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XTERRA Milwaukee report On sat I prerode the course broke a pedal on a crash that made a third ankle, got a swim in, and checked out xterra village they had set up. Luckly they had a bike shop there so I got some new pedals – on sale even! They had pros there all day holding court about trail running, mtb biking and the art of xterra. Tons of things for kids to do and those rugrats where running around everywhere enjoying it all; overall quite the spectacle. So on Sunday Mother Nature wanted to make sure everyone knew who was in charge. She brought the hottest day of the summer a ton of wind to Milwaukee for all to enjoy. The double bonus was that the race started at 11am. And just to make sure things didn’t get boring some t storms hit on sat night to make the off road courses wet to make some fine spots of industrial “Grade A” mud and a bit slick. As I was in transition setting up my things, thinking about how to get in and out; the gentlemen with the mic gets on and announces that the water temp is 74 and there will not be any swimsuits…ever here a monumental collective groan? I think the noise from the transition actually set off some car alarms. So a few hundred lunatics line up at McKinley beach to do two 750 m loops in Lake Michigan. About half way out the wind and waves welcome me and I responded by drinking half of the lake. This water was rougher than anything I’ve swum in so it was a great learning experience and I’m not convinced that the water was in the 70’s, it felt cold to me out by the buoys. Anyways, after two loops and my best impersonation of a dead fish I run the 300 meters to t1 and jump on the bike. Take off over the ped bridge on to a paved path to hit the 30K worth of trails, that were wetter than what I prerode on sat. They also had a steep downhill where there was a mandatory dismount, due to the mud and that there was sharp left to make, so you didn’t go into the Milwaukee river. Bike treated me well, I was pushing it b/c of the dead fish swim. Sweetest part was this washed out ravine, it was almost a bowl, so if you peddled hard down the one side you could catch some air on the other side – good times! Some Pros passed me on some single track just as I was finishing up the 1st loop, and when I say passed they were moving at about mach 5, it was kinda amazing to see someone move that quick and smooth like quicksilver on this course. After the second loop, headed back on the road back to t2. Jumped in my shoes and took off. My back/hip muscles that bothered me on my 1st race felt fine – thanks to the gents at get a grip for adjusting my bike fit that got out of whack after a crash and Jim Vance for the hip/back stretches. The first portion of the run was in the sun - absolutely no shade – I was burning up and my heart rate was really high, I had labored breathing so I tried to slow down my pace to get things in control but ended up walking. Not sure if it was the heat or that I pushed too hard on the bike but I went to the run for 100 strides and walk 20. They sent us across a beach for a bit which was a deep fryer. I think I could hear myself sizzling. They had 6 aid stations on the 10k and I spent quality time at each of them, I had concentrated on the bike to take down fuel and water so that I wouldn’t get in trouble on the run but I’m not sure I even sweated on the run, and my fingers felt puffy. At the top of one hill Milwaukee’s finest firefighters opened a hydrant w a hose and were spraying people as they ran by – very refreshing! The course winded in and out of ravines with stairs going up and down then up again they saved extra mud in the bottom of the ravines just for us! Very challenging course to say the least. Laughed out load after turning a few corners to see another climb of stairs that seemed to end in the clouds. So half way into the run, it dawns on me that Olympic distance is actually farther than a sprint just like they said it was. I finally get a pace down for the last few miles or so that I could run, cross the line in 3:59 and pretty much out of it. One of the volunteer princesses tells me there is a water spray tent which I proceed to hang out in for awhile then attacked some cookies and Gatorade that were looking funny at me. All in all as my 1st oly dist it was a learning of a swim, solid bike and a hot walkrun on a super fun and challenging course. I would love to take another shot at this course………if that day would be in 70’s all the better! Cannonballs.BK
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