Tawas Triathlon Festival - HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Started on the beach and ran out to the first bouy. Swim started out good no problems on the way out. I stayed on the outside closer to the shore on the way out. Did not hit to many people on the swim I felt I had open water most of the time. On the way back I got a little off course. On the way back the sun was right in my eyes so it was hard to see the bouy's. Overall a good swim for me.

I am happy with the swim. I need to work on my swimming this winter to get faster and have better techneque.

Long run to T1 from the beach. I am glad I put on shoes for the run and took off my wetsuit by the water. I got to my bike and everything went well. I need to get a bento box to be able to put all the nutrition in so it is not in my helmet.

Work a little faster. I need to cut the time down by about a min. but it was a lon run from the beach.

Overall it was a good bike for me. 19.5 was right where I wanted to be for speed. It was about .8 faster than the other 1/2 this year. I still had a problem on the way out with my left inside hamsting for the first 15 miles. It was tight I just cannot push it for the first part of any race and I lose time. I know it is uphill on the way out but every race this year. I have the same issue until the legs warmup and I have no problem after that but it takes so long. After that I felt good on river road. It went by quick I felt I kept the pace up and stayed within myself for my current fitness level. My legs felt good until about the 50mile mark and they started to feel tired. I noticed this a tried to keep the pace up which was ok but I knew the legs may not hold up on the run. Nutrition was right on for the bike. I started with two bottles of heed on the bike. I exchanged 3 bottles on the bike course. So I had a total of 4 plus bottles of heed. I had most of the fifth bottle left on the bike. So I think four bottles was a perfect amount for me. I also had 3 gels on the bike and one powerbar as well. I felt good most of the time on the bike.

I need to put in more miles on the bike. I need to find some places to ride with some rolling hills. I think I need to get in more long rides upward of 70 miles. I dont think I need to go all out in these rides but I need to put in more base miles just to make the legs stronger. I will also talk to my bike fitter at two wheel tango to see if I can make some adjustments to get rid of the left hamstring pain for the first 10 to 15 miles. Mentally I was in the race the whole time. I never lost my focus.

Everything went well. This was the first race I used my training belt with my water bottle on it. I need to remember to take everything out of my back pocket before my run. I should be able to just use the bento box in the future.

I guess I could go a little faster but the time was good.

Split time were a little hard becasue the mile markers were alittle off but I was able to get some. Mile 1-7:45, 2-8:08, 3-8:31, 4&5-20:59, 6-9:06, 7-9:43, 8-10:28, 9-11:02, 10&11&12-35:39, 13-8:25,. It started out good. I felt good for the first 3 miles and then the hard bike caught up with me. The next 7 miles were hard. I had to walk through the water stops which cost me alot of time. It was not that I needed a drink but the legs were very tired and at about mile 8 or so I started to dring coke to get some enery back. Miles 10,11,12 were the worst. I had to stop in between the water stops to walk. Mile 13 I just decided to finish strong. The end was near. I was not mentally focused the whole run. I need to keep focused the whole time. Nutrition was perfect. No GI problems at all. I did not take any gels ont he run and just drank at the water stops mostly. I did find out later that alot of the people with garmins said the course was measuring out to about 13.9 miles. If this is the case my splits were around 9:30 per mile and I was hoping for under 9 min. miles. Looking back I think I need to keep up with the nutrition on the run. I felt good but the legs were tired. i think I need to try and push through it and take some gels or food to get the energy level back up. I will need to work on this next year if I am ever going to get in under 5:15.

I need to work harder on the bike so my legs are not so tired when I get to the run. Looking back now I also need to stay focused on the race. If my legs were that tired I should not have been able to do a 8:25 mile for mile 13. I just need to stay focused and run though the pain. I have time after the race to relax. No Pain No Gain.

Walked aroung a bit and headed to the beach to cool off.


I think I need to put in more base miles on the bike. I should not be so tired after the bike. I also think I need to focus more on the run and block the pain out and just run.


Great race. I will most likely be back next year. The course was good. The swim was great the water is so clean. Much different than other places I have raced this year. (ie Ohio River) Bike course is outstanding. The run course was nice but I hope it was not over the 13.1 miles. Overall the race is well oganized and one of the best locations for a race for both the racer and the spectators. Thank you downtown East Tawas business for letting us invade your city. You all did a great job.