. I put on shoes for easier running that I left in the designated area. It takes me forever to get my wetsuit off and so my transition is abnormally long (7:32).

Once on the bike I’m surprised that I’m not feeling better to push it more but perhaps the swim tired me out. I do feel good passing a lot of people – the advantage of being in a later wave and a slower swimmer. The wind is pretty strong and seems to always be either a side or a head wind and no tail wind. It reminds me of the winds I faced at Ironman Maryland but that was for 112 miles! The ride is scenic amongst vineyards and ocean views so the 13+ miles are over before I know it (46:47, 17.9mph).

My T2 (1:55) is much faster than my T1. On the run I continue to pass people although there are certainly people passing me too. I start out with under 9 min miles but can’t hold that pace. The wind is gusty but the ocean views are enticing. I just try and enjoy the run, encourage people along the way, and finish to find my friends welcoming me in (29:20, 9:27 min/mi run for a 1:38:15 finish).

Later I hear that they did offer triathletes the option to switch to the duathlon if they were uncomfortable with the swim. I’m glad I didn’t hear that as I probably would have switched. I actually relished the challenge of one of the hardest triathlon swims I’ve done. Perhaps I should change this blog to Swim, Bike, Run, Thrive.

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.

Nala was once again part of the Ironman Support crew!

Overall beat my predicted times!

Niagara Falls provided a great side trip

Barb enjoyed wind surfing

Enjoying the view and local wine

Family Tri’ing in the Poconos

When I started triathlons 11 years ago it was part of some New Years’ Resolutions to engage my creative side by writing about my triathlon ventures and staying connected to family, and that hasn’t changed! As I looked for 2022 races, and with historical June races like the Philadelphia Triathlon and the Stamford Triathlon no longer in existence, I saw the Philly Tri Club was making the Kinetic Multisports Poconos Triathlon a focus race.  I recalled a fun stop at Lake Wallenpaupack years ago so this equidistant location seemed like the perfect venue for us to meet my parents and Barb for a triathlon weekend.  Mike and I planned to do the Olympic on Saturday, and Barb planned for the Sprint on Saturday.

We made two mistakes before the weekend even began.  I discovered that I had left my Torpedo water bottle for easy aero fueling at our home on Martha’s Vineyard.  Fortunately, our local CT tri shop, Pacific Cycling and Triathlon had one in stock!  We made the mistake of checking routes during non-peak travel times so we thought the route that goes across the Tappan Zee Bridge by our favorite NY bagel place would take the same as the Northern route over Bear Mountain, but our bagel detour ended up costing us about an hour in traffic.  

 

I had found a house right on the lake with a dock, and upon arriving we discovered we could
even see and kayak to the swim course from the house.  Upon arrival, we hurried over to check in, review the transitions, and check out the bike course, a 29-mile course, which is 3 miles longer than a typical Olympic race.  Oh my – the hills on the bike course were daunting.  There was a nice downhill for the first half, but the second half featured a 2-mile climb followed by more rolling hills.

 

We headed back for our traditional triathlon eve pasta dinner and another hour of race preparations.  Things moved at pre-race triathlon warped speed and before we knew it, it was past our intended bedtime.

We headed out the next morning around 5:45am.  Unlike so many races, parking was easy and close in the high school parking lot.  We had plenty of time to secure a good transition spot and meet up with our Philly Tri Club for a picture.  

 

SWIM:  45:41 - After the long course athletes went off on the swim course, it was our turn.  The water was a comfortable 70 degrees and having not swum in a wetsuit for some time, I tried to stay calm and slowly ease into the swim.  Normally I’m good at sighting but for some reason, I was having trouble following the right buoys of this rectangular, double loop course.  On 3 occasions kayaks were directing me to get back on course, including one time when I was pointed to the wrong buoy.  I thought for sure I must have swum extra, but my watch indicated I swam right around .9 miles, but I know I wasted a lot of time since my pace was recorded as 3:03/100 yards.

Of course swimming!

 

T1:  7:31 - The somewhat long transition up the hill on rocks didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.  After “being mad at the swim course”, I was just happy to get out of the water. And then, I couldn’t get my wet suit over the chip. I wasn’t thinking straight and should have just taken it off!

 

BIKE:  1:53:43 - The bike was Mike’s lowpoint and my highpoint.  As he was exiting the high school, he hit a bump that sent him to the ground and caused a flat tire.  Or maybe the tire was a little flat to begin with given he had had trouble with the valve.  The good news for him was that the race mechanics were right there and helped fix it.  So on he went with a bloody elbow and bruised hip.

 

As for me, I knew I wanted to make up time on the downhills so I stayed aero as much as possible and flew as fast as 40 miles mph down the hills.  I was so glad we had driven the course the night before so I was ready for a couple of sharp turns into hills, and I was mentally ready for the 2 mile climb.  As I saw many people give up and walk their bike up the hill, I was determined to stay on the bike.  And, I did!  The remaining rolling hills weren’t really rolling so I continued the quest to climb them all.  In the end, I could tell my legs were tired but I gained huge bike confidence on this course.  In fact, averaging 15.3mph, I had the second fastest bike time in my age group and it proved to be my best event this time.

 

Killer 2 mile climb!

T2: 1:36 - Non-eventful and fast!

 

RUN:  1:11:35 - Normally the run is my best event, but not this time.  Between legs that were toast and a slightly hilly, trail course with just about every surface – pavement – grass – dirt – bark mulch – sinking mulch – mud – stones – uneven pavement – there would be no run PRs today and a slow 11:31 pace.  The best part of the course was the high school running track where I waved to Mom and Dad as I made my second loop, and gladly finished.

 

This was certainly my longest Olympic, finishing at 4:00:08 – yes, wish I had been paying attention to the total time to break 4 hours.  I used this race as one of my race rehearsals for our upcoming half Ironman, and I’m glad to have worked out some kinks and get my race brain back on.  But most of all, I was happy to see some of my Philly Tri friends and spend time with family in a beautiful lake setting.  Oh yeah, and remember Nala, from last year – the foster dog.  Proving she can be a good traveler and companion during triathlons, she’s now a permanent member of the family!

Nala competed in the kayak-swim event!