Motor City Race Report

Sunday was my first attempt at an Olympic distance triathlon. The triathlon was on the once very beautiful Belle Isle, right near downtown Detroit. I picked this one specifically because it was a bigger event, I need big event experience this year to prepare me for Steelhead. Besides, nothing and I mean nothing scares me about swim starts so why not go big or go home. One last item of note about this race, I had soft goals and no idea what to expect going in. I didn't taper and if anything upped my training intensity in the past week. Not a great recipe but this was a C- minus race just for the practice.

I made the 2 hour drive down to the race site on Saturday afternoon to preview the course get signed in. Not off to a good start though, I left town an hour later than I planned and had to drive the 5.8 miles around the perimeter of the island twice to find the entrance to the area T2 and race registration were. I arrived with 20 minutes to spare before packet pickup/sign in closed. whew, ok, I hoped we were back on track. After getting signed in and picking up my race packet I took some time to look around and get acquainted with the layout. This was to be a 2 transition location event. T1 was about a mile up the island by the swim location, T2 and the finish line were at the main sign in location. I would need to remember not only to bring everything for the race but also a second transition bag to put my wetsuit and T1 stuff into before taking off on the bike. Once I felt comfortable with the way transitions were laid out and the swim location it was off for a drive around the island. Drive, why drive you say? Well, two reasons mainly, first it was getting later in the day and the island was PACKED with people. Apparently half the population of Detroit was attempting a picnic with loud boom boxes, barbecue and adult beverages. There was no room on the island to ride my bike safely with all the people and traffic. So I drove the bike course and made my mental notes as I went. I was glad I did, there was a section of the road on the back side of the island that had a ton of bike eating pot holes. The race director had obviously been working hard though as almost all of the pot holes in the bike course had bright green paint circling them. I firmly believe that you should ride or drive every course, both bike and run, sometime in the day or two before a race to get your final strategy and mental notes in order so there are no course related surprises come race day. With that done it was time to head in to town and get checked into my Hotel, lay out and pack the transition bags, eat my customary pasta dinner and turn in early. Back on schedule, let hope it stays that way.

Race morning. I wake up in a panic! why is it so light? I look at the clock, it's 5:30am. CRAP!!!! Where was my wake up call!! I need to be at the island in 30 minutes when bike check in an T2 opens for setup. Crap!!! Crap, crap crap!!! Ok, deep breath. this is no time to truly panic. What is triathlon after all, deal with adversity and move on. Luckily I packed everything up the night before. I also shaved and showered the night before I was completely ready. All I had to do was get dressed, down some coffee and check out. Ok, deep breath. We planned for lots of extra time at the race for mental prep, now it would have to be on the fly. I arrive at the island at 6:15am, find a parking spot and start getting my gear around. Everything is moving like clock work now. I finally get to T2 for setup 15 minutes before it closes, I set it up and hop on my bike to ride it over to T1, chip pickup and body marking. I am there at 7:05 am along with 700 of my closest friends who are all trying to get their chips and body markings at the same time. I drop the bike and swim gear in T1 and decide I better get in line before it gets any longer. After waiting and begging my way to the front of the chip pickup line, I move over to body marking and decide it is getting close to race start so I better just jump right up front. I explained my situation to a few wide eyed, obviously first time, sprint people and they let me in. Body marking complete, 10 minutes left to race start. Now I'm not one to panic. This time however, I was beginning to panic, I still had to get my wetsuit and setup T1 AND get mentally right before this race starts. How was that ever going to happen? I head over to T1 set up my spot and get my wetsuit on up to my waist. What's that I hear over the loud speaker? Crap!!! 3 minutes to race start and some instructions I can't understand. I grab my goggles and swim cap and run.
Get to the waters edge, get some assistance getting zipped into the wetsuit, dive into the water just enough to get wet so I can settle the wetsuit a little and run over to the starting chute. "1 minute, until race start." comes over the loudspeaker. Ok, mental prep time now officially cut out, haha. I push my way to the front of the pack. Have I mentioned that swim starts don't scare me any? Now, finally now I am comfortable and relaxed again. The world comes to a screeching halt and time slows to a crawl. This is a beach start, I seem to have forever to jostle for position and pick my line I want to the first buoy. THIS IS COOL!!! Man I love competing in triathlons. Then, time comes back up to full speed. 10, every muscle tenses, 9, 8, I ready my watch to time myself, 7, 6, 5, I dig in my toes, 4,3,2, the horn goes off!

Swim: goal time: 30ish minutes actual time: 30:20
Distance: 1500 meters

The swim felt pretty good. The first 500m were against the current, at times it felt like I was swimming in place but every time I sighted on the buoy's I was getting closer to the turn. The middle 500m were with the current and I felt like I had a jet pack on. Only problem to this point was couple minor elbows and kicks to the body during the first turn, all in all not too bad. I hit the turn back for home and it was like hitting a brick wall. Man am I glad I do a LOT of pull sets during my swim workouts. I dug in, hoped onto the hip of some younger kid that tried to pass me and drafted off him the rest of the way in. I felt pretty good at this point. As I stood up I decided I was walking rather than running out of the water. The extra 10 seconds wouldn't kill me and I'd get my legs back under me quicker. By the time I hit the beach I had my wetsuit down to my waist, cap and goggles off and my legs felt pretty good. Time to jog to T1.

T1: goaltime: none actual time: 2:46

Note, I WALKED through all transitions. I had read somewhere that taking that extra few seconds helped you stay better focused and conserved a small amount of energy for the next stage of the race. This was a new thing I tried at this race and I can say, it sure didn't hurt me any. T1, I had to not only ditch the wetsuit, but I also had to pack it and everything else not going with me on the bike into a bag that the race volunteers would bring to the finish for later pickup. With all that in mind, I'm not too disappointed in this transition time. A little slow but I wasn't putting ANY importance on the transitions here.

Bike: goaltime: 1 hour 15 min give or take actual time: 1:19:23
Distance: 23 miles

The bike was sweet!! pretty much flat, a couple of small rollers and 1 tight corner right at the top of the biggest hill and, of course, in to the teeth of the headwind. I held back big time on the first lap. This was a 4 lap ride and I felt I would be wise to conserve and learn on the first lap then I'd know where and when I could hammer on the last 3. This turned out to be a pretty good strategy. I would fly around 20-22 mph on the flat downwind side and maintain with a high cadence around 16-17 on the headwind, rolling hill side. I knew my bike fitness was lacking coming in and I was surprised I was able to maintain this pace as easily as I was. It kinda bit getting passed by all the $10,000 bikes and people looking like they were working half as hard as I was but I was trying to stay within myself. And I felt like I did a pretty good job of it until I got to the run.

T2: goal time: none Actual time: 1:51

Ok, so maybe I took a little too much time on this one. But, in my defense, uh no. I actually have no excuse for this one. I have new Zoot racing flats so the shoe change is quick. I only had to throw on a hat and my number belt so I have no clue why I seemingly took a nap in this transition. Again though, I'm not too worried here. I really wasn't putting any emphasis on my transitions at this race.

Run: goal time: sub 1 hour Actual time: 1:17:10
Distance 6.6 miles

Ok, I new I was in trouble coming out of T2 and running over a small humped up bridge and both thighs locked almost solid! Not a problem I've had before. Usually I get calve cramps, bricks and nutrition changes have helped this immensly. This hurt!! I figured it was better to be safe than sorry and maybe if I just walked for a minute I re-adjust from coming off the bike. For about 2 seconds I considered calling it a day and quiting. Then I remembered what I always tell my son. At some point during every race it is going to hurt and it is going to hurt bad. But if you just focus on the moment, start micro managing the race so your goals become very small, sooner or later it will start feeling better and if that doesn't work then just remember pain is temporary, finishing is forever. With those thoughts in mind I started running again and with in a few minutes, this time, I was cramping again and when I wasn't cramping I just felt like I had no legs under me at all to run with. I was rapidly learning what blowing up in a race felt like and it sucked! Ok, I have to adapt and figure a way to get through this. I settle on a plan, run 10 minutes, walk 2 minutes. I use this method when I do my trail runs and even when it hurts the most I can usually keep that up for hours. 2 miles down and it's starting to feel a little better. at the turn around, 3.3 miles, I am feeling like ok, this is do-able. I know I'm not setting any speed records but I am at least maintaining a pace and mentally I'm feeling better. Next I start looking for people who look like they are struggling as bad or worse than I am. I start cheering them on and telling them hey, lets just jog to the next sign post. Somehow between my internal struggle and cheering on others in my condition I manage to hobble through the second 3.3 mile lap. As I came to the finish chute both my legs were cramped so bad it felt like I was running stiff legged. But I finished!!! I had pushed myself farther than I have ever gone before in a race and survived. I learned a few things along the way but I finished.

Final time 3 hours 11 minutes 29 seconds

Out of this I take a few things.

1) my fitness on the bike is not where it needs to be. I spent to much of the energy bank on the bike and had nothing left for the run. This will be a focus over the next few weeks before my next race.

2) My nutrition plan was pretty good. I maybe could have used more sodium to help with the cramping but I already have a plan to address this. I just wasn't going to trying it in a race first. More on that later.

3) My over all fitness level is leaps and bounds ahead of last year. After a race last year, all sprint distance, I was toast for the rest of the day. I was so sore I could hardly move for 2 days afterward. Yesterday, not only did I drive home after the race, my wife and kids and I went to my in-laws for a cookout. I even stayed up and watched the US Open and NBA finals game last night. Today? My thighs are a bit sore from all the cramping. I am a little tight all around but nothing slowed me down at all today. I pushed myself for over 3 hours yesterday and today I am fine! I know my fitness is way up there.

Later on I'll lay out my game plan for Interlochen. For now, I'm disappointed with the overall time but hey on a positive note, this was my first Olympic distance so I at least set a PR, lol.

Thats it for now, time to rest and recover.

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