Motor City Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

This was a wave start of all males 40+, so there were quite a few starting off together

This was a beach start and the water is fairly shallow the first 50 yards out to the turn buoy, so lots of running and diving - not bad in an of itself except the river bottom is rocky and has lots of shells, so I was a bit tentative not wanting to bruise the hell out of my feet or cut them.

I positioned myself at about the middle of the pack - not being the fastest swimmer I thought the fasties would be up front and I'd be fine. I'm quite used to the initial few hundred yards being congested and having to pick my way through to open water, but this was way worse. As it turned out the guys that made it out first and raced to the first buoy were fairly slow and lots of them ended up walking. Plus it seemed a lot burned themselves out after a few hundred yards and also started walking. The water at that point along the outbound portion was only about 4' deep. I was astounded at the number of guys walking. It caused all sorts of congestion and I kept running into them and having to stop, stand up myself and surge through them. It wasn't till I got to the end and made my turn to deep water (about 500-600 yds) that I got some clear water to swim. I lost a lot of time on that first part and just couldn't get into my normal breathing rhythm. I was having to spend way too much time sighting. The leg back down the beach wasn't too bad - I was able to bilateral breath more and get my rhythm down, but then the turn downriver once again put me in with walkers.

As for the pace, I'm happy with it considering the wasted efforts having to over-sight and stop/start. This is the first race where I've broken the 2min/100yd pace. I'm sure that had I been able to get into my normal rhythm I probably could have done a minute or so better.

Get to the front and let the faster swimmers go over me - I'd rather deal with being run over than to get caught up in all of the walkers.

T1 time included 100yd+ run up the beach to the bike. Pulled off cap,goggles,and half of wetsuit before exiting the water. Nothing bad happened - got my suit off ok, put on socks which I always do - I never run without them and figure I'm going to spend time in one of the transitions, so I make it T1 - I prefer riding with socks anyway.

This time also included having to bag up my wet suit, towel, cap and goggles and zip up the backpack. I'd say this probably added 15-20 seconds.

Nothing

Met up with George right away and he proceeded to draft off of me for 3 laps! He claims he was helping push me along :) Was nice to have some to talk to though. Saw Sue and Sarah on the first turn - didn't see them after that. Course was really flat and I didn't realize how much that'd affect me. I'm so used to hilly courses where I get a few seconds rest time coming down the backsides. In this case there was no rest - it was constant pedaling. There were a few lengths where there was a light headwind so had to work a bit more, but I had George pushing, which helped!!!

After 3 laps I pulled away from George and spun it up a bit. Got to the end and started to dismount the way I always do. I unclip my right foot and swing it over the bike and ride on the side. As soon as I did that I noticed a speed bump coming up - holy crap! I hit it and was ok, but was also going a bit too fast. Got to the dismount line, then tried to twist my left foot out of the clip to hop off like I always do....no twisty, didn't want to come out - holy crap again! Down I went, hard right on my left cheek and side with the bike coming down hard on my right quad. Popped right up and I could tell immediately it wasn't going to be pretty. I could feel both areas tightening up and complaining already, but I just tried to ignore it and move on.

Probably could have gone a bit stronger pace and still had enough left for the run. If I do this one again next year, I'll keep the pace at 21+ rather than the 20+ I was shooting for this year. Also, I'll play it safe and not do my flying dismount again.

I never ride with my feet on my shoes, though that might be something I start practicing to do - probably a lot safer than my normal dismount.

Was a little slow cuz of the crash, probably could have made it less than 60 seconds had I not pulled that bonehead move.

First mile I was really stiff cuz of the bike crash, but I loosened up after that and was able to pick up the pace. I just kept an easy smooth pace for the first lap and then started to pick it up on the last. I timed it pretty good so that by the end I had nothing left in the tank, which is the goal.

I was very happy with this run. This is the fastest I've ever done this distance, even during training. The fact that I was able to do it even after crashing and having to run with double charlie horses speaks well to the last few years of training.

Nothing - this was a good run.

Paced around a little bit, got something to drink and some watermelon, then hung out with Sue and Sarah for a bit until they took off. I stayed and chatted with the BTers and Greyhounds.


Water walkers - what the hell is up with that anyway? Even if it is shallow enough to walk, its supposed to be a swim and for me being able to say I swam the whole thing is part of the accomplishment. I'm sure I would have been able to break 30mins had I not spent so much time dealing with them.


Actually for 3D I thought this was a good race. Everything was organized - they had plenty of volunteers and they actually had a pre-race meeting to explain the course, which is the first 3D race I've done where they've bothered to do that. I was nice that they had the jetski run the swim course first to show it to us.

I thought that having the 2 transition areas would be worse than it was - worked out pretty well and they had our T1 bags all waiting for us.

Overall, I'm pleased with the time. My unspoken goal was 2:30, but when I saw that I wasn't going to hit that I vowed to come in under 2:40 and I did that, so I'm happy. I wish the swim had gone better, but hey, you deal with the circumstances and can only blame myself for not pushing through that segment better.