I’m running behind on my race reports, so I’ll make this one
quick. A few of us decided to sign up for this race a few days beforehand as a
run through before Long Course Nationals at Grand Rapids Triathlon. Woke up
early, drove to the race, thinking the entire time that it was a stupid idea.
The thermometer in the car never went over 52 degrees. Thankfully, when the sun
came up it warmed up quickly and wasn’t a bad day.
Swim – first swim in the new Roka Sports Maverick Elite. I
like the suit, but I had trouble with the arms. I couldn’t get the sleeves on.
Once I did, I felt like I had water leaking in and into my sleeves, making the
arms really heavy. It was still a fast swim. I can tell the suit is fast. But I
need to make some adjustments and pay better attention to the fit. Also – no goggles
again. Worked fine. Starting to prefer it.
T1 – pretty quick, no issues peeling off the wetsuit. Jogged
up the steep embankment into transition where I think a lot of guys
ran/sprinted. Decided to keep my HR down and put the power down on the bike.
Bike – one small mishap hopping on and dinged my shin pretty
hard. From Kristin’s perspective, she said I looked pissed. It was an amateur mistake,
but it happens. I was more embarrassed than upset. Once on the road, it took a
mile to settle in but the pedals started turning and I was consistently up over
23-24mph. That felt good. The miles and miles on the bike this year will pay
dividends, I could tell. Still have work to do on the bike though, I left T1
only 40 seconds off the lead only to return to T2 more than 7 minutes down! One
last thought: it was still VERY cold by Lake Michigan, but the smell of bacon
cooking over charcoal at the state park made up for it.
T2 – Aside from a beginner’s bike laying in the middle of
the bike rack, and my gear scattered about, there’s not much to note. New
Saucony Fastwitch 6s went on quickly and it was off to the races.
Run – I got passed by 1 guy in T2 and was running in 8th
overall. I was passed quickly by a guy who was clearly out of my league.
Despite running 6:40 pace I felt like I was walking! Passed a guy who I had
trailed the entire bike, and set my focus on another guy about 20 seconds
ahead. Each block I would glance at my watch to recalculate the time gap.
Gradually, the gap came down and I was effectively on his heels. With a half
mile to go, we were running stride for stride. Or, two of my strides for one of
his due to my “hoogie steps”. I made small talk to discourage him from making a
move, letting him know I had more in the tank. With 400m to go, he made a move
anyway. I couldn’t really match it and let him pull away. Fighting for 7th
overall and not an age-group opponent, I thought I’d just let him take it. Just
as that thought crossed my mind, he let up. The course ducks under a row of
trees after going over a curb, and he had slowed to navigate. I hadn’t. With
50m to go, I was back on his heels, and sprinted as hard as I could. He didn’t
have the real estate to accelerate again and I nipped him at the line by less
than a second. Great run! 6:35ish average with a 6:20 final mile.
Overall, it was a great race for the first of the season. There
is a lot of work to do still to be competitive at this distance in August at
the Olympic distance National Championships. Thanks to my iron-mate, Kristin,
for supporting me, Michigan Awesome for being awesome, and PowerBar for the fuel!
Keep dreaming!
