Heather Lendway

I was so happy to be able to race my fourth square lake tri this year as it’s the only tri I’ve been able to do every year since I started racing.  It’s definitely one of my favorite courses, the lake is deep, clear and beautiful.  The rough road on the bike was recently redone so the road is nice and mostly on quiet roads (except 95 but there’s a big shoulder).  The run is awesome, I’ve never seen a car drive by on the back roads, there’s a nice mix of hills, road and gravel for good variety and a nice challenge.  Quick summary of the race then check out my super speed bike course video with the course map, elevation, speed, distance and wattage throughout. (the speed and distance kicked in a little late and I think wattage drops off for a few seconds).

Swim:

• Took off with Patrick Marzolf and David Thompson, they swam a little wide so I was able to cut them off at the first turn buoy to take the lead.
• It’s always challenging to see the buoys on the way to shore but a cloud covered the sun for a few moments so I could actually see the shore a little better.
• Exited in first but David ran by me as we climbed the stairs to transition.

Bike

• I tried to keep David in my sights as long as I could but he disappeared pretty quickly.
• Unexpectedly there was a police officer at a T in the road, as I was about to pass him he flagged me down to turn.  He said the lead car went that way so then I took a hard right and started riding.  It was hard to get going again because I was so positive I was going the wrong way.
• About a mile later I saw the lead car and David headed back my way, indeed we had gone off course.
• I did a 180 and cranked it hard back to the actual course.  Plenty of people had already come by so I had a few people to chase down.  I did enjoy passing my sister, Lisa Lendway, on 95 and saying “hey,” mid race.

Run

• I tried to get into a groove the first half mile and hold a strong pace after that.
• I was able to keep up with Patrick for the first few miles but he got away in the last mile or so.
• Speedy Nicole Cueno  (who was running for Lisa) came by about half way through the run and was killing it, per usual.
• Pat and Nicole motivated me to keep running hard to the finish.

Even though I went off course (for five minutes) I still had a solid race that would be comparable to last year so I’m happy with the result.  Now enjoy the super speed video of the square lake bike course, with the bout off course (which you can see on the map as the only out and back).  David is featured around 5:00, Lisa around 8:50 and Patrick at the end running into T2.  If you don’t enjoy techno music feel free to mute but you’ll miss me talking to Lisa 😉