My name is Chad Soileau and this is the account of my swimming, biking and running the Twin Cities Triathlon in Pineville Louisiana. The distances were 500m open water swimming, 18 miles on the bike and 5K for the run. I set a goal to finish this triathlon in an hour and forty five minutes. The swim was 300m shorter than the Louisiana Triathlon but the bike and run were almost exactly the same distances so I didn't see any reason why 1:45 wasn't unattainable.

Beth and I woke at 4AM to make the trip to Pineville on Saturday morning. I actually woke at 2AM and tossed and turned in excitement of the coming day. I prepared my gear the night before so all I had to do was hop out of bed, throw on my swimming clothes and hit the road. Race nutrition is still an issue with me and although the meds that the doc gave me have really helped I still am a little leery of what I eat pre-race. I ate a rice crispy bar and half of a grapefruit along with a couple big glasses of water. We loaded everything up and were out the door by 4:30AM.

As we drove north up highway 71, somewhere around Bunkie, the sun started to peek over the horizon of the crawfish fields. They seemed to stretch on and on as far as the eye can see. The sunrise today brought back memories of my morning runs along the levee in Baton Rouge preparing for the Mardi Gras Marathon. I guess I'll have to admit that one of the greatest perks about my new lifestyle is I have had the pleasure of seeing more sunrises in the last year than I have in the previous 35 years of my life.

We arrived at the race site at 6:45AM. I picked up my packet and with Beth's help, hauled all my gear to the transition area. I was pleased to hear that the temperature in the lake was 75 degrees which meant WETSUIT LEGAL! Any help in the swim for me is a good thing and wearing my wetsuit, although it restricts my breathing, is a good thing because of the great buoyancy it provides.

I slowly unpacked my gear and arranged everything in my transition area. I chuckled at the amount of gear that I had laid out compared to some of the other 'minimalists' around me. Beth called me a 'DIVA' because it seemed like I had 50% more 'stuff' than everyone else and a change of clothes for each event. I figure you can't have enough 'stuff' and if someone forgot something some see me and I probably brought it. Hey, I even managed to remember to bring my earplugs this time.

I chatted with the other BR Tri members for a little while before the race director announced a 15 minute warning for the race start. I was in the first wave today and I wanted to get a quick warm-up swim in to test the water. I slowly shuffled down the boat ramp into the drink and dunked myself to start getting accustomed to the cold. 15 seconds of uncomfortable coldness and I was nice and warm as I swam 50 yards to the first buoy and back.

By the time I got back to the boat dock it was time to start the race. The race director called out the last minute instructions for the race and counted down from 10. GOOOOOOO! The Twin Cities Triathlon was on.

The route to the first buoy was crowded and I was in the thick of lots of bodies. I kept feeling a hand touch my foot on the way to the first buoy. I'd try to move over to the right a little and let the guy go around me but when I'd move right, he'd move right. When I'd move left, he'd move left. I dunno if he thought it would be a good idea to draft off me but little did he know that I was a terrible swimmer. Just after we passed the first buoy he made his move and I unfortunately clocked him with my foot. I felt goggles so I know I must have hit him in the head. Sorry buddy. I kept a good pace throughout the swim, breathing as easy as I could and sticking with the freestyle crawl for almost the entire distance. This is the first time that I did breaststroke not to rest but to navigate. I found myself drifting off course a couple times during the race but doing breaststroke for a few strokes seemed to put me back on track. Swimming is never easy for me but I must say that THIS swim was a non-event. I was calm and only slightly winded when I exited the water after 11:45.23.

I spent at least three minutes in T1 removing my wetsuit, putting on socks, bike shoes, bike shorts and my race jersey. There was a steep hill coming out of T1 so I clippity clopped in my bike shoes up the hill to the road. The bike course starts with a big climb up a bridge over the Red River into Alexandria. I stood up on the bike, got in a low gear and pounded up the bridge. The crest of the bridge couldn't have come fast enough because my legs felt like they were on fire. My speed exceeded 30mph on the trip down the other side of the bridge as we turned off on the service road towards ANOTHER hill in the form of an overpass. My legs were still on fire from the bridge so I geared high and slowly climbed the overpass at what seemed like 5mph. The bike course was out and back so I would have to tackle both 'hills' again on the way back to T2. The rest of the course was very flat. Once again during this race I passed more people than passed me. I glanced down at my watch every so often and I knew that my average had to be over 20 mph. I reached the turnaround at 9 miles and started the journey back to transition. I struggled back over the overpass and picked up as much speed as I could going towards the base of the bridge. I put everything I had into going up the bridge, standing up on the pedals and grunting like a madman to the crest. I picked up some speed on the other side of the bridge and coasted into the dismount at T2. I gotta say that for the first time during the bike I actually 'felt' fast for pretty much all of the course. Maybe it was because I was passing people left and right on the second half. Maybe it was because my structured training on the bike thanks to Coach Will is helping me improve. Feeling fast is good! Feeling fast put me back in T2 with a 20.2 mph bike which is a PR for me.

With my legs still burning from my bout with the bridge I shuffled into T2 and prepared for the run. I racked my bike, slipped off my bike shoes and put on my running shoes and headed out for the 5K run course.

I had wobbly legs for at least the first half mile and my time suffered because of it. I glanced at my watch and noticed that my pace was fluctuating between 8:50 and 9:30. I finally got my legs at around the first mile marker and I increased my pace considerably. The run course skirted the lake and ran alongside a small airport runway and some of it was actually shaded. It was also a nice distraction to watch the planes take off and land what seemed like only a few hundred feet or so from the course. I hit the turnaround point with around a 7:50 pace and held that for pretty much the rest of the run.

I crossed the finish line at 1:36:13.40 and was WELL under my goal time of 1:45:00. Overall, Twin Cities was a fun, well organized race that I plan to do again next year. Beth drove home while I slept most of the way. I needed my energy because this weekend marked my first 'doubler'. I did T-Gator #2 the next day but that, my friends, is the working of another report that I will be writing soon.

I hope you enjoyed reading my race report of the Twin Cities Triathlon as much as I enjoyed writing (and living) it.