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 Swim
Comments: The race started just after 8:30 with a rather unceremonious “GO!” I started swimming with 100 of my closest friends and after a few strokes, I realized my form was just terrible. My hands were entering the water all wrong and I couldn’t get a good pull. And then I realized that was because I had absolutely no control over my fingers. Hypothermia had begun to set in. No matter how hard I willed it, I simply could not close my fingers. Although it was a little disconcerting, all I could do was keep going. About halfway through the swim, I noticed that I couldn’t feel my wedding ring anymore and had to stop and make sure it was still on. Despite how insanely cold I was, I finished the 0.6 mile swim feeling pretty good in 17:13.  Transition 1
Comments: I ran out of the water and over to the wetsuit strippers. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong duo to pull my wetsuit off. A little kid got ahold of my right suit leg and pulled as hard as he could… but he just wasn’t strong enough. The suit got stuck on my timing chip and no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get it any further. When I tried to help, I realized I was in big trouble. I was out of the water and still couldn’t feel or move my fingers. After what seemed like an eternity, someone else gave him a hand and got it off me. Then I ran to my bike, where the problems continued. I was a little confused and my motor skills were almost completely gone. My transition was almost five minutes long as I struggled to do the easiest things, like putting my helmet on. When I finally got going on the bike, it took me over a mile to put my sunglasses on because I couldn’t grip them between my fingers.  Bike
Comments: I was nervous that wind on the bike would make things worse, but I actually warmed up pretty quickly. Within 15 minutes or so, I was feeling much better and able to settle into a decent rhythm. As Devil Hill and the crazy devil lady came into view around mile 5, I passed Jamie with a quick fist bump for good luck. I paced the bike pretty evenly until the start of the long uphill stretch at mile 16. I tend to excel on the long, gradual uphills, so I opened it up a little to put some time in between myself and my friend Mark, who stayed hot on my heels through most of the ride. Around mile 22, I finished up the hilly part of the ride and started to hammer back to transition. I was flying and feeling great, averaging over 20mph. Before the race, we were warned that the roads in this last section of the course were pretty beat up. Little did I know I know that I was going to be one of the people that would fall victim to it. I don’t really know exactly what happened, but I think I hit a pothole, because out of nowhere I heard and felt the telltale “thump, thump, thump” of a flat back tire. I pulled off to a ditch on the side of the road and spent about 11 minutes or so changing out my tube with the help of a race volunteer who conveniently stopped with a tire pump. I got back on the bike, but left my motivation in the ditch. I was pissed off and dissapointed. I’ve wound up with mechanical problems in two of my last three races with my bike, yet I can’t even remember the last time I got a flat on a training ride. So frustrating. But I tried to make the best of the situation. My race was over, but I still had a run to do on a beautiful course and did my best to enjoy the day. I wound up finishing the bike in a 1:32:34 (17.7 mph). Certainly not what I had hoped for, but respectable considering the flat tire. Transition 2
Comments: I knew that with the slowish bike time, Dee would be worrying about me. So when I saw her cheering for me while heading into transition, I stopped to let her know what happened. T2 was much better, since I had control over my fingers again, though I wasn’t in much of a rush anymore.  Run
Comments: I ran down the beach and out onto the road to start the run feeling much better, physically, than last year. I ran the first mile in a surprising 7:20. Knowing that a couple port-a-potty’s were coming up at the first rest stop, I started thinking about whether or not I had to pee. And once I started thinking about it, I had to go, otherwise that’s all I’d think about for the rest of the run. When I got to the water station, both of the toilets were taken. If my race wasn’t screwed already, I probably would’ve kept going and held it. But my motivation to endure that kind of thing was gone. I stopped and waited in line for about a minute before it was my turn. Despite the bathroom break, I wound up running the first 5k in 25:14. But it all went downhill, or uphill rather, after that. Once you hit the turnaround, you’re immediately faced with a steep hill to run up. I got about 15 feet into it and said, “Ahhh, fuck it” and started walking. Not my proudest moment, but it happened a few times during the second half of the run. Fortunately, the other athletes were great and kept saying things like, “Come on number 15, lets go” or “Almost done Christopher, don’t stop now” (our names were on our bibs) or “Short break, then get those knees up.” If it wasn’t for them, I would’ve finished much slower. Eventually, I got to the last mile of the run. I had forgotten from last year, but once you’re that close you can hear the cheers from the finish line. As they drew closer, I forgot all about how much I was hurting and started picking up the pace. I’m not sure, but I must have run the last mile in 7:30. I killed my run time from last year, finishing the 6.2 miles in 52:40 (an 8:29 pace). When I finally came down the finishing chute, it seemed so much louder than last year. I swore someone was right behind me that everyone was cheering for, because there was no way everyone was cheering for me. But I guess they just had some great spectators there this year. It was awesome. Post race
Warm down: It took an hour or so after the race for things to sink in, but I eventually started feeling good about racing on such an enjoyable day with a couple of my best friends, and a nice weekend getaway up in New Hampshire with Dee. Event comments: Another great year at Mooseman. They handled the fog problem on the swim well. I love this race! Profile Album Last updated: 2008-05-13 12:00 AM
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United States
Endorfun Sports
85F / 29C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 347/718
Age Group = M25-29
Age Group Rank = 26/47
I went up to New Hampshire for the 2008 Mooseman Triathlon only half trained, but mentally ready. Originally, I was supposed to be doing the 70.3 in preparation for Ironman Lake Placid. But when I took Lake Placid off my schedule, the EndorFUN people were nice enough to switch me to International distance on Saturday instead without a hassle.
I convinced Mark and Dave to do it too this year, so we all rented a cabin for the weekend. Before packet pickup on Friday, we drove the bike course and went for a swim to see just how cold the water was. A sign at the entrance to the park said 58°, which felt just about right. We got our wetsuits on, went in the water, and spent 20 minutes jumping around screaming about numb feet, hands and faces. But at least we learned that we would need a little time in the lake before the start of the race to acclimate, otherwise we’d spent the first few hundred yards of the swim in complete shock.
So when race morning rolled around, we got in the water at 7:15… about 15 minutes before the start of the race. You know… to ‘acclimate’. Unfortunately, the fog was so frickin thick on Newfound Lake that we couldn’t even see the second buoy from the shore.
Which meant they couldn’t start the race on-time at 7:30. At first, they decided to wait and see if the fog lifted, or if putting flashing blue lights on the buoys made them easier to see. This lasted about 30 minutes and didn’t work. When the fog actually started getting worse, they decided that the best course of action would be to revise the swim course. They spent another 30 minutes figuring out the best way to go about that. Eventually, they decided that they would shorten the course and have us swim out to only the second buoy, which I was actually kinda happy about since I hadn’t been spending enough time in the pool lately. But the real problem was that being in the first swim wave, we had to be ready to go as soon as they had things figured out. This meant staying in the supposedly 60° water to remain ‘acclimated’ while we waited through all this. For over an hour. Which, in hindsight, turned out to be a terrible idea.