Mooseman International Triathlon

Team G representing this past weekend...

Mooseman (International Distance 1.5k swim, 27.25mi bike and 10k run) went off without a hitch. Team G was representing in a big way. First off, Relay Team G (Greg- swim, and a couple friends Daniel and Pam to bike and run respectively) were on a mission to place in the Relay standings. They were fired up. Greg got them off to a strong start with a terrific swim at 28:33, Daniel smoked the bike at 1:09:40 (that's 23.5mph for all you mathematically challenged folks, I believe it was the 4th fastest bike split of the day- only following the 3 top finishers!) and Pam killing the 10k at an even 45:00 (7:15 pace) so they completed the entire race in 2:25:29, placing 1st in the Coed division (out of 13!) and 2nd relay team overall (out of 27!) Kudos to them, I expected nothing less- they are all terrific athletes! They were recognized at the awards ceremony after the race :)

I opted to go it alone in this one and test all my "off season" work. I had not raced in 9months (since IM Wisconsin in September) I was worried there might be some cobwebs to clean off, but thankfully it didn't take long. I lined up in the swim front and center, second row (this is new for me, I usually hang off the back and swim around folks, but my swimming has been good lately so I decided to give it a go up front and see what I had) this is where I should probably mention that the water was COLD, not just cool but "take your breath away COLD", maybe high 50's so I knew I wanted to get in and out as quick as possible! When our wave went off, I just went with the flow, had many bodies to navigate around from previous waves, but did so as efficiently as possible. At the turn around buoy I realized another pink cap and I were stroke for stroke- I thought- what better way to save some energy, I dropped back behind her and swam "on her feet" the rest of the way in. Besides my numb feet- I felt pretty good. 25:53 swim time.

The bike started out fine, I began taking in calories right away and started passing guys, more guys and many more guys (my wave was the first women's wave with three men's waves before us, so I didn't see many girls out there!) It's a very hilly course, with one steep climb around mile 6 or so (Daniel said he saw people walking their bikes up it!) but the rest of the course is more rolling hills. I went hard on the flats and downhills, keep my effort in check on the uphills. I was trying to count the number of women I passed, knowing my wave was the first women's wave- I counted seven that I passed. As I was coming back into transition I saw Greg ahead of me cheering, and could tell by the look on his face that I was back earlier than he expected to see me :) I felt great coming off the bike. 1:21:11 bike time, 20.1mph average.

Next was the run, my weakness for sure. I've been working hard on my run but I feared I might get "run down" by faster girls in my age group. As I exited T2, there were folk there yelling "6th female, you're :45 seconds back" and the guy who was running next to me says "go run them down, girl" HA! Does he know running is my weakness?? So here I was running along without my garmin (which I did on purpose, I wanted to run on perceived effort- no pressure to hold a pace, just run how I feel) and I'm in a position where people are watching me, cheering for me and expecting me to run fast! I took it all in stride and just ran strong, but not so hard that I was panting and struggling. A few women did pass me along the way (so fast that I couldn't even see their age written on the backs of their legs!) I just continued to run my race and have fun with it. As I came through the finisher's chute, the announcer said here comes the 9th female to finish! I ran a 47:45, 7:42pace. (turns out I did not get passed by anyone in my age group, I held my spot during the run! A huge accomplishment for me, given my running is my weakest.)

I ended up with a 2:38:53, good enough for 5th in my age group (out of 86), and 15th female overall (out of 398) the best part is, I had FUN! What a great race. Hard, challenging and fun all wrapped into a couple hours! I still have lots of work to do this season, but I'm off to a good start.

Bring it next weekend at Kansas 70.3 Dave and Greg- wish I could be there for support :(

I wanted to write down a few more thoughts from my Moosman Race-

Some of the things I'm happy about:
1. PR in every discipline (swim by ~5min, bike ~10min and run ~5min) so about 20mins overall faster than I have been as similar distances in the past.
2. 5th in AG and 15th overall Female (was pretty cool to be "upfront" having people telling me how far back I was from the girls in front of me, I almost laughed and said "don't you know running isn't my thing"!!)
3. Not losing ANY ground in my AG on the run. My fear after having such a good bike was that I would get "run down" by a few girls and lose some spots in my AG. I beat the next F30-34 by 3mins.
4. Swimming faster than the Overall Female winner, and grabbing someone's feet on the swim.
5. Staying aero for most of the race (only climbing steep hills out of aero.)
6. Not being a slave to my powermeter, yet hitting my power numbers head on (tells me we're training with the right power zones)
7. Running right at (or just below) my tempo pace without any Garmin data. Also tells me I am training properly and can run in my zones based on RPE.

Things I should work on:
1. Eating less in the days leading up to the race. I felt "thick" I should choose my food wisely and eat more strictly.
2. Getting to the race venue a little earlier in the morning, I didn't have time to get a warmup and stretching in. I got kicked out of transition within 5mins of racking my bike!
3. Losing more weight- I felt like another 5-10lbs off of me would help my run, alot.
4. Stay away from the devil on Devil's Hill- she almost stuck her pitch folk through my spoke as I rode up the hill (she was walking up and talking to someone, swinging her arms!) I had to say something to her before she "spoked" me.
5. Doing more core work (besides my hamstrings, my core is all that is sore today!)