Picture of me, above, coming into the finish is courtesy of Nick Morales at Trijuice.com
Same as last year, we stayed at my wife's aunt and uncle's lake house at a lake very close to the start of Chisago. It is about a 10 minute bike ride from their place. The good part is that I get to sleep in, the bad part is that I don't get to sleep in my own bed. I slept badly. Probably the worst night of sleep before any race this year. Mostly because the bed was uncomfortable. I woke up and my left hand, and partway down my arm hurt. I must have slept on it wrong. Really wrong.
It rained on and off all day Saturday. The forecast for Sunday was not good. Sunday's weather was not the worst of the year, that is reserved for Manitou Sprint, but it was not great. It was right about 50, windy, and cloudy.
Sunday morning I got up and went through my usual routine, at a different place. The shower and shave usually kind of wake me up. Didn't really help this morning. The pain in my left arm was going away, and was eventually gone by the time I left. I had breakfast of yogurt, oj, banana, donut, and coffee, more or less the usual.
Once I got organized, I biked off to the start, in the cold and wind.
The transition area at this race is crowded. There is a sprint and a half-IM, over a 1000 people, and we are all packed on top of a hill overlooking the beach. I think a number of people backed out, because there seemed to be a number of empty spots around. I kind of felt slow and disoriented, it took me some time to get my stuff setup, and sorted out. It was probably a combination of the weather and bad sleep. I felt a little off.
I really had to go to the bathroom and there was a line. I decide to wait and get my transition area organized, have my race stuff for the swim, along with wetsuit, and then head to the very long bathroom line. Typically, I have business taken care of earlier than this. This being about 20-25 minutes before the first wave goes off. The line went fast and I went fast. I got out, and got my wetsuit on and went to the beach.
I did not warmup. I just went in up to my waist to feel the water. The first wave went at 7AM, there were 6 or 7 waves, I cannot remember, half-IM waves and then the sprint waves. I was in wave 10. It was cold, even with my wetsuit on I started shivering. I talked to a few people I hadn't seen in awhile and tried to keep warm.
I think they sped things up, wave 10 went at about 20 minutes after, which seemed kind of fast.
I got to the front and took off fast, for me. At this race, put on by Midwest Sports Events, they have mixed age and sex waves. So, you don't really know where you are relative to your AG. Anyway, I got about a third through the quarter mile swim and had to back off a little, which was fine, since the first corner was a log jam, once I got around the first corner and the second corner, I picked up the pace again. The swim felt pretty good, and turned out to be my fastest swim time here.
I did not feel too cold getting out. That would change. My transition was pretty slow, second slowest ever.
I started to feel the cold. I debated wearing arm warmers, and even a hat under my helmet, and decided against it. I got out on the bike and was pretty cold. I didn't really warm up that much on the bike.
I had a great race last weekend at Heart of the Lakes, and it felt pretty good. This race was kind of the opposite. The bike was not feeling too great. I also felt some GI pain/distress, which is odd. Not sure if the spaghetti dinner and beer the night before was having an adverse reaction, or what. It was windy on the bike, and it felt like the wind was a headwind no matter what. Just kind of miserable. It turned out to be my second slowest bike split at this race. Actually, when I saw my time and average speed I was surprised at how fast I had gone. I thought it would have been slower.
It felt good to get off the bike. It did not feel as good as it could. My legs and feet were numb. The first thing you do is run up a short steep hill, and then up a longer, less steep hill. It took almost a mile for my legs to feel warmed up. The run out is mostly uphill, the run back is mostly downhill. Except of the two short steep hills once you get in the park. The run felt ok. It was faster than I felt. Something else unusual happened, I had GI distress during the run. I was holding it, on and off, the whole run. I don't know if this has ever happened to me. I made it through. Of course, when I finished, I didn't really have to go. Eventually, I did and it was less than pleasant.
My wife, her aunt and uncle, her cousin, and her other cousin's boyfriend were there to cheer on me, and my wife's other cousin, who was doing her first triathlon. She finished and had a very good race, for her first time in such crappy weather. Good for her. She even said that she would do another. Even better. It was great to have people cheering, after the swim, on the way out on the bike, on the way in from the bike, on the way out on the run, and finishing.
I was kind of unhappy about how things went, but after I saw my results I cheered up. I had a much better run than last year, and a pretty good run overall. My bike was slower than I would have liked, and slower than usual, but faster than I thought. I had a good fast swim. So, overall I good race, on a cruddy day, with people cheering for me, so overall it was a very good day.
2013 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 8:09 (1:52/100yards, fastest swim at this race)
T1 - 2:42 (slow)
Bike (22.5 miles) - 1:02:55 (21.5MPH, second slowest average speed at this race)
T2 - 1:22
Run (3.1 miles) - 24:26 (8:09/miles, much better than last year)
Total - 1:39:35
Overall - 82/590
AG - 13/36
Pace - 3:51/mile (same as 2010)
2012 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 8:30 (1:56/100yards)
T1 - 1:59
Bike (22 miles) - 57:55 (22.8MPH, fastest average speed of the year)
T2 - 1:17
Run (3.1 miles) - 26:17 (8:29/miles, slow....)
Total - 1:35:59
Overall - 89/647
AG - 15/45
Pace - 3:47/mile (fastest per mile pace at this race)
2010 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 8:44 (1:59/100yards)
T1 - 1:59
Bike (21 miles) - 56:23 (22.3MPH)
T2 - 1:40
Run (3.1 miles) - 25:03 (8:04/mile)
Total - 1:33:49
Overall - 59/808
AG - 5/57
Pace - 3:51/mile
2008 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 9:18 (2:19/mile)
T1 - 1:54
Bike (17 miles) - 45:39 (22.3MPH)
T2 - 1:09
Run (3.1 miles) - 24:25 (7:52/mile, fastest run at Chisago also shortest bike before)
Total - 1:22:25
Overall - 68/779
AG - 7/51
Pace - 4:03/mile
2007 Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon
Swim (440 yards) - 11:47 (2:41/mile)
T1 - 2:56
Bike (20.1 miles) - 57:16 (21.1MPH)
T2 - 1:27
Run (3.1 miles) - 25:37 (8:16/mile)
Total - 1:39:02
Overall - 142/801
AG - 17/55
Pace - 4:09/mile
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