Caesar Creek Race Report

Caesar Creek Triathlon was on Sunday. I got up at 4:40 (ugh) and jumped into my truck for the long drive down. It was sprinkling a bit on the way and I was really hoping the race would be cancelled. I was not in the mood to race after the week I've had. To my disappointment, it dried up as I started towards registration. GS and MD were there as well to race the Olympic distance. Water was mid 60s and wetsuits were legal. I took a good 15 minute warm up swim and felt decent.

My race plan was simple, swim hard, give everything I had on the bike and see if I could run off a tough bike effort. I typically try to be analytical and ride somewhat reserved but this time I thought I would just see what happened if I rode as hard as I could.

The swim was good. I didn't light up the course but there was not a lot of contact and the work I've been doing at Alum Creek with sighting every third stroke kept me from zig-zagging too much. I got to transition in 30:17 which is good for me.

I had a chain drop about 5 minutes into the ride but that only cost me a few seconds, besides that I just drove hard. There was a group of about 4 that I used to pace me to the hill at mile 10. I put in a good effort at the hill moving past most of the group in front of me. 2 came back with there howling disc wheels and I used them to pace most of the second half before passing them with 4 miles to go. It was a hard effort but I could have gone for 100K at that pace.

I got out of T2 with a bike split at 1:07:21 (22.1 mph). I hit the first mile on the run hard. It hurts to run off the bike whether you run slow or fast so I ran fast. I came through the first mile in 6:30. I settled into a good pace hoping for a sub 42:00 10K. I missed it by 3 seconds.

I felt good on the bike and actually quite good on the run. I didn't have much more speed but I wasn't tired either so I think that is a good sign. My goal was to race as hard as I could to see if I blew up on the run and I didn't. With 3 weeks to go until Ironman USA it gives me some confidence.

The other MRC(am) members fared very well. MD put in a typically solid performance despite having less than optimal run preparation. He place 11th overall. GS had a good day as well with a superb run despite a tiny bike mishap and 15th overall.


Mario Desiderio
23:43(swim)
1:24(T1)
1:04:30(bike)
0:53(T2)
40:42(run)
2:11:10(total)

Greg Sierschula
26:49(Swim)
1:31(T1)
1:09:46(bike)
1:11(T2)
38:09(run)
2:17:23(total)

CT Brinkman
30:17(swim)
2:21(T1)
1:07:21(bike)
1:40(T2)
42:03(run)
2:23:40(total)

Stats
1600 meter swim
24 mile bike
6.2 mile run
154 lbs