Race Reports x3 2018 - Drake Half, Clear Lake Tri, and Bluff Creek Tri

Well, I've been a giant blog slacker... plenty to say just zero time to synthesize any of it so starting with something easy.  Three quick race reports for my fitness adventures so far in 2018.

I decided last year after being a giant slacker and doing one whole triathlon and a couple of 5k runs to get myself organized and fit again.  My gym has this Inbody measurement device that looks at hydration, muscle and fat mass for all parts of your body and such.  I did the first measurement at the end of August in 2017 when I decided to get my tush moving again.  And then did a fifth measurement in May of 2018 and found I was down 8 lbs and 4.4 % body fat (I'm sure in July I put some of the squish back on but such is life... I like sweets too much).

First the Drake Half Marathon

I set some goals as part of the getting back in shape process and that was to do another half marathon and three/four triathlons this year.  Not going to let my body or the weather hold me back so I got myself signed up.



I hadn't done this race before but it sounded like a nice small race to do.  I started doing group runs with the Vardo running group in Ames.  I ran in all kinds of weather and did a least two long grueling treadmill runs thanks to mother nature's whimsy but built a good base and was ready when race day came.  The weather for Drake was about as nice as it could be for a blustery April morning.  We saw lots of vardos and Triracers at the start and I was in good spirits.  I picked a pacer close to where I hoped to end up and then We were off.  

My carpool buddy Ashish

One of the things I was trying leading up to the race was different nutrition options.  My body doesn’t tolerate Gatorade or GU so I generally avoid all free non water offerings at aid stations.  I had been testing a couple Young Living options for hydration and energy so I had a small water bottle with Aminowise, a banana, and two Nitros with me.  I started with the prerace banana, took a nitro between mile 5 and 6.  My pace was right where I wanted to be in the mid nines and felt pretty good through the never ending rolling hills (didn’t expect quite so many), and missed the right time to take my last nitro so miles 11 and 12 I didn’t have much in the tank but pulled it together for a strong finish. My final time was 2:08 which was in my top three for fastest half marathons.  I had fun and would definitely do that course again.

Clear Lake Triathlon

Second new tom me race of the year was Clear Lake triathlon.  My folks have a condo just up the hill from this race so I spend a lot of time training on this course when I’m in town.  I was busy with kid stuff in the days leading up to the race, and I hadn’t really done any racing in 2017 (yeah it sucked and I was stuck last year so this was the year of getting it done).  I threw all my gear together at 10 pm two nights before, then had this and that for the kids after work and rushed up to the lake with Joshua.  I realized as I was getting my gear set out I forgot two things... my wetsuit (not a deal breaker as we’d swam in the lake a couple of weeks earlier) and my goggles!  

Running out of the lake took forever

Yes the former competitive swimmer forgot the goggles.  It was ten pm and there were no options for getting a replacement pair.  I found some kiddie goggles in the condo as a last ditch but thankfully once I set up, I was in transition talking to one of the race volunteers and told them my goggle issue and they said follow me, led me to another local woman who had three pairs of goggles and she set me up with an older pair. They were perfect.

The swim was brisk at the start with water temps in the mid 70s. I hit the start and hyper ventilated a bit the first 100+ yards and I had to do couple quick breast strokes to settle down and give myself a pep talk, and once I calmed down it was smooth swimming.  One thing to note is the lake is pretty

smiling because running is fun

shallow so many ran in a ways, but I opted to swim as soon as it was deep enough. I didn’t follow the same rules getting to shore and ran quite a ways in the lake and legs were burning so probably should have kept swimming.  Didn’t matter because my son and folks were on the shore cheering me out of the water.

The bike was full of small rolling hills and large wind turbines and while I had decent bike training going into this there was a consistent but not super strong wind and I didn’t feel as strong as I’d hoped... seriously everyone passed me.  

The run course was pretty flat and after a quick transition I was off for downtown and the Surf.  I felt like I’d have a strong run and the clouds were hanging on with the cooler air.  I was having fun and we ran through downtown and saw the family again before heading out to the Surf and back to the finish at downtown.  While I didn’t see any racers I knew It was awesome to have part of my family there.  It was a very well supported race and I’d definitely do it again.

Sprint triathlon 750 m swim 13:54, 12.5 mile bike 46:53, Run 5k 28:39 overall time 1 hour 33 minutes

Bluff Creek Triathlon

Leading up to this one I always seem to waiver between doing the sprint and the Olympic distances because the run is always a hot steamy suck fest.  I told myself this year that I was going to stay with the challenge of the Olympic and just adjust the best I can.  I brought several icy water bottles, and a cooler with my cooling shrug which keeps my skin cool when wet as well as a cooling towel on ice.


I did forget my racing sunglasses (case but no glasses) so had to run back up to the truck to get my everyday ones that are also sport ones.  I also forgot breakfast so I ate one of the granola bars I had with me.  Did I say I was nervous about doing the Olympic distance... uh yeah just a bit distracted.  Oh and this race totally snuck up on me as I didn't do any riding after RAGBRAI until the Wednesday before the race and I hadn't done any distance swim workouts until the Monday before.  Eek!

I had fun in transition despite getting arriving later than expected.  I visited with as many of the triracers and Ames folks as I could before the race started as we were well represented.  I took a few calming breaths before the swim start and I was off.  

Again I made bad decisions on goggles as I grabbed an old mirrored pair with impossible to see out of lenses instead of just my tinted pair (time to invest in some new pairs).  Needless to say that made sighting nearly impossible during the swim.  I was forced to sight off my nearest neighbors as the red bouys are really hard to see (race directors... orange or green please) and you can't see the turnaround point for the swim course until you are 1/3 of the way through the swim as you skirt the shore on your left for quite a while before things open up so you don't really sight off the bouys until you are almost to the turn around.  I ran into traffic of the two waves in front of me about half way in and spent the rest of the time weaving through people to the turn.  After that sighting was a little easier with one red and one green bouy before the slippery run out of the lake.

Two awesome ladies (three I guess :)

Once on the bike I was cruising around 18-20 mph until the turn at Pilot mound and the roll to Twister Hill.  I think my max speed on the return trip was just short of 40mph as that hill seemed steeper then the hill on the way out.  After the first big hill I was a bit wiped and it took me a few miles of grinding things out (yes with people passing me) before I pulled it together and had a more focused return trip.  The second hill was a slow grind up (4 mph) but I had taken on some steady nutrition before getting there and felt a lot better after that one.  

My Ames teammates

I made it back to transition and did the dance of the gear swap including my cooling shrug and I was off on a shuffle to the finish.  The course goes through a lovely prairie for 1/4 mile (this is actually the suckiest part of the run despite being lovely because the humidity doubled).  Then it spits out onto a short gravel road and onto the main paved road.  This is an out and back with a repeat and there are two decent hills so you get to run up both of them twice. Thankfully the water stops are at the bottom and you hit those each twice as well.  I was pleased with the camaraderie on the course with people encouraging each other and found I started doing it as well and kept a smile going through the slog which helped keep me moving.  I made sure to double up my water at each stop to drink and to wear, and I took a nitro at the right before the turnaround to repeat the run course.  I had a few sketchy moments where I walked part of the same hill and felt a bit icky but managed to breathe through it.  Highlights of the run... two fuzzy wuzzy caterpillars near the damn at the bottom of the hills.  Never was I so happy to plod across a finish line.  Below is my last take at Olympic distance on this course (2014).  http://blaesing-thompson.blogspot.com/2014/08/race-report-shawn-bluff-creek-olympic .html

The numbers for this go are: .9 miles swim 29:15, 25 mile bike 1 hour 36 minutes, 6.2 mile run 1 hour 11 minutes.  Total for my slowest time ever 3 hours and 32 minutes for the finish.  4th in my age group out of four but I had a great day.  As always thanks for reading.