My shoulder has been very sore over the past week. I had dislocated it years ago and I notice when I don't exercise it enough, it starts to really hurt. I don't think I have done enough swimming lately and this is its way of telling me. So I didn't have high hopes going into the swim, I was just going to suffer through it. Ran into John from Sullivan. He was only doing it as a training day. He was there for his friend. I would see him again twice later.

That being said, I had a great swim. Top 20% over all, out of the water. And I KNOW I could have done even better if my shoulder weren't so sore.

So I dove in and hit the water hard. It is my strength. I was slightly off course in the first 30-40 yards, but sited the first turn buoy and I was on from there. Did the roll turn at the buoy and cut off at least 2 swimmers. Found a foot or two to draft but they were going too slow so I passed them.

Hit the second turn buoy and did another roll turn (basically roll over onto your back like you are going to do a back stroke, but continue to roll over back into free). Cut off one more swimmer. By doing this swim, you can get much closer to the buoy and not interupt your stroke too much and turn much sharper.

Hit the third buoy just a bit wide so didn't need to roll turn. And was basically in the home stretch. Realized there wasn't too many people around me but siting was spot on. Then about 1/2-3/4 of the way to the last turn buoy, I got a heal square in my left goggle. I swam up on someone from an earlier wave that had been trailing their feet so I didn't see them and then they decided to do a quick kick. Ouch. That hurt! (I now have a slight cut under my eye and it is a bit swollen).

I probably lost about 3-4 seconds because of that. But I plowed on, hit the last turn buoy and turned into shore. Beach headed, stood up and the water was only shin deep and took off down the shore line to get to T1. And there was John, standing on the side shivering, waiting for his friend, Grace, who was supposed to start 20 minutes behind him. What a nice guy!

This is a very long run, nothing like Chicago, but still long. Crossed the mat and part 1 of 3 was done.

Not have a sore shoulder? Seriously. I couldn't be happier with the swim considering.

T1 is in a gravel parking lot. OUCH! So I walked. Got to the rack, shedded the suit lickety split, got the shoes on, helmet on, sunglasses on and then got to waste at least 30 seconds shoving my gear into the bag so the gear would make it back to the finish line. But everyone had to do this so whatchagonnnado?

Try to ignore the pain from the rocks.

So coming out of T1 I knew what to expect on the hill. I had geared way down. I didn't do a running jump because of it. Swung my legs over the bike, clipped in and started peddaling. Passed 5 guys on the very first hill. This would be the theme for the ride. Got to the top of the first hill and the legs were already screaming at my. Yeah, this was gonna be tons of fun.

I had the fore thought to bring the arm warmers with, so they were around my wrists at this point, as I was going down the first hill, I rolled the first one up and crested the next hill and attacked the other arm. Then went about getting the Garmin on my wrist. I really need either get the quick release or just pick up a cheap Ironman watch. Probably the latter.

So anyway, going North to Stagecoach I knew would be hard. Heading into some stiff winds up some fairly steep hills. I was right. I know on one hill I was geared down as far as I could and I was only doing 6.5 mph! And I was wishing I could drop another gear. Crested that one and I never dropped that low again.

At about mile 4 or 5, the over all women's winner FLEW by me. She was quite tall. And another guy came on my right, passing me and asked "Was that a guy or a girl?" That was a girl! "Damn" he replied. Heh!

Anyway, finally turned onto Stagecoach and the headwind was a strong cross wind. THAT I can deal with. I just kept passing people left and right. Sure, I was getting passed, but I passed more than passed me. That is always a good feeling.

And then it was the turn South I was looking foward to. Two things. First was a tail wind. YES! But second was THE HILL. Everyone that was on the course knows which one I'm talking about. Long. It is very long. I think close to a mile? If not, it sure felt like it. Anyway, hit the bottom, geared down, tucked into aero (not that it was going to help) and grinded my way up. Never left the saddle. Passed at least 12 people going up that hill. Reached the top and there was a water station (which I had never seen on a Sprint Bike Course before). Huh. Oh well, thanks but no thanks.

From there on, I kept the front in the large chain ring and just kept gearing up and down on the back. Started making up for lost time. And finally, when we were on Wachter, was the BIG downhill. THIS. WAS. AWESOME. Bike computer topped out at over 37 mph. Probably could have done faster but the front wheel started to wobble so I had to gently feather the brakes. Wasn't in tuck because I didn't trust myself. Talk about a rush. I've never gone that fast and can't wait to do it again. ;)

Made a few more turns, continued to pass folks and get passed and we were now sharing the course with the runners. I got a good, quick preview of what the first 2 miles were going to look like. It was also at this time that I realized I couldn't feel my feet. They were ice cubes. This was gonna be fun.

Last down hill to T2, popped the feet out of the shoes, with some difficulty since I couldn't feel my toes but still did it. Dismounted and into T2. Part 2 of 3 down and the most interesting one to come.

Find some hills in this flat land and ride them? I wish I had more hills. That is probably my biggest limiter on this course. But considering I don't ride hills I'm pretty pleased with the time.

Got off the bike and my feet felt like stumps. I thought "Oh this is just the asphalt, it will be better on the grass". Uhhhh, nope! Felt like there was a wadded up clump under my arches and my toes were completely numb.

Got to the rack without any difficulty, racked the bike and then promptly sat down to put socks and shoes on. I knew I needed the socks cause the sores from Sullivan still weren't completely healed.

Stood up, pulled on the visor, running bib and I was off.

Have healed feet so I could go sockless.

Coming out of T2 I knew this was going to be fun. I had seen the first two miles on the bike and it was hilly, but nothing like the end. I'll get to that in a bit.

Out onto the course I just got into a rythym. Biggest goal was to keep a steady turnover and to attempt to get some feeling back in my toes. That didn't happen till just before mile 3.

Anyway, turned left onto Territory and it was a bit of a down hill so I started to take advantage of the free speed. A guy in a CSC jersey and I leap frogged for a bit. His feet felt like mine. We joked a bit, between heavy breathing. Then came the first big hill up towards Wachter. I knew my legs were working so I kept the same turnover, and just attempted to lean into the hill. Next thing I knew, I was at the top and turning left. 1/2 through the run!

Turned into the culdesac and there was a nice downhill. Once again, let the legs swing free and took advantage of the free speed. Up a slight hill, right into the turn around and mile 3 was done.

Back out onto Wachter and I knew I was almost done but it would come at a price. BIG down hill. I haven't checked it yet, but I'm almost positive I hit 5:30 pace going down it. It was huge, but I knew what was next. Going back up the other side. Yeah. Think the Roosevelt Bridge at Shamrock or Chicago Marathon times 4. But I knew once I got to the top, it was a cake walk. So again, leaned into it, kept the turnover, even if they were much shorter and plugged away.

Turned right onto the trail to go to the fishing chute and started to look around for Beth and mum and Dan. No where in site. Maybe at the chute. And at least someone was nice, putting the finishing chute DOWNHILL!!!! Woo hoo, I'm done!

Train on hills. Just like the bike. Might have to look for some around here. I know they will make me stronger.

Grabbed an apple, banana, gatorade and a BUNCH of water and started to walk around and look for Beth and the gang. And waited, and waited. Then I started to get cold, so I snuck back into T2 to get a shirt and my big green towel from QC last year. That helped. Then continued to walk around, strech a bit (the quads still haven't recovered as I write this). Finally, I had been done for 40 minutes and here comes Beth and I can see she is NOT happy. The bus driver got lost. Seriously. The bus driver went ALL the way into down town Galena. Beth is going to be writing a little complaint letter about that. Long story short, this woman should never have been driving.

Anyway, we walked around a bit more, talked and Beth shouted "Look it is John" and sure enough, there he was, jogging in with Grace. So we cheered him on, which put a big smile on both of their faces. I love being a Triathlete.

Finally picked up the bike, rode back to the villa, picked up the car, came back to the lodge and picked up my T1 bag and the gang, and went back. Passed out for a nap for about 1.5 hours. Woke up in time to watch the horse race.


Lack of hill training. Seriously. I have hardly anything around here. So I'm going to make it a point to look for them. Considering I've never done a course remotely like this, in training or racing, I'm pretty pleased. Could I have done better? Sure. Will I be back next year? You betcha.


At this point, I'll be back next year. Beautiful venue. Challenging course. Great volunteers (Sherrifs at every major intersection was way cool). Just a good all around event. And surprisingly organized considering there were two wholly seperate transition areas.