Race Coverage

"Sponges in My Hat"....

Saturday, 18 June 2016 00:10

ED. Awesome racing went down at LAKE MINNETONKA this morning. Favorites prevailed and KRISTINA SWENSON nuked a junior course record that had stood for eleven years. Words and photos on Monday. RESULTS

By Brad Mitchell (obsessivetripulsive.weebly.com)

Liberty Race Report - I wasn't exactly excited for Liberty 70.3.  Chattanooga was the race to start my long-course season and kept me going over the winter training. I had planned to stay at the race hotel on Friday night but decided last minute to just drive the 2 hours on race morning. That night I asked myself why I wasn't excited and looking forward to the race. More about that stuff in my blog.

I woke up at 3:00am and ate my serving of oatmeal with a 1/4 cup of walnuts and grabbed a coffee to go. On the drive I also gagged down a Power Bar to give me about 600 calories. I had been hydrating well as I knew the forecast was for 91 degrees. I got to the venue about 5:30am and got a great spot for my bike at the end of a rack closest to the bike in and out. I, like in Chattannoga, decided to run with cleats to mount but do shoeless dismount on the way back in....

It was already warm, in the mid-seventies, but I wasn't too concerned. Matt and had a plan and I figured that the heat would be the same for everyone so racing smart would be especially important.

SWIM 39:31 - 16/29 division
The swim course was a basic long, narrow rectangle and it appeared that sighting and swimming conditions were ideal. That said, I ended up swimming 1.3 miles according to my Garmin. I was unable to get onto anyone's feet for long as there were not a lot of athletes and I just couldn't stay with anyone. It just didn't feel like a fast swim because it wasn't....READ MORE