Mooseman 2012

Saturday was spent running around purchasing arm warmers, gloves, long sleeve shirt, and toe covers. The rain was coming and we could freeze just like the Olympic racers did on Saturday morning. I just read a friends race report who did the Olympic and stated - "Halfway through the bike I couldn't stop thinking about how cold I was",  "my hand was completely numb. I had no dexterity in my left had to shift."

When I got to my bike rack there was nothing but water under the rack. There was no place to put my bag so I was allowed to find a place elsewhere.  Lucky for me my newly assigned transition area worked out better because I had an entire table to myself. Sweet. My position was on on the outside perimeter as well which makes things easy to find.

After hugs and good lucks to Kathy and Dan, Melissa and I walked to the waters edge where we were greeted by Mary.  I decided I would get in the water since my wave was going off pretty quick. Only 15 minutes after the first wave. The water felt fabulous. A little cold to the face but other than that - it was warmer than the air.

We were off - I started over to the right side this time. It was a good decision. I felt like the swim was very nice. I did not get too pummelled.  I ended up with 38 minutes for the swim. Compared to 2009 when I did Mooseman - that's a 6 minute PR. Yup - 6 minutes off my swim time.

In transition I quickly found my table and found it to be somewhat wet. I had put everything in bags so there was a little bit more to do with all that.  I found my socks and shoes, wiped my feet quickly and put them on. Helmet, gloves (hard to get on), arm warmers. I did not end up putting on a shirt, just arm warmers. I was fine.

The bike was pretty uneventful really. I just tried to keep a steady pace. The hills were long and steep and I saw many people walking up the hills.  I thought to myself  - I would never do that. I would have to fall over first.  Regardless of my determination my bike ended up much slower than I had hoped. I'm going to cut myself some slack though because this mother was hilly. I have heard people say that this course is harder than Lake Placid. The gain was 3700 feet according to my Garmin 500.  My bike ended up being 3:24.  Not very fast but it's OK. I made up for it on the run.

T2 was much better than T1 as expected. So much less to do. I managed to remove the gloves and arm warmers and off I went.

I did notice my feet were a little stubby but they warmed up fast. I tried to adjust, go pee, find a pace that I could hold for the first 3 miles. For the next 7 miles I held that pace. On the last 3.1 miles I tried to pick things up and I did.  I don't usually have any gas for the last 3 miles but this time I did. I ran as hard as I could and got my pace down to 7:11 per mile or so. Must be because I went easy on the hills. My run time was 1:40:50!  A PR on this course by about 10 minutes.

As I came to the end I was searching high and low for Kathy and Dan. I had not seen them ALL DAY!  I thought something might be wrong. Finally - at the end, before the shoot, there they were. Cheering me on. Here is a small clip of Kathy and Dan taking pictures of themselves...?????

I ended up with 6th AG and a total time of 5:50 or so.  It's a PR for Mooseman by 5 minutes. 

I think that after this rainy experience I am beginning to loose the faithful support crew. Kathy said that she will NEVER EVER go to a half iron when it's raining.  Actually, if it happens to rain in Lake Placid she vows to watch from the veranda in her PJ's with her coffee.  She will meet me at the finish line.