Race Report: Lifetime Fitness

Pre-Race:
I arrived at the race site at 4:30…yup that’s right, I got there right as they opened transition. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not from the Twin Cities so I didn’t know the area and didn’t want to have to deal with parking.

After getting body marked I found my rack and got my stuff set up (which was right next to the pro racks). Then I had two hours to burn so I plugged myself in and walked around listening to some tunes.

…Fast forward an hour or so…

Got a chance to meet the infamous Steve in a Speedo who came bright and early to cheer on some of his friends. After chatting with him for a few minutes about the swim course I headed back into transition to grab double check my stuff and grab my wetsuit (the swim was wetsuit legal).

After getting partially into my AquaTux I was standing on the beach when Jen approached me and introduced herself. We talked for a bit before heading over to a side beach to warm up a bit in the water. My wave was before Jen’s so after wishing her good luck, I made my way over to the main beach to get ready to head out.

Swim:
Well, this was an interesting swim to say the least. Good points: it was wetsuit legal and my time dropped by more than 3 minutes. Bad points: I swam an extra 200 yards. Let me explain.

The swim portion was a triangular course with swimmers going around two buoys before heading back to shore. Easy enough. Apparently not for me. Below is a visual of the swim race using Paint (I apologize for the bad picture, I do not possess the Paint “Skillz” that DC Rainmaker does, he is very much a Paint artist!) 

(Note: the yellow is the normal course and the red is what I swam. Map is not drawn to scale)

Needless to say I was kinda perplexed by this, as I know I swam extra but seemed to still drop my time…imagine what it would have been had I not taken that lovely detour. Oh well, I shook it off and moved on.

T1:
Nothing special here, I peeled off the AquaTux and threw on my bike shoes sans socks again (this seems to be working).

Bike:
This was NOT pretty. My quads were tight and I felt uncomfortable the entire ride. My stupid legs finally decided to show up to race around mile 19…that’s not going to help me!! I was passed by quite a few people (which is normal) but I just could not keep my pace up. At mile 22 I was passed by Jen whose wave started much later than mine..this would have been discouraging but she’s a freaking speed demon, so I didn’t feel as sluggish!

T2:
My bike computer finally said 25 miles and I was so excited to get off two wheels. I quickly threw on my bike shoes and started out on the run.

Run:
I was a bit slow coming off the bike, mentally I was not in this race. I kept my legs moving and somehow made it through the first mile.

Around mile two I noticed a woman running right behind my shoulder and after going back and forth for a while, she pulled up next to me and said “I hate the run, what about you”, and man we became best friends after that!

Erin became my running buddy and salvation for that very LOONG six mile run. She was also a swimmer who struggled on land and was working toward breaking 3 hours (she started a couple of waves behind me). Together we pushed each other (although she was much more encouraging than I was) and ended up running almost the entire time, a first for both of us (we walked the last two water stations).

Erin broke her PR by over 10 minutes and crossed the finish line in well under 3 hours at 2:54 while I ended up with a 3:04, similar to Hy Vee, which I was pleased with because the bike did not go well at all.

The Numbers:
Swim: 28:31 (1:54 pace, better than Hy Vee but not my best)
T1: 2:50 (took my time to gather my wits)
Bike: 1:30 (this is where I lost time)
T2: 1:46
Run: 1:00 (9:49 pace, my best ever in a longer distance!)
Total: 3:04:47 (almost 40 seconds slower than Hy Vee)

Place: 2/6 Athena 16-29, 159/297 Females

Random Things I learned:

1) I should use Body Glide on my neck for long swims, it looked like hickey central after the race.
2) While going sockless doesn’t hurt during the race, apparently it will take my feet a while to get used to it, raw spots seem to pop up a few days later making it look like I dumped a bucket of glass on them.
3) I need to work on citing in the water, or get better goggles with better anti-fog (anyone that has anti-fog tips, please share!).
4) I need to strengthen my hip flexors because the only thing that hurts after the race are my hips (and my jaw, what the hell is that about?!).
5) An ice cold towel has never felt so good!

Well I think that covers everything. Sorry for the lack of pictures, my photographer couldn’t make it. I’ll be back in a few days with the professional pictures. Now I get to rest before half marathon training which begins tomorrow and then vacation to Colorado on Thursday!

Peace Out!