Who is in for GR TRI? (Page 2)

Plenty of time between RBR and the GRTri. I'm in for the 25k. 9th year in a row for me.... gotta keep the streak alive.

In for 25k

Was anyone still wanting to stage a BT meet and greet before this race in a few days? Looks like we have a lot of people signed up for the different disciplines, so it may not be easy to coordinate anything with the varied start times.

Thoughts?

I would love too but my wife is the host at the VIP tent because Huntington is the sponsor. I have to take a team photo (Team Huntington) at 6:30. I'm going to try and breakaway from all that so I can get in my race mindset. If you guys end up setting a time and place I'll try to make it. I am doing the Oly so I take off last I think. I also believe my bib will have my last name (Glupker) not a number, so if you see me, stop me.

I am volunteering at packet pick for Huntington so if you there you can stop by.

Looks like the weather made a drastic change.

TV 8 reporting 80% chance of rain ... weather.com reporting 10%.

I will stick with weather.com

Good luck all.

Mike

Bit humid at start, but no rain will fall ... even for the half athletes. Great temps! Bit of wind. Partly to mostly cloudy. Very nice race conditions. Let the packing commence :-)

Just a few short hours away, good luck everyone!!!

Well, finished ... did OK I guess for my first try at 70.3!

6:05.

Swim and bike I was happy with ... but the run, should have done more bricks I guess. The run took 2:30, and had to walk every now and again mostly just taking a breather through aid stations, and quickly learning the dump the ice in the hat trick. Dealing with cramping in left leg, and patella pain too in left.

Pepsi, and bananas saved me. Pepsi of all things. It was pretty tasty.

First transition was a little slow ... but, oh well. Would have been happier with under 6, but I will take it. Swim 37min, bike 245 or so.

Man, it felt hot. Especially with one guy running by me at the turnaround talking about how they should plant more trees! You could see he was slowly losing his mind as the run went on. Pretty funny.

Was it like 85 yesterday? Pretty nice day it turned out to be with talk of rain previously.

If I would give any feedback to the GR Tri it would be ... get someone to donate some carpet up the transition lane, and get some sponges, or towels to hand out to particularly sweaty individuals on the run course.

I don't know about you guys/gals ... but I sweat a ton, and just to clean myself off a bit and wipe my brow off can really help to keep going. I am sure those could be donated, and disposed of pretty easily on course too.

Overall, however, I thought they did a great job as always. You have to give props to the couple that heads it up, and their team. Very well run, and volunteers are always the best. It is really appreciated to have this type of event in GR. Thank you very much! Thanks to the cops too.

How did your race go all?

Kevin, nice to meet you just before the swim! I bet you were like who the hell is this guy? But with your blog link that I am sure most have checked out ... I would be remiss to not at least say hi and what's up!

Have a good week!

Mike Tietema

Congratulations on your first half. I was doing the sprint, but my race ended pretty quickly. I got off to a pretty good swim, about 90% certain I was the third yellow cap (M40+) out of the water from both what I saw as well as spectators. Probably could've given it a bit more to be the first but oh well. The wetsuit strippers were a nice touch, but I picked the weakest girl in the line who was hesitant about pulling my wetsuit hard trying to get it off my ankles. Anyways, once that was off, I took off running to the transition area and only got maybe 50 yards before I felt like I got kicked in the back of the leg. Stopped and tried to stretch it out, even sat down (actually laid down) on the road trying to loosen it up. Ended up hopping into transition. My sister and brother-in-law happened to be nearby and they saw me...called out that my left leg looked swollen. It was at that moment that I knew my day (and maybe my season) were done early.

I hobbled back down to the end of transition asking for the medical tent, but the first volunteer didn't really know where it was. I kept hobbling along and they were pointing it out to me. No one tried to force me to sit down or anything. Eventually I made it there, and they started feeling my leg. As they were doing so, they got a call that someone had "gone down" in transition, so I told the doctor to go ahead and go. Another doc made his way over and after a minute looking at my leg, told me he wasn't sure but thought I had torn my Achilles. They then started asking me where my car was. They didn't really give me any recommendations, they just sort of put me on a cart and eventually brought me out to my car. My brother-in-law went with the race director to retrieve my bike and bag (needed my keys!). Someone then gave him and my sister a ride out to where my car was parked, and that was that. No recommendations that I need to go to a doctor immediately nor anything else. I realize a torn muscle isn't all that big of a priority, but I did feel like they were in a bit of disarray and could've handled it a little bit better. Still, it's one of my favorite races.

I was pretty bummed, as I think I had a good shot at 3rd in my AG. Of course, I tortured myself by looking at the results, and I am pretty sure I would've been in a battle with the 3rd place finisher. I think I could've gotten him. I'll never know, but it sure would've been fun to find out.

Anyway, went to a med center and the doc there thought my Achilles was okay, but rather I ruptured my calf muscle. Going to see a sports doc in a little while for a further diagnosis.

Congrats to all here who raced. Wish I could've crossed the finish line with all of you, but I'm planning on being back with a vengeance next year!!!

Damn man! Hope you get better soon. Too bad, but sounds like you will be back. Sounds like a challenge to me to come back, and win the whole ball of wax!!! Write it down, you will do it.

Great day for racing! PR'd my half by 11 minutes with a 4:56:05! Never thought I could make it under five, and was blown away by the results. I'm slowly improving at the run, my weakest link. I actually appreciated the warmer than anticipated weather. The MiTi in August is gonna be warm, and I was using this race as a longer brick training day. Learned a thing or two on the run about fueling!

To the above poster talking about wiping your face with a towel or something on the run...... Get yourself a little zip lock bag from Walgreens or somewhere similar. Then get a packet of baby wipes or similar towelette style wipe and put one in the zip lock. Double or triple loop a rubber band to your race belt and attach the zip lock bag with the towelette. Now you have a face wipe for when you most need it. Heck, put two on there if you want. They weigh nothing. I always have one for the first half mile of the run. It's great to wipe the bike slime and sweat from my face and get a fresh clean start for the run. I'm amazed how these little things can make such a mental difference. Nice job on your first 70.3!

Congrats all.

I also PR'd the Olympic by 6 minutes. I was top 5 in swim and bike but just collapsed on the run. My run was still faster than last year, but still very very disappointed with it. It was everything I could do to run/walk 6.5 miles. Like somebody else said, it felt like the temps went through the roof. I was severely over-heating, which then caused me to over-hydrate. Seriously, I was just miserable out on the run.

Transition sucks, at least the pavement did. I have cuts on my feet today, which thankfully, didn't bother me on the bike or run. I did manage to do the flying leap on the bike, but once I got my feet in my shoes, I had to take them back out to remove pebbles. I did the race without socks so the smallets pebble was noticed. I also have to stop on the run to remove a stone. They need to do something about that. Otherwise I may put a pair shoes at swim exit.

Congrats everyone! Seems like most everybody had a pretty fast day but struggled with the run.

The race didn't go that great for me. This was my first time open water swimming this year and I did a poor job sighting, probably added an extra 200m to my distance with how much I was zig-zagging. T1 was a bit rougher than I expected, the run on pavement cut my feet up and I struggled to get the wetsuit off(shoulda gone with the strippers!). The bike was the best part of my race, felt strong the entire time and had my best mph average for a race ever! T2 I overshot my rack by about 30ft and had to double back so that hurt, other than that transition was fast. The run I knew was going to hurt(second week back after a 2 month run hiatus) so I took it easy for the first half planning to pick it up the second half... But that hill.. Ten steps in every muscle in my leg cramped up and I had to walk up. I shuffled the rest of the race doing my best to avoid cramping.

I was about 10 minutes slower than my goal pace.. But I think(/hope) the course was a little bit longer than normal, did anyone get an accurate measurement of the course?

Nice to meet you too Mike!

My race was so, so. I'll eventually write up a full post on my blog, but the short version is:

Swim
Wanted to go 30 minutes. Went 32:XX. I wasn't ready for the start and in a bad position. By the time I settled in the group I wanted to be in was way ahead of me. I settled into a group and just went with it rather than push myself.

Bike
Wanted to go 2:30-2:35. Went 2:40. Legs cramped up a big time as soon as I got on the bike. It has happened before and I can't figure out why. Took a good 20 miles to get them feeling better but not great. Struggled into the headwind and sort of held back knowing there would be a tailwind. Used the tailwind as much as possible on the bike. Course ended up being about 1.5 miles long according to my Garmin so despite not hitting my goal time, I would have been closer if the distance was accurate. Frustrating that they can't measure an out and back course accurately though.

Run
Wanted to go 1:40. Went 1:50. Felt decent at the beginning but let the heat get to me mentally and walked more than I should have. Took water, ice, and Pepsi whenever I could. Felt strong at the finish which meant I didn't go as hard as I should have during the run.

Ended up 5:10-ish and 3rd AG. Not a big showing in my age group this year. Over 40 minutes between 2nd place and me.

My Garmin had the bike 1.5 miles long too. I spoke to three other athletes after the race who said the exact same thing. Last year the swim was apparently way short. It shouldn't really be that hard to get the distance right, right? 1.5 miles long on the bike is another 4+ minutes. Not that I really care, but come on maaaaaaan :-)

I dont have the garmin, but my trek node said it was long too. Anyone thought the run was long too? After reading Kevin's post, it is clear to me I have to get much faster on the run. It is by far my weakest, and least favorite discipline if you will. Good job all! Have a good summer. Maybe see you around at Millenium or Reeds. Was thinking about De Sol or Grand Haven but my wife is due right around then so dont think I will be getting free.

My run splits were spot on with the course mile markers. I actually laughed a few times at how exactly perfect my Garmin beeped to mark a mile as I passed the mile marker sign. The half distance run course was perfectly measured according to my watch.

I'm hoping for both Millennium and Reeds. I'm in for Tri del Sol Oly too. Excited for the new course this year.

Good luck with the baby! My wife is actually due next Saturday. Wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the GRTri or not. Luckily he didn't come early.