Grand Rapids Triathlon - Half Iron Course - Triathlon

Had a good start and lead the 3rd wave for the first half of the swim with two others who were drafting. At the turn around, I switch-up and drafted off another Blue-wave swimmer. A good swim with a ~1:10 pace. There was a surprising number of strong swimmers in the field.

Had wet suit strippers, which was nice. Not too sure how much time that saves, if any. Took the time in T1 to put on my bike shoes. Super long run out of T1 with the bike. Slow as usual, but did the necessary.

Starting in the old-person 3rd wave has it advantages. I passed a majority of the folks from the earlier waves on the swim, but there were still a fair number of racers out on the bike course which provided some targets to chase. Exited T1 with a group of racers. With the rain and slippery roads, I went harder than planned to get away from the other riders. About 3 to 4 miles into the ride I had dropped the other riders. With the rain and road splash it was tough to see my Garmin or the potholes.

This was a fast out-n-back course with ~1,300' of elevation gain. My ride was strong averaging just under 24mph. I reached the turn around in 1:11. I unclipped to make the turn as I crashed in my last race at the turn around. As soon as I unclipped, I completely cramped up. I had to come to a complete stop, re-group, relax and then re-start. I was starting to wonder about the run - if I was cramping up so bad on the bike.

The ride back to T2 became crowded, especially when we hit the OD turnaround. The vast majority of racers were trying to race clean and keep the necessary distance. (Note to racers - When you start overtaking a line of spaced racers you have to overtake everyone. Do not go half way and drop into the middle of line.)

Got back to T2 with a sub 2:20 ride - very happy as biking has historically not been my strong suit. That being said, 14th OA bike. Very happy with that.

Nutrition : With the cooler weather I would not be able to take in the necessary nutrition via liquid, so I had planned on 5 gels and 1 bottle of EFS. Early in the ride, I lost two gels. Fortunately I had two extra bottles on board so I made up some of the lost nutrition with additional liquids. Not ideal, but glad I had a back-up plan that allowed me to skip all the fuel stops.

Racked the bike. Sat down to wipe off the feet, put on dry socks and calf sleeves. Again, longer than others, but took the time to do the necessary.

When I started the run, the course was heavily populated with sprint and OD racers. It was a little difficult to identify the 70.3 competitors and then figure out if they were in the same wave. I was also starting with a nutrition defect due to the lost gels. I started my run with a bottle of liquid EFS (400 cal). I sipped on the EFS for the first 45 minutes, then shifted over to GRT Gatorade.

This first half of the run is a process of figuring how fast you can go with out cramping up. I zeroed in on a steady 7min//mile pace. At the first turn around I spotted a M45-49 AG'er about 1 minute ahead of me. Over the next 40 minutes I systematically closed the gap and then finally overtook him. I thought I was in a position to potentially podium, but with the long transition and rain on the bike, I suspect I might have lost track of a few competitors.

The last four miles were a challenge, but I held the 7 min pace. In the last mile a M45-49 racer passed me, I tried to keep up but he was running 6:30s and that was not an option for me. Finished the run in 1:32. Very pleased.

A great race with a very solid bike and run. 3rd in AG against a competitive field is great. BTW, if I was racing M40-44 I would have won the AG! I was looking to break 4:30 and raced a 4:23 :) Time to start planning for Sweden!