Copper Creek Triathlon - Triathlon

This had to have been long. There is no doubt in my mind that this swim course was long. There were guys around me that were saying they planned on going in the 9 minute range. I was hoping for 11:30 ish. No one hit their goals. The fastest in our AG was 11;08 or 2:14 per hundred. No way we were that slow.

Anyways, taking the results as they are because it really doesn't matter, I thought the swim was great. I started on the inside line, closest to the bouy line. There were about 70 guys in our wave. Both 35-39 and 30-34 AG's were in the same swim flight. There was 4 minutes between us and the group that took off before us. Plenty of time to get some separation but still catch a lot of the 2nd wave.

I took off fine, hung on to the "studs" for the first turn. About half way to the second turn, the studs started to pull away. I took a second to look around and there were 2 pink caps (our wave color) in front of me, and 2 right next to me. We had separated from the pack by quite a ways too. Still FOP swimmer!!!

I felt like the swim went according to plan and I was really disappointed by the time, but when I got to T1, there were a shit load of bikes there so something went right. According to my Garmin, the total swim distance was .65 miles.which would be about 1,000+ meters, which does include the run out and run to T1. Not sure how long that was. (I have to quit obsessing about this)

I was happy with the swim. Came out of the water in great shape, and navigated very well around the slower people in the earlier waves.

Not much to say.

T1 was kind of a fiasco / pretty good performance. I came up to my bike with goggles and swim cap in my hand. Dumped them. Grabbed my sunglasses, dropped my helmet, got it on. Couldn't clip it that well, took off to the bike mount line.

Hopped on my bike. Right foot in okaish. The heel pushed down a ltitle which I fixed when I got moving.

Left foot going in WHAMMMMMY Cramp in my left calf. What the Fuck? got my foot in, stretched it out, and drank some water right away. Cramp left quickly, but dammit that hurt. Got up to speed, into aero, and off and riding.

Dont drop helmet. Get it clipped faster.
Dont cramp.

The bike had some nice hills and some fast flats. The downhills were aggressive and on the first big one, I hit a little bump and took off into the air. Not a big jump, but enough to get both wheels off the ground at 35+ mph, in aero. Landed fine and my HR jumped. Nearly shit my pants.

The bike was mostly controlled HR in mid zone 4. I took the hills more conservatively than I normally would have because there were quite a few. I passed a few of the guys in my AG and a ton of the previous waves. Even one of the "Elite" guys. I did not get passed by anyone on the bike, which is always fun for me. Couple of hills were tough but nothing like the hills in my neighborhood.

The calf cramp cycled in and out a couple of times but I was able to control it pretty well with water. I told myself to keep drinking small drinks and that helped I think. Took my GU with about 4 miles to go so that it would kick in for the run.

Overall good bike.

I could have gone faster I think on the up hills but I have not trained as well as I would have liked to for this event. It showed.

I came into T2 pretty fast, but was able to slow down, swing my leg over and hop off my bike very well. Got my bike and helmet put away fast. Put on my socks and shoes, grabbed my hat and race belt, left the sunglasses in Transition. didn't need them anyways.

The socks probably cost me 10 seconds, compared to those that don't wear them. I'm okay with that.

It was a good transition.

The run sucked for me. I was all concerned about my right achilles being a problem but the calf cramp in T1 ended up being more of an issued. I came off my bike fine and we really feeling good running. Early pace was 6:30 until I made the right hand turn up the hill. 1 mile of a steady climb to the turnaround really played havoc with me. I was doing very well passing people. I keep a mental note of how many I pass vs how many pass me and I was ahead at the turnaround. Only one guy, who was in a different AG passed me before the turnaround. At the turnaround I could see Bobby coming and I knew he was going to be after me. Started to lengthen my strides to use the downhill. Bobby didn't pass me until about 1 mile left. Then another guy passed me in our age group. I tried to hang on but I didn't have it today. Sometimes that's what happens. I finished hard. I was coming up to a 19 year old that was struggling. With about 25 yards to go, he heard my steps and sprinted to the finish. Nice work buddy, I started 8 minutes behind you., LOL.

Mother Nature opened up her wrath with about 2 miles to go on the run. Started raining, then started absolutely pouring. My ASICS were water logged big time. Felt like I was trying to lift 5 pounds of extra weight with each step. Not to mention my calf was popping in and out of a nagging cramp. I knew if I really pushed through the cramp I could do some actual damage to the muscle so I played it smart and just finished.

This was my slowest 5K split in a sprint in 2 years. I was not happy about it and I know that this run blew my chances to get to Milwaukee. Gonna shake it off and keep training. Hy Vee is next!

I needed to train more. I needed to do more Bricks and I need to stop with the excuses of family, and sleep, and other hobbies, IF I want to be a top AG performer again.

I should have run smarter and left more of myself on the trail. I held back and it sucked. I could see the guys that were in my age group in front of me and I could not catch them. Damn part is that I was ahead of them in a great postion off of the bike. Dammit.

Got a nice massage. The rain stopped for a few minutes and the massage therapists were empty. That helped on the calf. Jogged a little. Waited for Summer to finish and then took everything back to my car. Took off. Grabbed some lunch at Jethro's in Waukee and headed home.


Not enough training. Blaming that guy in the mirror for that.


I enjoyed the race. Can't help the rain and if the race would have started an hour later, it probably would have been cancelled. They should consider starting it an hour earlier though.

Good swag (Sunglasses and a water bottle).

If it works into the schedule, I will probably do this one again. I enjoyed it and I know I can do better.