Team Nice Tri Musselman Race Report

The temperatures for Musselman 2011 were forecast to be rare on Friday, medium rare on Saturday, and well-done on Sunday. If the Musselman Half Iron were a restaurant, I would have sent my steak back to the kitchen because it was burned to a crisp!  I was talking to a guy in a red suit with a pitch fork and he said it was 94 degrees out, and suggested I may have taken a wrong turn on the run course.


Suffice to say that the weather for Musselman was epic!  It really was a beautiful weekend, and the nice thing about a July race is that it gives most athletes an opportunity to acclimate to the higher temperatures.  In the weeks leading up to the race, I had mad a concerted effort to exercise in the hottest part of the day to try to give myself every advantage possible, but if it made the race easier, I'd never know it!

We had a great time cheering everyone along on Saturday.  Danielle Ohlson did a great job and won the sprint, and Matt "Turbeau" Curbeau was sporting a Nice Tri jersey all the way to the top of the men's podium.  Ryan Park did a great job with his race (and set a 5k PR...nice job, Ryan!).  Dan Sanford had his fastest performance of the year and ran sub 7's on his 5k.  Great job, everyone!  I didn't see any grimaces after the event as everyone was all smiles!

Pre race dinner at Scandling

On Sunday, the gang was hydrated, fueled and ready to go when the gun went off at 0700.  Actually, Coach Dan was busy talking and enjoying the pre-race bathrooms and had to rush to the swim start.  Our wave went off first, but teammate Chris Reel was there doing some filming and would relay how everyone was doing as the day progressed.  We had several first-timers at the half, and the heat of the day put everyone's training and resolve to the test.

The swim was very choppy and had several larges patches of weeds to plow through.  I didn't get roughed up at all on the swim (other than from the waves), and had a small improvement in my swim time.

T1 "Pit Stop"

My goal on the bike was to throttle back and ride extremely conservatively.  We had ridden this course at least 8 times since spring, and knew which parts to push and when to recover.  My goal was not to go under 2:30:00 since this seems to be a very hard push, and the plan went off well as I was about 3 minutes over the "red line".

After an easy bike, I was looking forward to pushing it a bit on the run, and my enthusiasm caught up to me around Barrack's hill.  The intensity of the run made it difficult to assimilate hydration, and despite taking it in, it wasn't getting absorbed.  The only choice was to slow down (actually my body seems to have made that choice FOR me) and recover.

It was great to see several teammates as I was coming in from my run and tried to relay something helpful and motivating as each one passed.  I think I recommended that Athena "Grunt, wheeze, and gasp", and I subtly suggested that Lauren should consider "Cough, burp, gurgle".  I'm not sure if they took my advice or not, but as I was saying it it seemed eloquent and timely.

Typical shot of Kelly - ALL GRINS!

I was really amazed at each person's demeanor and their perseverance as they continued on their run.  Lauren had been quite sick for several days leading up to the race, and I admire her toughness not only to finish, but to do so with a smile.

Kelly Davis (see picture below) had a GREAT event for her first 70.3 and ran the entire 13.1 miles.  She too refused to stop smiling (at least while I was looking).  Very impressive, Kelly!

Alvah got a flat tire at mile 50 (after Sampson), and cramped badly when he bent over to change the tire.  The cramps plagued him for the run, but he used that opportunity to encourage others while toughing it out.

Eric Malone should receive the award for being the racer with the biggest lungs.  I could hear him screaming at me from 300 yards away, and it was awesome!

This was Jesse's first event as well, and he did a remarkable job of pacing and persevering.  Jesse had a full contingent of family supporting him, and it was neat to get to see everyone cheering him along.

Danielle had a terrific race on Sunday too, and should really be proud of how well her training is progressing.  Danielle can clearly do well at all three sports, and it's fun to see her execute well.

Aldrich sprints it out!

Athena (our Dietician) has certainly gotten the hang of executing a 70.3 well, and despite the brutal temperatures was also smiling every time I saw her.  Paul had a HUGE improvement in his cycling at Musselman on his new TT bike.  I couldn't resist the picture of Paul with the grimace - hilarious!

It was GREAT to see our family and friends out on the course cheering us on.  Bonnie and Watts braved the blast furnace to cheer us on (Watts is STILL sleeping), and our friends Chuck, Ed, Doug, Chris and Dale were there to scream, yell, holler and talk (when they got hoarse) us to the finish.  Jim and Sandy were there cheering as Placid is next weekend.  Thanks to everyone who gave their time this weekend to hang out, encourage and share a great weekend with us.

I guess the next logical question is:  "Who wants to do Syracuse"?

Nice wheels, Eric!