Woodlake Triathlon

Quick overview: Finished in 1hr 41min (<20min for swim, ~56min for bike, and 22min for run). The swim was 600m, bike was 17.2mi, and run was 3.1mi. The weather surrounding the event was very touch-and-go, involving severe thunderstorms, but the weather during the event decided to behave in the end. It was very exciting wearing a wetsuit for the first time, biking competitively for the first time, and trail running involving dodging quite a few mud puddles many of which taking up almost the entire width of the trail. Quite an accomplishment for me, this being my first tri. I plan for this to be the first of many, next one possibly being in October and twice the distance.

Now, for those of you that appreciate the details and have a moment to read:

I was very excited for this event, yet slightly nervous wondering if I would be able to do it in a respectable time (for me, that would be <2hr). Also, the weather forcast kept going back and forth about nasty weather that weekend. I looked two weeks ago and it was supposed to be clear as a bell and sunny. Then, one week before, clouds and possible thunderstorms entered the equation. Two days before, it was supposed to storm all of friday afternoon until sat AM but clear up with cloud cover before the race. Friday came and the storms blew in as expected with heavy rain/wind/lightening, and the forcast changed to include likely rain throughout the entire race (BUMMER!!!, I thought to myself). Luckily the storms finished by early sat AM and the rain cleared up in time for the race (but this helps explain the huge mud puddles on the trail). I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I was fearing not being able to dry off after the swim (while on the bike) and have issues keeping my stuff dry in the transition area (which I will now refer to as the TA) yet accessible as not to slow my transition time down too much.

Unfortunately, I was late leaving home and got there with <1/2hr to spare before I needed to be suited up in the water. What makes things worse is that all of the bike racks in the TA were taken, so I had to find a spare tree or pole to lean my bike up against. Then, I got marked and got my chip and thought it would be nice to use the facilities prior to starting only to find that for a race count of 300+ people, there were 6 portajohns...6, and a line of about 30 people that didn't seem to be moving. I thought about this for a couple of minutes in frustration, then realized that it was a great day to be a guy and found the "express-line" at another location (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). At which point, I noticed several other guys walking off inconspicuously to "find their own." So, two major dings against the organization of this race, but all was well.

I got suited up and prepped my stuff in the TA, and I headed down to the water. The water in the lake was much colder than the pool that I had been practicing in. I was in wave #2. The whistle blew and we were off. I had learned from other's experience to get to the far outside in the back to allow plenty of room to swim and not get kicked or struggle with inefficient strokes. This seemed to work well, I never once got kicked in the head or arms, and I found my groove (although, admittedly I did kick a couple of people). However, I had never trained other than a pool. The nice thing about a pool is that you can track your progress (destination and speed) much easier due to clear water and convenient markings. While the buoys and the anti-fog on the googles helped, but the water was murky and impossible to see any distance, so at times I wondered if I was moving at all or very slowly, and I found myself redirecting to stay on target and not add too much distance to the swim. In any case, the wetsuit helped my glide through the water a little quicker and to be more buoyant, and I feel like I finished in a respectable time, came running out of the water amidst the generic cheers, ran to the TA while unzipping the wetsuit, ripping off the googles and swim cap. This first transition went okay. Able to get off the wetsuit the rest of the way, dry off the feet and head, slip on the shirt, socks, and bike shoes.

Jogged with bike beside to the bike start area of the TA and was able to clip-in no problem even though the TA was very sandy and wet and others complained later of having problems with sand jamming their cleats. First stretch was nice and flat and I was able to maintain a good speed and stay on the aerobars to cut the wind better. Then, the rolling hills started which became taxing at times causing lots of thigh burning and the feeling of barely moving in almost the lowest gear possible. Then, it evened back out near the end (out&back route). While I felt like quite a few people were passing me on the up-portions of the hills, I was able to pass almost as many on the down-stretches and flats with the help of the aerobars helping me cut the wind better and not have to work as hard on the pedals. Also, the whole bike course was nicely paved with only a couple of pot-holes which were clearly marked and therefore easy to avoid.

I finished off back at the TA unclipping easily, sucking down an energy gel pack chased with some water, and changing into my running shoes fairly quickly (thank you quick-laces). T2 was definitely quicker than T1. However, my legs were DEAD from all those hills on the bike. I knew from training that this would happen and it would eventually go away after a 1/2 mi but it made for some slow going at first as well as misery and pain. Those of you that have run immediately following an decent bike ride would understand the feeling. The first part was paved which I was expecting the whole thing to be, but this ended quickly when I saw an arrow pointing into the woods followed by a wet, sandy path with copious large mud puddles that took some finagling on my part to avoid (MAJOR BUMMER). The wet sand was really starting to take it's toll because it was mostly giving with each step and offering little bounce-back in my step. So, I ran as close to the edge of the trail as possible which was nearest the grassy part as well as firmer ground and this worked better with the occasional bush or branch to avoid. Then, we got near the dam, and the humidity set in full force which added to my misery. Then, my inner quads decided that this would be a good time to start cramping up (painfully so), but I sucked it up and kept going. By this point, the jelly-legs feeling was long-gone and I was starting to pass quite a few people, plus the trail-portion of the race had transitioned back to the road. The cramps were still there but my joy of being off of that miserable trail and humidity was helping me block it out. The road kept bending and I kept hoping that the next bend would hold the finish-line, but my false hopes were mildly shattered a few times, but the finish line finally approached and I had just enough in me for one last sprint. I passed the finish line showing 1:41, but could not find michelle at first so went back towards the TA, picked up a free hotdog and banana, and slowly downed a water bottle. I eventually found michelle who so graciously came to cheer me into the finish line. My most memorable thought of the morning was: what a miserably-wild ride that was, but how happy I felt at the end looking back at what I accomplished.

Looking forward, I really enjoyed participating in this tri and plan to do many more while I'm able. I plan on signing up for the Pinehurst Triathlon in October. It is an olympic distance race (woodlake is considered a sprint) consisting of 1500m swim, 30mi bike, and 6.2mi run. We'll see how I go. Worst case scenario, I may end up only doing a relay portion of it (the swim, the bike, OR the run). Thanks for taking the the to read my rant, and for michelle loaning me her blog!
-Mike