Bigfoot Triathlon Race Report

First Olympic distance triathlon!!

First off, what an awesome venue! And now to the backstory:

Last year a friend of mine joined me at the RAM Racing Turkey Trot 5k/10k. Earlier in the year he had registered for his first 5k, but due to other obligations he was unable to be at the race that day. So, I talked to him about doing this race as I would be singing the National Anthem and then running the 10k. I told him he could do either distance. He said that he had already trained for a 5k, so he would be doing the 10k. Having finished that and feeling good about the whole thing I started talking to him about triathlon. I told him that I had done a couple sprints and an Ironman 70.3. After explaining the whole thing and explaining the distances he asked if I was planning on doing a 70.3 the next fall and if I did which one would I do. I told him I was planning on one, but I didn't know yet. He told me he was game and that he would be signing up with me. I also told him I was thinking about doing this race depending on my schedule and that it might be a good idea for him to do it just so he can get his feet wet and see what a triathlon feels like. So I reserved a camp site less than half mile from the transition and we went up that saturday afternoon before the race.

Lake Geneva is awesome. It is definitely a party town in the sumer because the lake is warm, the weather wasn't bad and the road is literally 2 feet from the lake edge making it easy to get to. RAM Racing chose a very good spot when they started this triathlon. I know the race director from the previous couple years of volunteering with RAM. I found Debbie on Saturday and asked if they had anyone doing the National Anthem before the race or if they were just doing a recording. She pointed me towards the gal who was in charge of that, I remembered her from last year's Turkey Trot 10k where I'd sung the National Anthem for RAM. She said they didn't have anyone so I was able to sing the National Anthem before the race. Always one of my favorite parts of the race.

Goal: I hadn't done any heavy training for this race and I'd never done this distance before, but I was shooting for 2:30:00.

All setup and ready to go

Swim:
Definitely the weakest of my three events. I'd only been in a pool twice in the six months leading up to the race and one of those times was for the sprint tri in Alaska a few weeks earlier. The water was perfect. It was clear and not too cold, just right for a little swim. One of my strengths on the swim, though, is my ability to not freak out. I positioned myself to the side of the group so I wouldn't have to worry about getting swam over or elbowed/kicked in the face. I'd had problems in the past with my goggles taking on water, but this time I didn't have that problem at all. I settled into a good pace and just cruised through the 1500m as quickly as possible without trying to burn any matches.

Time - 33:09 - 2:13/100m
T1 - 3:22 - The run from the swim exit to the transition was pretty far.

Strava link: http://app.strava.com/activities/62410413

Bike:
As it has been this year the bike has been my strength of the three events. I knew that this was going to be where I made up the time I would lose on both the swim and the run. While I hadn't prepared as much as I would have liked for the elevation gain on the course I did feel that the amount of riding and the amount of pushing it I had been doing really served me well when it came to keeping my power up. It was a really windy day and we had either headwind/crosswind combo or just plain headwind. The last portion of the course we were lucky enough to get a major tailwind coupled with a downhill portion. This made for very high speeds with less effort, which was a nice change, especially right before transitioning to the run.

Time - 1:06:01 - 22.6 mph avg 2:39/mi - 32/551 OA 5/32 AG
T2 - 2:03

Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/62409451

Run:
In the beginning I felt fairly good. Then my legs started to feel extremely heavy. I thought that this would be a run on pavement, but it was actually on trail. And the very beginning of the first loop was around a lake, so the ground was soggy and my shoes ended up taking water through the sole, which led to soggy feet. Luckily I didn't have any blisters bother me at all, not even after the run. I ended up slowing to an easy pace that would let me just get through the run. I also made a habit of walking the aid stations, which is what I do at most races that I start hurting on. I really need to start getting my mental toughness built up and just pushing through because I know I can handle it, I just let my legs get the best of me. Overall the course was very nice. The soggy lake wasn't enough to ruin it at all. Very nice wooded portions and a mix of open and very sunny portions. Right before the finish line there's a decent hill that was fun to just push through to get up and over for the final sprint across the line. Overall I wasn't too sad about the run, but I know it's where I can use a lot of work.

Time - 56:48 - 9:58/mi

Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/62409896/overview

Total time: 2:41:21 - 131/551 OA - 17/32 AG - 114/349 Sex

Finish line... Obviously.

Good things:
-Maintained a middle of the pack swim time with little swim training
-Biked a solid bike split that was only 7 minutes off the fastest bike split
-Nutrition was well-maintained with Hammer Gels on the bike and run
-I got to sing the National Anthem!

Improvements:
-Work on that swim
-Work on that run
-Practice more bike/run transitions to get the legs to feel more fluid after biking
-Practice transitions

Well run race and if I were going to be in the area next year I would definitely compete at this again!

Tri the Kenai

So, a few months ago when Marnie and I decided we were going to come to Alaska for a vacation I couldn't help but to see if there were any races going on. I really didn't expect any triathlons to be happening as it is chilly, even in June, but lo and behold I was wrong!! There were two during our trip. One was the day we left and although I would have liked to do that one since two of my friends were it wasn't gonna happen. The second, which was further away, was right in the middle of the trip. To make things even better it was just about halfway home from Homer, AK, where we would be visiting my grandparents. I figured this would be a way to end a trip down the Kenai Peninsula. So I looked into Tri the Kenai sprint triathlon.

I've found that if I ask the race director if they do anything for military they usually will either not email me back or will tell me no. Which is fine, it never hurts to ask especially when I've been put on a race budget by The Boss and I'm trying to get in as many races as possible. This time I lucked out! Not only did they do a discount, but that discount was a complete waiver of entry fees! I quickly consulted The Boss and she said it wouldn't be a problem.

Marnie AKA "The Boss"

Now, I asked the boss if I could bring my speed machine up to Anchorage, but due to the unreasonable fees airlines charge to fly a bike even if it is under 50 lbs and your only piece of checked baggage I quickly received a "NO" from The Boss. All was well, when the RD emailed me he mentioned he would have a bike I could borrow as long as a 56 cm would work. It's a few cm above what I ride right now, but that would work. He also told me that I could adjust the bike as I needed to make it work. When I got there and made the adjustments I was truly grateful. It was an older bike, but it was very well maintained! Even had Ultegra and Dura-Ace on it! Wheels were as smooth as butter!

Race day:
We woke up around 7 since the race didn't start until 10 ish for me. We had about an hour and a half of driving from Homer, AK to get into Soldotna, which gave us plenty of time to get Genevieve up and into her carseat and soundly back asleep by the time we'd gone 5 miles. The Boss was hungry, so we stopped at a gas station to get food. Good chance for me to get some proper nutrition and fuel for the sprint... A Honey Bun and a soda... Cause, you know... Gotta be healthy! We stopped a few times so Marnie could get pictures of the two volcanoes on the other side of the Cook Inlet. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

We got there about 20 minutes before packet pickup and the transition closed, which gave me more than enough time to make adjustments and set out my shoes before heading into the pool area. When I pulled out my packet and got my swim cap out The Boss asked me if they knew I was a boy... We looked around and noticed everyone had bright pink race caps

Sweet, pink swim cap! This was a few days after when packing to come home.

Swim:

I hadn't been in a pool for a little over 6 months, so I was a bit anxious about how I'd do with the swim. I knew that I wouldn't be doing any flip-turning. Once in I relaxed a bit and just went for it, after all it was only a sprint. I was pretty pleased with my ability to keep pace and ended up avg at 1:30/100m. Definitely room for improvement, but not sad about it.

Putting on my sweet race cap before I got in the pool.

Time - 7:30 - 1:30/100m - No placing as results were total time and did not have any splits
T1 - 2:08

Bike:

WOW HILLS! I hadn't really anticipated the size of the hills that were on this course. It reminded me of Branson, MO 70.3 last year. Luckily this was only 10 miles and not 56. As I was right after "elite" men there weren't many people ahead of me to catch. I was able to catch a relay biker and another of the males, but there was no way I was catching any of the "elite" females as they were 10 minutes ahead of the "elite" males. For being so hilly I was pretty pleased with my time. Generally I focus on having good cadence, especially for grinding up hills, but without any indicators other than what I felt I did this all on PE.

Time - 29:47 - 2:58/mi - No placing as results were total time and did not have any splits
T2 - 1:11

Run:

Also super hilly. I was very happy with this course! Instead of using paved roads like most sprint tri's they had access to the cross country ski trails behind the high school. It was comprised of one short loop and then a long loop. The breakup was late this year so the middle of the trail and some of the lower points in the trail were a bit muddy. It just added to the fun. My legs felt pretty good, they were a bit shaky the first uphill, but as soon as I got up the hill they got their power back and I was able to set into a decent pace. Not as fast as I would like, but the speed will be back by the end of summer.

Feeling great after the first short loop.

Time - 25:05 - 8:04/mi - No placing as results were total time and did not have any splits

Total time - 1:05:36 - 18/115 Overall -  2/3 Age Group (HAHAHA)

Thoughts:
Good:

-First triathlon of the season
-PE on bike was good, especially with all the hills I was able to maintain above 20 mph
-Great race!

Needs improvement:
-I need to get in the pool more often!
-Get out there and put more speed into my runs!
-Cut out the excess weight

Marnie told me that this chick was more badass than I was... I agree. Way to go!!

She also sent me this with the caption "My dad is so awesome!!!"

A huge thanks to Tony Oliver in Soldotna, AK. He hooked me up with free entry to the race and then went above and beyond when he lent me his bike to race on. I hope that I'll be up there racing again sometime in the next few years!