Mooseman 70.3 - Race Report

I had been looking forward to this race for a very long time. Meghan's Aunt and Uncle have a lake house near the race course in Newfound Lake, New Hampshire and we all crashed there over the weekend. Aside from the race, the time was spent relaxing with family and friends, spending time outdoors and enjoying the Lake.

I arrived at the race site mid-afternoon on Friday, and proceeded to check in and inspect the transition area. I found it funny that transition was essentially in the middle of the forest with bike racks strewn between trees. The lake itself looked choppy when I had arrived with a solid wind blowing white caps across the water, but race day proved to be calm which was greatly appreciated. After futzing around the race site for a bit I made my way back to the lake house and organized my race gear before family and friends started to show up. Everyone filtered in and we spent the evening enjoying each others company as we watched the sun set over Webster Lake.

Saturday I was up and out of the house early, I wanted to get in a morning bike-run to knock off any last minute dust. I was on the bike by 6:45AM and after a few miles warmup things just were not feeling right and I was starting to get very concerned. I could not find a comfortably turnover to save my life. Things were not coming as easy as they had been in the week leading up to the race, my legs were struggling to turn the pedals. Over, just before I really started to freak out I stopped and happened to look at my front break pad ... which was rubbing horribly on my front wheel ... nice. At least I had caught it before the race; 56 miles of that would not have been fun. After I made the quick fix things felt great and the rest of my bike and run went on without a hitch. Made my way back to the house and showered up just in time for Meghan to arrive. We hung out for a bit before I went for a quick afternoon swim to stay loose. I broke in my new Xterra Pro X2 wetsuit and let me tell you it was like a dream. The suit fit like a glove and felt super-fast! I must give a shout out to Xterra for continuing to raise the bar in wetsuit technology and producing amazing fast suits! In the shallow waters of Webster Lake (~64C) I was extremely comfortable in the sleeveless Pro X2 and had to force myself to go easy, Given the suit and the conditions I wanted to race but had to save it for Sunday.

After dropping the bike off in transition the rest of the day was spent relaxing. Meghan and I went to lunch at this awesome Irish Pub (www.kathleenscottagenh.com); turns out they were doing the catering at the Mooseman 70.3 event and they did an amazing job; great food and great people. It was off to bed early, as the next morning was race day!

Pre-Race: The night before the race I got a decent amount of sleep but had a series of troubling dreams. Clearly transition one was on my mind as I drifted off because I had the reoccurring dream that came out of the water with a massive lead and then had the worst transition ever; something like 30+min. It was an absolute comedy of errors, tried to put on all my running stuff, got a few miles down the road without my cycling shoes, forgot my sunglasses...etc. Suffice it to say I woke up rather concerned, but quickly got my things together and headed to the race site, getting there with time to organize my transition zone (and make sure my dream did not come a reality).

Swim - 1.2 miles: 00:27:08 (1st M19-24) *9th overall

The water on race morning was beautifully flat, perfect for racing, aside from the fact that it was ~56 degrees celsius. It was the kind of cold that shocks our brain and makes our teeth hurt. Very strange to see the first competitors, myself included, enter the water to "warm up" only 10min before the race started.

The wave start found me going off in the third group (M19-29) behind the male and female Pros. As always I was confident going into the swim and found my place at the front of the pack. Found it odd that no one else seemed at all eager to challenge for starting position. The gun went off and we took the plunge ... man it was cold. No more than 400yards into the race my arms were already a bit numb and my teeth were aching. My Xterra Pro X2 suit was working great but man did I wish I had sleeves. It took me very little time to surge to the front and soon I found myself swimming alone. I managed to catch a few of the trailing pro women only after ~500 yards. The course was set up in a rectangle and I found myself having difficulty spotting the guide buoys on the way out due to the position of the rising sun, but after a short time I made the turn and was on my way back to shore. While I was swimming well ahead of the rest of my wave, I knew the cold was taking its toll. I found it difficult to push any pace at all, rather I found myself plodding through each stroke with numb arms. As we made our way to the swim exit I bridged to the main group of pro women and a few trailing pro men. I exited the water in 27:08, good enough for 9th overall and well over 2.5min ahead of the next person in my wave.

T1: 00:01:53

Unlike in my dream, T1 went off without a hitch. Took advantage of the "peelers" and was out of my wetsuit in no time. I knew the cold from the swim was going to affect me on the bike so I tried to slide on some arm warmers but could not get them on. In hindsight this might have been a mistake and I probably should have taken the time to put them on. Arm-warmer-less I left transition on the tail of the last male pro.

Bike - 56 miles: 03:05:26 (9th M19-24)

Immediately I felt the effect of the wind chill on my still wet body as I moved along at 20+ mph. I rolled through the first 10 miles with my legs feeling great, but I was having a horrible time getting my core temperature up. With each descent I hit a threshold speed (~23mph) where the wind chill would cause my arms to shiver and shake and induce a speed-like-wobble. In essence, through the first 20 miles of the bikes I was forced to stay below 23mph to prevent myself from shivering out of control.

That being said, I kept the first loop of the bike under control and I am glad I did. There are some massive hills on the Mooseman course and they really force you to ride smart. Going too hard too early can really ruin your day on the road. Through the first loop I was feeling great, still not pushing the pace but turning over a solid tempo and taking in gels, salt, and fluids. By the time I was mid way through the second loop I was still feeling pretty good, but was starting to feel the effects of the large hills. I had aimed to finish the bike in 2:45ish and ended up coming into T2 in 3:05.

In hindsight I felt that in this race my bike was by far my weakest leg. Overall I felt that I could not push the pace as much as I had wanted because of how cold I was on the first full loop. Once my core temperature had dropped it set the tone for the rest of the bike and I found myself braking on a majority of the larger, faster decents; losing valuable time. In general, while I am happy with the time on my bike leg I feel I could have raced it much better.

T2: 00:01:17

Again, T2 went as planned. Slipped into my new Zoot Ultras and was out running in no time; no more shoe lace problems for me. Unfortunately, I realized at mile 3 that I had left my salt tabs in my bento box. This error did not cause any problems but in the future I am going to have to be more careful.

Run - 13.1 miles: 01:39:07 (8th M19-24)

As I started the run I forced myself to keep a nice easy pace. I have a tendency to take off way to fast out of T2 and end up paying for it later on. I kept telling myself to use the first three miles to get my running legs under me; that is exactly what I did, and sure enough things started to progress very well. My stride increased I was pleasantly surprised at how good I was feeling. Before I knew it I was at the first turn around and feeling great. My legs continued to improve and as I approached the half-way mark I found Meghan and gave her a kiss as I ran by. My goal for the run was to finish in 1:40 (half of my 3:20 pace goal for Placid in July) and I ran through the second turn around at 0:50; right on target. Legs continued to feel great as I reaching the final turn around, and fueled by a chocolate chip cookie and a strawberry twizzler I made the turn for home. To this point the lack of salt had not had an effect as I was supplementing with gatorade at each aid station, but around mile 10.5 I started to feel it. It was a creeping feeling of general lethargy, and I did my best to fight through it. With about a mile to go I felt as though I was completely drained and pounded a fist full of luna moons, which admittedly helped. As a Rounded the final corner I got a jolt of energy from the crowd and was able to finish strong crossing the line with a 1:39 negative split run.

Final: 05:14:51 (8th M19-24) - 170th overall

After crossing the finish line I found Meghan and my family, took a minute to settle myself and then headed over to get myself the best post race athlete meal I had ever eaten. Barbecue chicken, pasta salad, and corn; again hats off to Kathleen's Cottage Irish Pub for cooking up some delicious food. I had come in a respectable 8th in my age group, three slots shy of getting a really cool award, a custom engraved Mooseman 70.3 bottle of pure maple syrup. In all I was please with how I had raced given the conditions and difficulty of the course.

I had wanted to push the pace hard on the swim (24:00) but the frigid water and seemingly froze my arms in place; I was however the fastest sleeveless wetsuit time on the day, if that counts for anything. The chill continued to takes its toll on the bike and at the end of the day I feel I lost a lot of time because of it. With my muscles tightly clenched I dont think my power output was were it could have been, but I think I am right on track with my training and look forward to more opportunities to race at my upmost potential. Last but not least I was most pleased with my run. Having posted two ~5hr marathons in the last two years at IMLP I feel like I have finally figured out (with respect to nutrition planning and race training) how to run fast off the bike. Not the fastest split ever, but it is a step in the right direction and I feel confident in where things are going.