mini-mussel Report!

So I'm up in Lake Placid. We drove up this afternoon, got some delicious dinner. Amanda got me a small vanilla cone a Ben and Jerry's for my birthday (it's today! she had a giant brownie sundae with triple caramel chunk ice cream, I may have helped eat that to...). We took a quick stroll down to transition, so I could soak up a bit of the vibe. Might have gotten some chills. Definitely pictured that final 200 meters around the oval. But I'll cover my race report before I get too much into that stuff.

Saturday I raced mini-mussel. It was so much fun, and it did a great job of blowing away some of the pre-ironman jitters. It was nice to just go out, and go fast! Did the usual pre-race breakfast, mentally thanked Jeff Henderson for the 9am start, so I got to sleep in a bit more than most races. Headed down to Geneva around 7. Saw Mary just before I got to transition. She came in with me, and we found Alexa. We were all a MESS. Mary body-marked herself in the mirror, backwards. Alexa racked in the wrong spot, and I totally forgot to grab my timing chip until I had already walked down to the swim start (luckily it was still an hour before race time)!

The swim went well. I got out front, and got into a nice rhythm early. It was a sprint, so I was going strong. I still think I could've given it a but more ummph. I was leading my wave, with one drafter, for about 2/3 of the way. Then I got caught up in the wave before, and passed by my tail. He saw a way around that I missed. I worked my way through a good chunk of people from earlier waves, wove my way around a bunch of people who didn't seem to have the urgency to race that I did on the way up the boat launch. And yelled at people to get out of my way as I ran into transition. I don't like yelling at people, and I felt like a jerk, but I'm there to race, I want to win, and I would like some space to run. I headed into transition, got my wetsuit off, put my helmet on, grabbed my bike and went.

Swim: 9:46
T1: 1:05

Getting on my bike Mark O and Kelly C, two of my awesome train-this teammates were screaming at me to go. I had my shoes already on the bike, and I was ready to mount (no flying mount) when they started yelling that I lost one of my shoes. My rubber bands had prematurely come off somehow, and then somehow one of my shoes had popped out of the pedal. I kept my composure quite well, put the shoe on, clipped in, and started pedaling. I felt pretty good on the bike. I kept pushing, and was only passed out there by Matt Curbeau, who was riding like a mad man. I kept my eyes open for my teammates from earlier waves. I saw Amy early, but then I didn't see anyone until I went by Alexa with about a mile to go, and then Solveig on the way over the carpets into the park (she rode a flat for like the last mile like a CHAMP!).  I headed back into transition feeling strong. I had a good T2, slipped my shoes and visor on and RAN!

Bike: 43:21
T2: 1:00

The only thing I really have to say about the run is that it was HOT. The first mile I felt strong. The second mile hurt. A lot. I did my best to hold on, but my pace kept creeping up. By mile three I shook off whatever it was that was holding me back, and brought my pace back down. I gave it everything that I could, and crossed the line knowing that I didn't have much more to give. In the finish corral I then spent the next 3-4 minutes emptying the contents of my stomach as Mary laughed at me. She told me I definitely went hard enough, and that that was too hard for IMLP this week. Good to know coach!

Run: 21:34
Overall: 1:16:46

The next spring I do, that 5k is going to be under 20 minutes. That's a promise. Overall I was good enough for 13th overall, and 2nd age group. I'm happy with that. Getting faster, that's all that matters!

I can't wait for Sunday! I'm nervous, and excited all at the same time. I did get those chills looking out over transition. I have my race plan, and I'm ready to execute! I think know I can hit the projected finish time I was given. I don't want to jinx myself, but if I do what I can, I'll be a very very happy greggorsaurus. I signed up for race day tracking. So you can check my twitter for updates. My twitter is under greggorsaurus. Go figure, so if you're interested at all in how I perform, check there! The rest of the week will be keeping my feet elevated as much as possible. I'll be updating with a race report early next week.