Lake Mills Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This swim ROCKED for me. Started off and was comfortable for a change. Not panicing or trying to gather myself or anything. Got to just GO and concentrate on my stroke right away. BIG PROPS to jszat, triDDS, and firstnet911 for utilizing peer pressure and getting me out to OWS. That made a tremendous difference. My sighting was good, I had plenty o' juice, and stayed with the pack the entire time. Made for some interesting "grabs" and other shat which I haven't experienced before. Nothing like a random arm flailing down your back and dragging your feet down. All freestyle, head down, work!

I guess, more training to be faster, but I wanted a minute off my swim time, and I got it here. So, exiting the water I was feeling happy with myself, but a bit more spent than normal.

Feeling good but typical HR spike outta the water. Run run run to my bike. I've never had a problem getting out of my wetsuit, but in the OWS at Kelly lake it's been tough to get out of. This had me psyched out. Told pseudoyams about that pre-race, and he mentioned getting one leg out and standing on the suit, and yanking the focker off. GREAT TIP! I used that to perfection and zipped right outta that suit.

Transition disorganized due to rain, wetness, plastic bags keeping shat dry, etc.

I saw my "competition" was not at his bike yet, but he arrived very shortly after me. Focking race is on.

Do a final check of the transition area and make sure my stuff is laid out nice. Sounds like a no-brainer, but with all the rain, etc., it was hard to keep organized. Oh, and when hopping on my bike in a mad frezny, don't slam my junk into the bike seat at maximum force. OUUUCH. Hurt for about half the ride.

Start off on the bike ahead of my friend Mike. I'm am focking jamming, HR through the freakin' roof as I exit the transition and head up an initial hill. My bike computer has been having issues...whenever I transport the bike anywhere, it's down for a period of time. Then, it pops on later, and will work as long as I only ride. I know, wtf? Anyway, it's showing zeros now so I don't know how fast I'm going, but I'm rocking. Passing peeps like crazy. Really working hard. Probably too hard. Computer comes alive after a couple of miles and i'm going 23 at that point. I really wanted to break 40 minutes on this ride. About 6-miles in my friend passes me. The only person to pass. WHAAAT? So, I really turn on the juice and smoke past him on a downhill. We jockey for a bit...every time I hear him or see his shadow coming up I just pounded the pedals. ;) Around the turnaround we're still together until about 12, where he passed me for good, unfortunately. I ran myself outta juice. I had him on a tether, but not close. He ended up about 15-seconds ahead of me time-wise on the bike.

Well, I needed the 40:xx bike split at a minimum to break my PR, so not much. All the jamming and concentration had me hydrate like an azz, through. I looked at my water bottle at home, and I literally had perhaps drank 1/4 of it. DUH. That is a big problem for me...when I'm really concentrating on riding fast, I simply don't take the time to drink. I think I need an aerodrink or something.

This was the race, right here. Last year I was 1:00 flat, and wanted to be faster this year. I see Mike still in transition, so we're close at this point. I turn it on overdrive. Get my shat together, and make an "aggressive move" to put on my running shoe. Is there an aggressive move..apparently, because when I pointed my left foot to get into my shoe, my calf freakin locked up...HARD! I was literally stuck in a state of pain, hyperventalation, and shock with my foot half in/half out of the shoe. I grab the calf to try to rub it, and it is like a softball is underneath my skin. I've never felt anything like it before. Grab my water bottle and start slugging, not sure why I thought that would help. Slowly try to move my foot to stretch, and it starts to slowly respond again. I'm scared the race is over at this point. As it begins to respond I stretch it out, and it loosens up to about 50%. Get my shoes on and figure, wtf, might as well see what happens.

I don't know, try to put my shoe on with less aggression? ;) The extra minute here killed my race.

Exiting transition I'm even more lathered up than I was coming off the bike. The whole calf issue had me sofa king worked up it wasn't even funny. Basically hyperventalating. Funny how seconds of trouble feel like hours in a sprint. Get out to the trail and there's a small incline to launch up onto the trail. This incline puts me over the top. I wish I'd have worn my HRM, it would've been through the roof. Anyway, contemplate walking, that's how bad it was, but persist. Start to settle in, at least to a point. Calf is talking to me but I'm ignoring that. The trail is narrow, and passing was difficult. At one point, this group is running side-by-side, I go to pass, and coming the other way like a freight train is pseudoyams. Decide I'd better back off and wait to pass after he goes by. Soon after, jszat, later peter ak went by, both giving me a momentary pick-me-up. I could go into detail but suffice it to say I felt like azz from the moment the run started, and it didn't get any better. Disappointed with this run split, but gave it everything I had. Somebody yelled BT near the end of the run but I have no idea who that was, and didn't have the energy to turn around and look. Sorry about that. Was able to give it a finishing kick to look respectable (hopefully) to my already finished younger donkey brethren.

Not sure, the calf, nutrition, and fitness mistakes were already made by the time I got to the run, so there I just had to survive, and I did.

Breathing and sweating. Eventually hung with my friend Mike and our families, and the donkeys. Met scoobysdad, and glad he was happy with his race. Sorry to hear I was the anvil on the average time of the other donkeys. pseudoyams, peterAK, and jszat smoked the freakin' course. GREAT JOB GUYS!!!


Respect. I honestly have been training longer and didn't mentally respect this race. I didn't worry about nutrition or hydration because an hour of effort is nothing for me. It's a sprint, I've been telling myself, just blast off and have fun. Well, I did that, but even a sprint can bite you if you're not ready for the red-line effort. I BARELY PR'd this (1:16:07 vs. 1:16:23) and given the trouble I am happy. Could have "possibly" broken 1:15 without calf lock-up. Not playing that game, and I got what I got, but it tells me I have progressed and that's the goal.


Lake Mills is an outstanding course, great venue, and well organized. I'd recommend it to anyone, especially a beginner.

BTW, me vs. Mike.
Swim, Me (8:54), Mike (8:57)
Bike 40:31 vs. 40:03
Run 23:04 vs. 23:14

Overall 1:16:07 vs. 1:15:22. He got me by 45-seconds. Amazingly close.