The Nickname Crash Is Already Taken

How 'bout a race recap? Here it is regarding my LifeTime Fitness Triathlon this past weekend?

It all started extremely early, a little too early, but who am I to say? I wasn't in charge. We were instructed to get to the race site at 4:30 a.m. to check in and secure as good a site in Transition as possible. The transition area opened at 4:30 with the race not starting until the 1st wave at 7:00. I got there on time and did get the best spot on my rack, at the end, so at least the early morning alarm was justified.

I need to back up here for one note and acknowledge someone. Amy saved me A TON of hassle by agreeing to let me commandeer her house as my house for the weekend. She lives a mile and a half from the race start whereas I live 40 minutes away driving 75 mph. Can you say Lifesaver regarding the much needed sleep?! I moved into her house the night before and then just rode my bike to the race the morning of. Perfect! And, oh, she was out of town for the weekend and didn't think twice about letting me stay. Do it again next year Aim? :)

Back to the race. They had the race times staggered randomly by age and gender group after the Pros started. This race is a HUGE magnet for the professional triathletes and with this being an Olympic year it was a perfect warmup for them with the games only 4 weeks away. They are impressive to watch fly by in all disciplines!

My wave started about 36 minutes after the pros. Into the water we went, 1 at a time, 1 every 3 seconds for a 1.5k swim. I much prefer this time-trial start vs the group wave start so many other triathlons have. The first portion of the swim started out rather well. I got into my rhythm quickly and was feeling comfortable. Then we hit the first turn. It was somewhat calm when we started or at least I didn't notice the wind, but I knew it was going to pick up throughout the day. It wasn't exactly windy once we made that turn, but there was a noticeable breeze and we had to swim straight into it and its waves for the longest portion of the swim. Once I make it to the last turn on the swim course there's always a little celebration mentally because at that point every stroke I take I'm getting closer to shore rather than swimming away from or parallel to it. I usually try to swim that portion a little harder. I think I was able to during this race as well, but the wind/waves were still an issue as it was now a crosswind. This caused me to alter my breathing a little so as to not breathe as much on the up wind side. I thought of all my teammates going after me and how much worse it could be for them if/when the wind picked up even more. I empathized for them. A few strokes later and I was on the sandy beach. Swim down, bike and run to go.

I rocked through the transition, despite wanting to puke (I think I drank too much Lake Nokomis green water) and headed out on the 40k bike route. See my results below for this transition time, fastest time in my Male 40-44 category (gotta brag about something!)! Now, if I could only find a race that only has transitions w/o the swimming, biking and running. The bike portion was pretty uneventful, feeling pretty good, heard/saw the TNT cheering sections along the route (Thanks everyone for coming out! You really do help motivate us participants!!).

Uneventful that is until the final corner on the whole course. Coming up to that corner is a long straightaway. At this point in the race you're supposed to get in a low gear so you have a high cadence to help your legs transition from biking to running. I was focusing on this a little more than I should've been and went into the corner too fast. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal as the roads are usually wide enough to take a wide angle around the corners. The problem with that line on this corner though is that there were bikers coming from the opposite direction just starting their bike portion so we only had 1/2 the road to work with, with only some plastic cones separating the opposite going flows.

I was applying just enough brakes to keep from flipping ass over handle bars and just barely, somehow, avoided clipping someone's back wheel. We're talking hair-widths here people. I think it was more his maneuvering out of the way than mine! After missing him I somehow made it all the way across that wrong lane cutting in front of a group of 3 others without getting hit by them. It could've been a bruiser, but I ended up against the far curb, caught my composure and got back into the proper lane. Have I mentioned yet that this is a popular spectator area and the corner was pretty crowded? Almost gave them a good show. Wowser! What a way to end the bike portion!

The run was as expected. It hurt and sucked the first mile until I somewhat got my running legs under me. I think I still need to practice more bricks to get used to this sooner. The first lap went better than the 2nd, slowed down quite a bit.

Once again, the TNT cheer station on the run course was awesome, as were all the other individuals cheering for us specifically - Kimmi, Jenna, Coach Mike, Courtney, Coach Bob - I heard or saw you all so thanks! Another bonus to the run was this is where I saw my kids cheering for me. That was a nice boost! I was able to see them on the first lap and let them know I had 1 more so they were then able to make it closer to the Finish Line and see me come in.

All in all, it was a pretty decent race for me. I'm content with it. I didn't quite get the time goal I had in mind, but I improved on last year's time by a couple of minutes so it's a new PR. Next year I'll just have to shave a couple of more minutes off!

Here are the results:

Results For:
Jon McCarthy
Olympic Course Bib #: 746
Age:40
Gender:M
City, State: Lonsdale, MN
Race Category: Olympic Age Group - Men 40 to 44

Triathlon Results - Olympic Course

Finish Time: 2:45:28.9
Category Place: 47 out of 100 Men 40 to 44 finishers
Overall Place: 382 out of 1147 Olympic Course finishers
Gender Overall Plc: 325 out of 802 Male finishers

Triathlon Splits

Swim 1.5K
Time: 33:03.2
Pace: 2:12 /100m
Category Place: 52
Overall Place: 507
Gender Overall Plc: 388

Transition #1
Time: 1:42.9
Category Place: 1
Overall Place: 13
Gender Overall Plc: 12

Bike 40K
Time: 1:14:17.3
Pace: 20.6MPH
Category Place: 38
Overall Place: 278
Gender Overall Plc: 260

Transition #2
Time: 1:29.4
Category Place: 14
Overall Place: 113
Gender Overall Plc: 92

Run 10K
Time: 54:55.9
Pace: 8:51/M
Category Place: 66
Overall Place: 586
Gender Overall Plc: 468