Pleasant Prairie Int'l RR

2nd tri of the season is in the books.  Last Sunday I took part in the Pleasant Prairie Olympic distance event, which was one race I have been eying for up for a couple of years now.  Really glad I was finally able to take part!

I drove to PP on Friday after work because I was helping out with the kids' race Saturday morning.  These are always fun events to be a part of.  When I woke up Sat, I was greeted with heavy rain and lots of lightning, not a good sign this race was going to happen.  We started setting the course anyways in hopes of the storm passing.  We kept a close eye on the radar which showed what looked to be a hurricane sitting over the entire state!  Strangely enough, the race site was right under the edge of the storm, which was not moving anywhere...we could even see it in the clouds.  However, by the time the kids race was meant to start, the lightning was long gone and the rain had cleared so everything went on without a hitch.  Once the first swimmers were off I headed down the run course to the run turn around for the short and long course.  It was fun seeing all of the kids out there giving it their best, regardless of how experienced they were.  The rest of the day was spent getting registered for the race/picking up packet, getting food for dinner and breakfast, and relaxing.  Our hotel was very close to the race sight which made everything a breeze.

Race Morning

Wake up call was 3:30 am.  The race start was an early one with the elite going off at 6:40.  I wanted to make sure I had food in me early.  Had my typical breakfast of carb, nut butter, honey, banana and coffee.  Transition opened at 4:30 and I heard it gets busy quick so I made sure to be there asap.  Took care of body marking right away, which was a good call because the line got quite long.  After I racked my bike, I got everything else squared away and was off for a warm up jog by 5:30.  Took an easy jog around the lake and got in some pick ups.  When I got back I was also finally able to meet some other Wattie teammates Ed and Cate!  We chatted quick and planned to meet up again afterwards.  Since transition closed at 6:15 I made sure to get out early in order to get a good swim warm up in, however, this did not go as planned.  What I didn't realize was the water was also closed to athletes at 6:15, so no swim warm up : /

Swim

My last race I struggled to get a clean start.  This time around I decided to line up in the back/left side of the group.  I knew there were some fast swimmers here, so I just wanted to get out clean and find some feet.  This part of the swim went perfectly for me!  Finally.  My Helix wetsuit was feeling awesome and I was holding a good pace for the first few minutes.  Things started to fall apart rather quickly though.  I'm generally not one for excuses, but the chip strap I had was this plastic/Velcro crap that was digging into my ankle...felt like a razor blade was cutting me every kick!  My game was completely thrown off and I lost focus.  Having to stop every 100 meters or so to pull that damn thing up my leg was not ideal.  My sighting was off and I was all over the course.  I knew the swim was going to be slow.  It even ended up being long (1+ miles) by about 200-300 meters, which didn't help, but exited the water feeling fresh and had a good T1, thankfully.

Swim - 27:16
T1 - 0:53

Bike

There is time to be made up.  That is all my brain was thinking at this point.  After I brought my heart rate down and got my feet secured it was hammer time.  This was my first time running a disc and I could not be happier with the way it handled in the wind and on the flat sections.  Overall I felt good on the bike but a little flat at times.  Even with my computer not working (worked pre race, go figure), taking a slight wrong turn and losing about a minute, I managed a solid 9th fastest bike split, which allowed me to gain a few spots.  Riding by feel alone was a good experience.

Bike - 1:00:14
T2 - 0:47

Run

I really wanted to crack the top 10 so there was work to be done.  I wasn't sure where I stood but knew it was close, so instead of trying to go out hard and not blow up my plan was to start picking off people in front of me one at a time.  This plan worked well.  I ran myself into 9th OA with the 8th fastest run split!  Running around the lake was nice.  All of the turn-a rounds made for a fun course but the lack of shade made for a really hot run.  That chip strap was still digging into my ankle, which I wasn't happy about, but this sport is all about pain tolerance...didn't let it get into my head too much.

Run - 38:54
OA - 2:08:02

All in all I am really happy with this result.  I placed pretty well in a stacked field, while at the same time knowing I left some time out there.  Quick shout out to ISM Saddles, Powerbar, Fuelbelt, Speedfil, K Swiss and Wattie Ink!  Great products and support are allowing me to continually improve.  Thanks!  So, this got a lot longer than anticipated, and no pictures!  Sorry about that and hopefully this isn't too boring.  Time to hunker down and get ready for some 70.3's.