Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath…

Picture this…57°F, pelting rain, rural Indiana, and about 120 triathletes huddled together under a single picnic shelter. That was the scene a couple of weeks ago at the River City Triathlon just outside of Logansport, IN as we awaited the start of the race. I think most of us thought (or perhaps hoped) the race would be cancelled or modified in light of the weather, but no such luck—instead we scrambled to set up our transition stuff on and under trash bags, worm our way into our wetsuits (which, for the record, are so much easier to put on when you’re dry—not so much fun when wet), and barely made it to the pre-race meeting in time. Not exactly how I pictured my tri racing season kicking off, but it makes for one heck of a good story.

I think we were actually glad to head to the lake (which is a spring-fed quarry and pretty much crystal clear)—turns out the water was warmer than the air and was really quite balmy. The women were in the third and final wave, so Sue, Michele and I cheered Jeremy on as he took off, and then hung out waiting for our turn. It was a little déjà vu for me—Logansport was my very first tri last year, and it was sort of odd to be standing in the water again…same place, but totally different feeling. I wasn’t really nervous about the race—just about making it through the bike without wiping out on the rain-slicked roads. When the horn sounded, we took off—I have to admit I was fine without having the crazy panic attack feeling that I did last year at the race start. I was actually hoping to draft off Sue on the swim, but she took off quickly and left Michele and me (and a bunch of other people) in her wake. So, I was left to my own devices, which ended up working out OK. I actually swam side by side with Michele until we hit the mid-point between the buoys, but then we split up and I just sort of hammered out the rest of the swim. I felt SO much better than last year—way more comfortable in the water and even calm enough to see the huge paddlefish and the diving wreckage for which the quarry is known.

After running out of the water, a mild sense of panic set in--having never even ridden my bike in the rain before June 10 (aka race day), I was more than a little nervous about my bike-handling skills and the road conditions. Plus, frankly—it was really really fricking cold and that didn’t help matters any. My T1 time was dismal—a whopping 4 minutes while I tried to peel off my wetsuit, put socks on (again, way easier to do when dry) and grab my gear—but then I was off on the bike. The Logansport course is out and around France Park on small country roads—some with potholes, some without. A number of the roads had standing water on them, which made it that much more of an adventure as no one was sure where the potholes were located under the puddles. It was a very cautious ride for me—lots of time on the brake hoods and not so much hammering going on. I also learned that 57°F and pelting rain combines to feel like sleet when you’re on a bike in a tri suit cruising right along, and also that even with clear lenses, sunglasses are not so much fun in the rain (I ended up riding with mine down on my nose and looking over the top of them so I could see). I still felt OK on the bike and had a decent ride, but very conservative over all.

My T2 time was slightly better—at least I didn’t have to fight with my socks again—and I was off for the run. I love the run course at Logansport—it’s a 3.3 mile trail run, which made it an awesomely sloppy, muddy blast. After about the first 100 ft, I realized there was no way I was staying even remotely clean, so I basically gave up and started running straight through puddles and embracing the muddiness. My pacing was pretty solid—ended up being about 8:18/mile for the run—which I felt good about considering the lack of agility I have on trails, hills, mudslides, etc. Jeremy and I were laughing after the race that the run course this year felt a lot shorter and easier than last year…could be that the crazy amounts of training we’ve put in so far have paid off a little bit. Of the Kraft gang at the race, I finished third (Jeremy and Michele beat me to the line), but I ended up taking first place in the Athena group and would’ve even won my age group—overall, not a bad end to a somewhat dicey day weather-wise…

The downside to the fun mud run was the clean-up—I joined several others in rinsing off shoes, socks, and my legs under a very cold water faucet, but I was able to get at least my trail shoes reasonably clean. My socks, however, may never be the same…but it’s a small price to pay for the fun I had on the run. The next step was attempting to warm up—even with a change of clothes, it was tough to get warm—Jeremy and Michele had a worse time of it (here’s where being an Athena comes in handy), but eventually we all managed to warm up a bit.

After loading up our gear, we headed to the YMCA in Logansport for the awards (they are usually held at the park, but the rain halted that plan). Overall, it was an awesome day for the Kraft team—Jeremy won his age group, I won Athena, Michele came in second in her age group, and Sue picked up a third place medal in hers. Not bad for the first race of the season…made for a nice ending to a crazy weather race…and I’ll definitely be back at Logansport next year!!