Just call me Sisyphus

Going into yesterday’s Lifetime Fitness race in Minneapolis, I knew that my race would be challenging. I was racing tired, as Justin and I had decided to “train through” the race, keeping our volume and intensity high until Thursday before the race. I anticipated that I might feel a bit sluggish, but thought that I could still crank out a pretty good performance. What I hadn’t anticipated, however, was exactly how challenging it would be just to finish*.
After a strong first leg, leading out the swim in one of Minneapolis’ many lakes, I headed out onto the bike course behind Sarah Haskins, the eventual winner. Within the first few minutes of the race, however, I was busted with a inadvertent drafting penalty (moved back but not over far enough when Becky passed me) and had a two minute stand down, watching in stationary frustration as girls passed by. Soon after remounting my bike, I had the realization that something was seriously wrong with my bike. At first I thought that the squeaky resistance was the result of a brake pad rubbing against my wheel. After hopping off my bike to inspect, I realized that this wasn’t the problem and determined, in my very, mechanically disinclined way, that I had a problem with my bottom bracket. Either that or a tortured mouse was stuck somewhere in my bike and the course, despite looking seeming completely flat, was actually an Alpe d’Huez-like climb… After the race, I discovered that the tubular tire that I had replaced the day before was a bit too tall for the wheel well, rubbing against the carbon of my frame. I’m not sure how I missed that in my pre-race warmup. Maybe my alertness at 5am has something to be desired! I suppose that a temperature increase may have also altered the tire pressure, but I digress...
Needless to say, the bike leg of yesterday’s race was, without doubt, the squeakiest, more frustrating 40k ride of my life. It took a fairly Herculean effort to put my pre-race hopes on hold and look at the race as an opportunity to have a great workout. I channeled some of my frustrations into my run, hitting the first 5k hard. Once I caught the two girls ahead of me, moving me into 5th place, I found myself in a no-man’s land where I couldn’t see 4th place (minutes ahead of me) and settled into a strong pace for the remainder of the run. When I crossed the finish line, I was, above all, relieved that I had pushed through to finish and that it was over. While I’m sure that the race was “character building”, I feel as though I’ve had enough of those experiences of late. Frankly, I have enough character. I just wanted to really race! Luckily, there are more opportunities for that this season, the next being the Hamburg WCS race in two weeks.
Lifetime Fitness really did a tremendous job of putting on the race and I certainly look forward to returning next year. I had heard from other athletes how great this race is and the hype is certainly warranted. Hopefully I’ll be a bit more attentive with my gear, avoid drafting penalties and have a bit better luck next time around. While I enjoy a good challenge on race day, I normally prefer challenges brought on by hard courses and conditions and by fast fellow competitors than by my own bad luck/ inattentiveness!

*Warning: This blog entry may read like a litany of complaints. It pretty much is. If this will annoy you, read no further. It is my blog and I can whine if I want to, but nobody is forcing you to read :-)