Copperman Triathlon - Triathlon

All the men were going off in wave 1. Women in 2. Teams in 3. Started near the front figuring I'd have one of the stronger swims. Still seemed rather slow as some people went out that I thought I should have kept up with. Stroke felt short throughout, but didn't know how to fix it. Felt frustrated, but got through it. Felt like I was out longer than it should have been.

I don't know, swim is still regressing. A month ago I beat a guy in the Oly by 4 minutes. Today he beat me by 30 sec.

Made sure everything was set. Wasn't here to truly race, but enjoy being out there.

Maybe someday I'll get some faster transition stuff.

Really wanted to take off fast as it's a short course race, but made myself slow down and go under target early on. I train that way, so better race like that too. Figured ~300 to start would be good and then pick it up later on. Keep tucked in and steady as I can. The route is simple, but the road moves around a lot.

I had just added a set of shorty aerobars to the road bike and they fit perfectly from the get-go. Never needed to come out except to stretch my legs every now & then. Loved the feel even though I'm still much less aero than the tri bike.

First turn-around was only ~1.5 miles away and counted ~8 people ahead of me, including one kid who might be like 14 (race best swim). Rode down all but 1 over the next 15 minutes or so. Made sure to look around while out there too, as the race goes right along the shore of Lake Superior. Had hooked up my GoPro to get some pics of this. Remembered to turn it on before the first turn, so didn't really miss anything.

The ride goes right through town and out through the woods for a ways. Increased power some over this time, moving up to more like 305-308 at times. Nice having HR again to help monitor effort. Close to the other turn-around I saw the leader. Checked the time and he was just over a minute ahead. Probably too much to catch over the last 9 miles or so.

Picked up the effort a little more still after the turn. Felt I was working, but not overdoing it. HR was actually coming down here some too. About a couple miles left, the powermeter went out. Think I held up consistently over the last part. HR did at least, which would be 308 AP and 310 NP. Pretty good on this course in keeping the power on consistently and also not spiking the short hills. Didn't catch the first guy.

Pretty good effort wise. Just wanted a good effort, not going all in to take the race. Probably need to work on the power application a little more. Could feel a little inconsistency around the stroke at times which can hurt with all the small variations on this course.

Just made my way through. Not too fast. Another guy was coming right up behind me and didn't want to get into a foot race on the run. Got my stuff together, made sure it worked and started off.

Just ran out at an effort that felt ok to do, trying to get my run legs under me. Also feeling out how much I wanted to push. Kept the guy in sight for awhile, but knew I didn't really want to push hard enough to make a race of it. Still had a long drive home and also more exploring to do in the afternoon.

HR was kinda low in the early going of the run, took its time climbing as well. Just stayed fairly steady with the feel, hoping to average a bit under 7'/mi. Took a little water at the aid stations. Not quite as much to see on the run as it started on a tighter trail, then onto the early bike portion, going past the 1st turn-around onto a gravel road. This went uphill a bit so we could just see the surrounding area, and then right back down.

Saw the two guys ahead up near there and didn't want to give chase. Too far and too hard. Also finally saw anyone coming up behind. Made sure to stay smart and kept anyone else well back, didn't want a sprint finish either.

Went ok. Need more run training to run better, could feel the lack of it. Run HR was lower than bike HR, but felt harder.

Hung around transition area, eating what I could.


Great race. Everything was pretty relaxed and fun. Location was fantastic. Great views in a few places. Real emphasis on the small-town as there really is just the one street going through. I don't know where all the people come from. For this race I liked that they didn't try to force in a standard distance. Turn-arounds were all at nice places with small loops for both on the bike and at the top of the hill for the run.