{"id":2861,"date":"2011-09-12T08:31:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T13:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=2861"},"modified":"2011-09-12T11:42:24","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T16:42:24","slug":"race-review-square-lake-triathlon-short-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2011\/race-review-square-lake-triathlon-short-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Race Review: Square Lake Triathlon – Short Course"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a triathlete!<\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nI finished my first swim, bike, and run event ever. \u00a0A half mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, and 5 mile run were served up on a pretty near perfect weather day on Saturday. \u00a0Square Lake Short Course<\/a> got started with a day in the mid-50’s as I drove to the race and it warmed up as the day went on. \u00a0The water was smooth and a perfect temperature and there was no wind on the course to affect bike or running times. \u00a0The only obstacle – having been sick all week.<\/p>\n

As I thought about my goals for the race during the last month I had decided on two:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Finish – always a good goal for any first time event especially one like a triathlon or marathon.<\/li>\n
  2. Break 2 hours – I figured about 15-20 minute swim, about an hour bike, and 45 minute run (all seemed reasonable) would give me a good chance of getting under two hours.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n
    \"Square<\/a>

    Image by crossn81 via Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    I was feeling confident in my training and then on Tuesday I started getting that flu\/aching feeling in my back. \u00a0I took Wednesday and the morning of Thursday off work and was feeling pretty good. \u00a0By the end of a full work day on Friday I was feeling worse. \u00a0I wrote to some friends on Facebook that I was 95% sure I wasn’t going to race. \u00a0 I set my alarm for 5am Saturday hoping and praying for that 5%. \u00a0After hitting snooze once (who really wants to get up at 5am) I decided that I would pack my gear and see how I felt. \u00a0I wasn’t feeling perfect but I decided to go for it and see what would happen. \u00a0I walked into the race with no expectations, just hoping to finish.<\/p>\n

    I picked up my number, shirt, and swim cap; got my race number markings and setup my\u00a0transition\u00a0area. \u00a0And waited. \u00a0I finally decided it was time to get ready, figured out the borrowed wetsuit. \u00a0I had planned on trying it out once during my last swim, but getting sick didn’t allow for that. \u00a0I had to ask for help in zipping it, because the zipper started at the top. \u00a0Once on it was very snug. \u00a0After the final instructions, we watched the elite wave go off. \u00a0Wait for 3 more minutes.<\/p>\n

    \"Square<\/a><\/p>\n

    I positioned myself at the back of the wave, my calves barely wet (knee deep was where most people were). \u00a0After he shouted go I waded and then jumped in. \u00a0What a weird feeling wearing a swim cap and wet suit. \u00a0I’ve never actually worn either! \u00a0I had some problems with my goggles sealing on my face. \u00a0But did finally get them settled on properly. \u00a0I wasn’t pushing super hard, I knew the swim would be the hardest and most punishing for my sick body. \u00a0I felt almost like I was floating through the water (not quite like a torpedo). \u00a0Some guy went back and forth in front of me a few times which was annoying and I slowly made my way to the first turn. \u00a0The course was pretty much a square. \u00a0 I don’t think I swam the most direct route possible, but did a fairly good job of sighting. \u00a0 The short top part and then turning to shore. \u00a0My friend Mike and warned me that the sun would make it hard to sight on the way back to shore, but to keep using the buoy to sight instead of the beach. \u00a0At some point some guy tried to swim over top of me, probably from the wave behind. \u00a0I started seeing swim caps from the wave before and the wave behind me. \u00a0As I started being able to see the floor of the lake again a guy from the wave behind me started passing on my left (my breathing side) so I watched to see when he would stand up and did about the same thing. \u00a0Jogged out of the water, hit the mat (about 16:45 on my watch), and started taking my wet suit off.<\/p>\n

    I had planned on using my Ironman timex to at least roughly get my splits throughout the morning. \u00a0But it appears I didn’t actually hit the “split” button until the end of my bike leg. \u00a0So that was a little frustrating to realize afterwards.<\/p>\n

    I hadn’t planned on super quick transitions so I took my time climbing the steps to the transition area. \u00a0Switched into my bike gear and headed out!<\/p>\n

    I didn’t use my Garmin, but created course maps using Dailymile<\/a>. \u00a0The race distances seemed pretty accurate.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    I didn’t do any fancy mount or dismount for the bike, I just wanted to make sure I got on and off! I did blow a nice snot rocket full of snot and lake water shortly after starting the ride. \u00a0I felt surprisingly good on the bike as we went up and down the hills. \u00a0I shifted gears a lot and caught people on the uphills, some would pass me back on the downhills. \u00a0The course was pretty straightforward. \u00a0It was fun to watch the faster people go past and check out their bikes and also to see how the rode as they got into groups and rode several wide. \u00a0Most of the ride was on county back roads, but the section along MN-95 was awesome. \u00a0Newer pavement means faster riding! Except for the big hill at about mile 14. \u00a0 The scenery could have been beautiful, but was mostly unexciting (its been a little dry) and you couldn’t see the St. Croix River through the trees. \u00a0At a couple of points volunteers were stationed to specifically tell us to slow down. \u00a0One was a big hill with turns at the bottom and the second was a smaller hill that ended with some turns going under a train trestle.<\/p>\n

    I stayed hydrated drinking most of 2 bottles (water and Nuun<\/a>-filled water). \u00a0And I took one gu while on the bike. \u00a0I probably didn’t need that much nutrition\/hydration but I wanted to stay on top of things since I was still sick. \u00a0I was quite pleased with how I felt overall. \u00a0The road from 95 back to the transition area was a beat up old road with lots of cracks, dips, and crevices. \u00a0It made for a little more work coming back.<\/p>\n

    My “split” for this part of the race was under an hour. \u00a0My watch says 1:15 for the combined swim, T1, and bike legs. \u00a0(as of this moment results haven’t been posted). \u00a0The only time besides coming out of the water that I looked at my watch was for \u00a0mile splits during the run. \u00a0I did use my bike computer, but that just showed speed and distance.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    The run was going to be interesting. I took a pull of water from my bottle before throwing back on my transition towel and jogged to the exit. Crossed the line – grabbed a cup of water and left the park onto the roads. \u00a0The first mile was on a paved road before turning off onto a gravel road. \u00a0It was gravel for a little bit and then was pavement the rest of the way. \u00a0There were water stations setup near miles 1, 2, and 3 and mile markers setup for those miles as well. \u00a0Mile marker 4 seemed to be missing. \u00a0The run had a couple of hills, nothing super hard but enough to make you change your stride and focus on the hill.<\/p>\n

    I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d be able to finish the run. \u00a0I started out slow letting the blood move around and the muscles to get used to the idea of running again. \u00a0I also had some weird pains in my side and back that hung around for most of the run. \u00a0I came through the first mile at 8:43 and felt really comfortable. \u00a0I took water at every aid station, took a sip and threw the rest on my head to cool off – it wasn’t super hot, but warm enough. \u00a0At the second aid station, the kids were filling the cups all the way to the top. \u00a0This made it a little messy, but you can’t complain about cool water splashing around! \u00a0I came through mile 2 at 8:26. \u00a0I still felt pretty comfortable and started thinking about trying to average 8:30 pace for the run. \u00a0There was one hill on \u00a0a nice shaded part that hurt a little more and slowed my third mile down to 8:41. \u00a0From here we turned back onto the main road. \u00a0It wasn’t really shaded but I didn’t feel super hot or like I was baking. \u00a0At about mile 4 I caught up to my friend Mike.<\/p>\n

    I caught up to him and said “good job Mike.” \u00a0He looked at me for a second and said, “Damn you caught me.” \u00a0I apologized and continued running. \u00a0Some where in here a lady’s Garmin beeped the 4 mile mark though it wasn’t marked. \u00a0My watch said 8:43 or something like that! \u00a0I don’t really remember picking up the pace but steadily continuing towards the finish. \u00a0Mike passed me back and we kind of ran together-ish for the rest of the race. \u00a0As we turned back into the transition area we had a little hill to go up and then downhill to the finish. \u00a0I passed Mike on the up-hill and opened up the legs for the down-hill finish. \u00a0The last 50-75 yards were fairly steep and I was gaining on a guy so I kicked it down another notch and passed the guy with like 10 yards to go. \u00a0I heard my name announced, heard the finish line beep, and I was a triathlete.<\/p>\n

    \"Transition\"<\/a>I saw 2:01:19 when I crossed the finish line and thought, crap so close to the 2 hour goal. \u00a0Then I looked at my watch 1:58:21. \u00a0Oh yea, 3 minute difference from the clock for the wave start. \u00a0Awesome!! That made me feel even better!<\/p>\n

    I ended Saturday still feeling under the weather, but being a triathlete makes it ok! \u00a0My support crew was also sick so there aren’t any pictures of me from the race. \u00a0Just the few I snapped before hand (and my transition area afterwards). \u00a0I’ll see about the race photos! \u00a0Nadia even had a cute “triathlete” shirt that she was ready to wear.<\/p>\n

    \"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I am a triathlete!   I finished my first swim, bike, and run event ever. \u00a0A half mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, and 5 mile run were served up on a pretty near perfect weather day on Saturday. \u00a0Square Lake Short Course got started with a day in the mid-50’s as I drove to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,13,37,428],"tags":[724],"class_list":["post-2861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-course-comments","category-my-running","category-race-review","category-triathlon","tag-triathlon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-K9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2908,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2012\/looking-back-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":0},"title":"Looking Back: 2011","author":"crossn81","date":"January 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year at this time, I outlined a few goals that I wanted to complete in 2011. \u00a0Sadly, I didn't meet all of them. \u00a0As I noted during the year the camera goal was a little\u00a0ambiguous. \u00a0Looking back the Blog Regularly goal was pretty obvious, but again ambiguous and should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlights"","block_context":{"text":"Highlights","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2919,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2012\/breaking-down-square-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":1},"title":"Breaking Down Square Lake","author":"crossn81","date":"January 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last fall when I was recapping my first triathlon the data wasn't available because Frontrunner Events hadn't posted the results even a month later. \u00a0I looked back as I was setting up my 2012 goal post and finally found the results (though it wasn't easy). Here is the breakdown: 150\/322\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7467,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2019\/09082019-square-lake-tri\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":2},"title":"09082019 – Square Lake Tri","author":"crossn81","date":"September 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Square Lake Triathlon... I competed in it a few years ago and was a little nervous to be coming back, mostly because of the swim I guess. My swim training wasn't consistent nor very intense and I hadn't swam the distance yet. I also didn't do a lot of open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bike"","block_context":{"text":"Bike","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/bike\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190908_070032.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190908_070032.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190908_070032.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190908_070032.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190908_070032.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2912,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2012\/looking-ahead-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":3},"title":"Looking Ahead: 2012","author":"crossn81","date":"January 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"What is in store for the new year? Isn't that the million dollar question. As I noted in my reflection piece, I've already signed up for the Buffalo Triathlon and Square Lake Triathlon. \u00a0Buffalo is a traditional sprint distance race in the spring and I'll try to improve my performance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlights"","block_context":{"text":"Highlights","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2986,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2012\/may-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":4},"title":"May 2012","author":"crossn81","date":"June 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are my goals for 2012 and my progress towards them: Goal #1:\u00a0Finish\u00a0Buffalo Triathlon\u00a0on June 3. \u00a01\/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. (Under 1:15) The running has still been a little inconsistent, but the big race is coming up and I feel pretty good overall. \u00a0We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Highlights"","block_context":{"text":"Highlights","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2990,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2012\/buffalo-triathlon-completed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2861,"position":5},"title":"Buffalo Triathlon – Completed","author":"crossn81","date":"June 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are the stats: Run 22:11 Bike 41:11 Swim 8:20 \u00a0180\u00a0out of\u00a0953 \u00a0143\u00a0out of\u00a0532\u00a0Males \u00a028\u00a0out of\u00a078\u00a0Males in the M3034 Age Group Overall I felt really good. \u00a0The swim is still my weakest link. Swim: 400 yards - 8:20 Overall 275\/953 Age Group 36\/78 I started at the back and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Race Review"","block_context":{"text":"Race Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/race-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Time","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/resources6.mtecresults.com\/static\/ppSfF5bEuftuNanUmaJTtD77XqVVPAatmSVa4ZzK9fs.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2861"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2874,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2861\/revisions\/2874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}