One Day at a Time

Well, I like to try and get a post out there everyday during the week but I promised myself I wouldn’t think about triathlon for a couple of days because my mother told always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say then to not say anything at all. Yes, I had a rough weekend. In addition to a 4 hour road trip with a 4 month old and a two year old (they were wonderful actually) I competed in a Half Ironman as a part of the Liberty Triathlon at Lake Independence in Minnesota. I truly wasn’t ready for the race and knew I wouldn’t be this early in the season but part of validating my lottery spot in Kona was completing a Half Ironman or longer. Since no other Half IM worked into my schedule until late August, I decided to bite the bullet early rather than wait until the last minute and risk having something unexpected happening and not having a backup. So, it was my second weekend in a row competing in a triathlon and the conditions were perfect. I found the event was run really well and I got there in plenty of time and had no problems in the transition area like at the Pigman.

It was in Minnesota so of course it was a wetsuit legal race and I brought it along this week. I use a body glove wetsuit that is really meant for water skiing and I suspect that this is a less than ideal wetsuit for triathlon but I figure keeping warm and being a little more buoyant outweigh any issues with the suit. I adjusted to the water pretty quickly but swimming in a wetsuit is something you have to really prepare yourself for and I don’t do that very well. Once the race got underway I felt I was swimming pretty well. I had a guy swim up my back like he was going for a ride and then a back-stroker smacked me along side the head. That is all to be expected so I didn’t let it bother me. I got about half way into the 1.2 mile swim when I let up and started breast stroking and felt the neck of the wetsuit a little too constricting and panicked when I couldn’t loosen the strap. I calmed myself down and convinced myself to ignore it since drowning in a Minnesota lake was not the way I wanted to go. I muscled through the swim in a time I was ok with, but not as fast as I would have liked.

In the transition area I felt pretty good and since my goal wasn’t time so much as just finishing I decided to not press to hard so I talked with some friends that came to the race and of course my wife was there taking pictures. I loaded up on the bike and took off. The bike was a two loop technical route that was really difficult in my mind. On the stretches where it was not hilly, it was really windy. If I had to guess, I would say in the 30 to 40 mph range at some points. I hoofed it pretty well for the first loop hitting 34 mph coming down one hill and averaging in the 21 mph range for the first 26 miles or so. Coming back around for the second loop, me and about 12 to 15 riders missed a turn and got off course. I figured it out pretty soon since we found ourselves going the opposite direction of some riders. While in hindsight I could have continued going backwards since it was a loop and it probably would have been the same distance, I didn’t want to take my chances. So I stopped, talked to a nice police woman directing traffic for the event and she told me that a few people had said the same thing so she called to a race dispatch and asked about it. The end result was that I went back and got back on course and it cost me an extra 3 miles and 5 or 6 minutes of standing still (it was a pleasant break). I didn’t want to take any chances since this was my validation race and I wasn’t too concerned about time. At the 42 miles mark I hit a strong headwind and found myself going 9 mph for an extended period of time which totally zapped me. I was still unsure about how much extra mileage my earlier gaffe was going to cost me so I was not sure if I had 14 more miles or 20. I just kept my head down and plugged away until the turn around where I could pick up the pace a little bit. The entire bike route, although very hill and difficult to ride, was very pretty with lots of big beautiful homes. I distracted myself by trying to get lost in the detail of some of these homes. I also played the alphabet game as well and that didn’t help as much.

When I got to T2, I was pretty shot but trying to keep my spirits up. I was wondering how I was going to complete this half marathon since I had only run this distance once this year and never after getting off the bike. I decided to go with the run-walk strategy until I loosened up a little bit. The run was on a bike trail and stayed in the park. It was really nice and my nutrition was pretty good because I had a lot of good energy even though my whole body hurt. I did pass a guy early on the run that was a little too chatty for me considering that I was a little irritable and I didn’t want to be the distraction for some weirdo that could derail my whole race if I let him stay close enough to keep talking. During the run a lot of people were on their way back and most everyone was pleasant and encouraging. I got to the turnaround and got a drink from the turnaround aid station and walked and talked for about 20 minutes with a fellow competitor. We were about the same age and we both had young children so our talk dealt mainly with struggling to get workouts in with family and active wives as well. It was interesting hearing someone deal with the same thing I do. I found out later, my wife and his talked briefly as they waited for us to finish. After 20 minutes I started running and he hung back to run with a couple of others that were moving up behind us. The last 6 miles I was completely by myself and did more walking then running. Between miles 10 and 13, I started to question the sanity of competing in events like this. Then I expanded on that to question why anyone would want to even run in a 5K. I was not having any fun. I sucked it up and ran the last mile to the finish line where my wife and kids were waiting. Shelby ran the last quarter mile with me and I was pretty happy to finish so I did a cartwheel across the line. I went up to the food and got some water and a bite of foon and sat down at a picnic table. Now I really began to feel miserable. Don’t get me wrong. I felt pretty miserable during the race but I was ignoring all of that at the time. I had a couple of pretzels and a bite of pasta but that was all I could take. We went back to our friend’s house and I took a nap while Mike cooked and my wife and Meredith ran to the store. I didn’t sleep much because now the sunburn was starting to sting. You see, in the excitement of the morning I didn’t put on any sunscreen which is a bad idea for an event where you are going to spend hours and hours out in the sun.


I felt pretty good on Sunday considering and I felt like a million dollars yesterday despite some heel pain that began the instant I got off the bike. Now, despite a wicked farmers tan, I am getting ready for the Hy-Vee Triathlon this weekend in Des Moines. It is just an Oly so I am going to have some fun with it. After that I have decided that I am going to go through my training plan and squeeze out some more miles so that I can do my best in Kona. Miles, miles and more miles. My complete frustration with racing has turned into excitement. I pushed myself this weekend and knowing that much more about my limits is going to serve me well in my preparation for Kona. I know I have a lot to do but I am looking forward to it.

Good job out of the folks at the Liberty Tri.