Mooseman

Mooseman was last weekend and overall I was pleased with my performance. Admittedly I didn't feel optimally prepared after missing some key workouts for various reasons but the distance was very manageable and I've done the course several times in the past.

The race has grown in popularity over the past few years. I used to arrive at the race around 5:30 and was able to park right at the state park lot. This year I arrived at 5:45 and not only was the state park lot already full but so was the overflow lot. I ended up parking about a 1/4 mile away, gearing up and riding my bike to the race site.

One downside to not being parked on site was having to remember everything you need for the race. Which I did not. I wasn't able to register the night before so the plan was to register on race morning. Which I did, after having to go back to retreive my USAT card and license that I had left back in my car.

The most interesting part of the day was the swim. The swim was delayed by about an hour. Not a big deal. What was a big deal was the 57 degree water temp. The announcer was saying the water temp was 60 degrees but I heard after the race from the fire department that it was actually 57. On top of that, the fog that delayed the swim for so long never really lifted. So, as my wave started I was swimming into this unknown area where we were told there was indeed a turn buoy. In fact race officials had shortened the race so we weren't swimming so far out into the lake.

T1 transition was a little slow, I had a tough time with my socks, which after thinking about it, I probably didn't really need for the race distance. I took it steady on the bike course never pushing it too hard. I was this race as a training race just to get the race bugs out before the Patriot in July. I finished the bike with an average speed of just over 19 MPH. Not great but not terrible.

My T2 transition was great, just over 1 minute. I was a little sluggish as I started the run. I saw a colleague from Direct Capital and magically my pace picked up a little bit! Funny how that happens.

After about 2 miles on the run I started feel my stride and the last 2/3 of the race felt great. Overall I finished in 2:37. Again, not great but not terrible.