Island Lake Triathlon, Spring - Sprint Course - TriathlonSprint

This was my first OWS, period. For some reason, I was really calm before the start. I grew up in and around lakes, so I wasn't worried about not having something to grab on to. When the bell sounded to go, I suddenly realized I was racing! The first 100m didn't seem to bad and I was hanging with the front 1/3 of the pack. Stroke felt decent...but I started to get real short of breath. I looked up after another 50m or so, and realized I was probably 25m left of the course. Great...totally forgot to sight. Took a quick look at my HR monitor, and I was already nearing 180. Uh oh, not good at all. The highest I normally hit during my pool swims is about 160 unless I'm really pushing it. Spent the rest of the swim trying to get that under control to no avail. Felt like I was stopping every 25-50m to get my $*&% together. Just a terrible performance.

I felt like I was sighting enough during the second half of the swim, but every time I looked up it was like hitting a brick wall. Hit quite a few weeds along the way. They didn't freak me out, was just more of a nuisance. 2-3 times I would get a loose one around my neck. I knew I was fine, but that feeling was enough for me to roll on my back and clear them off. Something about being in the water with something around my neck just didn't sit right. Finally hit the last 200m or so, and the waves behind me were catching up. I had already looked back and saw them coming, so I tried to stay pretty far left to give them room. Apparently this was not far enough. Felt like I had someone cutting right across me every 20m, with several smacks to the face.

Finally seeing sand underneath me was such a welcome site. I knew I was slow, but seeing that I was well over 20 minutes was pretty demoralizing.

Train, train, train. My training really slacked the few weeks prior to the race (I need to spend more time in the pool and less on the golf course, though I'm hitting the ball great this year!). My first OWS was a true learning experience. Going to work on sighting while keeping decent body position in the water as well as not gassing myself in the first 100m.

T1 time was a bit slow, but I was OK with it. I needed to gather myself after that swim. Wetsuit half off running to the transition area, all the way off at my bike (Body Glide rocks!), threw on an extra biking jersey as the air was still pretty chilly, socks, shoes, helmet, and I was off.

What slowed me down:
-My wetsuit got stuck on my HR monitor watch and was a royal pain to get that sorted out, probably cost me 20 seconds. Just need to pay a bit more attention when taking it off.
-Put one sock on sideways. When it gets warmer, I'll probably ride sockless, but it was just too damn cold.
-Made it onto my seat OK, but could just not get clipped in. Was rushing, just need to slow a bit.

Not much. I practiced getting in and out of the wetsuit quite a bit prerace...now I know where the hiccup may occur in the future.

Started off a bit slow, trying to find my pace and gauge what others were doing around me. The air was still pretty cool, but I was glad I'd put on the extra jersey and socks in T1. Decided to ignore my HR monitor for a good portion of the bike and just listen to my body. This is probably my best discipline, and I really needed to get after it if I had any hope of putting up a decent time.

After about 3 miles, I realized I had alot more in the tank. I was kind of holding court the first few miles, not passing many, not getting passed real often except by the people that were really cruising. Kicked it up a gear and started to push, and by the turnaround I had begun passing people. Took in a gel right after the turnaround and kept pushing. My performance on the hills was so much better than my first race in Ann Arbor. Tried to channel my hockey player past on the hills and remembered that I have strong legs.

For some reason, the bike always puts a smile on my face. I have little/no experience cycling, but I feel at ease on the bike. Maybe it takes me back to childhood. I have no problem chatting a bit and checking on people. Saw one guy laying on the side of the road around the 8 mile mark and made sure he was OK. He said he was and I rode on.

The road seemed to get real rough in the last 2 mile loop, and did a real number on my rear end. I did have one major annoyance at about 10 miles. There was an SUV in front of me, not sure if they were coming to see the race or just entering the park, but they were gawking like crazy. I came up on the SUV and went to pass it as it was stopped, but then it starts moving just as I was outside their back bumper. They sped up, then slowed down again!! This happened 2 MORE times, when spectators started to yell at the SUV. I finally said screw it and zoomed around them on the right. It was pretty annoying...

My only complaint about the entire race was the dismount line was pretty tough to gauge. I was flying when I suddenly had a lady yelling at me that she was on the dismount line, about 50 feet in front of me. Had to get out of the drops pretty quick and break to get off the bike. I was able to unclip real quickly, but dumped my bike in the process. Stayed on my feet, but I was mildly perturbed. Course knowledge I guess.

Not much. I'm getting more and more confident on the bike, and finally learning that I can push harder. I expect my future bike times will be even better.

Again, took a moment to compose myself for the run. Made a rookie move when I ran down the wrong row! Luckily, I spotted my transition area and had room under the rack in front of me to cut under and get my bike racked. Bike racked well, shoes went on well, and I was off. Almost forgot my race belt, but spotted it just in time, couldn't have cost me more than a second or two.

Not much, felt like my transitions were pretty good all day.

To be completely honest, I've despised running since I was young. It's grown on me a bit as I've gotten older, but I'm also a hell of alot slower than I used to be. My HR was pegged a bit as I had really pushed the last half of the bike. I came out of T2 confident though, and my fiancee was on a bench right there cheering me on. It was great to see her there knowing that I was about to feel quite a bit of pain. Just as I passed her, I finally saw the hill I had heard many people talk about.

That $%*!ing hill...I probably could have dealt with it after a mile, but first thing off the bike and it was just too much. I had two guys directly ahead of me, and both of them were walking it. I decided I was going to be a tough guy and keep running. That lasted about 2/3 of the way up the hill. HR was at 180, needed to back it off a bit. Decided to walk until the monitor said 170, and my body actually responded pretty quickly. Only walked for about 20 seconds and didn't stop again.

Pretty much the entire way to the turnaround felt like it was uphill. My legs weren't quite jello like Ann Arbor, but they were stiff and I couldn't quite keep the cadence I was hoping for. That said, I didn't get passed too many times. Hitting that turnaround was an awesome feeling. It was certainly nice to have a bit of downhill running.

I never quite loosened up, but I kept pushing. That steep downhill right before the finish was a bit punishing. After that I gave it all I had through the finish, and I'm glad I did. I was 5 minutes behind the next guy in my AG, but only 30 seconds ahead of the guy behind me. I think the last half mile kept me ahead of him.

Most of my long training runs I average just over 10 mins/mile, so I'm not too disappointed after keeping it under 10 mins/mile. That said, knowing that I used to run near a 5 min/mile in high school discourages me. I need to keep hitting the pavement and start working on some speed drills.

Besides walking up the hill, I was pretty proud of gutting it out. Not much I else I could do considering my current training and fitness level.

Did a little walking around the beach area to loosen my legs up, after giving my fiancee a sweaty hug and kiss! Had a sandwich, gatorade, bottle of water, and devoured a bag of Cheetos (they tasted so good after that race!). Went and confirmed my slow swim time and briefly saw Rodolfo after packing up in transition. Tried to see if I recognized any other BTers, thought I saw Noelle, but it was at a distance and I was ready to go home and take a nap!


Training, fitness level...and a terrible swim. There's no reason my swim shouldn't have been at least 5 minutes faster. I'm gaining confidence on the bike and expect my next race to be even faster there as well. Need to keep working on my running and start throwing in a few more bricks.


This was my first time at Island Lake and everything I heard was spot on. Besides that nasty first hill on the run and a few weeds in the lake, I loved the course. Not much Element could do about the early fog and they put our safety first. There were tons of volunteers there, packet pick up and marking was a breeze, transition area worked well...as a new triathlete I felt at ease and the setup made it easy to know exactly where to go. Wasn't terribly impressed with the post race meal and a finisher's medal would have been a cool touch, but all in all, Element did a great job!