A Blog about our weight loss journey using triathlons and weightlifting for motivation: South Wood County Triathlon Race Report

Well, I FINALLY was able to get the first tri of the year in. This is a very nice small event with around 150 entries. I haven't done a tri in the rain before and I really didn't want to do this one in the rain. Forecast didn't look good. That morning I decided to drive down and do it regardless. The drive was about 2.5 hours but we got here in plenty of time. I registered, set up my transition area and was feeling really good about things. It started to rain more but I was now committed.

With about 30 min before race start I got my wetsuit on and did some warmups in the water. My wave was 4th so I was able to gauge things and see how people were doing. I remember thinking "that doesn't look like a1/4 mile swim....". My wave's turn came up. The horn sounded and I was off. I was in a really good groove, swimming with the pack about in the middle. At a certain point I thought "this is easy!" At that point I looked up and realized a only went about 1/4 to 1/3rd the way! At that point, I looked down the lake to where the turnaround was and it felt like Mt. Everst to me. I struggled, couldn't get my form right, couldn't breate right and even had to stop and take breaks. It was a complete mental breakdown! i finally put enough of an effort in to make it back to shore. I wasn't the last in my wave but close. It felt like 15 minutes went by. I came out of the lake, ran up the hill to T1.

By now it apparently was raining pretty good but I honestly don't remember it raining at all. Was I in a zone or just exhausted and mad at myself over the swim. Who knows. I mounted my bike and took off. I knew I had time to make up so I pushed it. The course was flat so I knew I didn't need to worry about hills. I was passing people like they were standing still. My goal....don't get passed and pass everyone! It seemed like I did. I was even pasing guys on very expensive bikes with disc wheels. It's a great feeling blowing by someone that has spent 3 or 4 times what you have on their equipement! By about halfway through the bike the rain ended. So in the end I think I passed roughly 0 people and was never passed once! As I came into T2, I went to dismont and my entire right hamstring and calf locked up! I haven't had this happen in a while. Poor bike fit or did I push it too much? Hobbled over to the rack and got shoes on.

As I headed out of T2 I had to take it easy since I was on the verge of cramping. After about a 1/4 mile things got easier and I was able to run halfway decently. I had a couple guys go by me that I knew were in my division. The run was pretty good, good heart rate, not cramping but my time wasn't as fast as I wanted. I paced a guy almost the entire run and about 2/10ths of a mile left he started to slow down. As I came up on him he saw me and put the turbos on. I wan't going to beat him today. I came in and felt pretty good until I had to stop to give them my chip, then the leg cramps came back. Walked around a bit, ate and congratulated another guy in my division who came in ahead of me. I wound up 11th out of 16 in my division, 63rd out of 147 overall. The one good thing out of it was I ranked 30th overall in the bike.

It was a well run event and I will do it again! I have 3 weeks now to get watever mind games happened on the swim behind me. More water time should solve that.