Pewaukee Triathlon Race Report

Well, the Pewaukee Triathlon was this past Sunday. It is a good sided race that brings a fairly competitive field.

I've been crazy busy with work and at home, so I apologize that this comes a little late and that I have not responded to any one's e-mails for a bit. I will get to them over the next couple of days.

Back to the race.

I picked up my packet on Friday evening to find out two things. One, I was going to be in the second wave (this did not make me happy initially). And, two, the race was to start at 6:30am.

Now, the wave thing I had no control of, and it was not worth complaining about. I had asked to be in the first wave, and thought that was going to be the case. But, it really isn't that big of a deal and the last thing a race director needed two days before the race was me asking questions about a wave assignment. I just don't like swimming over people who mistakenly find themselves in the first wave.

The 6:30am thing did shock me. A half of an hour earlier is not much, but when you have to wrangle two three-year-olds, a seven-year-old, and (most importantly) a grumpy (age omitted for my personal safety) spouse at 4:30am so that Daddy can go do his race, things can get a little grumpy very quickly. So, after a little (very little) deliberation it was decided that I would go solo to this race. I would miss looking for them all, but not having to deal with family stuff would be nice too.

The day dawned bright and clear. The house slept as I left, and the only people on the roads all had bikes with them. I got to the race with plenty of time to get transition set up, body marked, and a little BSing with other OCD athletes. It was great to see some of the Emery's folks from Menomonee Falls that I usually only get to see at Pewaukee and during the winter. The iPod randomly selected the Dead Kennedys and I agreed with its choice. I was also able to speak with a tri-newbie, Kait, about what to expect.

Side note: Kait did well and is now very much hooked on her new to her road bike that Brent and Steve set he up on. Thanks, guys.

Just before the race started I was able to "warm-up" the lower half of my wetsuit. This was to insure the lightest possible race weight and to prevent lower body injury. That is my story and I am sticking with it.

The swim was uneventful. I was into the first wave's people within the first 100m, or so. There were a lot of people going off course, to the inside of the square course, but I was able to not follow them and just went on by. I swam the outside for the rest of the swim as there were too many people to go around and I was unable to find any feet not going slowly. I think I was one of the first people in my wave out of the water due to the number of bikes still on the rack. Had a good 43 second transition and onto the bike I went.

Now, Pewaukee sits in a valley (duh, there is a lake there) so to get out of town you have to go up some hills. As I was going up the first set of hills, I noted that I was now well into the first wave. I tried to settle into my own pace. At first it was crowded and there was a lot of back an forth amongst about five of us. Once that got sorted out, I was able to go at the pace I wanted to. I was feeling pretty good. I had gone with only a 20oz bottle (with about 12oz of Gatorade in it) between my aero bars. In hind sight, a full bottle would have been better. I was out of fluids at about mile 11 or 12 and would have liked a last drink before starting the run.

Transition two went into the books at 47 seconds. Coming through the crowd after T2 I was putting on my watch and clipping my race belt. The crowd was cheering and my feet just went with it. I was able to get right into a sub-seven minute mile pace right away. I figured that I would just go with the flow and see where it got me. Well, it got me to the finish line without having to slow. I'll take that.

Overall, I was 22nd and 5th in my age group. I'll take a 23.5mph bike ride and a sub-seven minute mile run pace any day. It sure beats being dead. And, let's face it, there are those that would like to, but are unable to do a triathlon. Thirty seconds here and a minute there are nice goals. But, maybe a moment or two to reflect upon how blessed we are to just be able to do this silly (it is a little, and you know it) sport.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to do a little extra running. Let's see where that gets me.

As always, shoot me an e-mail if you want to meet up for a ride or run in the morning. Bally's pool is closed this week, so if you want to do an open water swim somewhere, I'd be up for that too.