Cranberry Trifest - TriathlonOlympic

With the rain yesterday (and this year in general), the lake became a lot bigger and at least a foot deeper. No walking in the middle of the lake. No scratching fingers at the lake bottom at shallow area. Water relatively warm. With the new sleeveless wetsuit I know the swim is going to be good.
Navigation was good, can't swim any straighter. Draft off people here and there. Toward the end I felt bloated at the abdomen. Kind of get this feeling quite a bit after swim so I ignored it. Hoped to finish the swim in 1/2 hr and was right on.

2006 = 27:46 (they said course was short)
2007 = 29:49
2008 = 30:31
2009 = 30:18

Ran up the stairs into chute leading to TA. That's when the abdominal cramp started. Managed to run all the way in the chute (and said hi to everyone). As soon as I arrived the TA, at the first bike rack, I had to walked, past the 10-12 racks to my set up. Felt weird. Continued to ignore the the cramp. Did the usual change over to bike gear. Grabbed bike and left.

Not cramp?

The bike section was bad. The first 15 miles I was battling with the abdominal cramp. Wasn't a full blown one, but very irritating. Had to keep myself somewhat upright to minimize the cramping. Ate 1/2 a gel. Didn't feel good. The gatorade I prepared (which is normally fine) felt too sweet for my taste. Struggled somewhat for the first 10 miles feeling lack of energy. Was passed by everyone on the course.

Mile 3-4: saw a biker lying on the ground, bike on the side of the road. Heard ambulance siren coming from behind. Argh.

Mile 6: Tried to distract myself from the cramp by thinking music. Played some imaginary Bach in my mind.

Mile 8: Started raining. Didn't notice at first coz I was busy recounting the wrong notes I played in my mind. Was doing the Cello suite and got frustrated when I lost the tonality...

.. where was I, oh, on the bike course...

Mile 11: Wished I had mini windshield wiper on my glasses. Glad to have chosen the yellow shades instead of the grey ones.

Mile 15: managed to finish a bottle of gatorade. Asked for water at exchange station. They gave me HEED. Bleh! But still drank the HEED as my other bottle was also gatorade and it wasn't agreeing with me much today.

Mile 18: cramp lessened. Right torsal threatened to stitch. Still couldn't get aero much. Noticed the rain had stopped.

Mile 20: Wanted to get off the bike. Wish it were an aquabike race. Then angry at myself for thinking of quitting. Thought of the guy who crashed the bike earlier, also a Trifury guy who I saw at TA, all ready to race, then pulled out of the race coz he hurt his back. My discomfort is nothing compare to these guys. Told myself to push to the finish.

2006 = 1:28:43 (16.91 mph)
2007 = 1:26:58 (17:18 mph)
2008 = 1:25:25 (17:49 mph)
2009 = 1:29:18 (16.8 mph)

Not cramp

Usual stuffs.
Surprised to see everything stayed dry at TA. Apparently it didn't rain at race site.

nothing

Told myself to run the first mile, then I can walk if I feel like. Got water at station. Told myself to run for another mile and see what happened.
Mile 2 station: ab cramp went away. Right plantar threatening. Told myself to run a bit more, and walk if necessary.
Arrived Mile 3 station. Decided to pushed a bit as the cramp didn't return. Figured I was already 1/2 way and might just finish the race running.
Mile 4: did some calculation. My PR for this race was last year at 3:07:XX. If I push more, I may still beat it.
Mile 5: Pushed even more.
Mile 6: Decided I would be equally happy to level with my last year time.

Managed to run the whole course. The overcast, somewhat cool weather helped.

2006 = 1:07:57 (10:58 min/mile)
2007 = 1:09.05 (11:16 min/mile)
2008 = 1:05:03 (10:49 min/mile)
2009 = 1:03:04 (10:10 min/mile)

Surprised to see a better than expected run time.
Consider I had an injured knee earlier in the season, I am happy with the results.

Went straight to take down transition.


I have to say this year my mind affects a large part of my race.
Guess I am pretty consistent in this course.

2006 = 3:10:09
2007 = 3:12:37
2008 = 3:07:14
2009 = 3:08:31