2007 Cornhusker State Games Triathlon Recap

Location:
Holmes Lake, Lincoln, NE
Conditions: heavy rain at the 7:30am start; overcast at the finish. 69F with 10mph winds. The last and only time I was here was at the 2007 Lincoln Marathon; it's the turnaround point for the second half of the race. Coincidentally, it was also raining on that race day.

1K Swim (13:17) Swim Rank:5
I wore a full wetsuit, and aside from my arms being fatigued due to its weight at the 750m mark, I can't really complain. Even the water tasted pretty good; could it have been the extra seasoning in the toxic green algae?

Transition #1: Swim to Bike
Struggled getting the wetsuit unzipped during the short run to the transition area. Finally, I got it unzipped by the time I reached the bike. Lost a little time running slowly and managing the near panic-attack of not getting the thing off on time. Whew! Didn't want to ride the bike with that thing on.

20K Bike (36:21) Bike Rank:25
The first loop was about getting the legs warmed up. On the second loop, I got passed by two people, but I was holding a steady pace. Katherine told me later that I was smiling way too much and that I didn't have a look of strain on my face like the other cyclists going by. In retrospect, I suppose that I could have pushed harder, but I wasn't sure how much I'd need for the run.

Transition #2:
This time, the transition was really bad. First, I locked up the brakes and nearly wiped out as I approached the dismounting area. Then, I racked the bike in the wrong spot and, after re-racking it in the correct location, I almost ran out of the transition area the wrong way. I got yelled at by the transition manager and heard a woman say, "Poor guy just did an extra lap in the parking lot." Needless to say, I was a running fool!

5K Run (18:50) Run Rank:5
The run was pretty steady~6:10 mile pace. When I was starting to feel miserable, I remember thinking, "why do I do this racing when it makes me feel so awful?" The things we do to ourselves for amusement. But, I forgot this feeling until now.

Here were the official splits:
Total time: 1:10:43 Overall Rank: 5
1K Swim: 13:17 (1:16/100 avg), Overall Rank 5
Transition #1 1:06
20K Bike 36:21 (20.5mph avg), Overall Rank 25
Transition #2 1:12 (ran the wrong way)
5K Run 18:50 (6:04 mi avg), Overall Rank 5

In summary, it was a great experience. I am definitely hooked on TRIs and now consider myself a "triathlete" instead of a "runner".

Congrats also to Dan, Jorge, Ryan, Andreas, Scott, Kelley, Russell and thanks to the many volunteers manning the race course.