Michigan's Triathlon and Duathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Had a great start to this swim. Started a bit to the outside to avoid some contact and fell in behind two guys who were swimming side by side. Not only were they a great draft they did all the work getting us through people. It was like running behind the wedge on an NFL kickoff.

Unfortunately, around the second buoy someone swam over top of me and the guy in front of me effectively busting our wedge. Had some minor navigation problems here as the island was the only thing to site off of; this was not specific enough and I kind of drifted a little bit.

The water was really shallow behind the island, I had no choice but to run. Rounded the island, did a dolphin dive and was swimming again. Got lucky and caught another draft here. After about 300m, another swimmer passed us . I thought I could catch him so I accelerated, unfortunately my original draft drifted a bit, and I ended up getting knocked in the head loosening my goggles.

No worries, resealed my goggles and continued on. I could not catch/find my draft buddy again and swam the rest of the race by myself. Did a few dolphin dives and ran onto the beach.

Nothing, plan was to take this swim easy and that is exactly what I did. Drafted really well too as I came out of the water feeling great.

Came out of the water feeling great, had the top half of the wet suit off by the time I left the beach. Knew my rack was right by the tree outside of transition. Entered the row and my bike was not there--major panic attack.

Jumped back out into the main isle and took my wet suit off there while frantically looking for my bike, still could not find it. Ended up going row by row looking at the numbers until I found my row. Turns out there were two trees outside of transition and I went to the wrong one.

Shoes and socks on, helmet on, and start booking it out transition.

Not miss my rack. Probably cost me thirty-forty seconds.

Had a good mount and got by a couple of people right out of transition. Even in the early going, it was pretty obvious that bike handling skills were going to be as important as bike fitness. All those crummy weather rides I did in the early spring were about to pay off because I know what my bike can and cannot do in wind, rain, sleet, and snow.

Only worried about myself on this ride. Tried to keep the cadence around 90 and the heart rate in low Z4. It was working for me, I would get passed on the uphills and re-pass on the downhills. Entered a metro park and saw a guy on the side of the road, was worried that he crashed so I slowed down bit; he waved that he was fine (turns out he broke a crank).

After the metro park, there was a U-turn towards the end of a downhill. My spidey senses went off here that this was going to be dangerous so I hopped on the brakes. Good decision, as the guy in front of me lost control; he never went all the way down but I think he crotched himself in the process. He said he was all right and I continued having to climb back up the hill with no momentum. Had to come out of the saddle a bit to make it up this one.

Rest of the way was pretty uneventful. When the course turned onto a major road you had to ride in a two foot coned lane. In the rain, this was a bit nerve racking: gravel shoulder on one side of you moving car on the other.

As we approached the last cone section (about three miles from the end) I saw a guy in front of me going pretty slow. Didn't want to have to follow him through cones so I hammered. Just couldn't get there in time to safely pass, so I had to follow him through the coned section. Lost focus a bit here because I did not get back up to speed and my heart rate dropped in low Z2 through this portion.


This was an awesome bike for me. I pushed it hard on the flats and downhills, and spun up the uphills trying to conserve energy. Took it easy on the turns/U-turns to be safe. Probably could have pushed the last three miles harder as my heart rate had dropped into high Z2 this time.

Used the flying dismount to fly by a guy at the line. Got to my rack (found it with no problems this time). There were two guys already there, made it my mission to beat them out of transition. Bike shoes off, running shoes on, grab the race belt, and I was out of there.

Much better transition this time (fastest in the age group). Don't think I could have gone any faster.

I felt absolutely great coming out of transition. I have not had a really good triathlon run this year so I decided to change that on this one. My goal was to not get passed on the run, and if I did get passed to make them earn it.

Got around quite a few people in the first mile (most of them were later waves of the sprint tri). Took in a cup of heed at the first aid station. I hate the taste of that stuff but it never gives me stomach issues. Around the sprint turnaround the course turned into a dirt road which was a mud pit because of the rain. I was having such a good run that I kind of enjoyed the challenge.

Got down to business of moving up the ranks here. After I passed someone, I just set my sites on the next guy. One guy did pass me, but on the next uphill I picked up the pace and re-passed never seeing him again.

After the dirt section (about mile 4) we twisted through a small subdivision. This was the only part of the run course that I didn't like, it wasn't very scenic and because of the weather there were no people out watching race. Passed a few more people in this section though.

Was getting a little tired in the final half mile, finally I was able to show some mental toughness and was able to get by another pack of runners (unfortunately they were all doing the sprint tri--oh well, helped me to focus). Crossed the line with mission accomplished, no one passed me on the run.

This was my fastest Triathlon 10K so not much. I felt pretty good as I crossed the line so I might have been able to push harder.

Helped myself to big ole trip to the buffet they had going (chicken, pasta, salad, and rolls). Packed up my stuff and stayed for the awards raffle (worked out pretty good because I won an entry into a fall duathlon).


The course and weather. I liked the challenge of the course, it was just harder than what I am used to.


Pretty decent race. Not sure if it was just the rain or the combination of rain and traffic, but the bike course made me a bit nervous. Post race food was awesome. There were lots of volunteers out on the course.