I got hit in the mouth before the first turn. It was really congested at the start. It was a pain that there were some good sized rocks in the shallow water and you couldn't see them at the start of the second lap. After the first turn, I purposely took it as easy as i could and tried to keep my form efficient. This worked out well as i was not winded when I got out of the water and had to go up the steps from the lake to the transition area. My time ended up being faster than last year but I used much less effort. Having the Garmin 910XT I was able to see how short the swim actually was.

Get in better position at the start.

Transition was not too bad. I was not out of breath and had time to think which was nice. I was ~4 seconds slower than last year. I had thought out what i wanted to do ahead of time and pretty much did. I did take a few extra seconds getting my wetsuit off over the timing chip.

Nothing.

This was my first race with a Garmin 910XT and it was useful. My goal for this ride was to not burn myself out for the run. I was surprised at my spiked heart rate at the start, although part of this could be the wind, but probably not. I tried not to over do my pace, especially in the first half of the race. I did manage to bring my heart rate down into zone 3 after about 30 minutes, but my legs were feeling the burn a bit. My hamstrings got fairly tight, but stayed manageable. The last 10 miles or so I really worked to not get out of my comfort zone. I slowed on the uphills and was able to pretty much keep my HR in check. I booked on the downhills to keep my average HR up.

Not much. I think this was the best planned bike segment I've had. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to maintain an average speed of 20 mph.

Good transition. I again had planned ahead what I wanted to do and stuck to my plan. Getting on the NB minimus trail shoes and the tongue flat took a few extra seconds but a transition of a little over a minute was pretty good for me.

Nothing.

My earlier pacing in the swim and bike paid off on the run. The first mile my hamstrings were a bit tight but that went away and my legs felt pretty fresh. On the bike, several people passed me in the last 5 or so miles but I did not try to hang with anybody. I pretty much blew by them all on the run. This run was more than 3 minutes faster than last year. In the last mile a guy that I thought might be in my age group blew past me and i couldn't keep up. Fortunately for me, he was just a kid in the 50-54 age group :). Having fresh legs really helped because i was able to freewheel on the downhills. One guy that I think may have gotten second in my age group was taking the downhills with the brakes on, so this made a big difference. I ended up winning my age group by about a minute. This was my first triathlon where the run was my best event. Looking further, I would have got second but I was 1:51 faster in the transitions than the guy that was second.

Not much. Having my hamstring strain 6 weeks ago limiting my run training didn't help. I think with more consistent training I could have shaved another minute off my time, but not much more than that.

Not much


I can't really complain since I had my overall PR for the Olympic distance. Straining my right hamstring 6 weeks ago limited my training up to this race, but overall I was pleased.


This is my 5th race at Pokagon. I like this race and plan to do it again next year.