And look at that, we have another race to report on! Woah. Is life almost...normal again? Whatever that is? I suppose I'll leave that theoretical up for grabs, but either way, the 4th race of the season - Mini Musselman - went off full force last weekend, and of course, we have stories to tell!
Around Western NY, Musselman is really an iconic race. It's been around since 2004 or 2005, and I popped my Half Iron distance cherry in 2008 at the race. It's well known for its quirkiness, humor, excellent local support, and swag. I've done the half iron distance quite a few times - 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014 and in 2019 with a giant PR - and the mini mussel - which is a sprint - twice - once in 2011 as part of double mussel and once in 2018.
The mini mussel is an in between distance - half mile swim, 18.2 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. Ironman brand took over the half iron distance in 2020, and since I planned on doing Tremblant that year, I signed up for the mini with Greg.
2020 happened...blah blah blah. Here we were in 2021. After Eagleman, I sort of forgot about this race, and to be really honest with you, went through a rough patch in terms of training. I had conquered the bike with a crazy good result, but my run was sucking ass and I just wasn't having fun at all. I failed a bunch of run workouts and got really grumpy with myself about everything - was it high expectations? Lack of self confidence? What?
I took some time to figure it out. Bless my coach, who has the patience of the saint - he sat with me while I processed it and offered nothing but support, wisdom, bad jokes, and whatever I needed at the time. With his help, I was able to suss it out - it was partially physical (as I adapted to aero, it was a new position that worked some under used muscles - namely my neck and glutes - that had to be strengthened). As I got used to aero, these muscles developed and made the run easier. It was partially mental - while I have always wanted to do well at the sport, the new world of overall podiums and World's qualifiers led me to a weird spot of placing way too much stress on myself to perform, and subsequently, wussing out and buckling under the pressure (note this was my self inflicted pressure). Lastly, the group I played with back in 2019 just wasn't the same - we are still close but everyone is in a much different spot due to pandemic, life, and injury - while it was the norm two years ago to go play at triathlon all the time....its a different period. I spent way too much time thinking about the good ole days and looking backward, not forward.
Well, if naming the problem is a good first step, I was full speed ahead. On my week of play I did just that - I played with some old friends, new friends, and enjoyed the hell out of every workout I did. I went into mini mussel with no race plan at all - as a prep, I dyed my hair purple the night before, laid out my race kit, no plans to win, PR (who could at this weird distance) or do antything other than PLAY!
As life would have it, 2021 happens to be my year when shit falls apart before the race (I should stop there- I have four more tris left this year so maybe bad luck comes in 3's and I'm good to go now!) We had another family emergency that left us without child care for the race, but by the grace of awesome friends and neighbors, we were able to go ahead - I am a lucky person to have such wonderful people in my life!!
Pre Race
Race morning dawned early at the ungodly hour of 3am - seriously - who makes a sprint start at 6:30?? Greg and I ventured out to Geneva, an hour trip, to check in and get ready to rock. When we got there the venue was set up for the big race the next day - which means 300 bikes were racked in a transition set for 3000. Yay for long transitions! We scoped out the lay of the land and determined bike in/out and run in/out, set up shop, then connected with the Banter (who wasn't racing, but deigned to be our awesome photographer and sherpa), the Outlaw (who apparently has um, matured, in the past month and is unrecognizable - and now goes by Fred....or Bob) and all of the RATs. Once again, I got a ton of "You must be Rae Glaser!" welcomes, which makes me wonder what the hell people say about me that I'm so notorious feel like a superstar!
Pre race, Greg jumped in the water and tore a massive hole in his wetsuit right at the crotch (insert a "That's what she said" joke). I forwent the swim warm up as we didn't have much time and lined up at the start, where athletes were let off 3 at a time, every 5 seconds. I caught up with Kate, a fellow RAT who dusted me at Silver Serpent, and made a few jokes about pulling her on the bike if she pulled me on the run (I know - so weird to even say). Before I knew it, we were off!
Swim: 13:23 1:40/100m
The swim was a pretty standard triangle shape - the nice thing about IM events is they definitely give you enough buoys to site off of! For the half mile swim we had 7 buoys. The water was murky and kind of gross but nothing crazy - at least it was nice and calm. I swam most of the swim alone, and sighted pretty well save for the last turn coming in which veered off to the left. I felt really comfortable and probably didn't push it enough, but given the way I set up my first race of the season with an over swim, I felt good about it. I exited out and began the .3 mile to transition, and heard out of the crowd "You're third!" which was a nice boost - now I knew who I was chasing!
I headed into a really quiet transition and quickly donned my gear (yes, I put my helmet on the right way). I had a moment of confusion as I debated which side to run out to bike out -- I am so not used to being in the front, so was a little disoriented. I made a quick choice, went with it, and was off to bike!
Bike: 53:23 20.2/mph
I settled
into the bike pretty quickly, easily averaging 20-21 without much effort at all. I passed local legend Curt Eggers a few miles in (don't worry, he passed me back at mile 16). The first half of the course seemed pretty easy - I had a little niggle in my left glute that concerned me for my run but I kept reminding myself to stay in the moment I was in and not worry about the run yet. I put out little effort, reminding myself to save it for the run, but also kept the pace right where I wanted it. As I remembered, the back half of the course was easier than the front half, and I figured I could average about 21 for the bike. I was wrong. We made a turn at mile 8, and had a nice descent (yes I rode in aero!) before a right turn along the lake to head back. And then the headwinds hit. Nothing scary, but going 18 with effort and thinking WTF. This sucks. Well, the back half wasn't as easy this time! Nothing crazy to write - I adjusted my cadence as necessary, paid little attention to power, went by feel, and finished out the ride. As I came into T2, I took my shoes off and prepped to flying dismount, then second guessed myself at the last minute and regular dismounted. Of course, my coach was watching - foiled by an audience! He yelled out - you're 3rd girl! (This made sense, as I never saw another woman on the bike) and 2nd place is 30 seconds ahead! Sweet. LETS GO RUN!
Run: 22:48 7:17/mi
So, uh, here's where my true confessions come in. I rarely blog about transitions because...I'm rather good at them. HAH. Famous last words. I ran by bike in (thank goodness I've learned to take my shoes off on the bike as running barefoot is so much better!) and ran to rack my bike. Wrong rack. Crap. I ran to the next row, and stared like an idiot looking for my run shoes. WTF! Where are they?? Finally a kind volunteer walked over and asked my number. I looked at him like a total idiot then finally at my wristband. He pointed out my spot (the NEXT rack over) and I ran my bike in, grabbed my run shoes, and exited T2 - with a time of 1:52. WTF. This was a rookie mistake. And....it would cost me.
But now was NOT the time to worry about that. As I ran out of T2, I was smiling and determined to enjoy the run. I saw my coach talking to Curt and he snapped a pic of me, rocking my run grin. I then remembered I was a SERIOUS triathlete and dropped the grin, calling out something sassy to him. I then immediately giggled and put my happy face back on. I was determined not to look at my watch and run by feel - mile 1 felt effortless and I guessed about an 8:00 pace. I looked down and 7:28! Woot! I thought about my neighbor Kelly and her well wishes before the race - to "run like a bouncing tigger!" Oh man. And here we go!
"The most wonderful thing about tiggers...is tiggers are wonderful things!
Their tops are made out of rubber! Their bottoms are made out of springs!"
And you know the rest. This song followed me for the rest of the race - and aside from the fact that its about 45 seconds long, it was a bouncy (uh trouncy, flouncy, pouncy) melody! Heading into the turn around I saw Kate about a half mile ahead of me (not catchable) and Mary Eggers about 2 minutes ahead of me (well, maybe?) when I hit the trek back, I made the rookie? mistake of looking behind me and saw two women about 15 seconds behind me. Uh, no I hit the gas. Mile 2 - 7:21. Yeah baby. I was starting to feel it now - the hurt locker, the race, the adrenaline!
Lets go!! Mile 2.5, mile 3....I was almost to Mary and had no idea where the women behind me were but I was taking no chances! (Mile 3 - 7:05). I passed the Banter/Coach and the Outlaw/Fred/Bob - one yelled out encouragement, the other something snappy and sarcastic (I'll let you decide which) and I gave it all I had! I just missed passing Mary but held off the 3! women behind me who crossed less than 10 seconds after I did! What a RACE!! What a RUN! I was ready to throw up, and also sp darned happy I was skipping.
Post Race
If we leave our hero here, its such a great ending. Epic race to the finish - overall 3rd woman behind Mary and Kate is not a bad place to be in! WOOT!
Uh....except that damned rolling start. Apparently Mary had a bike penalty, which moved me up to second place. Then...I found out all 3 women behind me started the swim after me, which moved me down to 5th. Easy come easy go. It was a crazy crazy race, and I would have loved to fight it out head to head. Either way, there was less than 40 seconds between 2nd place and 5th - which - you guessed it - was my transition debacle! I can't believe such a silly mistake cost me, but it did. I also have to laugh because overall, I was really pleased with this race and wouldn't have changed much - I probably could have biked harder, but I was so happy with my run split, and can't ruminate on my silly transition mistake.
Overall, a big success at Musselman - I have things to work on going into my next race, of course - which is either Summer Sizzler or Findley Lake - not sure - but I finally found my way back to smiling and playing triathlon, which is the whole point!
The day after the race, I recovered wisely by helping my buddy do his first century ride ever - I got in 82 miles with him (and he epically finished and went over to a 112 mile ride!) and it was four hours of fun. I then came home and put on a party for nine 8 year old's. Just another day in the life, right? :)
Next up - some race in August. TBD. Time to prep for a few hilly half ironman's, including World's (OMG) and mainly - have a hell of a lot of fun along the way!
"Some race in August" how about USAT nationals
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