I last raced the Elkhart Lake Triathlon in 2013 in preparations for Ironman Wisconsin. It quickly became on of my favorite triathlons and it was easy to figure out way. The race venue is damn near perfect. The race is very well run and organized. It has a large number of volunteers who know what they are doing. Finally, it draws a good number of participants from top end to novices, so no matter your experience level there will be some sort of competition, if you are looking for it. This year has been an interesting year to say the least. It started out with me making a half-assed goal of doing at least one race each month of the year. At first, it sounded very doable and easy. Then came March and April, when I began applying for a new job, which I ended up accepting and starting in May. This threw a total wrench into my plan. Honestly, it's most likely my type-A personality which is to blame for my stubbornness and inability to give up on a goal - even when the circumstances say the better idea is just to bag it until my schedule is more apt to allow a race every month. But, none-the-less, here we are, 6 months into my goal, and I registered for the Elkhart Lake Sprint Triathlon for my 7th race of the year. The race date was a scheduled off day for me, but I ended up getting scheduled to work a music festival in our city from 5:00pm-3:30am the evening after the race. In and of itself, that isn't terrible. Honestly, it was the month or so leading up to the race, which made the decision to race on this Saturday a questionable one. I was on Field Training for the past month working nearly every day with minimal time off. When I did have time off, it was spent cramming in other family events that we had scheduled before I accepted the new position. So, to say I have devoted ample time for my family would be an understatement. But, like I said, because of my inability to let go of a goal, I registered for the race and sacrificed some much needed family time.
Training for This Race
To say I had been training for this race would be a flat out lie. To be honest, I don't think I have actually "trained" for any race since the Whistle Stop Marathon last fall. I have been just winging it. Basically, I would plan out my training about 2-4 days out based on time available and how I feel and what I actually feel like doing. It has been difficult to actual sit down and plan out even a month with the unknown of a new job. On top of the new schedule and the uncertainty of the new position, my off time has been crammed full of family adventures, which have included trips to La Crosse, Point Beach, and a Brewer game. I have been keeping my weekly running mileage up in the 25-35 mile range since the Neenah Duathlon back in the beginning of May. My cycling mileage has increased quite a bit since the weather has finally warmed up to a comfortable level to get out early in the mornings without freezing my ass off. As for my swimming, I think I could count on one hand how many times I have been in the pool since April. I have been in the pool 3 times total since May 1st and only 9 times since April first. So in a nutshell, I have been staying active, but to say I have been actually training, like I said, would be one big fat lie.
Prerace
One of my single gripes about some races, is the requirement of picking up race packets and bibs the day/night before. I understand why it's done, but I still find it to be an inconvenience to sacrifice more time just to go and pick up a bib. But, it was something I had to do, so on Friday evening Delaney and myself made the short trek to The Osthoff Resort for the race expo and packet pick up. The expo itself is small and simple. Packet pickup is well organized and goes quick. We were in and out in under 10 minutes. That night I made one of my favorite prerace meals of butternut squash with brussels sprouts fried up with some diced up chicken breasts. I was in bed and sleeping shortly before 10pm.
I had set me alarm for 4:30am with hopes of getting on the road around 5:00 as the drive to Elkhart Lake was around 50 minutes. Prior to leaving I tested my heart rate variability or HRV which is a great test for stress on your adrenal system. The higher the HRV the more recovered you theoretically are. My HRV this morning was over 100. Typically, the range for HRV is 1-100. On average an HRV for a typical day would be 75-85. After testing and getting ready, I wound up leaving shortly after 5:15 and got into Elkhart Lake around 6:10. I honestly don't remember if we had assigned bike rack locations in 2013 or not, but this year we had assigned sections for transition. I like this concept a lot. Basically they would assign a few bike racks for bib numbers. So I found the rack section for 750-800 and found a nice spot to set up shop next to the edge of the rack. It doesn't take me long to set up my transition area, as I subscribe to the idea of less is more. It probably took me a total of 5 minutes to fully set up and organize my transition area, then I just wanted to get my wetsuit on as it was kind of chilly and damp.
The temperature that morning was around 50-55 degrees with a light misty-fog that was just lingering around. It was breezy which didn't help matters either. All I wanted to do was get my wetsuit on to help stay warm. After getting my wetsuit on I walked down to the beach to get into the water to get acclimated to the water temperatures and start a swimming warm up. It was roughly 6:30 and I still had about 45 minutes until the start of the race. The reported water temperature was 67 degrees, over 10 degrees warmer than the air. I walked in and started to swim. The water was cool, but comfortable. I honestly was a little afraid to get out as the air temperatures were so chilly. So I just stayed in the water and kept moving for about a half hour.
The water conditions in Elkhart Lake are damn near perfect. The lake is spring fed and is always around 55-70 degrees. The water is crystal clear and you can see the bottom even in 5-7' deep water. I saw several small fish swimming near the bottom of the lake while I was warming up. The swim start is slightly different from most triathlons I participate in. The race starts with a time trial start, meaning each individual participant starts by themselves in small 3-5 second increments.
Nutrition Plan
With my finishing time goal being around an hour, my nutrition plan was to not take in any calories until after the race was done. On the drive down to Elkhart Lake, I drank my usual tall travel mug of dark coffee. About an hour out from race time I took 2 caps of
Hammer Anti-Fatigue Caps and 2 caps of
Hammer Endurolytes. During the race, I had no water on the bike and had no intentions of slowing for water on the run. I also ate no breakfast or took in any calories before the start of the race as I knew I would have ample fuel on board from last nights dinner and had no need to "top off" my fuel stores.
Gear/Equipment
400m Swim (5:40)
My strategy for the swim was to start out harder than goal pace and after the first 100-150m settle into a challenging pace for the final 300m or so. As you can see I totally forgot to start my Garmin at the start of the race. I guess I just got caught up in the atmosphere of the time trial start and the only thing on my mind was gaining ground and coming out of the water ahead of as many people possible. As I came out of the water, I won't lie, I was kind of dizzy, I'm really not sure why. The best I can explain is it was like I had my "sea legs" after coming off the lake.
T1 (1:48)
We had quite the long run to get into the transition area after swimming. Based on my Garmin data it was about a quarter mile. Taking that into consideration, I would expect a longer T1, but honestly, not as long as I ended up with. After getting to my transition area, I was still struggling to get off my wetsuit. At first I was struggling to get it off over my Garmin, then it was my right foot. Finally I wasted time trying to get it off my left foot. I felt as though I got more and more frustrated as I continued to struggle just to take off my wetsuit. As soon as it was off, I was golden. I finished getting ready for the bike and was out.
12.4 Mile Bike (34:13)
As soon as I got clipped in, I began to hammer down. My mindset on the bike was to leave it all on the bike course. I knew I am a strong running and would be able to put together a solid run even if I ride hard all 12 miles. One thing I forgot to take into consideration, was how hilly the course was. None of the hills were overly challenging, but the entire course was rolling hills. There really was never a flat section. One benefit from having a time trial start, was the consistent flow of people. There was never really a pack of athletes. I thrived on this. There was constantly some one ahead of me to focus on. As soon as I passed one person, there was someone else ahead to be passed. It kept me focused on a single task opposed to focusing on the wind or the hills. One thing that I still am surprised with is the fact that my bike split was the fastest time of the entire race. Cycling was never my strength, but somehow, on this day, my bike leg was clearly the reason I won the race.
T2 (1:04)
I don't know what it is about the bike to run transition, but I have become very efficient at this transition. I had the second fastest transition time of the race. When I first got into the transition area, the very first thing I noticed was the lack of bikes in transition...and that's a good thing. It was at this exact moment I stated thinking about putting together a strong finish for a high placing. Personally, I take pride in my transitions and practice them. In my eyes, it's free time. You do not need to be a freak of nature or metabolically efficient to be good at transitions. You just need to be calm and efficient. Keep things simple and know what you need and what you don't need.
3.1 Mile Run (19:24)
Coming off the bike, all I wanted to do was get into a comfortable groove and just maintain it. I started out coming out of transition at a high turnover rate. I took note of another guy in front of me about a half mile ahead or so. I started to focus in on him and made it a goal to pass him as soon as possible. After the first half mile or so, I started to settle into a more manageable pace for the remainder of the 5k. After passing the first guy I saw another athlete further ahead and at this point I was already over a mile into the race and wasn't sure if I'd be able to catch up to him before the end. But I knew I was going to try. The run course was one of the hardest 5k courses I have ever run, even including open 5k's. The first mile or so is at a very slight incline, then you make a left hand turn and you are stuck running almost straight up hill for the next mile or so. This hill made it extremely difficult to catch up to the guy ahead of me. I remained focused on my form and breathing. I especially concentrated on my foot striking and made sure to maintain a high leg turnover rate, all while listening to my breathing, making sure to take deep breaths from my stomach. The last mile of the race was the fastest, as it was mostly downhill. I put the hammer down at around the 1k mark and tried my hardest to pass the guy that was ahead of me since the first mile. I ended up coming pretty damn close, but never officially passed him. I ended up finishing with a final time of 1:02:11 and I knew I had run a great race.
Post Race
After the race it started to mist ever slightly and I started to get cold. I grabbed a couple bagel quarters and a bottled water after the race to refuel with and began wondering around aimlessly to kill time. Knowing that I had to work that night at 5pm, I wanted to get home as soon as possible, but knowing I had at least placed in my age group, I wanted to stick around for the awards ceremony. It was roughly 8:30 at this point and according to the race's web site the awards ceremony wasn't scheduled to begin until 10:00. So, I had some time to kill. I decided I would at least clean up my gear and load up the car, so I would be able to hit the road as soon as the awards ceremony had concluded. As I was waiting to take my bike out of transition, another racer approached me, he was the first guy I had passed out on the run course. He came over to congratulate me on the race and we began chatting. He was an older dude who focused a lot of his efforts on his bike. He was telling me how he just finished racing an 8 stage race in California. It sounded really neat, maybe a bucket list item for further down the road??? After grabbing my free sandwich from the concession stand and loading up my car, I hung around the awards tent until the official results were posted. As soon as they were posted, I weaseled my way up to the board to check the results. I won the whole damn race. It took a few seconds for it to actually sink in. But I checked again, and I had won, I took first place overall. I finished with an official time of 1:02:11 and the second place male finished in 1:02:27, just 16 seconds behind me. I was thrilled, but it sucked, as I had no one to share the joy with. I immediately called Sarah to tell her the news. I wanted to put my time into perspective, so I quickly checked the race results from 2013, the last time I did this race. In that race, I finished 6th overall with a time of 1:05:29. I improved my time by over 3 minutes. I took over a full minute off my bike split and ran about the same run split, my swim time improved as did my transitions. A short while later the awards ceremony began and the overall winners were announced first. I received a very nice etched glass/crystal trophy and had my photo taken on the top podium. It was a great feeling. To me, this was my best race to date. I know the Ripon Medical Center Triathlon overall win had a larger margin of victory, but this race had a competitive field and has always drawn some fast racers. After receiving my award, I felt terribly guilty leaving immediately to so I could get home and get to work. I felt like a guy who was selfish and didn't give a crap about the other racers. I wish I could have stuck around for the rest of the awards presentations, but I just couldn't.
What's on Tap
It's hard to describe the feeling you are left with after winning a race outright. You feel unstoppable, motivated, and inspired. Part of you feels like you deserve a day off with celebrating, while the other side of you says, "hell no, get your ass back out there and pound some pavement!" You immediately start dreaming of future races and what the future holds. It's contagious, this sport. I guess that's why I love the sport of endurance racing. It's a constant battle and the only thing holding you back is yourself. Sure, their are other people out on the course racing, but no matter what your skill level is those other people motivate you. They inspire you. You see people who are better than you. You see people who are first timers who are racing with a smile on their face because they are accomplishing something they never thought possible. It's a great sport. For me, other people on the course are a threat, they are my competition, even if they don't view themselves in that light, that is what I make them out to be. Other people see others out on the course as company. It's a party, like one large group training ride/run. But in the end, regardless of your finish time, you are only racing against yourself. You can never control who else will be racing the event or how many people are racing. You control the one thing you can control...yourself. You do the best you can do on that day in the given conditions and you can only look inward and ask yourself, "did I do my best?" If you can answer, "hell yea!" Then and only then can you say that you had a successful race.
As always, thanks for reading!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!
