Interlochen Music Fest Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Have had a little trouble staying comfortable in the water this year so I started towards the outside back hoping to avoid some of the initial contact. The gun went off and I immediately found my groove. Didn't get kicked and felt totally comforatble and smooth in the water.

Weeved through a few swimmers and saw a guy in a bright yellow wetsuit who appeared to be swimming my pace. Gave a few hard pulls and caught up to him. Was able to stay in his draft until the first turn buoy (about 500m). Things got conjested here and I lost my draft; took a few glances but couldn't find him--oh well, would be on my own for awhile.

Swam the back straightaway very well. Looked for draft opportunities but couldn't find anyone who was swimming straight at the speed I wanted to go. Felt a few brushes against my legs/feet so someone had obviously latched onto me.

Last turn buoy wasn't as conjested as the first so had no problems rounding it. Was feeling good so decided to pick it up a bit. Still couldn't find any draft opportunities (still felt the occasional touch on my feet/legs though). Swam through the last buoys and kept going till I was hitting bottom with my stroke. Did one dolphin dive and the started the run to shore.

While running to shore I glanced to my side, and who do I see, but the guy in the yellow wetsuit. Turns out, he slipped behind me at the first buoy and was drafting off me the rest of the way.


Nothing, this was one of my better triathlon swims.

Had a little trouble getting my wetsuit unzipped during the run upto transition. This was my first race with it so that was a little expected. Eventually found the zipper and was able to get the top half down before entering transition. Ran to my rack and worked on getting the bottom half off. No real issues accept it got stuck on my heel. Slipped it off with my fingers without any problems.

Grabbed my gels and then clipped my on my race belt. Went to put on my helmet and noticed that something was terribly wrong. One half of the buckle was missing from my helmet. Frantically searched for it, but it was nowhere to be found. Improvised, and tied the straps into a lose bow and ran out of transition.

As soon as I went to hop on the bike my bow let go. Heard someone yell that the strap must be buckled before mounting. Loosened the straps so I could make a better bow, re-tied it, hopped on the bike and after what seemed like an enturnity was finally off.


Obviously check my equipment better while setting up transition. This mistake cost me at least a minute. Not sure what happened, my helmet was buckled when I road from our campsite to the transition area. It must have been just on the edge of the strap and fell off when I unbuckled it. After the race, found it laying next to my bag.

Was really ticked about having such a bad transition. Took about a half mile to totally calm down--was still ahead of my goal pace (original goal was three hours) and my strap was tight enough to protect my head in case of a crash. Nothing was really lost so it was time to get to work.

Road a comfortable pace to the first hill. Dropped down a bunch of gears to make the climb and then started to pick it up. The way out was pretty uneventful, it was raining pretty hard (to the point where it hurt on the descents) but everybody was giving pretty wide berths when passing so there were no issues. Got passed by quite a few people, but I had to run my own race.

Made it to the turn around in a little over 38 mintues. The rain was letting up and I was feeling good so tried to pick it up a little more. Things got a little dicey when we had to merge in with the sprint athletes. Going 35mph down a hill on wet roads when the athletes in front of you aren't holding very straight lines is a little scary.

The last quater of a mile is on a narrow walking trail. The rider in front of me seemed intent on coasting the whole way in the middle of the path. Had to go into the dirt a little bit to get around her. Riding in the dirt while trying to unvelcro the shoes was a little interesting.



Probably could have ridden a little harder in the beginning. Other than that it was a really good ride.

Much better transition. Was a little worried that I would not be able to get my helmet off, but the bow let go on the first tug. Slipped out of my biking shoes, adjusted one of my socks, got into my running shoes and was off.

Nothing this was a good transition for me.

The rain had stopped by this time but had succeeded in making it incredibly humid. Felt a little sluggish to start--wasn't too worried because I tend to feel stronger as the run progresses. Slurped down a gel right before the first aid station, wanted water to wash it down but they gave me gatorade--just tossed it out as chasing a gel with gatorade usually causes me to cramp up. Had to run to the next aid station with the taste of rasberry gel in my mouth--yuck.

Clipped off the first mile in 8:28 and was starting to feel strong. Wanted to really pick up the pace, but held back because I still had to contend with "the hill". Grabbed water at the next aid station and began to climb the hill. Felt my heart rate clibming but was not hurting nearly as bad as I thought I would--guess all the treadmill hill repeats paid off.

Made it to the top in just over 26 minutes. Walked through this aid station to get the heart rate back under control. Took in a full cup of gatorade and dumped water over my head. At this point, I knew that I would make my goal of finishing under three hours. New goal became to finish under 2:45.

Made it down the hill without incident. Slurped another gel and grabbed water at the aid station. Picked up the pace as much as I could here. Actually passed a few people during the last two miles. When we re-entered the campground I was confident that I would break 2:45 so I just tried to really enjoy myself.

Nothing this was my second fastest 10k ever.

Walked around a bit and eventually found Brandy and the rest of my family (my sister and her son were camping with us and my parents made a marathon trip to watch me race--I have a GREAT family). Grabbed some food. Dropped my gear off at our campsite and walked back for the raffle and awards.


Absolutely nothing. I knocked 20 minutes off of my Olympic distance PR (which was on this course one year ago). Couldn't have asked for a better performance.


A good race at a beautiful venue. It was obvious that the Cherry Festival had taken away quite a few of their volunteers (aid stations could have been manned better).