Now that my teeth have stopped chattering, I can compile
my thoughts on a race that challenged both a competitors’ mental and physical
toughness. If only the Mooseman Int’l
Triathlon (.93 mi. swim, 27 mi. bike, 6.2 mi. run) had been Friday, June 1st
on what was a picture perfect day up on Newfound Lake! Unfortunately, the race
was Saturday, which proved to be one of the coldest, wettest days I’ve seen up
there. The morning started out promising as I drove to the race with no rain
and dry roads. Thirty seconds after
arrival the skies opened up, and didn’t slow down until the end of the
run.
I got into transition, racked my bike, and set up my
gear. I thought I was ahead of the game
by bringing my plastic bike coat to lay over my gear and keep them from getting
wet. This was about the only proactive
thing I did when it came to keeping things dry, as I did not think about having
a dry set of clothes post-race! This was a valuable lesson learned from the
day. I put my wetsuit on early and spent some time in the warming tent to try
and stay warm before heading to the Swim Start.
It was a huge relief when they called my wave to the swim
start since it was warmer in the water than on the beach! Finally, its GO TIME!
I had a strong swim, rather uneventful.
My positioning was pretty solid, so had a clear lane throughout the swim
exiting the water warmed back up and with a time of 29:05 (2 minutes faster
than last year!).
Before I knew it I was through T1, and onto the bike,
which would prove to be very WET! Luckily, I have ridden the bike course
multiple times, and knew where the steepest descents were that would be the
scariest on this day. I took caution on
these hills and hoped to make up time in the flat sections of the course as
well as on descents that were more gradual.
This proved to work well as I knocked 2 minutes off my bike split from
2011! Apparently that was 2 minutes too
many as Ali and my parents never made it in time to see me finish the bike… I
actually thought they had enough of the rain and left! My only regret on the
bike was leaving my arm warmers in T1, as the rain can really hurt when it
pelts down on your skin at 10 mph!!
After struggling to get my dry running shoes over my
soaking wet feet, I was off onto the run.
The run course is great as it goes along the lake and the West Side
Ledges. You have great views out over
the lake and mountains that help the time go by quickly! I felt great getting
off the bike, and probably the best I have in my short triathlon career. Having an out and back was nice, as I was
able to see fellow BTTers Matt Mead, and Mary Beth Begley on the way back
tearing up the course! Matt and I had a complete fail on a knuckle bump as we
passed each other, which was obviously a result of us each traveling at Mach 1
speed! In the last mile I was able to reel in and pass another guy in my age
group, which moved me up to 5th! I kicked it into gear, and finished
in 49:01, 3.5 minutes faster than last year!
I grabbed my finisher’s medal, a mylar blanket and found
my family, who apparently did NOT leave like I originally thought! I watched
Matt come across the line in a great time, and chatted with him for a few
minutes. Unfortunately, the conditions were
proving too much, and I was quickly cooling back down. I decided to go pack up and get going as
quickly as possible, so I missed Mary Beth finish. I could not wait to get back to the car and
crank the heat… But first I checked out the Ironman store, which worked out
nicely since they had a nice DRY t-shirt on sale for $4.99… which I quickly
purchased and put on to have 1 article of dry clothing!
Despite the chills pre and post-race, I had a blast on
Saturday. The rain and cold just added
other variables to the race that EVERYONE had to deal with, not just me. I went in with the goal of taking 5 minutes
off my 2011 time, and ended up with an approximate 9 min. course PR! With the
roll down from the Overall, I snuck into 4th place AG. I have been checking my mailbox every day in
hopes the bottles of syrup went to the top 5 in each AG! One can only hope!!!
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