Boyne City Triathlon

The fourth edition of the Boyne City Triathlon was Labor Day weekend. I'll be the first to admit I'm very biased toward a race that is 10 miles from my house, on my home roads and where I'm good friends with the RD, Rob Swartz, who's story with Team Lucky Seven worth a read in itself. But even if none of that was a factor this would still be one of my favorite races.

The course, the backdrop and pavement conditions are spectacular, the event is very well run by Andy and the Tri to Finish crew. Post race food trucks, with options such as Happy's Tacos, The Pita Cruiser and Cheese & Co, are unique and delicious. Yes, I did consume a "normal person" portion of food from each truck.  Plus the monetary prizes bring out some great competition for a local tri. The awards medals double as bottle openers and did I also mention that the race benefits a charity for neurological research?

Hunter had his picture taken quite a few times on Sunday. 

The additional factor this year was that Rob got in touch with four time Olympian Hunter Kemper, who came out to "hang out" for the race. There was a pre race dinner where Hunter gave a talk about his Olympic experiences. In the morning he was hanging out in transition with a megaphone and was also at the finish and awards handing out medals. I got the chance to chat with him for a while as well, making the whole race day experience that much cooler. What a great ambassador for our sport.

A couple other notable personal details about this race include that this was my wife Brittany's first duathlon. We need a bit of time to get her comfortable swimming. She was super nervous the morning of but I reassured her there wasn't any pressure here and the goal was to complete the race and enjoy it. My goal was somewhat along those lines as well, which is unusual for me as I'm usually  in a race to compete and contend. However this spring and summer have been unusually frustrating for me in the injury department. Without getting into a whole bunch of details lets just say that the race today would be my second longest run in a good four or five months. Kind of an issue when you need to run a marathon in another month. I also had a new race kit printed up. I'm willing to bet that I'm the only triathlete with a pig (Hill Valley Farm logo) on their kit. Also shout out to my main sponsor B-Nuts Trail Mix ("sponsor" is a loose term when it is your own business).

We dove into the calm and beautiful water of Lake Charlevoix and the race was off. I found some feet and got a solid draft almost the whole swim, exiting in 19:37, my best swim performance to date and I would say rivaling Muskoka last year. I don't want to claim I'm becoming a swimmer...

Onto the bike my plan was to hold a few notches under normal "race" pace and see how my hip held up. This equated to about 260w as recorded by my new (i.e on sale) Stages Powermeter. I had a few sciatic spasms mid bike, but got those worked out and things didn't tighten up on me, which was  a big relief.

I finished the bike in 1:03 and began the run about the same time as another competitor named Tom. We ran together for the first two miles or so. My hip was feeling okay, but my "run legs" felt pretty flat. I decided my only shot was to try to up the pace a bit earlier in the run, rather than wait until the end. I managed a bit of a gap for the next two or so miles and my hip continued to feel okay.

Brittany, myself, Rob and Dani Swartz, my buddy Jason and Hunter. 

Whatever happened I wasn't willing to risk re-aggravating the injury and leaving me further in the hole with only a month to go before my A race. Plus I obviously didn't have any top end run legs. So when Tom caught me with a mile to go it was a big sting to my pride, but I was unwilling to challenge him for last spot "in the money" and told him so. I could tell in our brief exchange that the competitor inside him was disappointed. I finished fourth overall with a 38:31 run, which I'll be the first to admit isn't shabby considering my situation. Overall time was 2:03:07. Brittany finished her first duathlon without feeling too terrible. I think she might be hooked. Full results.

My whole summer has left me as bummed out as ever as far as training and performances are concerned. We'll see what the next month brings me and we'll see how Kona goes. I might not go out as I wanted, but I'll find a way to have a good time doing it.

Tested at the Boyne City Triathlon

This was the second year for the Boyne City Triathlon, which I also participated in last year. I'm good friends with the organizer Rob Swartz and he was keeping me updated for the tweaks for the second edition. I was pumped to participate. Despite my bias, this is really a fantastic event. I can't wait to see how it grows in upcoming years. Plus the great thing is that it is a for charity event, supporting Team Lucky Seven and neurological research at the Mayo Clinic.

The venue for this race is fantastic (plus only a 15min drive from my house), the bike course is superb and the prize money draws solid competition, which makes it extra fun. This years edition also included local food trucks for post race refuel, cowbells and tech hats for awards rather than cheap medals and t-shirts at most events. The other very unique feature was that the local high school media class produced a live stream of the event, including multiple cameras and commentators. Which I think is just a super cool feature for a local event to pull off.

On to the race specifics! The weather was similar to the Charlevoix Tri and there was some decent chop on the lake. Dave was racing and as far as we could tell the other contender was this guy Alex, who also raced the GR tri and is ungodly fast on a bike as well as XC skis. The horn blew and we were off. Dave is a stronger swimmer than I so I tagged his feet. Despite the rough conditions I exited in 23:39, what might be around my PR for an Olympic. Dave was out of T1 ahead of me and I caught him a few miles into the bike. We both knew the course well and traded off every few minutes. We turned the corner around ten miles into the bike and saw Alex and guessed we had about a 3-3:30 lead. We continued to push each other and I finished the bike in just under 1:01. (AP 260, NP 273)

Add caption

I exited T2 first and settled in as Dave caught up to me. We saw Alex coming in off the bike and estimated a two minute lead. The course is a two loop triangle shape, where roughly the first mile is flat, the next half mile is a decent hill and the next half mile is a slight incline. There is a good downhill for a half mile then another flat half mile to the finish. Dave and I ran together and paced up the hill. Dave's family were all over the course cheering. As we ran by his dad informed us that Alex was throwing it down to catch us.

Pushed to the limit.

We completed our first lap, when I peaked over my shoulder and saw Alex would be making contact shortly, making it an exciting race. We ran together for about a few minutes and I decided I wasn't going to let him set in and recover, nor was I going to leave it for a sprint finish. When we hit the hill I surged and opened up a gap, thankful for my shorter track workouts. I settled back into race pace. I risked a glance back just before the turn to the downhill section. Alex was only a few seconds behind.

There was one more left hand turn along a sidewalk, hidden behind a hedge. I decided that was the place to make my move, so as soon as I turned the corner I hit the gas and didn't look back for a half mile. That move opened up a gap and I was in for the win. Props to Alex for being an amazingly tough competitor and making me work for it.  My run split was 37:12. Later I chatted with Alex and learned he just completed his first Ironman...the week before. I was pumped to have some gas money to get to Mt. Tremblant!

Podium