Grand Rapids Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon

The start was a joke. There were 5 minutes between waves and there was a major bottleneck getting in to the water. There were probably 30-40 people not yet in the water (including me) and they announced one minute to go. I barely got to a starting position and the wave started with numerous people not yet even in the water.

For me, I did just what I intended for this swim. I kept well within myself and didn't wear myself out. I had great sighting and stayed on course.

Get to the front of the pack to get in the water to make sure I get a goo d starting position.

I lost a bit of time not utilizing the wetsuit stripper.and lost a few seconds. The biggest problem was the long narrow transition area. The HIM transition took up half the road and there wer Sprint people coming back in and It was single file for a long way on the way out and the people in front of me were walking and I lost a fair amount of time.

Utilize the wetsuit strippers. Not much I could do about running with my bike.

I started out in high zone 4 and ended in low zone 4. I kept a lower cadence and kept my legs pretty fresh. The worst area was the turn around. There were several people going very slow in front of me from the previous wave that were all bunched up (and violating the no drafting rule). I kept 3 bike lengths back but lost 30-45 seconds waiting for things to clear up. On the way back in, there were people again violating the passing zone rule and at one point, after about 30 seconds, I finally did a double pass.in frustration.

This was one of my fastest rides and I was first in my age group. I did finish my 24 oz bottle with Perform and next time i would have drank some water before hitting transition.

This transition went well, but my handle and aerobars got stuck on the rack and I last maybe 15 seconds getting this straightened out.

The Sun came out and I started out fine but my legs were my limiting factor. I never really was breathing that hard, and my HR was in zone 3 for a good portion of the run. during the last mile I heard a spectator say "look at that guy, he's not even breathing hard." While that was the case, I was getting a bit sick to my stomach and my legs were burning by the last mile. I think I should have drank more during the last part of the bike to be more ready for the run.

Drink more. Try not to get injured again and miss a month to 6 weeks of hard training.

I did't do any stretching until I got home but I took in lot's of fluids, including 2 muscle milks. I think this helped me overall to be less sore afterward.


I think I haven't been running enough and I need to lose the 10 pounds I talked about earlier in the year. I had my body fat checked at the pre-race and it was 22.6%. This means I could could lose 15 pounds and still be within the guidelines for body fat.


they need to figure out how to make more room for the transition from swim to bike.