Mooseman Triathlon Festival - International Distan - TriathlonOlympic

I had done a short swim with Rob (Huskyboy)and Katherine (lobstergirl) the day before and didn't feel comfortable swimming but overcame it and then swam along the shore instead of out and back.

Swim start: I was last to go through to get chip recorded then saw Ron from BT doing a video so waved to him.Everyone is so serious before the start where I turn around and wave to the crowd and jump up and down as it helps me relax and remember this is for fun.

I started in the back as my wave was small and only 3-4 folks deep. After swimming maybe 3-4 minutes I just felt so uncomfortable and really just wanted out of the water…and not to continue. I haven’t felt that way I don’t think since the day before but racing since ’05. I regrouped and continued on, and in a bit felt comfortable and kept on swimming. I kept neutral thoughts and thought about the things my swim coach Bill taught us pressing the bouy ie keeping chest down and felt that I was swimming well. It is always discouraging to see folks who struggle, stop and breast stroke or do backstroke who swim faster than I do. Last year when I finished I thought I could do another lap of this…this year I was thank goodness I’m done with that and let’s go have fun on the bike and run.

2005: 43:08 but only 1045 yds equal to 67:47 for this distance
2006: 39:28
2007: 41:06

Later: My coach had a couple of 1:20/1:30/100 yd swimmers say the swim was long...may mean I wasn't slower.

Keep working on improving my technique...not really sure how to deal with panic issue I had as I haven't had it in awhile. It may be from the cold water or it may be just the Moose memories from past races.

15th fastest T1 for Women!

My bike rack spot was in back of transition which meant I had to run the farthest with my bike. Those in front did most of their running w/o their bike.

2005: 5:17
2006: 3:51 in the rain/puddles
2007: 1:40

I'm not a fast runner (placed 540th overall on the run) so having the 71st overall faster T1 rocks!

Pacing Goal: Ride the hilly section up through Devil Hill and turn onto 3A with 260 watts max on all hills but allow the Devil Hill up to 350 watts, allowing recovery on downhills w/~0 watts this is first ~7 miles; rest of the course zoom in on 160 watts with HR under 158 and use intuition to see how it feels if I can push more.
Nutrition Goal: Drink 1-1.5 Gatorade End. per hour so about 2.5 for the ride plus Lava salt early and late on bike if feel crampy back off last 5' before T2.

Riding was good but I never really felt like I was in my good bike racing zone. May sound strange….I passed so many folks through the whole course and no one passed me other than going up hill and then I’d drop them on the down hills. I felt good riding and enjoyed it.. I saw a number of friends on the course which was inspiring. The BT aid station at the top of the hill at mile 2.2 I felt like I was a superstar and gave it that little bit extra to fly down the hill. Really makes a difference to have the support of friends/family out on the course.

Just after Devil Hill I see someone in the middle of the street thinking they were a course Marshal wondering why as we keep going straight there it was Seth (Marlbourough Man) who recognized me and cheered me as I was coming towards him...it was great!

The next stretch of the course is my favorite generally downhill but some rollers...in aero the whole time just picking off folks one by one. I think this is the fastest part of the course too. I see some folks cheering and then as I pass them realize they knew me...thought it was Rob (captjacksparrow) and waved after I passed them...turned out it was Rob and Aarons family...thanks for the encouragement!

This year seemed there were about 806 registered and about 33% more folks than last year which made for much more support on the course with folks scattered almost throughout the whole course which is great.

My HR was around 150 the whole time other than when going up hill or recovering down and it was like I just couldn’t push more same with my power…Devil Hill when I pre-rode it I hit 350+ race day I was in the 250’s which weird as the hill is still as steep. It was strange as I just didn’t feel I had it…sure I was way faster than the year before and I think I did my best on that particular day but that day didn’t hold in it the best I could do given where I am now bike fitness wise.

I was successful at peeing on my bike near the end of the bike course and yes I did check to see that no one was behind me.

My legs were feeling a bit crampy so I took an extra Lava Salt…ended up with 3 and about 50ish oz of Gatorade Endurance for the ride which was 1:32….it worked well for my run.

Time Goal: 1:28-1:35, thought I'd do 1:30-1:33
Tri Calculator Estimate: 1:26...overly optimistic I think

2005: 1:57:03
2006: 1:48:13
2007: 1:32:00
Improved: 25:03 in 2 years, and 16:13 in last year

Mooseman Int'l Race:
Duration: 1:30:55
Work: 814 kJ
TSS: 126.1 (intensity factor 0.916)
Norm Power: 168
VI: 1.11
Distance: 26.818 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 406 150 watts
Heart rate: 104 164 150 bpm
Cadence: 28 152 90 rpm
Speed: 0 40.7 17.7 mph
Pace 1:28 0:00 3:23 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 424 76 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 556 145 lb-in

NP was 168 whereas at St. A's it was 160...tougher course at Moose so slower pace but pushed more power which is good.

I'm not sure why I didn't feel good racing today..keep training and getting faster...lose some more weight to get up hills with less effort or faster.

My quads were sore from playing soccer in the rain 36 hours before which may have been a factor here, but playing soccer with my kids is more important.

Not quite as fast as T1 as I put on socks to run with

2005: 2:01
2006: 4:06 in the rain..tried to put on dry socks
2007: 2:13

Happy with how I did

Pacing Goal: Based on how I'm feeling either do 5/1 run/walk but if feeling good skip walk part.If I have been doing walk breaks at top of hill on return consider dropping them or at condo complex 1.8 miles from finish.
Nutrtion: Drink early and often; if walk breaks drink then....take 25 oz. in fuel belt

Run first 2 miles and last 2 miles are flat and the middle part is hilly. I started doing run/walk thing and it worked well in that after running 6 minutes I took another Lava Salt did my asthma inhaler and was able to drink. I had a nice first mile split with only 1’ of walking….after two more walk breaks and slowing down as the mile would have 2’ of walking due to timing, I opted to drop the regular timing and just walk up the hills and then run again. At the top of the big hill BT folks were manning the aid station which was inspirational for running well and they all went crazy yelling for me…it made it so nice and encouraging and of course I tried to run faster.

On the course I knew quite a few folks which seeing them is inspiring and motivating...thanks for the support and kind words everyone!

This one women who was 45 and probably 30 pounds lighter than I am we passed back and forth at the end of the bike, I was out on the run course first but she was clearly a better/faster runner than I was as she passed me quickly. She’d walk and we pass back and forth. At the turn around she tells me she is pacing off me...never ever heard that before. Then she told me her name was Kathy too and that all the folks yelling for me she was pretending they were cheering for her too.

Up the top of the last hill see the BT station,….dump water on my head as I’d been doing at all the aid station and get a huge boost of encouragement from Ron, Marmadaddy (mike), Ellen (trimom217), May (typeagirlpilot), Joe (ontherun), Stacy and Dave (hudnick), Pat(bajapat), as it was about 80 and humid…and I just took off as best could with the goal of running as fast as I could the rest of the way which was 2.2 miles.

I did well and it was challenging effort breathing really hard, but feeling like I was at the right level of effort. Pace picked up and I did pass folks, dropped the other Kathy never to see her again….with a mile left picked it a little more, on the homestretch in the chute actually sprinted and passed all the folks in front of me. Kevin was there and said the crowd always cheered louder when folks ran hard to finish...The crowd cheered for my big effort and it felt good. I felt I paced the run well but given I had more in me at the end than perhaps I thought I could have pushed more sooner.

In the past when I was pretty darn slow the spectators were few and far between..it was great to finish to a full chute of spectators. First year I did Moose they were giving out the awards when I got into T2 off my bike.

Time Goal:65-67
Tri Calculator estimate: 65

2005: 1:34:00 mostly walked
2006: 1:09.55
2007: 1:06:20 PB for Int'l Tri

Drank: 19 oz of Gatorade Endurance + 1 Lava Salt early on in the run

Push it sooner as clearly I had more in the tank than I thought I did. I was only about 60" faster than St.As where I cramped badly. Optimistic this bodes well for increased fitness going forward. Even the hilly section I did more walking my pace was okay. I look forward to the day I can go sub 10 m/m in an Oly.

2005 I only passed 2 folks running in tris, last year I think it was 6 at Mooseman, today I passed lots for me.

hydration/nutrition summary:

I had to pee towards end of the swim and on the end of the bike which I think is good sign that I wasn't to far off on hydration.

I drank about 51 oz on the bike, had 3 Lava Salts, took 3 times either sugar babies or shot bloks for an additional 100 calories

Ran I drank I think about 19 oz of Gator Endurance but may have had another 7 oz I'm a little confused, plus 1 Lava Salt..stopped drinking last 22 minutes when I pushed hard as just focusing in on that and knew it wouldn’t effect the race.

I did develop a post race headache few hours later so probably didn’t drink enough. After the race normally I drink a lot but didn’t get to as wasn’t easy and I had to help friends and my water bottles were in the car. Next longer race need to focus on drinking after.

So about 70 oz in the bike/run portion or 2:38
Drank about either 70 or 77 oz of Gatorade Endurance
Took in about 9x50=450 calories in drink plus 100 in what I ate= 550 calories, and about 4x255 mg sodium in Lava Salt=1020 plus the 180x9=1720 from Gator End….so about 2740 which works out to about 1000 mg an hour and no cramping.

Found Kevin, walked around, was hungry and line for food was long so went to the car where I had banana and some other food.


Overall time
2005: 4:21:26 which would have been about 4:45:26 if swim same length and kept same pace…just as an estimate for comparisons as it was only 1045 yds
2006: 3:45:32
2007: 3:23:17

So one way to look at it improved 82 minutes in 2 years if race was the same...22:15 in last year. When you start really slow it is much easier to make huge strides in time improvements. Going forward time gains will be less.

What went well:
1. On hot and humid day was able to adjust hydration/electrolyte intake to avoid cramping on the run with what normally on the bike would have set me up to cramp on the run.
2. After having a very uncomfortable feeling of wanting out of the water early on and quit in the swim I was able to pull it together and swim in a good mental place which didn't effect my bike/run
3. Negative split the run; executed my run plan and was able to run faster last 2.2 miles in a challenging effort and pass quite a few folks which has been very very rare for me. Running is harder for me so this is pretty cool progress.
4. Had enough in the tank to sprint to the finish in the chute and pass folks.
5. I hit my overall estimated time; met my mid-range time goal I set a year ago even when I just didn’t feel it was my best day.
6. Raced using my intuition to adjust plan as needed
7. Nutrition/hydration was best it has been in a Int'l race

What didn't go so well
1. Swim
2. Didn't hit my stretch goal
3. Finished feeling strong which makes me think I could had more to leave out there then I did
4. Pretty stressful time right now makes it hard to really do my best racing
5. The monkey on my back thing with this race from DFL 2005

Saturday I was happy with how I did as I thought about it more I became more discontent...I need to learn to be less competitive with myself and do less Monday morning quarterbacking.

I'd like to lose 10-20 more pounds; learning to pace properly which for me I think means pushing more and being comfortable with challenging effort at longer races. Racing is very much mental and I think I need to improve my mental toughness.

I need to lighten up and enjoy the journey more. Sometimes when I race I have so much fun; today I felt medium not bad not great...those hills are challenging but not like 2 years ago when I walked up 4 of them.

Next year I think I'm skipping this race which is hard as it is a great race; it just falls at a very busy time of the year for my family with soccer/school both near ending; plus it does this thing to my mind probably from 2005 and wanting to prove to myself I can do better after being DFL.

Overall rank
478 5757 I Kathy Graves 46 F 606 41:06 45:40 71 1:40 369 1:32:00 17.8 434 2:13 540 1:06:20 10:41 3:23:17 7 ATHENA 161 F
Womens rank
161 5757 I Kathy Graves 46 F 245 41:06 45:40 15 1:40 98 1:32:00 17.8 148 2:13 202 1:06:20 10:41 3:23:17 7 ATHENA 161 F

Big thanks to my husband Kevin & family, my BT friends for support/encouragement and my coach Will who guides my training, tries to get me to have fun and lighten up and grow stronger both mentally and physically and be less critical of myself.

Later in the week: Feeling better about how I did.....I'm proud that my training is coming through in races.


Keith and Endorfun put on great races and every year they get better and better.

Tech t-shirts are great as are the finisher medals!

Having Ron & Mike from BT at the event was special and really added to the experience. I met lots of BTers as the circle grows and saw many friends I haven't seen since last season. BT really rocks and makes racing so much better!