Lake Mills Race Report - June 3, 2007

Finally kicking off the 2007 race season and I was pumped...I no longer feel like a complete novice. Plus, this is the shortest tri I'll do all season, so this one is for pure fun!

Tri's are always early and on Sundays...why?! That totally kills your ability to have a rocking Saturday night AND race well the next day. Whatever, can't do much about it.....

I was up at 4:45am. I prepared breakfast - a Trader Joe's frozen waffle and some tea. MMM....A check of the radar and we were ready to hit the road. Rain was threatening, but it could be hit or miss. This could interesting...The only thing you can change is your attitude, right?

As expected - the race was packed and there were people everywhere. This race attracts about 800-900 people and a pretty good mix of top triathletes to novices. Also, not surprising, I was in one of the last waves....10 of 12. The wait didn't feel as long this year though as it did last year. Of course, I was sooo nervous, but once the air horn goes off, nothing you can do but race!

It poured rain before the race started, so everything was soaked - helmet, shoes, glasses, etc...By the time the race started though - no rain and the sun was breaking the clouds. Also, there was light winds and it was HUMID! Perfect racing conditions for a short,early season race.

I warmed up by swimming about 300 yards or so...The water was warm, which was really nice....It was kinda murky, but that didn't matter much. Tim was great! Standing on shore, watching me warm-up and trying to calm my nerves. It was so wonderful to have him there supporting me.

Swim: I started about middle left, right near the front. My wave was Women 15-29 and 55+, probably about 45 women in all, maybe more. You start knee deep in the water. I started off well, continually reminding myself to take it easy to the first buoy. I don't know if I actually swam easy or not, but reminding myself too kept me calm. I felt comfortable in my sighting and wasn't minding the incidental contact from the other women. Going around the first buoy was a cluster...there were still several men from the previous wave at buoy #1 and that really made me have to fight for position and to get around the buoy. I picked it up from Buoy 1 to Buoy 2 and that time seemed to fly. As I was hitting buoy #2 I noticed my friend Katie swimming right next to me. She used to be a college swimmer, so I knew I was doing well being right next to her! Buoy #2 to the shore sucked. I was really tired and just wanted to get in. I kept on pushing, swam as far in as I could go and exited the water....I was the 2nd person from my wave out of the water! What a great feeling!



T1: I totally messed up T1. First I ran past my rack. Stupid mistake...then I couldn't get my wetsuit off as quickly as I wanted....The rest went pretty well, but I knew my T1 time was slower than I wanted.



Bike: The start of my game plan went well. The bike starts with an uphill climb so I just tried to get up it strong and steady, turn out of town and then focus on hitting my stride. The first half of the ride sucked. My legs felt dead tired and like I couldn't get very much out of them. I only averaged 19mph on the way out...and when I hit the turn around I was at 24 minutes. I knew I had to hammer to get back in under 45 minutes. Fortunately for me 2 women passed me at this point that were in my wave. One woman got away, but the other I kept in my sights and we went back and forth the whole way back in. The 2nd half of the bike ride rocked. My legs felt good and I was able to hammer the whole way in. I sipped a little Endurance drink on the bike, but not very much. I also had a gu tucked in my shorts, but forgot about taking it.

T2: After dismounting my bike, I'm not sure what happened....but my whole bike slid and almost crashed to the ground. A little distracting and of course everyone gasped bc the pedal made a really great noise scrapping the ground. The rest of T2 went much better. Helmet off, bike shoes off, running shoes on....grabbed my race belt and out I went. A few spectators were in transition and I had to dodge them, but I hit the ground running with quick turnover. On my way out of T2, I heard and saw many of my friends competing and cheering. That is one of the great things about the transition area and run course. It's out and back and very good for spectators!

Run: The whole run course is flat and on a trail. It's pretty boring and I was kinda of mentally checked out on the run. I could have maybe run harder, but I kept up what I felt was a comfortable pace. The great thing is I had no hamstring or low back issues! Hooray! That was a good feeling not to have something hurting during the race or after! My stomach had a little sloshing going on, but not much. That was a bit distracting. All in all, I felt good on the run - strong and steady...but perhaps I could have gone faster. I made the turn for the final stretch! I maintained a strong pace for the entire final stretch and made the turn into the finish. There really was no finish line, which was odd. You just made the turn and you were done. And there was only 1 or 2 people removing chips, so it was kinda confusing.

All in all - it was a great race. I am a tad bit disappointed that my bike/run times were slower than last year (only by seconds, but still). I am very happy with my swim improvement and overall felt really good on the bike/run. I chopped 3 minutes and 1 second off of last year's time. Man, that felt great! It'll be interesting to see how this translates into my first half IM in 3 weeks!

Swim: 7:44
T1: 1:40
Bike: 44:38
T2: :56
Run: 22:33

Total Time: 1:17:30

Gender Place: 18/272
AG Place (F25-29): 9/36



Will I do it again next year? You bet! Lake Mills is an awesome tri!

Congratulations to all my friends who had awesome races at LM! Many won their AG, set new personal records, and some experienced the joy of triathlon for the first time!


Next up: High Cliff Half Ironman, June 24th