What's a "little" water? (Turtleman Race Report)

Race Report Turtleman

What’s a “little” water?Well, if it’s in the lake for a swim during a triathlon, a “little” water means that you are running in muck and crap instead of swimming in a nice lake. It also means that you could end up running the swim portion instead of swimming it because it’s falling from the sky. A “little” water has a big impact!

A “little” water is also a threat when you are riding a bike on roads that have painted lines and the “painted” crosswalks. Those things are slick when a “little” water gets on them.

A “little” water means that you will feel it on your skin as it pelts you while running. Your shoes become 5 pounds heavier per foot and you feel the different muscles in your body working to lift your feet with every step.

A “little” water – it can do so much! The Turtleman Triathlon is in it’s 26th year and is one of my favorite races. It’s located close to home and is the perfect distance – usually! A 1 mile swim, 21 mile bike, 5 mile run. I’ve been able to finish it in about 2 hours, or just over, the past couple of years, so this year I set my sights on beating my times from last year. Well…with the shallow waters, they cut the swim down to ½ mile for this year, therefore beating my time on the swim should be easy!! Race day comes and with it there are a ton of storms in the forecast. Our summer has been really mild so far, and this was unexpected to say the least. The water levels being low are one thing, but the fact that you see lighting and hear thunder in the distance had race officials contemplating what to do. 8:00 was supposed to be start time, but they pushed it back to 8:30. By doing that, they shortened the window for “good” weather to 2 hours. The talent varies among the athletes that do this race, so 2 hours may be a piece of cake for some, but it could be a dream for others, therefore, the officials decided to cut out the swim from the race and we did a “kiddie” swim where we did a 50 meter dash in the water…basically, that was so we could start the timing chips more than anything. So, dashing through the water (not snow), you had to watch out for sink holes and hope that you didn’t get sucked into the muck and you could set your personal record for a ½ mile “swim” in 30 seconds or less – which I did. Into Transition…and you would think that it wouldn’t take me long since I didn’t have a wet suit to change out of before getting onto the bike….but….I had left my sunglasses for the bike ride sitting on top of things on my bike and therefore, those pesky rain drops were making it hard to see anything. I had to clean them off, and therefore have a long (2:23) transition time. Saddle up and ride --- onto the bike. Wouldn’t seem too bad if the roads were just a little wet and the rain was giving way to the sun…but that wasn’t the case! I never train in the rain, why would I? I usually look at the rain and say “good excuse to stay inside today!” but perhaps this race proves that I should train in all conditions. With water spraying up from all different directions from bicycle tires, puddles gathered in strange places, and the paint on the roads, it was going to be an interesting ride. The sunglasses didn’t stay dry for long, so that was a challenge to see the road. However, I couldn’t take them off because if I were to get hit in the eye with the raindrops and debris that was coming from tires in front of me, that could put an eye out. So I chose the lesser of two evils and kept the glasses properly placed on my face. Pedaling along I am keeping a great pace despite the conditions. I see SO many people with flat tires – I’ve never seen this many in one race in fact. I theorize that it had to be due to the water on the road and not being able to see the nuances of the MN pot holes and/or the debris on the road. It’s amazing some of the crap you see on the side of a road. I pedal on and slow down almost completely at each turn we have to make, hoping not to wipe out. Cleanly turning at all turns, I feel great and start to spin the last mile so that my legs are ready for the transition to the run. What I wish I would have known is that they were basing our ranking on our bike, not the whole thing – I would have gone all out that last mile instead of prepping for the transition. Oh well…it is what it is! I finished the ride in under an hour! Off of the bike, into my running shoes. Transition time affected by the fact that I do not have quick laces, rather I have to tie my shoes. Oh well…that’s what I get for not prepping for the race completely and only training for long distance things so far this year – mental note: get speed laces for next multisport event! Feeling pretty good on the run, I take my time and run as I feel comfortable. At about mile 3, the light misting had now picked up to a full on rain down pour and it stung when hitting the exposed skin. Yikes! One guy post race said he saw some hail mixed in with the rain – no wonder it hurt so much!!! Apparently, they turned some of the athletes back to the transition area after 1 mile of running and did not let them finish. I must have made it to the point where “if you’ve run this far, you might as well keep going because it’s just as far back to the shelter from here” when they were turning people around…so I finished all 5 miles at an 8:07 pace and had heavy shoes because of all of the puddles I stomped in when dodging other runners and trying to keep my pace. I did manage to rank 4th – technically the way they did the ranking based on the bike – but one of the gals was supposed to be at “elite” status, but changed to “age group” at the last minute before the race --- coulda had a podium if she hadn’t dropped down. Oh well. After the race had finished, the sun was shining…what a strange day….All because of a “little” water.