Rodney T. Miller Memorial Lakeside Triathlon

Yesterday I competed in the Rodney T. Miller Memorial Lakeside Triathlon in Decatur, IL. I wasn't sure what to expect from this race. I added it kind of last minute and didn't know too much about it. It's a tweener distance event, within USAT's range for an intermediate distance event, .7mi/19mi/4.5mi, but not an olympic distance event. This was only the second running of this race.

I have to say...I'm impressed! The race was very well organized, the venue was nice, and the courses were well thought out and challenging. I look forward to doing this event again next year - and not as a warm-up to another race.

Pre-Race:
My morning was not particularly eventful (this is a good thing). I got up and followed my usual pre-race routine: cup of coffee, bathroom, body glide, get dressed, make PB&J for the road, fill water bottles, load gear and bike into the van, write down directions, double-check directions, stand at the front door and try to think of anything I could be forgetting, walk back through the house trying to think of anything I could be forgetting, lock the door, unlock the door to retrieve whatever it was I forgot, re-lock the door, get into van, drive to the race.
Decatur is only about 45 miles from Champaign, so it was a quick road trip.
We got to the venue and my wife dropped me off near transition and went to park the van. I got checked in quickly, got body marked, and set up my gear. They had thought out the details well from a racers point-of-view with simple, yet effective elements like a place to rack bikes at body marking. Also the goodies in the goody bad were actually useful. The water bottle was a real water bottle, not one of those cheapy ones. And the race shirt is a technical t-shirt - good for training. Also, the transition area was well laid-out with bike racks assigned by wave, the swim cap color matched up with a colored rack identifier. (Great idea!)
Swim:
The race was wetsuit-legal. I didn't catch the water temperature from anyone, but all of the volunteers were well informed that wetsuits were allowed. I'm always happy when I hear that. My wave was first and we hit the lake right at 8:00. I could tell I hadn't been in open water for a couple of months. I felt strong enough, but I wasn't sighting well and I was zig zagging back and forth. I took my first turn a little too early and had to backtrack to go around the turn buoy. I was pulling to the left badly...I need them to paint a big line on the bottom of the lake so I can stay on course. I don't know how much extra I added to my swim, but it was probably at least an extra couple of minutes. Swim time for .7 mile - 23:27
T1:
2:04 - Too long...it was a long run from the water to the far end of transition, and my rack was all the way back through transition. I can probably pick up some free time by ditching the socks...so far I haven't been able to, but next race fo' sho'.
Bike:
Right out of transition was a climb up a pretty healthy grade. There were a couple of guys in front of me that I zipped by because they weren't set in the proper gear to get up the hill. The first 2 or 3 miles of the bike followed the road next to the lake - plenty of curves and rolling sections (seemed more uphill than down). After the lake road we hit a section of a large Decatur street which was very bumpy...potholes, some patches, some places in need of patches. All of the pavement defects were well marked with brightly colored spraypaint, so that helped a bit. Once we got out of town and onto the country road, it was smooth and nice. I got into a good cadence and except for a couple of long false flat sections, hovered right around 20 mph for the ride. Those false flats were nice on the way back, much better to ride down than up. I hit 32+ mph on two different sections. It was an out and back bike route, so we hit the same bumpy city street and lake road back to transition. (19 mile bike - 54:49 - 20.8mph) Big uphill a half mile before transition, then downhill into...
T-2:
That uphill section out of T-1 was downhill into T-2. I came screaming in towards transition, but there were plenty of volunteers with flags alerting me to slow down. I got off the bike and made my way to the rack...also downhill (not fun in bike shoes with Look cleats). T-2 was pretty quick in 1:01.
Run:
The run left transition and after a short run down the road and a turn around, headed back onto the lake road we had seen on the bike (the curvy, rolling, hilly parts). There was a challenging hill similar to the one at the exit out of T-1 near the beginning of run...ouch. I didn't feel super strong on the run. I felt like I could have gone a little faster, but my body wasn't really ready for that. It must have been the hills. I hit mile 2 at about 16:50, so I knew I was going too slow, but I wanted to just maintain a steady pace and stay comfortable and in control of my breathing. I walked through the water stop at the turn around point of the run and dumped some very cold water on my head. It felt shockingly good. I remember passing two guys in my A/G on the run and two others passed me, then a third went by within a half mile of the finish. We had to climb the same big uphill from the bike course heading back to the finish. But that ouch uphill from the beginning of the run was there at the end of the run too - downhill - like a ramp to the finish. Another good idea! Let the course help us run strong through the finish chute...I like! Run time for 4.5 miles: 38:26 (8:33/mi). Not great, but it served its purpose...getting me ready for my next race.
Overall:
1:59:47 - I was 7/21 in my A/G, so I hit my season-long goal to finish in the top 33% of my A/G in all of my races. I really enjoyed this event. It has a big event feel to it, even though there were only 218 finishers. Race organization was wonderful, there were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers, and the race course was challenging but fun. I'm hoping that this event will give me the momentum to have a strong race at Evergreen on July 19th.