This was a run start from the beach to the first turn buoy which is approximately 100 yards from shore. This is always a very physical first 200 yards because the turn buoy is so close and there were about 100 or so folks in the all male wave. After that it really thins out.

The wind was blowing out of the north so knew this would likely be a slower swim than last year. The nice thing was that waves were 1' or less which was good. The buoys were not really setup in a straight line so really needed to focus on finding that yellow turn buoy as soon as possible since it was out quite a bit further than the sprint distance buoys.

It was really an uneventful swim for the most part. I got into a steady rythem. My roll needed to come a little farther to compensate for the waves a little bit but other than a couple mouthfuls here and there everything went good. It was a nice clear swim in about 10-12 feet deep water and sun coming up over the beach.

I made the turn buoy and headed for shore directly into the sun. Apparently they had put out a buoy on the beach but I just followed a couple folks in front of me and they found it! There is a 300 yard run through the beach sand which aint fun. I finally looked at my watch when I hit the boardwalk and it said 27:30. Not good but put it behind me. I slipped on my shoes that I had set there on my walk down to the beach and started the long run to transition.

Swim faster. I should probably run harder from the beach to transition since it is so long it can be significant. I was still running a decent clip.

The long run to transition took about 6-7 minutes. I had not taken off my wetsuit yet as I did not want to carry it that far. It got stuck on both heels so took about 5-10 seconds longer than it should have. I got my shoes on and helmet buckled ok and took off.

Get the wetsuit off easier.

I was pretty determined to have a good hard ride on this course and my legs felt absolutely great which was a good sign. The bike starts out along the beach and passed 3 people in the first mile before heading up the tough hills on Grand Avenue off the beach. I had to get in my granny gear to get up the first one. Once past those tough little hills we take a right on to Lakeshore Drive and it is a pretty fast course with good pavement and relatively flat minus Rosy Mound hill. I began picking people off one by one.

I did a 2x20 FTP workout on this section a week ago and averaged 23.5 mph for both intervals so I knew I could ride well on this course. I was not going to ride today with the mindset of 'save some for the run'. I was going to ride hard and give what I had on the run.

I was moving up the field pretty regularly. I would pass somebody and then target the next one up ahead. Nobody was passing me so I figured I was riding well. Did not wear my Garmin for this race just a cheap stop watch for overall time. The goal was to race hard and not worry about heart rate or speed or pace or whatever...just race hard and see what I end up with.

By the time we got to the turnaround point I counted approximately 8 guys in front of me although it was tough to tell with the long course duathlon also going on. Once we turned back to head north the wind was a little more noticeable but really not bad at all. From this point to the 6 miles left point where we merged with the sprint athletes I was riding completely alone. It was nice to actually have some company even though it got really crowded with a couple of miles to go.

I attacked the hills coming back to the beach and then cruised towards transition knowing that I rode pretty well. I got one foot out at the bottom of the hill to transition and then got the other one out at the top just before the dismount line. It worked out ok and ran in to transition.

Nothing

This was a quick transition. racked bike - got shoes slipped on - helmet off - hat and glasses on - grabbed race belt and took off.

Nothing

Headed out of transition and down the big hill to the boardwalk and immediately settled in to a pretty solid pace which was a very good thing for me mentally. The course is very flat except for the hill just before the finish. The sprint athletes were still on the course and it can be a little tight on this first and last portion on the boardwalk and path. There were lots of people lining and the boardwalk cheering us on so that was nice.

It is usually very hot out on Harbor Island but today, even though there was not a cloud in the sky, there was a nice north breeze which felt pretty good. I took a cup of gatorade at the first aid station and that was it for nutrition. The remaining stations I just took a cup of water had a sip and dumped it on my head. I was feeling great as we headed to the turnaround. I had passed a couple of duathletes at this point but no triathletes. I saw that there were 2 guys coming pretty fast but the way I was running I did not think anybody was going to pass me.

About the 3.5 mile mark I made a pass and then a half mile later those 2 guys passed me and I paced off of them for the next mile or so. They had a nice rythem and were flying pretty good. I stuck with them for awhile and then had to settle back in. Turns out the one guy averaged sub 6' miles for the 10K.

Finally back out onto the boardwalk for the final 1.5 miles and continued to just hammer away. There was nobody on my heels for this last section although I continued to run as hard as I could. My parents were at the coast guard station with about 0.5 mile to go and cheered me home. The last climb into the finish is absolutely brutal. It is really steep and seems to take forever. Once you get to the top there is another little gradual hill before its downhill the last 100 yards to the finish.

Finshed in 2:21 and had beaten my time from last year by 3 minutes even though my swim was 3 minutes slower this year.

Nothing. Finally feel like I executed a solid bike-run!

Drank a couple bottles of water and chatted with my parents and some other athletes. Got my gear picked up and packed into the Jeep before heading back for some grub. They had a pretty nice cookout and band after the race although I did not stick around to long.


My swim needs to get better if I want to compete for podiums at these races. My bike-run is in line with alot of the top guys but my swim clearly lags behind.

I really feel like I executed at this race. I went hard on the bike and had fitness to run strong after which is very encouraging.


Love the venue for the race. The bike and run course are awesome. I love swimming in Lake Michigan and conditions have been great the last 2 years. The only complaint is the long T1 run but even that is not too bad. They need to work on the pre-race expo.

Great race.