St. CLOUD RACE REPORT

Set my alarm and fell asleep, although I did not sleep much, 5am came along way too soon.  Got up and noticed it was pouring out.  This took the wind out of my sail.  After three full seasons of triathlon racing this would be my first rainy start.  The race was delayed 30 min.  I showered, and on my way to the kitchen I realized I forgot to pack a breakfast.  So I ate three pieces of leftover pizza :(  not ideal but calories nonetheless.  I packed up and headed out!

Swim
I normally start the swim off to the side or wait a second or two to wait for the hardcore swimmers to get out of the way.  This time I jumped right in the middle of them all, sticking to my race strategy.  Right out of the gate I came up to sight and breathe, when another tri-mate pushed on my back and I swallowed half the lake!  Took me the rest of the swim to regain my composure and get my head back in race mode.  Ended up coming out 5th in my age group.

T1
I pride myself on having fast transitions.  This one didn't disappoint.  Passed three ppl in my age group and went out on the bike in 2nd place.

BIKE
About 500 feet from T1 I hit a bump and heard a noise from my back tire.  I started to hear a high pitch squealing noise.  I couldn't figure out why my heart rate was so high but I wasn't going as fast as normal.  As I reached down to get my sunglasses, they fell and were long gone!  But at the halfway point I got off the bike and noticed a huge bulge in the my tire that was rubbing on my frame.  So I moved up on my saddle to put more pressure on my front tire (as I didn't want to get a flat).  I limped into T2.  I was passed by the three people that I had passed in T1.

T2
As I got to the dismount line my back tire went flat!  Talk about perfect timing!  I put my bike away, put my shoes on and off I went.  Ended up in the top ten for total transition times!

RUN
Before the race started a friend and fellow member of Triple Threat Tough said to me that you have to run 3.1 miles so you might as well do it fast and get it over with.  So I went out and made sure that my heart rate stayed high and I was uncomfortable!  I ended up running my way to a personal best!  Ended up 6th in my age group.

This report just goes to show that a triathlete needs to (as we said back in the S.W.A.T. team days) adapt, improvise and overcome!  My race strategy was to go hard on the swim and bike and just get the run over with.  I had worked hard on my bike leg and wanted to get a PR (personal record), but with things thrown my way I had to adapt, improvise and overcome.

One thing I need to figure out is how to get my heart rate up during training and down during the race.  I stay at about 166-168 bpm during the race.  I feel like I am out of breath on the bike and can not push as hard as I would like.

In the upcoming weeks I'm going to work on my endurance on my bike (longer rides).  Since my longest run since April has been an hour, I need to get some running miles under my belt.  Lets see how the foot holds up!