Lake Placid Mini-Triathlon
July 21, 2008 6:40pm
400yrds/12miles/3miles
==========================

Pre-race
========
After a LONG and WET day yesterday watching IMUSA from 7am - midnight (up at 4am, in 
bed at 1am, and with a volunteer shift as a bike catcher in the mud and rain from 
2:45-5:30pm), I had a lazy day just sitting, snoozing, and reading.  It rained for a 
couple of hrs early afternoon, and I felt depressed about more rain, but then it cleared 
up and was a lovely afternoon and evening, sunny but not too hot. I got down to Mirror 
Lake Beach early at 4pm and I sat in the sun and read some more.  I assembled my bike @ 
5pm and went for a short spin - the legs did not have much jump. Once the High Peaks 
Cyclery crew, Brian and his gang, arrived and setup the t-zone and registration, i 
registered and got the best transition spot, right at the swim in/bike out/in/run out 
gate!  No racks, we laid our bikes out on the grass.  I decided for a simple race, no 
contact lenses (so i would swim a little blind), just a little bit of water on the bike, 
no elastics on the bike shoes, and do the race in a bike jersey (it was really all i had 
left from using nearly all my clothing yesterday and most of it was still all wet).  I 
ate a Clif Bar @ 5:40pm, and just before getting into my wetsuite @ 6:20pm I did a short 
yoga sun-salutation routine.  I was relaxed and happy and was just going to go have fun 
in this race, not go hard at all.  I did a short swim warmup, just enough to loosen up.

Swim
====
I seeded myself towards the back of the pack, and it was a mass start.  Lots of 
thrashing arms and legs, but i managed to stay clear of the worst of it, and I picked up 
a draft for a minute or two.  Then, as I got into my groove, I lost my draft because i 
was now passing people (who'd started with a too much of a rush).  To the turn-around 
buoy, and I now led a train to the beach.  

T1
==
I called out my bib #207 as instructed, and I walked to my bike (I needed the time to 
get my wetsuite off).  I put my glasses on so now i could see, and quickly I was running 
out onto the bike course.

Bike
====
I had a bit of difficulty getting my feet onto my shoes cuz they were spinning freely, 
but not as much difficulty as a guy beside me with a solid rear wheel on his bike.  He 
dropped behind me and it took a couple of minutes before he came steaming past me.  I 
settled into a steady pace along Mirror Lake drive, and I did not push hard up over the 
Northwood Rd hill.  Luck was with me at the Hwy #86 junction as there was no traffic so 
I didn't have to stop.  I cruised/flew down the Bears and Cherries hills, a couple of 
people passed me, and then we turned onto River Rd.  I managed to pass a couple of more 
people and take a couple of sips from my water bottle.  On the climb back on Hwy #73 
towards town I was spinning easily in low gear, in aero position, and a guy came past 
me, working REALLY hard.  I nearly passed him back at the top of the hill at the horse 
stables, and again at the Hwy #86 junction I made up ground on him over the top of the 
hill.  I kept my pace easy and I didn't push hard on the bike at all.  But on the bad 
news side, I could feel tighness in my ribs and stomach, harbinger of a side-stitch that 
I figured would appear on the run.  Back onto Mirror Lake Drive I stretched out calfs 
and legs.  A good bike ride.  

T2
==
I put on socks cuz my shoes were still soaked from yesterday.  A quick transition 
though.

Run
===
I started the run just behind the biker i'd been chasing on the uphills, and he quickly 
pulled ahead of me.  My legs felt good and loose, but I stuck to my "do not kill myself 
today" plan and let him go.  Within a couple of minutes he started coming back to me and 
I soon passed him.  I settled in to a good pace quickly , and i just ran.  As expected, 
the side-stitch came, not bad.  I did some hard breathing out to try to get rid of it, 
but that didn't really work.  I found I could manage it, so I just ignored it and ran.  
Just past Northwood Rd we turned off Mirror Lake Drive onto a dirt road that was a long, 
gentle uphill to the run turnaround.  Ahead of me I could see two runners - one in white 
and one in yellow, that I was slowly gaining on.  I felt good, no tiredness in the legs 
and the side-stitch was just there, but notaffecting my breathing or pace.  Around the 
run-turnaround (that came quickly!) and I picked up the pace just a bit down the hill in 
an attempt to catch yellow-jersey.  Back onto Mirror Lake Drive, 1.5km to go, and I was 
within 20m of him now.  The pace was getting tough to maintain now.  I was closing so 
slowly with him, I thought that even if if I did catch him, I couldn't pass him in a 
rush and he was sure to match me.  White-jersey was also coming back to us, so I focused 
on catching him.  With just a few 100m to go, I closed to within 5m of yellow-jersey, 
and then he glanced back, and surged away from me.  I couldn't match him (and didn't 
want to try, I remembered my plan for this race, just to enjoy it and not kill myself) 
so I cruised toward the finish line.  With just a few meters left, I heard footsteps 
coming up behind me.  I surged abit to try to beat the onrusher to the line, but it was 
a flying 15-yr-old (and a relay team to boot) and he went past me like he'd been shot 
from a cannon.  I cruised in to finish.

A lovely race, and I am happy with my performace, effort, and results.  I felt great and 
relaxed, if not hugely energized, and so I just did a steady race.  A good swim, steady 
bike on hilly terrain, and I ran hard but not all-out to a good negative-split run.  
Side-stitch again on the run, at least it is consistent.  We'll have to figure out 
what/how it is happening, cuz i drank a total of 4 mouthfuls of water on the bike, well 
before the end of the bike ride.  I think the run was short, not even 3miles, cuz if it 
was 3 miles=4.75km then I was running a 23:45 5km pace, and I severely doubt that.  No matter.

I congratulated yellow-jersey afterwards.  He said he heard my footsteps coming, and was 
also hoping to catch white-jersey ahead of us.  His face looked familiar to me, but it 
wasn't until I got home and checked the results that I placed him - he was Mike Richter, 
NHL goalie (retired), who beat my Vancouver Canucks in the 1994 Stanley Cup finals!  
Drat him!  That's twice he's beaten me now! :-)

What a fun event!  Brian has been doing these for 25yrs now, 8 Mondays in a row each 
summer.  A low-key, fun atmosphere, informal, and there was enough competition to push 
yourself if you wanted.  Most of the prizes were draw-prizes too, all merchandise, 
overall and AG winners got something as well.  Well worth the $15, and there is a 
duathlon if you so wanted as well :-)


my splits:
swim & T1 - 8:11
bike - 36:26
T2 - 0:39
run out - 11:44
run back - 10:49 (a 22:33 run - yikes!)

official results:
swim - 0:07:29 (9th overall)
bike - 0:37:07 (includes T1)
run - 0:23:13 (includes T2)
total - 1:07:49

12/54 overall
4/7 Men30-39