On 9/23/07 I participated in the Autumn Colors Triathlon at Holly State Park in Michigan, it was the final Michigan triathlon of the year. After completing my "A" race for the year, the Reeds Lake Triathlon, a couple of weeks previous I came into this one with less mental pressure to perform my "absolute best" and with a mindset of just having fun at the event. In fact I wasn't even certain that I wanted to do this race but, after some consideration, I determined that I was unlikely to regret doing the race but later in the winter I might regret NOT doing the race; so once I was sure the weather was going to be decent I went ahead and registered for the event.
My normal method for determining how I should perform is to look at previous years' results and, having a pretty good feeling for what my middle-of-the-pack status is, extrapolate my times base on the times of other people. It's a little complicated but it seems to work pretty well for me (see my Reeds Lake race report). Based on what I saw in the previous years' results I could tell that both the bike course and the run course must be significantly more difficult than those at Reeds Lake, the fastest bikers were averaging around 21 mph, and the fastest runners were right around a 7 minute pace. My goal was to place close to the level that I had achieved for the Reeds Lake race, placing a little more emphasis on the bike and run since most of my last two weeks' training time has been in those two disciplines. Based on my performance at Reeds Lake and the results from the previous year I calculated/estimated that the race should take me about 2:35 to complete.
I know the swim is my limiting event but, with the optimal weather for outdoor training in Michigan about to disappear, I want to spend as much time enjoying it as possible before I get stuck on a trainer and treadmill. I'm planning to join the local masters this winter and really put in some long yardage in the pool in hopes of shoring up my lack of skill in that discipline.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent...So for this race I made sure to be there with plenty of time to spare so that I wouldn't end up rushed and unprepared like I was at Reeds Lake. I found that taking my time and getting help with putting on the wetsuit made a huge difference in fit and mobility, I was using the same one as I had for Reeds Lake and this time it worked like a dream (not that my swim time reflected it but I was much more comfortable).
So the swim started and surprisingly it didn't feel too bad, the distance was 1000m and I was certainly one of the slowest swimmers there, but I was able to hold form longer than I previously had, and I spent significantly less time "recovering" with the backstroke than before. That said, when I got out of the water, I felt like it had been really slow relative to Reeds Lake, but there was no timer at the water and I had forgotten to start my stopwatch so I couldn't tell how long it had been. At some point during the swim, my poor stroke technique caused me to tweak my previously injured shoulder, but this is not uncommon during my swims so I didn't worry about it. T1 went smoothly but felt a little slow.
The bike course was certainly MUCH MUCH more difficult than Reeds Lake, or any other course I've ridden in my limited experience. It was 3 laps around a 6 mile loop. On the far end was a parking lot that we turned around in that had about 1/8th of a mile which was flat, the rest of the course was hills. There was also one false-flat that wasn't too bad, but the rest of the course was hills, including a couple that some people had to walk their bikes up. Oh, and it was a fairly winding course so there were some sharp turns at the bottom of tall hills which kept things interesting, especially when passing in those spots. My shoulder started bothering me on the first lap and was a constant source of annoyance but I was largely able to push it out of my mind. Overall, I felt pretty good about the effort that I put out, obviously being a slow swimmer most of the bikers were out on the course when I arrived and I fully expected to get passed by the race leaders coming around on their second and third laps. But I was only passed by 3 bikers during the entire race, and I passed quite a few more than that, maybe 12-15 total. T2 was slow.
Once I got out onto the run course I figured out why even the fast runners were slow on this course. It's a very hilly 5.75 mile trail run. So I felt the normal bike-run transition crappyness in my legs for about the first mile but then I started feeling really good. I was passing lots of people (many walking) and I was only passed by 2 guys. There were only going to be 3 aid stations so I had opted to take a Fuel Belt water flask and carry it in my jersey pocket, which turned out to be a great idea as there were a few times when that water was just what I needed to stay strong mentally.
Overall I felt really good during most of the race and met my goal of having fun. It was wonderful that my family made the 2.5+ hour drive out to watch me (seriously for a sprint?!?)
Here is the breakdown of my performance:
162 Finishers
1000m swim-
Time: 28:17
Rank: 133/162
T1: 1:34
18 mile bike:
Time: 1:00:05
Rate: 18 mph
Rank: 47/162
5.75 mile trail run:
Time: 51:08
Pace: 8:54
Rank: 46/162
Overall Time: 2:22:32
Overall Rank: 64/162
Gender Rank: 57/119
Age Group (20-24) Rank: 4/7
So overall I was very pleased with my performance, I had estimated a 2:35 finishing time and beat that by nearly 13 minutes. As expected the swim was by far my worst event and surprisingly, again, as at Reeds Lake, the run was my strongest. I would have expected my bike to be strongest since I admittedly have spent very little training time running relative to the amount that I spend biking. Based on my percentile ranks in each discipline (calculated but not included) I can infer that either the quality of competition was a bit stiffer at Reeds Lake (most likely) or my performance improved a bit on a tougher course (possible but unlikely in 2 wks). But I can't complain, it was a fun event and one that I'll probably want to do again next year.
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