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Written by Sean McCarthy
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Sunday, 27 September 2009 |
4th Annual Lake George Triathlon
Lake George, NY
Adirondack Triathlon Club
September 19th 9009
 Well the Lake George Triathlon was the conclusion for our relay team triathlon season. Myself, Kristin Schmidt, and Danielle Renchkovsky had worked are butts off all season to put out one last effort together as a team. This time around would be more challenging than any of our earlier races in the year. This particular triathlon was an Olympic distance event. Danielle would have to swim 1500 meters, I would bike 40k and Kristin would have to run 10k. All this would be under the watchful eyes of USAT. This meant there would be officials all over the place whether it be in boats, on motorcycles, or just standing at various points on the course. On top of all that the field limit was filled with 500 Ironman entries and 50 relay teams. Pretty much the best of the best would be going for it one last time to finish out there season.
Danielle would go out in the last wave of swimmers. She would have to cover 1500m in water so choppy due to the wind that you wouldn’t even catch me out there in a canoe. Her course was an out and back format with the first portion going straight against the wind and chop. Due to the cooler temps this summer the lake was 69 degrees so Danielle opted to borrow a wetsuit which she felt constricted her swimming but kept her warm. Being in the water for 20 minutes at that temperature was a concern. All in all she threw down a remarkable swim time and ended up having to pick her way through the wave of swimmers that started ahead of her.
Once she arrived to the transition I was off. It was pretty much standard procedure. I got up to speed and brought my heart rate up to where I needed it and then just suffered. A 40k time trial to me is one of the most mentally challenging things I ever find myself doing. You are at your threshold and all you can do is just keep pushing and checking your time to see how much longer you have to suffer. All went as planned I took a drink every 5th minute and spaced my bottle of fluid to the 50 minute mark. Once at that point I knew there was 10 more minutes until I returned to the transition so I lifted my pace and made sure I left nothing out on the course.
I came into the transition area dismounted from my bike and ran to the relay team area where I was to give Kristin my timing chip. As usual I am so toasted I always seem to struggle with getting these velcro straps off of my ankle. Once I did get it off Kristin quick strapped it on and headed out for her first ever 10k race. Kristin had been training for quite some time to complete a 10k race but she was still a little nervous about actually doing it. As always she did fine once she got out there and into a rhythm. She had to do to 5k laps and paced herself so well that she did equal times on both laps.
When it was all said and done our team finished 3rd in the coed team division and 4th out of all 50 relay teams. We couldn’t have been more happy. This was our first year competing together and for Kristin and Danielle it was the first they had ever been involved in such events. Before leaving for the day we all agreed that next year we would come back and sweep all the events! It was pretty cool to see that competitive fire coming from two girls that are only 15 and 16 years in age. As always I have to give a shout out to my Trek Equinox, SRAM S80 wheels, and my Champion Systems sausage suit. Also would like to thank the Adirondack Triathlon Club for hosting the best triathlon of the year. And last but not least I need to thank Kristin and Danielle for competing with me and helping me to stay motivated and train my ass off. Their parents also deserve a great amount of gratitude for helping them with all their support, training, and getting them to these early morning races. It was truly a fun and educating year. I cannot wait until next year when we have more experience and Kristin and Danielle are another year older and stronger.
Sean
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