The day before the race my dad and I drove down to the race site and checked everything out. We drive both the bike and run course and found some pretty sizable hills on both. This race was in Burlington, Iowa so we decided to go to a local bike ship. There weren't many people shopping while my dad and I were so we chatted up the workers. It's always fun nerding out with other people who share a passion for cycling!
Race Day:
My dad and I woke up early and drove from our hotel room to the race site to get ready for the day. When we got there I was pleasantly surprised to see two of my Iowa teammates there. After getting my transition spot all set up I went to the beach and took a dip in the water. There I found my teammates and we talked for a little bit before the race got started. I hadn't seen them since school got out about two months ago so it was good to catch up.
The swim was an "in-water" start so standing on the seaweed was really nasty! I was glad to get off the seaweed when the race got under way. During the whole swim I felt really strong and I could tell that my swim training had been paying off. I exited the 1.5K swim in 19:36 (1:14/100 meters), which was a new swim PR for me.
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| Swim exit with a super pro photo thanks to the event photographer |
After the short and sweet swim I was ready to get going on the bike. The bike leg got off to a rough start when I dropped my chain not once but, twice on the first hill. When I was finally back in a saddle I was actually feeling pretty good. I lost some time trying to get my chain back on so I really tried to push it on the bike. My bike split was a little slow after having some trouble with my chain and I got off in 1:12 (20.5 mph).
My plan of pushing the bike leg came back to bite me on the run. It was a very hilly 10K and I was out of gas at the halfway turnaround. The course went winding through the woody park so I wasn't able to see down the road all that far. I was looking for the welcome site of the finish line because I was in a good amount of pain during the run. This run course was really challenging with a lot of hills and turns so I was more than happy to be done after 45 minutes (7:19/mile).
Overall, Lake Geode was an awesome event! All of the volunteers were VERY friendly, the course was hard but gave you a good test, and lowering my PR made me that much more happy. I was able to knock off 5 minutes and lower my PR to 2:18. I was able to get 2nd place in my AG. Just like Holiday Lake, I am already looking forward to going back to this race. It is a race that I'll definitely do again and I would suggest it to everybody!
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| Finishing the run...en route to a new PR |
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