Day 1 or I Couldn't Handle It Any More!

So way back at the end of August I did my last race of the season. At that point I said, 'this is my last race this year, I am doing nothing for 3.5 months and pick it up again in January.' Well, that didn't last; it's surprising to me how hard it was to not do anything. Almost immediately my wife's uncle invited me to a 100 mile bike ride with him and his riding group, and there are 5ks and half marathons and 10ks. But I held steady, I forced myself to take the break I was looking forward to.

I recommend a break like this to everyone. Sure you can train all year long, but the break is sweet, and while sometimes I itched to just get a quick run or bike in, most of the time I enjoyed not doing it.

It all came to an end today. Sometime last week I had finally had enough, I was tired of not do anything, and I had started to piece together my early year training plan and it started with me being in better shape than sitting on the couch for 3 months. Also my everyone else who lives in my house have done a few 5ks recently, and that has made me look forward to my own races next year. I would have started earlier in the week, but our newest baby had different plans. My wife and I alternated staying up to the wee hours of the night with her, and that took place of getting back in the saddle.

So today, a little run; it was nothing special, a quick 30 minutes on the treadmill. I have been saying that I was going to try to get outside and run during the winter despite the cold weather. But you know what, 19 is cold, and I am sort of convinced that the sidewalks I usually run on turn into snowmobile trails when it snows, and it has snowed recently. So instead of braving the cold weather only to find out my usual route is teaming with snowmobiles, I opted to hit the treadmill. That's fine, it went fine, it felt very good to get the heart rate up.

Early Race Schedule
Over the last couple of months, I've mapped out a race schedule for the coming year. I haven't really committed to anything yet, but basically it boils down to

• Two 70.3
• One half marathon
• Several sprints
• Several Olympic
• Tentatively - one end of year marathon

We're also tossing around the idea of a trip to FL for some very late season races with my sister and our friends down there. That's still in the drawing board phase; my wife has a marathon in October that she's going to be shooting for, and she may not want a few weeks in FL stuck right near the end.

Training Plans

My training plan consists of two phases. First build confidence for the 70.3. I have an early season one picked out and a later season one. I will spend the first couple months building endurance for the first race which is the same day as my first Minnesota race last year. During this time I will do a half marathon with my family, a 5k with the family, and a couple of tune up sprints.

After the first 70.3 I expect to re-evaluate that plan and see what I might need to work on. There are a couple of months between the first and second and I will use that time to address anything I think needs to be addressed. I will also use that time to address my other major goals which consist of speed work and transition practice. 

The Immediate Future

I am planning on using this time until about mid January to just get my body ready for the full time training to start. That also gives our youngest some time to get on the regular sleeping schedule. She's being a baby, and baby's do this. I didn't commit to a much more significant training program because she's a baby, so if she needs me to stay up till 3, then that's what I'll do and maybe it will fit in with my plans or maybe it won't, but family trumps triathlon every day.

Tri Bike vs. Road Bike Or Race to Place vs. Race to Race

Over the last two years of doing triathlons, at some point people started talking about triathlon specific bikes. And I notice that a lot of people that pass me are riding really nice bikes, and when I look them up they're sport specific. I have wondered to myself (and really anyone who will listen) if a sport specific bike is more mental than actual. Does a bike really make that much of a difference?

My Current Bike
I have a mid-range road bike. It's a Giant TCR II from 2003, it's got an aluminum alloy frame with Shimano 105 components, it came with a set of Mavic rims, and Michelin Pro Race 3 tires. Overall this bike has treated me very well. I got it when I upgraded from my first hybrid bike, and to be honest I think it's a pretty decent bike. I just wanted a bike that would let me go out and get some mileage without killing myself. Because let's face it, it's a lot more satisfying to ride 15 miles in an hour instead of an hour and a half.

For the uninitiated, the difference between a decent road bike and a hybrid bike is difficult to describe. But imagine that when you step on the pedals on your bike it responds as if all of that effort you just put into pushing the pedal is directly translated into forward progress. They're lighter, they are less cushy, they absorb less of the energy put into them (both by you and the road - so a more bumpy ride :) It is basically like upgrading from a sedan to a sports car.

I've had this bike since about May 2004 - so it's the only bike I've used in my triathlons. The only upgrade I've made to this bike is to go through two GPS bike computers, and put on a pair of clip-on aero bars. Up until recently I've been reluctant to think about getting a triathlon specific bike. Really for three reasons

1. The bike does not make the rider. If I can't muster a decent speed on a decent road bike, plunking down a few thousand for a new bike isn't going to catapult me onto the podium
2. I was not convinced that there was significant difference between a road bike and a triathlon bike
3. If you're going to throw down a bunch of money on a bike you'd better either be committed to the sport, or have tons of extra money laying around. And I do not fall into the second category :)

What Makes a Tri Bike Different
When scouring the internet you can find many descriptions of what makes a tri bike different. First things first, it's not obsenly lighter than a road bike, in fact it may weigh more. It's also not even really any more expensive than a road bike. But they are designed differently - the purpose of the two bikes is a lot different.

Triathlon is a non-drafting sport, meaning that when you ride your bike you're not allowed to ride close enough to someone else to benefit from their presence. In a bike race, or even group ride, drafting is part of the deal. Riding in a group has a major impact on the amount of wind resistance you have to deal with. Riding within two or three feet of even just one other person is significantly easier than being out on your own. So the triathlon bikes are designed to help you cut through the wind. This is accomplished in a couple of ways

• Aero bars - Instead of putting your hands on your bars and riding around in a more or less upright position you bend WAY over and put your forearms on the bars. The biggest factor in a bikes wind resistance is the huge piece of meat sitting on it. So the goal here is to get that big sail of a body tucked in a nice small ball that is resembles an arrow more than a flapping wall. One side effect of this position, it's uncomfortable for extended periods. If you can't hold this position, you're likely to plop back up on your hands and "engage the meat parachute"
• Bike Geometry - To solve the problem of aero bars being uncomfortable, the way the bike is built is different. Basically, a tri bike pushes your whole body forward on the bike. The result is that it's more comfortable to ride in that tucked position for longer. It also changes what muscles you use to power the bike. Now it's very easy for me to write that, I have read it a hundred times. I have also heard more technical descriptions. A tri bike has a steeper seat tube angle, a shorter top tube, and a shorter head tube. Oh yeah, that's the stuff, just imagine that in your head.
• Aero components - Things are tapered and tucked to get out of the wind. When you look at an extreme aero bike head on it's very skinny. Heck, when you see them from the side they look all jammed together.

I was convinced it was all just marketing, "Hey put your rear up here and you'll be winning Kona in no time! The seat tube is steeper, how can you help but go a million miles an hour?!" I mean seriously, why can't someone put together a nice graphic to show me how a tri-specific setup is different. Or show me some real numbers about how riding a tri bike is somehow faster than riding a road bike in normal tri conditions (e.g., by yourself.) It must mean it's all hype, and as I like to say, don't believe the hype.

So I finally found an article that shows bike geometry differences and while I don't like the graphic they have because the bikes look the same with just different words written on them, here's my graphic that shows those two bikes on top of each other.

Blue = Tri Geometry
Red = Standard Geometry

So there we have it, a tri bike definitely moves you forward on the frame, apparently to the tune of 70/30 split instead of 50/50 weight distribution. Some of the side effects are stability and handling, but if you're riding by yourself and basically in a straight line - who cares right? Other side effects include comfort in the aero position and using different leg muscles to turn the cranks. The goal is to go as fast as you can while cutting down on the effort to do it. Because when you're done with your amazingly fast bike leg, you need to hop off and do another fast running leg.

So how much benefit do aero bars give you (and the position they put you in?) Again, there are lots of anecdotal conversations, and I personally feel like it's actually more comfortable, but I wanted to see some actual numbers. And then I found this guy basically doing the comparison I wanted. The numbers are a little tricky, because he does things like sets up a road bike with aero bars, but then doesn't use them. At first I was frustrated by this, but then I realized that in fact after about 10 miles of riding I get up off my aero bars to stretch my back, so you could say that a road bike with aero bars at some point or another will force you out of aero into the normal riding position. If you look at his last little graph, he basically says that the difference between a road bike and a full on tri-bike is 3 miles per hour (for a guy who is already averaging 25 miles per hour.) That article is basically contending that an aero road bike may suffice as your triathlon bike, but if you buy the argument that a tri bike is more suited for triathlons due to it's different geometry then what you gather from this is that the aero position clearly has big benefits.

So it's clear that a tri-bike isn't just hype. They are designed for a different sport, and that design can have great benefits. So the question is, when should I get one?

Tri Bike or Road Bike
This conversation is as old as the bikes I'm comparing. If you search the internet for this topic it's full of opinion and comparisons. It almost always boils down to a few points

• The bike doesn't make the rider. A good rider can go fast on any decent bike, so if you're just looking for speed then look in the mirror. I read this as - if all you want is speed spend more time on the bike you have.
• Don't bother with a tri bike if you're not going to be doing a lot of triathlons. A tri bike is a great bike, but its designed for triathlons which are ridden basically by yourself on mostly flat terrain with a small number of turns. If you're planning on lots of group rides, or rides with challenging climbs or lots of twists and turns, then a tri bike is not for you

I am a personal believer in the first point. When I started riding this season my average speed was in the mid to low 17s,  I would be happy to be able to hold 18 for 10 miles. When I ended the season I was up over 19 miles per hour. To put that in perspective, the people who usually podium in my age group average around 21 to 22 miles per hour. So let's say I had run out and bought a tri bike at the end of last year, and for arguments sake let's say it made me 2 miles per hour faster. So without any additional work I would have been .. where I am. Except a little poorer.

I am also a believer on the second point. I am not someone who jumps on a wagon as soon as it starts going. Before this season I had done four triathlons the year before, and one before that. So to buy a tri bike at the start of this season seemed a little premature. What if I got back to MN and the tri scene was non-existant or my motivation died? That would have been pretty rediculous.

I actually believe I'm now getting dialed in on those two big points. I have completed 10 triathlons, and have a tentative race schedule planned for next year that has 17 potential races on it. I have also seen significant gains in my overall speed, and my goal is to get very close to being able to close that bike speed gap next starting with the base I developed this year.

Verdict
So I'm sold, clearly a tri bike is more than just a set of aero bars and some nice wheels. They can bring you a lot of speed if you use it right, and if you're racing to win and are going to be doing it for the foreseeable future, it's probably worth the investment.

Triathlon Training - By Me

So I follow a bunch of blogs from various triathletes ranging from pro to age groupers, though I am by far the least experienced and slowest. The one thing I always wished I knew was how these people were training. I did read a great blog entry once about reading how other people train. It went something like this: When you're reading about someone else's races or training keep in mind that you are not them. And while some guy may run 10 miles at a pace you can't hold for one mile you should not feel bad about that. Train your own way, and try to pick up some tips from wherever you can.

So here's how I trained this year.

My weekly schedule was pretty much set.

Monday	Swim am (2,800 - 3,600 yards). Bike pm (18 - 35 miles)
Tuesday	Short run  pm (3 miles)
Wednesday	Swim am (2,800 - 3,600 yards). Long run (7 miles) or focused bike workout (e.g., hills, tempo, intervals)
Thursday	Bike pm (18 - 35 miles)
Friday	Swim am (2,800 - 3,600 yards)
Saturday	Bike run brick. (Bike 20-50 miles, run 3-7 miles - don't rest much between bike and run)

Swimming
For my swim training I joined a masters swimming program (http://www.genesisaquatics.org/) it's a great group. The coach has lots of experience both coaching and swimming, and he has done a great job nurturing this group. I had been a part of this group with my wife about four years ago, and while the group has definitely grown in that time, it is also neat to see that there are lots of people still there. It's a testament to the quality of the group.

From a training perspective, joining a good group provides many things. First a good coach can put together some really great workouts. They will do distance sets, sprint sets and sort of "resting days." A good coach will also pay attention to your stroke, and help you tweak your stroke on the fly. And since I come back three times a week they can keep seeing it and keep reminding me. Swimming with a larger group gives me motivation to get better, to train better so I can be better. I would definitely recommend people find a masters group no matter what their skill level.

I don't really do any open water swims, mainly because the lakes are cold, and I haven't been able to find many local people to swim with. Since swimming is my strong point I don't worry about it. Many people do try to get in some open water swims though.

Biking
Prior to this summer my bike training consisted of just going out and biking. I'd maybe throw in the occasional interval workout with .25 mile fast, .75 mile soft pedaling. The main problem with that was that I was almost always training alone, and never went much further than 10 miles.

So this summer I found a bike group to ride with (http://www.greatscottcycling.com/) again, it's a great group to be a part of. There are about 100 members and at any given day there are anywhere between 20 and 50 riders split up among five groups. The groups range in speed anywhere from 13 mph average to 20+ so there's a place for anyone. The group really gave me a variety of things, they knew the local  routes that are bike friendly, they knew how to string together a 20 mile ride on the fly, they knew how to turn an easy ride into a challenging ride, and because the skill range is so large they were always pushing me.

While riding in a group is totally different than riding in a triathlon (drafting for one) simply being in the group on a regular basis makes you a better rider. You can watch good riders, people can offer up tips, you get experience riding close to other riders which really helps with your bike handling.

The one thing this bike group doesn't offer is any sort of speed work. It's really just go out and bike as hard as you want for a bunch of miles. So I tried to augment those two weekly rides with another mid-week ride where I would toss in some hill repeats or speed work. In theory this would work great, the reality was that it didn't work out that well. I did it a few times, but in the end I just didn't stick to it.

Running
So two years ago when all of this started I couldn't run a mile. So I did couch to 5k. The following summer I worked on shorter runs and tried to throw in tempo and interval runs in. I mainly did that because I still was having trouble running three miles straight, so instead of just running out of steam on a three miles I wanted to have a different excuse (e.g., I didn't run the whole time because I was really hitting the intervals hard.)

After that summer my wife and sister got me signed up for a couple of half marathons. Over the course of that training I (obviously) got my mileage way up over 3 miles. I was also peppering in some speed work, because I had set some goals to get faster than I was. This training was instrumental toward me being a better runner, I dropped my run times almost a minute per mile, and now a three mile run is an easy run, and I do six or seven miles without really putting too much thought into it.

Things that could use more focus

• Bike speed work and hills. Whenever anyone talks about building speed (bike, running, swimming) intervals is where it's at. I've also read that if you're running short on time and can't put together two hours for mileage that a shorter hill workout is a great substitute.
• Running - I need to work on speed (more intervals) and form. I know I have a slight heel strike, and I would not be surprised to find out there's something else I could tweak. It's not uncommon (in my life) for someone to comment on my running, and not as in that 'you look great' way :)
• Transitions - I literally have never practiced a transition. I pay attention to articles and what other people suggest. But I think it's coming down to trying some new techniques and just practicing.

The one thing that I am really missing from my training this summer is a good group of triathletes to hook up with. I got supremely spoiled while in FL because I was able to hook up with an excellent group of people (http://www.tryatri.org/) It is a fantastic group of people covering a wide variety of skill levels from total newbies (like I was) to top age-group finishers and iron distance veterans. I knew it was a good group when I found it, but I really miss that now that I'm in MN. I'm hoping to connect with a few more people close to where I live, it's just that one extra thing that I could use.

Season Training Notes

I started training for the tri season in April this year.

	Distance	Time
Swim	83,400 yards	26:40 hours
Bike	1,207 miles	56:42 hours
Run	233 miles	22:52 hours

Overall
This season started immediately after my running season, which started immediately after last tri season. The goals going into this year were to start at least as good as last year and then later I decided to focus on the bike.

Swim
I did some light swimming in March and April - nothing really that structured. I really hit the pool starting in May. Almost all of these yards are in the pool as part of a team, the coach kept pushing me out of my comfort zone, and while I didn't get much faster, it did have lots of benefits.

Bike
I really hit the bike hard this year, it was clearly the focus with almost twice as much time training on it than anything else. I found a good group to ride with, and that really helped a lot. I also made a point (at least early in the summer) to put in some long rides (e.g., 40 miles or more) because I was going for larger events and didn't want to just die on the bike just because I hadn't ever ridden that far.

Run
Having just come off a running season where I had dropped my run pace by almost a full minute I was feeling really good about that so I pretty much put the run on maintenance mode. I had turned some of my running days in to short bike days, and stuff like that.

August Training Notes

This month my totals look like this

	Distance	Time
Swim	8,500 yards	2:30 hours
Bike	216 miles	11:32 hours
Run	37 miles	5:25 hours

Overall
So last month I was lamenting how hard it was to get up and go swimming. This month it shows. I am actually surprised to see the run and bike numbers so high, though I did have two races in this month, and when I would miss a swim I would try to make it up with some running.

Swim
That many yards really equates to about 4 workouts, it's always hard for me to get up, but when you've got a new baby at home and you're already sort of tired from that it's even harder. Plus I was pretty much done last month mentally :(

Bike
The biking miles stayed pretty flat, I wasn't feeling particularly strong on the bike, but my wife kept pushing me out the door to get in the miles. She's great!

Run
So I was worried about the running all summer. I made a decision to prioritize the bike over the run, and that's what I did, and in the end it all worked out. Again, the extra miles came from days when I would miss the swim, but then take some time to get out and run.

Tri Season Notes

This season I did 5 triathlons, three sprints and two Olympics.This season marks my second full season of races. So here's how it lined up.

Race	Swim	Pace	Bike	Pace	Run	Pace
Spring Training (Sprint)	6:58	1:35	31:44	18.5	28:21	9:27
Egg Hunt (Sprint)	9:05	2:04	34:14	17.5	29.48	9:35
Trinona (Olympic)	23:11	1:25	1:27:32	17.8	57.46	9:17
Lake Front Days (Sprint)	6:41	1:31	40:58	19.8	28:06	8:30
Maple Grove (Olympic)	25:59	1:35	1:22:33	19.2	53:03	8:32

What I see
Swim

• Egg Hunt swim is an anomaly, either the course is longer than advertised, or the timing mat is way after you get out.
• Trinona is the only wetsuit swim, it's also my fastest pace. The wetsuit makes a big difference.
• Other than that the swimming training adds a less tangible benefit in the form of confidence and overall conditioning for the rest of the race.

Bike

• Spring training tri is likely an anomaly again, my guess is the bike course isn't as long as they say it is
• After that you can see that the bike legs get significantly faster. Summer time group rides really go a long way to building up speed.

Run

• The first three races all had walking in them. The first two I just couldn't muster the strength to handle it. The third I had some sort of back cramp. The last two I was able to run the whole way through.
• Even without lots of run training my times came down. This is likely due to overall conditioning brought on by hard swimming and biking and just keeping the running up.
• Holding the same pace on a 5k and a 10k probably means I could have pushed the run leg faster in Lake front days race. Especially since the longer race had five little hills in it.

Overall
It's surprising to me that all my swimming training didn't have a more noticeable impact on times. But it does provide a lot of confidence. I would not have had the guts to tackle the longer distances without taking time to put in the yards. It also takes away the fear of draining my energy on the shorter races.

The bike work has a very noticeable impact on times, it basically boils down to a 2 mph gain over the course of the summer.

The big surprise of this summer is how the run has come along. I really was just putting in the miles and not thinking much about building speed; I did maybe one tempo run all summer.

Next Season
So the goals for next season line up like this

• Start the season in as good or better shape than where I finished.
• Add another 1 or 2 mph on the bike. If I can get average speed up over 20 mph consistently that will help a lot
• Bring the run pace down. When people talk about going fast on the run they are thinking around six minutes average. When I talk about it I'm thinking around 8 minutes, 8:30 if I'm doing a triathlon. That needs to come WAY down.
• Practice transitions. They are finally starting to hurt me. Adding two minutes in transition is like running an extra 1/4 mile, or 3/4 mile on the bike.
• I'm also going to try to fit in at least one half iron distance event.

This season is over for me. I am taking a pretty long break, my goal is to take it easy for the next 3.5 months. I'll pick it up again in January.

Race Review - Maple Grove Olympic Triathlon

This was my first time at this race, and my second time doing this distance. The overall goal was to feel good about the distance, not feel like it had killed me, and secondly to do better - timewise - as I had done in the first Olympic. I figured that would actually be pretty easy since the first race was way hillier than this one.

A note about this event: It's actually three races at one venue at the same time. A sprint distance, an Olympic distance, and a new event called Tri-Star which is a triathlon with a very heavy bike focus, which is apparently popular in Europe, but this was the first US Tri-Star event.

The Training
In August I put 3-4 hours of training a week. We had a baby in the second week, and that dominated the rest of it. So really I'm thinking 3 - 4 hours is pretty decent, though it did make me wonder about my ability to handle this race at the pace I wanted to handle it.

Packet Pickup
Packet pickup was available the day before the race at the race site. I have two thoughts on this, one is that it's a good thing it wasn't raining or something. That would have sucked, mostly because of the second thought. The second thought is that you cannot drive right up to the race site because it's at a public park, and the parking lot is used for transition so you can't park there. The result is that you park (possibly) at a different entrance, or maybe at a school that is a few blocks away, and then trek to packet pickup. I dislike this - mainly because of all of the walking involved. But also because I have three little kids, and they didn't want to take the walk, so they ended up playing somewhere else.

The one plus side is that it gave me a chance to check out the transition area and try to figure out some of the questions I had about the race (like where the bike leg started, and which direction the run went.) I eventually did figure all of that out - this whole process took about 30 minutes. Actual packet pickup took about 2 minutes, the rest of the time was me walking around trying to find the transition area or figure it out.

After that we drove the bike course, I wondered what it looked like and from maps I had looked at I wondered what the intersections looked like.

Race Morning
I had a terrible time sleeping the night before, I think I got about 3.5 hours of sleep. I got up at 4:15, got dressed, remembered that I had forgotten my swim cap, had some breakfast and was out the door by 4:50. Originally my plan was to leave a little after 5, but sometime the night before I decided I wanted to be able to get to the transition area early enough to be able to decide where I wanted to put my bike instead of just getting stuck with whatever was left.

The transition area is split up by wave. I really like that. It gives you an assigned area, but also gives you a chance to see who you will be racing against. That setup also gives you a chance to gauge your position in your age group during the race by looking at what bikes are already in your area. Granted my wave didn't correspond to my age-group completely, but it was close enough. My age group is 30-34, and the wave handled 15-34, but the heat itself wasn't that large, and as far as I could tell there weren't any 15-year-olds :)

The transition are was very large, this was the largest race I had been a part of, there were 22 waves to handle about 1,000 people. I felt extremely fortunate to have my rack be right in the middle. My bike was about half way between the swim/run exit and the bike exit. It would not have been fun to tack another 400 yards of running every time I was in transition to get to the back and get my junk.

After getting transition setup and chipped, and marked, I had some time to just sit and watch the crowd, it's my favorite way to start a race, nice and relaxed. Although it's quite a bit more fun when someone else is there to chat with. This was my first race that I was competing "alone" as in I didn't personally know anyone in the race.

The Swim
There were three waves before me, Tri-Star pro, Tri-star age group (there were only about 100 tri-star competitors), and Olympic elite. Chris McCormick (Macca) was there doing the Tri-star race, it was sort of interesting to see that. The only time during the race I saw him was getting out the water, he was destroying the field of pros at that point.

A note about the course: Because there were three races going on, except for the run there were also three difference distances for everything (Tri-Star 1k, 100k, 10k. Sprint .25m, 13m, 3m. Olympic: 1.5k, 40k, 10k.) The swim course was a great example of how much this can suck. I can tell you for sure that nobody would be able to confidently tell you just by looking in the lake who was swimming where and in what direction they would be going. There were big orange buoys, little yellow ones, big yellow ones, and giant white ones. At the pre-race meeting they did a great job of describing the course, but in all seriousness they need to rethink the buoy setup for next year.

I didn't have any idea how I would place in my wave. Part of me was worried about my conditioning and worried that I would fade and then have people running over me. The other part of me reasoned that two weeks of weak training can't undo a summer's worth of training. So at first I lined up in the back, and then with a minute to go I moved to the front on the outside.

Probably contemplating where I should place myself

They sent us off, and everything just settled into place, there wasn't a ton of jostling, but there was the occasional guy who had decided to go out as hard as he could and zig-zag his way to the finish that needed to be navigated in the beginning.

As for the swim, it was pretty decent. Some guys really took off, and I never caught them, I think eventually they did stop pulling away so that was good. And there was another guy who was basically around the entire time. Though if I could have had a chance to talk to him afterwards I'd let him know if he can figure out how to swim straight he'd probably take 40 seconds off his time. The only real challenge for the swim was finding the finish line. When my wave started there were two small yellow buoys marking the exit, by the time I got back there were four more. At this point it's probably prudent to point out that they did have a huge arch, they just didn't blow it up, they ran out of time.

There's the guy I was with the whole time

And just like that he's gone

I felt ok coming out of the water, ran to transition took my time getting my stuff together to let me head settle and then hopped on the bike.

Waving to my family, a smile on my face must mean I'm doing ok :)

The Bike
I had overheard some guys talking about the course in transition where they said that the first half of the bike will feel slow, but not to sweat it because the second half will feel much faster. That actually helped a lot, because the first half did feel slow.

The course is a mix between rural highways and medium traffic residential areas. There are several controlled intersections and even a couple where you have to cross against traffic. The bike course is the highlight of this race, the course itself is nothing spectacular, the roads a variable - smooth and rough with rolling hills. What makes it the highlight is that it was so well put together. All of the intersections are controlled and controlled well. It was well marked, there were lots of volunteers, two water pickups, and even people just hanging out watching the race go by. If the rest of the event was like this it would be a must do event.

I was feeling ok on the bike. I only passed a couple of people, but spent most of the race getting passed. But when the race consists of roughly 400 people who mostly started behind you except for the elite group, I guess that's to be expected unless you're going to win it.

Rolling in to T2 - there's a guy right in front of me getting ready to get in my way :)

When I came into transition I was pretty disappointed, there were more people in my area than I was expecting, but I just did my thing and headed out.

The Run
The run was a two loop course that basically rounded the lake twice. The in the park run only lasts about half a mile, the rest of the time is outside of the park through neighborhoods. I wasn't feeling that awesome when I started, but I wasn't feeling terrible either. So I just focused on keeping my legs moving, and not slowing down too much.

Per normal for me, I was getting passed quite a bit. But I was doing my fair share of passing too. At this point in the race the sprint and Olympic distance racers were mixed in together. You could tell a sprinter from an Olympian based on the color of their number. So I knew when I was passing someone who had likely passed me on a bike, or when someone came blazing by who was only running a 5k.

There were only two distance markers, one on the first lap at mile 1, and one on the second lap at mile 4. Surprisingly you cannot see them both at the same time, but that's just because the second lap isn't an exact copy of the first lap. That played a little bit with my brain because I had forgotten to put my watch on after the bike so I didn't know how fast I was running, or how far we had gone. I put the misplaced watch out of my mind as fast as I could.

There were an odd number of water stops, maybe 5. Usually they are near distance markers, here they seemed sort of randomly placed. No matter, it was nice, and the people manning them were nice too. The only downside was that when I went through the second time they were starting to run out of water. Now I knew that I wasn't near the end of the field of racers, if they were out of water for me, what was going to happen for the rest of the people.

The best part of the run was the people who lived along it, there were many people out and cheering us on. It was great, some had music, some had water hoses out (thank you!) and some were telling us distances to the finish.

Overall the run felt really good, after the first mile that seemed to drag on forever the rest went really fast. After a few miles I even picked a guy who I was catching very slowly as someone who would pull me to the end. The goal became to finish ahead of him. I caught him during one of his walk breaks, and yelled out "you have to keep running, I've been chasing you for four miles, you can do it!" I chatted with him, he had a GPS watch, so I asked him what his pace was. It was close to my goal pace, so I reasoned that meant I was doing better than planned. As I pulled away I gave him some encouragement and hoped I wouldn't see him again. I didn't.

The Finish
Remember when I said there were only two distance markers? Well really there were three - there was one about 100 yards from the end - it wasn't different than the others, just ... I don't even know what they were thinking.

The final chute

Nothing special to report about the finish, I had started picking up the pace around 4 miles and felt pretty good about that, so I was plenty tired. I didn't see a timer at the end, so I didn't really know how I had done. I met up with my wife and kids, and friend Sara and her kids. Grabbed a bite and sat around a little in the great afternoon weather.

Me and the new baby!

 The Results

	Goal	Actual
Swim	28:45	25:59
Bike	1:22:00	1:22:01
Run	54:30	53:48
Total	2:50	2:46:06

The swim – That's about 5 seconds per hundred faster than I anticipated. The night before the race the water temp was 81, the morning of it was 77... my guess is the water didn't really cool 5 degrees over night. So had the water temp stayed high I probably would have fared better in the field, as it is 35th overall. As it was I was one of just a few people without a wetsuit, so I think I did alright :)
The bike – Right on target; turns out the course is really 42 km, so that speed is really 19.2. Still pretty decent.

The run – Two races in a row where I hit the run goal. I didn't walk at all and was able to "feel it" and hit the speed I was shooting for without relying on the Garmin.

Overall I did pretty well, the race felt good, and while it's hard to tell how well I actually did (the posted results look a little funny - like the overall results show my AG place at 16/28, the AG results say 17/30.) It looks like I lost the most places on the bike which is sort of disappointing.

Closing Comments
I'm happy with my performance on this race - I'm not all that happy with this race as an event, but I do feel like I turned in a solid performance.

There's nothing special about this race, and actually because of the lack of polish, the only reason I would do this race again is if it fits nicely with my other plans. This year this race fell on the same weekend as two other races, if that happens again next year this race will not win that battle.

It's things like a difficult to understand swim course, not being done setting up before the swim started, and never having time to finish. Running out of water on the run course was pretty lame. It was hard to hear the announcers. And despite what I had read about this race previously, it's not actually spectator friendly.

The hill where everything is allows you to see transition, but not the bike exit/entrance. You can watch the swim, but not quickly move from there to a swim entrance for cheering. It's basically just an area to hang out and not watch the race, in fact from the common area you cannot watch any part of the race but the swim. I also dislike not being able to park near the event. I'd chalk this all up to venue, this venue cannot really support this event.

Thanks
Again, thanks again to my wife. She braved three kids and a jogging stroller all piled onto a school bus to come cheer me on. You're awesome! Also thanks to my friends Tony and Sara who came out early to see me. Tony even snapped of the pictures from above.