Grand Rapids Tri 70.3/USAT Long-course Nationals

How lucky are you when the USAT selects a home-town race to be the national championships and ITU world championship qualifier? Pretty lucky.

A busy pre-race week meant not a lot of recovery and rest, but I made the most of the downtime and wore my NormaTec "space boots" as much as possible. I snuck a few easy workouts in, including a couple swims, and felt ready to go. On Thursday evening, I took my TT bike out for a couple sharp efforts. A mile from home, I snapped the internally routed cable that shifts the front gears. Luckily my LBS, Village Bike, was still open. I've been spending some time there lately with a few mechanical issues and they remembered my name, and that I had this big race coming up on Sunday. The guys were quick to open up the head mechanic's schedule so he could get it fixed on Friday, giving me a day of cushion. Thanks again, guys! Packet pickup at Amway was a breeze. Great organization.

I also ordered a set of Reynolds 81 clincher wheels from Nashbar. They were over 50% off with an additional 15% off, and through eBates, a 3.5% rebate. Pretty solid deal! Of course, I then paid for rush shipping so I could break them in at the race on Sunday. Thanks to Timmy, I had some solid tips on valve extenders and was able to get the wheels set up and tried out before the race. If you are working with deep wheels and need some pointers, check out http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Valve_Extender_How-To_3007.html.

On to the race...

Woke up to pouring rain. Lovely. Had coffee, grabbed my transition bag and a rain coat, and headed out for the race with my ironmate. We got about a block from the athlete drop-off before giving up and parking. I pulled my gear out and rode my bike to transition (with my helmet on). Set up in transition was interesting with the rain. Everything except for my running shoes would be soaked (I only had 1 plastic bag), but since I would be wet from the swim it didn't really matter. We didn't have a ton of time before the race, but a bunch of [Michigan Awesome] teammates had gathered while we were putting on our wetsuits. It was cool to chat with them a bit.

Nutrition - pre-race: Oatmeal raisin PowerBar, banana; bike: 4 PowerGels mixed in 40oz of water; run: 3 PowerGels (could have used a 4th). For those of you who race triathlons and don't already do this - gels mix in water very well, especially the PowerBar ones. You get all of the benefit of the gel without the hassle of opening it while biking, and can meter the intake vs. committing to an entire gel at once.

Swim - I actually had my goggles with me at the start. I didn't intend on using them but accidentally grabbed them. I looked for Kristin but couldn't find her through the crowd of neoprene clad athletes. So I wore them. and disliked it. I did a horrible job sighting. It was a pretty calm and relaxed swim otherwise, which would pay dividends later in the race. Ironically, Tim and I would pop out of the water at the exact same time, just over 30 minutes. The race results counted the time spent with the wetsuit "peelers" in the swim, so my T1 looks fast and my swim looks [very] slow for me. [Strava Swim]

T1 - fast due to the strippe...I mean "peelers". Long run in bike shoes, but thankfully a local carpet store sponsored the race with a lot of outdoor carpet and it was a little less of an annoyance.

Bike - time to try out the new wheels! The roads were wet but it had stopped raining. I had intentions of averaging 22.4mph, which would split a 2:30 for the bike. The first 5 miles clicked off well above that yet my heart rate was well below my limit. The course is pancake flat with the exception of 3-5 miles of hills on the out and back, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. 5 more fast miles, and another. Hit the hills and cruised right on through. We quickly got to the turn around (the 2-3 guys who were about 1 minute apart, not drafting!) and had a chance to count how many people were ahead. I was sitting in the top 20 for my wave. Pretty solid. Halfway split was well under 1:15. My fear was that we were getting pushed by a tailwind and that it would be a battle getting back. Aside from the 5 or so miles back North, the wind was calm. The roads started to dry and my average speed kept increasing. I flew past the Olympic distance turn around and started passing a lot of people, and knew I was almost done. The last 5 miles to T2 were tough as my legs started to tighten up. I kept standing up on the small downhills to stretch out, which seemed to help. Average speed: 23.3mph. Best bike split by a long shot. [Strava Bike]

T2 - Pretty quick other than putting dry socks on wet feet...I also paused to stretch out, then was on my way. Jokingly, I had talked to Timmy about being into T2 under 3 hours, yet here I was, OUT of T2 in under 3 hours!

Run - Here's where the mental games begin. I knew I could PR with a 1:44 half marathon. That would have been a success. But I was having the race of my life and wanted to go for it. Decided that I would try to go out and hold 7 minute miles for as long as I could. That would put me in spitting distance of going sub 4:30, which I wouldn't have fathomed being possible. I guess I didn't set my goals high enough, I had originally targeted sub 4:40. The first few miles ticked off pretty quickly. Then the hills started. I managed keep my average where I wanted but the two hills on the first lap sapped my legs pretty hard. I could feel my stride shortening (more than it already is). At the end of the first lap I had my average, but the splits would start to slow from there as I went back over the hills. Finally, I was on my way back in the final 3 miles. Pushing the tempo to try to close quickly and get close to 4:30, but my legs wouldn't go any faster. It was cool to see all of the [Michigan Awesome] team out on course, cheering each other on as we passed. I closed with a 7:22 mile for an official 7:08/mi pace, a half-marathon PR in the 1:33s! [Strava Run]

When I crossed the finish line, I was ecstatic to see and a finish time of 4:32:29! Woah! An 11 minute PR and a spot to represent Team USA at ITU World Championships in Sweden next summer! This is arguably was the best race of my life. The disciplined efforts over the last 2 years have really paid off, stoking the fire that is the Kona dream.

Thanks again to [Michigan Awesome], PowerBar, my friends, family, Kristin, all of the volunteers and spectators for making such a great race possible. Keep Dreaming!