Final Race Before Louisville: Team NORSA at the Lake Logan Triathlon

On Saturday, August 2nd, 2008, team NORSA members Alan Stewart and Adam (accompanied by Brian Stynes and newcomer Julie Griffin) participated in the third running of the Lake Logan Triathlon near Canton, NC.

This relatively new race proved to be an excellent one for the racers and spectators alike. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina south of Asheville, the course featured spectacular scenery, cool temperatures, and a surprisingly fast course.

The 1500 meter swim began in the in the warm (75 degree) Lake Logan at the foot of Cold Mountain. Unfortunately, due to drought conditions, the course had to be moved approximately half a mile from the transition area requiring a post-swim shoe transition and run before even reaching the bikes. The bike course left the lake area and dropped approximately 400 ft to the valley below, where the rest of the course passed through small towns and scattered farmland. Despite being in the mountains of North Carolina, the bike course was surprisingly flat (save for the speedy descent at the start and the monster climb at the finish).

The run was an out and back, gradual up and down to the finish. Temperatures throughout the day stayed cool and the course was well staffed, helping the racers hold a blisteringly fast pace throughout (both NORSA members held a +20 MPH average on the bike and sub 8 minute miles on the run).

NAME        SWIM  T1   BIKE    T2   RUN    TIME
A. STEWART  30:45 7:30 1:09:58 1:12 49:39  2:39:01
A. 32:10 7:05 1:10:32 1:16 49:08  2:40:09

Full results are available here.

This will be the last race for Adam and Alan before the Louisville Ironman. With just four weeks to go, they are now entering their peak training phase before beginning their two week taper.

Luckily however, there's still plenty of time for things other then training. After the race Alan, Adam, Brian, and Julie traveled further west to catch some whitewater on the Nantahala river along with some hiking off the Blue Ridge parkway on the way home. Check out Alan's blog sailnaway.blogspot.com for a full trip-report (complete with pictures and videos).