Tawas Bay Triathlon Festival - TriathlonOlympic

Would have been 8 out of 16 in M35-39

My toughest swim so far.
The water temp of 58F actually did not feel so cold, but the issue were the waves of probably 2-3 feet. Every couple of waves there was a larger wave that really threw one around. As long as I was breathing to the right I was okay and actually enjoyed it. But breathing to the left did not work, lost orientation and balance.

Worst thing were all the people cheating! A lot of people did not swim but walked in shallower water. Some walked back on the wrong side of the rectangle, swam twice into folks going the wrong way, WTF...?!
Worst of all, some did not round the buoys, it felt like this was a free for all for whoever wanted to cheat!

Time included the long way from beach to T, ran most of it, was in pretty good shape!

Nothing really, just hoping that people obviously cheating would be disqualified! After all this is triathlon, not chess. If you can't handle the conditions, drop out, dont effing cheat!!

Had a spot close to the entrance, which meant running through most of transition with the bike

Would have been 3 out of 16 in M35-39

Most of the ride was uneventful, HR was high in the beginning but normalizing

On the way back, on a slight downhill going 25 there was suddenly a deer crossing the street approx 20yards ahead of me. I thought "oh oh, where there is one, there might be more" and sure enough, two smaller deer were coming out to my left in full speed. They see me and start ice-skating over the asphalt to change direcction. I hit the brakes to avoid them. First one crossed just ahead of me, second one went by right behind me, hitting me in the back. Had a little pain around the kidney for maybe 5 min.
A pickup truck was driving by but everything went so fast that I would not be surprised if they did not even notice

Ride back to town was normal, after the sprint turnaround I was passing people constantly

Picked up my ShotBloks as usual, that really works for me!

Would have been 6 out of 16 in M35-39

Kept pretty even pace, was very happy even though this was not PR
Given my fitness status this was better than I was hoping for
For the first time, I was not passed but passed people myself, all the way through turnaround, then the field was really stretched
Got water at every station, weather was just perfect, no overheating

Food was okay, got some water also
Saw Steve coming in, he was doing great

After around 2 hours I had some pizza, then took a nap in the car

Joined Steve and Karen at their camper just before the after-party

Stayed for the after party to pick up my trophy, they delayed the ceremony until 6:30pm or so... then headed back to Ann Arbor


This was pretty much the best I could have performed at, given all the interuptions in my training plan due to the upcoming relocation


Would have been 5 out of 16 in M35-39

THis was a great wrap up of the race year for me, even more so as this was the last race in the US, certainly for some time to come!