Well, despite my sarcasm, race morning arrived and we began the day with a somewhat dry early morning drive along highway 12 to Delano, MN. A small town just 30 miles NW of Minneapolis and on to Lake Rebbecca. Locals say that our city lakes are dirty. Well, when you swim in these "dirty" city lakes I can see 3 feet. In Lake Rebbecca the cloudy visibility was about 1/2 a foot! The good news about this particular fact is there is no psychological battle with the weeds to be had, because you can't see them!
Anyway, back to the point. After setting up transition, surrounded on all sides my unintended lakes of water from the flooding in the area and a quick check of the beach and route back, we were unceremoniously told to run for the cars. At which point we through everything back in to the bags and high tailed it back to the warmth of the borrowed Scion (thanks Bryan!).
It couldn't have been a poorer choice for Mother Nature to show up on this one day of the week. 80 degrees all week, yet today She decided to plump down 60 degrees for a high and sodden us the entire day! Eventually, her anger subsided enough to allow us out of the cars, back to the quagmire of mud known as "transition" and made ready for the one hour delayed start. Now, Napoleon had generously offered to come and support me in this race, despite not training one little bit. I know...he's French. Make sense! However, his valiant offer was much appreciated and despite the fact that we all know he secretly misses triathlon dearly, the hour delay cost him the run. He had a deadline to finish and sadly could not. So, as they do in triathlon, they unceremoniously and lacking any emotion, gave him a DNF. To be honest, there were multiple times this eventual outcome crossed my mind.
The Swim: The water was a very pleasant 71F. Very welcome warmup compared to the 55F OAT. Once in, the swim was fantastic. Well designed and simple course, with little traffic and lots of space to get in to a rhythm. Despite being 3 minutes slower than the previous year, the effort was quite relaxed. A good sign for me as I know a greater effort could have been put in. The benefit realised once T1 is left behind and the bike leg begins. Much fresher and relaxed than in previous years. That said, I left the water with a 34 min swim, which equates to 1min 39sec per 100 yard. Very relaxed.
Now for the miserable part. The Bike! It was absolutely lashing it down again (no lightening this time) and the early miles set the tone for the next 3 plus hours. Roads were soaked and covered in debris, as became abundantly clear on mile 3 where I looked down to find the front tire flat. Queue greased filled tire change (much worse when wet. You end up looking like you just changed the oil on a car). However, a relatively easy and fluid change it was and we were back under way in less than a few minutes. Disappointing in some respects, as I was looking for an excuse to stop - smiley face, hashtag, hashtag.
Had this been a sunny day, this would have been a lovely ride. Lots of smooth shoulders and roads, with rolling countryside. It was a very pleasing ride with a solid wind from the NW to compliment and distinctly hinder your speed depending on the direction. Naturally, this was a hindrance headed back to T2, at your lowest point, knackered and cold, with no sign of your feet feeling anything at all. That's triathlon and in a sick way, why we love it. Despite the early flat, the ever soggy T2 was reached in 3hrs 20mins. A 20 minute improvement over Kansas last year. Pretty happy and despite the frozen feet, the body felt in good shape.
Leaving T2 after my mud treatment (people pay lots of money to have this put all over them to make their skin lovely. A good roll around T2 would have the same outcome) I was shot in to the State Park of Lake Rebecca and a very pleasant trail run. A simple out and back, albeit a very hilly one. Note to self, check out run elevations before next race. The pace was very relaxed and as usual the mood becomes very upbeat when I am off my trusty Blue stead and running under my own power. Relief of no longer pedaling combined with the realization that the end is insight.
The pace was slow to begin with. My foot and ankle were a concern going in, although physical therapy in the week had helped. The strategy was 10 minutes running followed by 1 minute walking. This seem to work very well indeed. The ankle only complaining when the body began to fatigue and my form started to fail on the downhill portions. The left knee was the unexpected party crasher, causing some pain in the latter stages. In fact, the whole right leg felt like it had been doing all the major lifting for the last 5 hours. The left side felt good. Possible signs again of my "imbalance" and hopefully will be highlighted in a Full Functional Assessment in the coming weeks.
As has been the case the last few half iron distance races, the pace was upped considerably in the last 3 miles. It's as if the the body is a horse caught in the starting gate and demands "why have you been holding me back???" and off it goes. Upping the pace by a min/mile. Smash fest! If I could only figure out how to trust my body in to running an improved and even pace throughout the run portion. However, it does feel good to catch all the runners who passed you, in the final miles.
Lots of high fives and "good jobs" later and the modest, local finish line was crossed and a good couple of hot dogs later and I was in the car headed home. The local races are always the best, for me. The relaxed feel. The casualness of it all. The personal approach to the race. It's great. Challenge get close to that with their races. WTC do put on a heck of a race, but a very impersonal one. However, they do draw the crowds and that is a big plus. Running through the park yesterday, the only cheering section were the other runners coming the other way.
All in all, in hindsight, a challenging, yet satisfying race was had. A race I will definitely enter again. Now for some much needed rest!
Good luck to us all!
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