Race Coverage

"All in All, We Had a Fantastic Weekend"...

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 05:10

By Nathan Ansbaugh (nathanansbaugh.blogspot.com)

Superior Man Race Report - Julie and I were thrilled to escape the Twin Cities/Residency this past weekend to get up to Duluth for what proved itself to be one of the coolest races I have ever done (or mostly done that is). We met up with Sean and Hanna at a little house we had rented for the weekend on Saturday night in preparation for an early launch from the deck of the Vista Fleet ship into Lake Superior. I was especially excited for Julie to have Superior Man be her first 70.3 distance race.

Personally, I had high hopes for the race knowing it was a deep field of stellar athletes including Sean and Matt Payne amongst several others but had been feeling pretty good over the past few weeks despite a ridiculous work schedule. The last time Sean, Matt, and I raced, we finished next to each other on the podium and I was hoping for a similar outcome in Duluth.

One big variable going into Sunday's race for me was a strained calf I had been struggling with over the past week. I was doing some intervals last week and ended up hobbling back a few miles from home after I got a...

sharp twinge in my left calf and realized that running back was doing some damage. I spent last week using my roller stick in between seeing patients at the hospital and trying to work out the huge knot in the back of my leg. I took the week off from running hoping that when I hit T2 on Sunday that things would go smoothly...

The Swim:
For those who haven't done this race, picture Escape from Alcatraz but in Lake Superior, and that is the Superior Man swim. The race starts in time trial fashion with one person leaping off the boat every 3 seconds. Sean and I decided to wait till close to the very end to hit the water so that we could work our way through the field instead of wondering where everyone was in relation to us. Sean jumped in first with me 3 seconds back. I really had no idea where he was after I hit the water, though I'd later find that I passed him a few hundred meters in and that he passed me again during the 2nd half of the swim and exited the water a little less than 15 seconds in front of me. Nothing fancy for me in the swim... just kept a steady pace knowing that my work was cut out for me on the bike and needed to start strong. READ MORE