Race Coverage

The Day After...

Thursday, 12 June 2014 00:10

ED. Jon Zitur sent us this "Semi Race Report:"

Hi MTN Guys,

I promised you a race report on our race the day after Liberty Tri, and I figured I should make due on my promise.  The first ever Zitur Sufferfest was held the day after Liberty at the same exact course and had a total of two participants. Unfortunately, after standing in the rain and getting completely ready for the race, my mom (Cheryl Zitur) and I decided with her accident prone nature and my inability to adjust my “just hammer it” attitude for weather conditions, that maybe it would be better to pass on this race.  My mom is training for the Age Group Worlds competition in Edmonton and I’m training for Ironman Wisconsin, so we wanted to play it safe.  After feeling down and not wanting to waste a good taper, we decided to race the exact course on Sunday instead; in 70-degree sunny weather.

Race morning was a bit quieter than most other races.  Instead of being surrounded by other triathletes frantically organizing their transition space, we were accompanied by the port-o-potty employees picking up the leftovers from yesterday’s race.  The race was delayed when our swim...

spotter for the morning showed up late, but we were finally underway shortly after our expected start.  The race had its challenges including no buoys to sight on the swim, transitions done in the backseat of the car, having to breakdown a bike and put it away before the run, and no support throughout the race.  Overall, it went very well and I got a good sense of where my fitness is at, as well as some dos and don’ts for nutrition, and areas to focus on for my Ironman race. In addition, I pulled a few overarching themes from the Zitur Sufferfest:

1)   Pushing through sore legs and cramps is very difficult when you are on your own (my mom put in 6 miles on the run while I continued on the long course).  I want to thank every volunteer, racer, spectator, and race coordinator for their support (on real race days).  You have no idea how much it helps especially for a middle-of-the-pack age grouper like myself.

2)   Having a 49-year-old mom that can keep up with me, let alone push the limits of my training is truly impressive.  She started as a “get in shape” triathlete 10 years ago, and is now winning races and keeps getting faster.  She inspires me, and a lot of others to keep working hard.

3)   There are hundreds of Midwestern triathletes that are a lot tougher than I am that completed Liberty.  I hope everyone had a great, safe race and enjoyed themselves.

Good luck to everyone this year, keep training hard.

-Jon Zitur