Keep Calm and Mussel On | Musselman 2014 | 70.3

The short of it (aka the gloating):

*2nd female overall

*First sub 5-hour half ironman (a benchmark for triathletes)*Shaved 90 minutes off of my 2012 Musselman course time (race report here: http://hayltris.blogspot.com/2012/07/musselman-geneva-ny-15-july-2012.html)*Set my 70.3 Run PR (1:31:03--10th overall of humans)

The long of it:

Triathlon training involves the predictable--the swimming, the biking, the running--and the unpredictable--the hole in the wetsuit, the flat tire, the dreaded “bonk”, and the soggy running shoes.

In triathlon, we have no control over what the tri-Gods throw our way, but we do have control over ourselves--mind and body--and that is medium through which we execute the best race possible.

I first challenged myself with Musselman in 2012. It was my first 70.3 distance triathlon (“half ironman”). And the tri-Gods were angry. It rained. It poured. There was lightening. There were frogs. And, there was a rainbow. (You might be thinking, this is the stuff of triathlete lore, but it happened. I saw it!)

(Musselman 2012 -- photo courtesy of Pickles)

I decided to return to Musselman for several reasons--the course is gorgeous, the run is hard, the volunteers are unforgettable, stuffed mussels are cute, I wanted to gauge the improvements I have made over the past 2 years, and it is a fair deal--(between $185 and $210 depending when you register; $70 for lodging in the Athlete Village; free dinner the night before; less than 275 miles from Philadelphia).

^Cute mussels on the dash

The morning of the race cast the same dreary forecast as two years prior--rain and thunderstorms. I knew this wouldn't be the end of the world! It wouldn't make for an easy race, probably not the benchmarks that I had in mind, but it would be a good challenge.

Swim--

During the swim, I felt like a ship tossed at sea. A teammate, Kristen Faughnan eloquently describes it well here. 

The course is a pretty easy rectangle that feeds into a channel lined with boats. Going out was less than basic. Strong winds generating 5 foot swells motivated many people to wade the first 200 m in shallow water. I decided to get right into swimming, though my hand scraped the bottom and tapped a sharp mussel--giving me a nice cut that bled on my flashy new yellow bar tape throughout bike. The current was strong, and considering the strong winds, the waves were unpredictable. This made breathing and turnover challenging, but not impossible. I felt like I spent a lot of the time belly out of the water, riding the waves.

Next time I will try to block the crashing waves with someone else's body, hug a little closer to a swimmer more my speed, and let them do damage control.

Bike--

Me on the Cosmic Salmon Trek SC 9.5

Challenge. The winds didn't die down for the bike. This course is like the swim, rectangular; it brings you north up the lake we swam in, east, then south down another lake, west, then north back towards transition. The tri-Gods gifted us with a nice tailwind for the south portion of the bike, and I found myself spinning high RPMs in the smallest gear in the cassette--I had run out of gears and the smallest gear wasn't happy! There is a rough, partially paved path in the last 8 miles that stirred up some trouble. Not only did it start raining, but I think I got my front tubular race wheel starting going flat here, which I didn't realize until transition. Also, coming into transition I tried to un-velcro my shoes without taking my feet out of them, but this proved challenging and I ended up running through transition with one shoe on and one shoe still clipped into the bike.

Next time I will be sure to check all of my gears the day before the race/morning of the race and make sure everything is running smoothly.

Run--
Chall...nah, Fun. My favorite part. The tri-Gods are often nice to me here. Though it was raining, it was almost over. Just 13.1 miles to roll, then ice bath time. In spite of very squishy shoes--and the massive Trench foot blisters that come with--I felt very in control of my pace. My mind was my friend today. The volunteers and spectators on the course are great. Folks on bongos led runners up the steepest climbs.

Overall--
I would certainly do Musselman again. Next time, I would work out some of the biking/transition issues I identified; and I would find a human shield if the swim is just as rough (which it often is in the Finger Lakes). 
I would also try not to use the bathroom so close to awards time. Jumping in the wrong space on the podium isn't that flattering. Plus, my traveling companion/teammate and I stopped off at a winery on our way back. We discovered there was free tasting for anyone who participated in the race.
Cheers to that