Graniteman Big Lake Race Report

Graniteman Big Lake
Olympic Distance 
Race Report

August 8, 2015

This was the third and final race in the Graniteman Series (Inagugural year for the Olympic series). Coming into this race, I was sitting 21st in the series.

The night before was spent at my sister's house about a mile from transition. This made for an unusual race morning. I felt like like I needed to get out the door, but kept reminding myself that I didn't have far to go. I jumped on my bike for a quick warm up ride on my way to transition.  Lots of familiar faces in transition before the race.

Start was the second heat.  It was a counter clockwise swim across the lake and back.  Buoys were scarce.  There were swans at the turns for the sprints & ducks for the Oly turns (2 of each) with a couple small orange buoys along the way.  I had broke a goggle strap before the race & switched to a spare pair.  I lined up next to Casey Miller & Ryan Wippler. In the initial rush into the water, I lost the seal on my left goggle. I tried to drain the water & reseal on a few breaths, but was (mostly) unsuccessful.  There was a group of about 5 of us that swam together until we hit the sprint groups on the way home. I grabbed onto a draft spot & rode the wave most of the way.  I finished the swim with the 10th fastest time on the day! All 5 of us were within 15 seconds of each other. When the 3rd, 8-12th, & 15th fastest swim times are in your heat, it is going to be a tough day!

T1 was uneventful.  I had the 2nd fastest T1 of the day!

The bike was uneventful. It was a little congested with 7 of us plus a few from heat 1, and some sprinters fighting for a narrow section of road. About 10 miles in we got to do a little cycle cross across an intersection with construction. They had placed plywood across the gravel.  We hit this again around mile 16. The last couple miles back into the park was again a little congested with sprint, oly bikes returning & runners heading out on the left side of the road.

T2 consisted of a good flying dismount. After I got my shoes on, I had a cramp starting in my hamstring. A quick stretch & on my way (13th fastest T2).

I started out way too hot on the run! I kept looking at my pace and trying to slow myself down. A slight downhill contributed, I finally got myself dialed in 30 seconds per mile faster than plan. I was able to negative split the run, but missed a PR run split by 1 second!  I will contribute that to backing off in the finisher chute due to uneven ground…better to finish than get injured!

Of the entire series, Big Lake was probably my favorite venue for the event.  Glad that I decided to do this series this season!

With the final results in, I found myself taking home 11^th place in the inaugural Graniteman Olympic Series!