As always, this was my first OWS of the season (mostly because back in Wisconsin, we're still waiting for the ice fishermen to move their shanties out of the way in May).

The short story? I kicked this swim, somehow swimming straight as an arrow and with good form throughout. In fact, I posted my fastest swim here ever. Which makes perfect sense because I went into this race training far less than ever. Next year, I figure I'll win my AG by not training at all.


Sleep in more in the weeks leading up to race day.

The time may look like a lot, but this is a HUUUUUUUUUUGE transition area. I got out of my wetsuit smoothly and didn't miss a beat. I'd say my T1 was about dead MOP.

I would have had a cold Caramel Light Frappucino waiting for me at my T-spot. Because that would have really hit the spot. And, as it turns out, time wasn't really a concern. I should just learn to enjoy life more.

Funny, I thought after exiting the swim, I'd be done with the water. But I seemed to take the Lake with me out on the bike. About 15 minutes into this ride, I was just gushing water like Albert Brooks getting the flop sweat in "Broadcast News". The heat was unbelievable and relentless, made all the worse because our AG was the second last to go off at race start.

As the ride progressed, I just watched my average speed drop along with the pools of sweat from my forehead. The worst part of the heat was that it was pretty obvious to me early on that my system was not going to be processing any calories today. I felt like someone blew up a ballon in my stomach and that feeling stayed with me well into the run.

I don't even think I can take away any useful info about my bike fitness from this race, as the heat was such an overwhelming factor. There's just no way a snowman like me, coming from the 50 and 60 degree temps we've had around Wisconsin lately, can prepare for or adjust to that kind of heat so early in the season.

I've probably raced in similar conditions before, but never so early into the season without any chance to acclimatize. All in all, I guess I was pretty happy to finish with a 20+ average.

Train in a convection oven.

Well, considering I was seriously on the verge of puking infinit all over my fellow racers, this wasn't a bad time.

On second thought, maybe puking up infinit on my fellow racers would have helped me move up a few spots. I'll put that in the memory file for next time.

This was just a death march, plain and simple. Think Beau Geste on his hands and knees, crawling though the desert searching in vain for an oasis. That was me. The scary part is, I must be a pretty good crawler to finish 124/168. Consider that my average for this rinky-dink 6.2-mile run was SLOWER than my Ironman marathon-- and that day wasn't exactly cool, either. Even people who live in the area were saying they never trained in heat that bad.

They were times when we racers must have resembled an army of slugs, just dragging our damp carcasses along up and down the hills of the course, leaving a thick, viscous trail of slime and sweat in our paths.

I tried to run when I could-- I really did-- but it just wasn't there. I was just hoping to not get heatstroke.



Sign up for the "Alaska in May" Triathlon.

Warm down. Ha, that's a good one.

I retreated to the comparatively soothing coolness of a pizza oven.


Well, it WAS kinda hot.


As always, the organizers put on a well-run event, although there a few more cracks in the cookie jar this year-- parking was a hassle, resulting in many racers being late to transition, and volunteer support especially at the bike water bottle exchange and other areas was lacking compared to previous years. Of course, some of the reason may be that organizers had already announced they were changing venues for the following year to Harrah's Casino in Tunica, MS. That will be a HUGE change in many ways-- it will probably take away a lot from the family-friendly "picnic" style event which has made this race so beloved to so many people, but it will also likely raise the profile and prestige of this growing race. We'll see soon enough if the trade-off was worth it. I just wish they could put a dome overhead and air-condition the damn thing.