Michigan Triathlon Championship - Sprint Course - TriathlonSprint

10:59 ~ 500M; 56th percentile/AG ; http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223425041

The swim course was changed from a triathlon that they hosted on the island earlier in the year due to water levels being 8ft lower than in June. The water was so low that the olympic swimmers were able to walk the first ~500M. The sprint racers started the race up the beach and it was a rectangle swim. Start in waist deep water, swim straight out to bouy, turn left into with current and swim to another bouy and swim left to shore. Traveling around first bouy I got caught in the melee and dunked taking in a big mouthful of water. From that point on I couldn't settle into my freestyle. The current was strong enough that I alternated between side stroke and freestyle and still came out right in the MOP for the swim. Coming back to shore was right into sun and I couldn't see for crap. With shallow water large part was walking to shore which was tiring due to weed bed and mucky bottom.

2:48; 44th percentile/AG

Slow. 1st time wearing a wetsuit and admittedly I didn't practice enough taking it off. Also need to practice transition. Also with separate transitions you had to put your wetsuit in a bag so that it could be transported to the finish. I didn't have my gel in my race belt and I ended up dropping it coming out of T1. I really don't think it made a difference. Just slow.

34:38 ~ 12.4 miles ~ 21.5mph; 59th percentile/AG (my garmin says 11.66 miles - another racers garmin also says the course was short) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223425048

Course was 2 loops around the island. Mostly smooth pavement and 2 lanes wide closed course. One stretch where there was construction and it merged down to 1 lane. Strong head wind on one side of island. Due to start and finish of the bike you got three stretches in headwind and two stretches with wind at your back. I was able to stay in aero position most of the bike (My bike is a Trek 1500 with clip on aero bars and stock wheels). Need to get back to tougher bike workouts as I have been pretty much focused on base building workouts while rehabbing leg.

1:29; 26th percentile/AG

SLOWER. I didn't think when I was leaving T2 before the race to go to T1 which way I would be coming in off the bike. Therefore I went to the wrong row after the bike leg. Also almost forgot garmin watch that was on bike and spent a few seconds more taking a drink from my bottle on the bike. Forgot they would have water coming out of T2. Also probably need to put quick laces back on running shoes. I didn't wear socks on bike or run and just left shoes tied. Still took a couple seconds more sliding them on.

25:00 ~ 5K; 74th percentile/AG (Garmin says the course was about 1 tenth too long - confirmed looking at other racers garmin file) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223425054

The run was the wildcard for me due to my stress fracture earlier this year. It was the first time I have put any speed on the leg since June 3rd. I'm happy to say that it held up good and didn't bother me. Tiniest bit sore today but clearly getting better. Longest run since June 3rd has only been 4 miles as well. I walked a couple water stations and had a bit of stomach distress that I think was just air on the stomach. It passed and I was able to run again. Finished strong. I was surprised this run ranked as well as it did in my AG. I haven't done a brick run in forever.

Mountain Dew and a piece of watermelon - yummy.


Base training while rehabbing a stress fracture in early June. No real triathlon specific practice (wetsuit, transitions, etc.)


Overall: For my first tri in over 3 years I should be pretty happy. Can't say I am though (fastest Sprint Tri to date was 1:17:01 but hard to compare apples to apples as they were different venues). With marginally better swim and transitions I could have been 5th in my AG (1:13:07 versus my time of 1:14:51). The key takeaway is that a lot of went wrong is fixable. I need to spend more time next season training in open water. Transitions can be practiced. I can get faster on the bike and honestly should be able to take a minute or so off yesterdays run time. Glad to be back in the game but lots of work to do once I get healthy.

**One more thing - this was my first Tri using the Garmin 910xt and its multisport function. Very cool. Once you start you hit "lap" when you hit the timing mats between legs / transitions. Gives you a record of every part of the race. It worked great. I have the quick release wristband and was able to put wetsuit arm over watch to ensure that it wasn't hit during race and knocked off in swim. It worked fine that way and wetsuit came off right over watch.