Matt's Mooseman Olympic Distance Race Report

It rained overnight and it stormed during the transition setup in the morning. It was bad enough that they cleared the transition area.

We went for cover under some tents near the finish line. Eventually it let up some and word was the swim had been canceled and the bike would be a time trial start. Also the bike course had been shortened to under 17 miles, it’s now just one loop around the lake. The run will be the same. As you all know, the swim is my favorite part. It’s typically my best ranking of the 3 as well but that’s not really that important. In my opinion, the swim is what makes triathlon special. Not to mention this is the best lake to swim in on the east coast… Ah well, I’ll be back up here in a few weeks to vacation. I’ll have plenty of time to swim here as I ramp up my swim endurance for the Tango Race.

The storm pushed off and it started to look like a promising day. I considered putting on my wetsuit and swimming for 30 minutes giving myself just enough time to get to transition for the start. That way it would still have that Tri feel. I decided it’s just been too crazy of a morning to do that. So I just waited with everyone else.

Onto the Bike/Run race. Because it’s going to be such a short ride, I take one bottle of Gatorade with me that’s only half full. I also still have my 3 GU attached to the top tube. (they are still taped to my bike)

They had everyone go to their bike in transition. (many were relocated because of large mud pits/puddles). Then they brought us out in rows to the start line where they started us no more than 3 seconds apart.

I was number 431 so I was probably starting in the middle of all who stayed around to race. I was questioning how interested I was going to be in racing with no swim, but I knew that once I started, I’d be focused on doing my best.

I know this ride, and I make a point of “warming up” for the first 4 miles of the ride. I climb Devils Hill strong, make the fast descent (38-39 max mph) then have the legs for a good climb to the corner of 3A. After that the ride is all within my comfort range. If not for one very obvious bike jersey, I’d say that I didn’t race anyone but myself. There was a guy with an Ironman Wisconsin jersey on that started just ahead of me. We went back and forth a couple times on the bike. I think I finally got ahead of him for good on the 2^nd to last climb on 3A. As I pass Shacketts (south side of the lake before the hill) another group of riders catches up to me and they pass me as we approach the turn towards the park. Not too many people passed me during the ride so this felt somewhat disappointing even tho’ without wave starts it was a meaningless event. As I get into the final stretch of the bike I spot Ruth taking pictures on the side of the road and I give her a wave.

I roll into the park and run to transition through the mud and rack my bike.

Bike Time: Ranked 121 overall 47:27 for what I think is a 16.4 mile bike. So 20.7mph avg. (they have me listed as 21.5mph)

My transition times have always been weak, today that shouldn’t be the case. I already have my socks on because of the lack of swim. So shoes off, shoes on, RUN! I didn’t start my foot pod, put on sunglasses or my hat. I had to negotiate another large mud hole on the way out to the Run Start but I was through transition in 69 seconds.

The run: I believe my run last year was an 8:06 pace. I should be able to beat that without a problem right? Well once again my run start feels pretty awful. Fortunately the beginning of this race is flat, so it’s not the sufferfest I had at Columbia 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t too far into my run when IM Wisconsin catches me. As he’s running by, I couldn’t help but notice that he’s got some decent heel kick going on, whereas I feel like I’m shuffling my feet. So I start thinking about my form. It wasn’t much longer before I see the guy in first heading towards me to the finish. (the course is an out and back). All I could think as he ran by was that I’ll probably never run that fast…. Ever.

I definitely understand the mindset of NEVER walking any part of the run. I can see how that can feel like a defeat. Well I’m starting to be okay with walking. I didn’t drink anything on the bike or use any of the GU (didn’t seem necessary). So when I got to the first aid station I wanted to make sure I got some Gatorade down. So I walked as I chugged it down. What would that be? 10 steps or so? I was pleased to find my run felt much better when I started running again. Then I ended up walking for a few seconds shortly after running up the first hill. I was hoping that I’d get that boost again when I started running again. Not sure I got that but my HR was certainly brought back into check. The good news about the hills is that they didn’t seem as big this year.

I get to the turnaround and I start to wonder how much longer before I see Maija heading my way. I get back up the hill to the main road. It wasn’t very long before I see her. It couldn’t have been too far off from where we crossed last year. The question is can I keep her behind me? Last year she passed me with about a mile to go. I focus on finding a faster pace. My HR monitor isn’t working so I’m not getting any help there. Fortunately, maybe with the help of the downhill, I’ve finally got my run legs. As I got closer to the finish, I heard someone running really hard behind me. I thought here she is about the same place last year… only it wasn’t her. I kept pushing and once I got into the corralled part of the finish, I gave it everything I had left. They called out my name as I got to the line as I edged out one more runner.

And just like that, Mooseman 2010 is over.

Run: 48:15 Rank 170th overall. 7:46 min/mile

Total: 1:36:49 137th overall. I'm not sure how many raced today, over 500.

36th of 80 in my age group.

Our race day pictures can be found here. Thanks Ruth!

Things I learned. My race day checklist needs to include:

New battery for HR strap.

Large garbage bags or a couple big sheets of plastic. I don’t care about keeping my bike dry. Keeping everything else from being sopping wet would be nice tho'.

I need to have some 50-60 degree rain gear. When we were just hanging out under the tents during the storm. I started to get very cold. I was glad that they had a warming tent to go to once the rain stopped.

After watching the wetsuit strippers in T1 at the 70.3 Sunday, I’ve decided that you had better choose carefully from the volunteers. I saw many people lose more time going to that station than if they would have done it themselves.

Things I wish I had known in advance:

That the park would be open for swim practice on Friday, this was not the case in 2009.

Athletes were not allowed to park at the park on race day. All athletes would be parking off site. We knew it was going to rain. We got up early to park close to transition. Had we known, we could have saved an hour or so of sleep.

Lastly, I didn't weigh myself until I got back from NH because I figured if I knew my weight I'd have gone into the race disappointed that I was racing so far from my race weight. Well now I know, 190 pounds. I raced almost 15 pounds heavier than I was last year. Not cool but there it is.

I have the NYC Marathon to train for starting July 5th. I need to get back to where I know I can be. Today was day one of the diet, it's going to be a strict calorie deficit until July 5th with an Atkins like approach. On July 5th I'll go back to calorie tracking and my 65/20/15 Carb/protein/fat plan. I plan on being at my lightest weight in 20+ years for this marathon. My knees will thank me for it.