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)

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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

Charlevoix Triathlon Etc.

Tri To Finish is a relatively new race company in Michigan. I participated in two of their events in previous years and was very impressed with how they ran the show. It just so happened that the Charlevoix Triathlon was on a Sunday and I had nothing going on. So participating would be a great tune up before my season finale in Boyne City and Mt. Tremblant.

This event was pretty small, given that three companies each put on a triathlon on the same day all within 50 miles of each other. (Shakes Head is disappointment) The weather was in the low 60s and cloudy. Lake Charlevoix had some decent chop as well. I felt okay in the water, had one other competitor to draft off and exited the water slower than expected given my effort. After that it was onto the bike, where I planned to put some time in. Thank goodness I didn't make any wrong turns, like I did at the Mark Mellon Tri earlier this summer. I finished the bike ride feeling pretty fresh and simply wanted to run hard, splitting a 36:32.

What I find interesting is how this time comes in for my various lifetime PRs all set this summer. Compare below.

Open Half Marathon: 1:17:50 (5:57 pace)
70.3 Half Marathon 1:19:53 (6:06 pace)
Open 10K Road: 35:40 (5:45 pace)
Olympic Tri 10K 36:32 (5:54 pace)
Track 5K 17:07 (5:31 pace)

Regardless of the specific course/weather/fitness for the particular races I find it interesting how little my pace seems to vary. Also consider that I really didn't even run faster in college when I was solely run training. What I think this really means is that I need to do some more speed work/shorter distance races. Maybe it is something I will work on this fall or early next spring. There's always something to work at...

Hill Valley Farm

My cousin started her own business called Freshwater Photography. She wanted to come out to my farm, take some pictures and write a little about the story. I won't try to paraphrase her words. Great pictures. Certainly worth the read. Enjoy.

Freshwater Photography

Muncie 70.3

Speed 'Stache

The goal this year was to qualify for the 70.3 World Championships in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec. After this year the event will be traveling around the world (2015 Austria, 2016 Australia) so it would be my only shot for a while. Plus the location promised to be cool and hilly, qualities that serve my strengths. Thus Dave Smith and I picked Muncie, Indiana for our 70.3 qualifier, which was the second weekend in July. It's more motivating to have a training partner as well as splitting travel costs.

We arrived the day before and were very pleased the weather forecast was calling for low 70s. The course promised to be flat, with great views of corn and soybeans. I grew a special "speed stache" for this event. Everyone loved it, however recommended that I stay away from schools and small children. Conveniently enough, Ball State had a university hotel that Dave and I stayed at for only $80!

The race was wave start and luckily the 25-29 was first after the pros. Based on slot allocation I guessed there were going to be 2 or 3 slots for my AG. As usual my mentality for the swim was "just get this done" and exited the water in 31 minutes. Once on my bike I discovered my powermeter was not functioning and spent a good 5 minutes trying to make it work, but to no avail. So it was racing by feel for me. About a half hour in there were two guys in my age group that went by so I decided to hang off the back and pace on them. We entered T2 together, myself having biked 2:19.

Of the bike group I was the first out of T2, but was unsure how many guys were up the road. I had taken in almost 800 calories on the bike and my stomach wasn't feeling the best so I settled into the run and a comfortable effort. The two guys I had biked with passed me in the first few miles of the run, before settling in only 30ish seconds up the road. The run was slight rolling hills, with significant shade. I was very happy it wasn't hot out. I hate the heat.

Eventually I could see the turn around and learned there were only three guys in front of me and one was really suffering. I passed him right before the turn around and then steadily reeled the other two in before mile 7. I was in the lead! I continued a steady effort and gained ground. I crossed the finish line in a PR of 4:12:44, having run 1:19:53. Which put me first for my AG, 14th Overall and qualified me for the 70.3WC. Dave finished 3rd in his AG so we both qualified for a trip to Canada in September!


It is worth noting that I skipped a family reunion to do this race. When I posted a picture of my ugly facial hair to FB my friend Russ, his wife, father and grandmother as well as their two kids posted pictures to show their support. My family decided to follow suit. I have some quality pictures. Enjoy

I have a classy family.

Dave and I post race awards before 6hr drive home in thunderstorms.

Grand Rapids Triathlon

Obviously I'm several months behind on my blog write ups. Oh well. I raced the Grand Rapids Triathlon for the second year. It was the USAT long course Nationals. The race was June 7th and I think I'd only been riding outside for about a month. There may have still been ice floating on the big water. Anyway I didn't come in with a lot of base training. Once again I was racing with my buddy Dave Smith. The best part about this race is that I have friends that live a mile from the start line. So I could sleep in, use a real toilet and ride my bike to the start.

The weather was cool and perfect and the race was unremarkable. Here's the data for you. 16th Overall in 4:20:12. Swam 32:16, biked 2:18 (AP 231, NP 235) and ran a 1:26. Dave and I ran the last few miles together. It was a nice start to the season.

88 degrees in March

I'll skip mentioning how cold and how snowy this winter has been. I tried to get out and skate ski a decent amount and finally feel like I'm mildly proficient at it. In general workout time has been lacking, somewhat due to motivation but mostly having a shift in priorities. Since purchasing a house I've experienced how the "to do" list never gets any shorter. On the flip side I've been educated in wood stove and chimney installation, tile, trim and painting as well as plumbing and electric work. Luckily I was able to escape all of that for a brief training vacation in Arizona.

My friend Russ Brandt invited me down to Phoenix to get beat up by "old guys" for a week. Trading 5 degrees, clouds and snow for 80s and sunshine? As my sister said, "Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?" We went up to Tucson for a three day CTS training camp, which was first class. They even cooked healthy food for us! My mother would be proud of the quantity of veggies I ate.

Nap time at the cookie shop.

The highlight of the camp was climbing Mt. Lemmon, which is something like a 24 mile climb totaling 5600' of climbing; a mostly steady 4-6% grade. The top was above 8000' of elevation, which put me right back living in Steamboat. Russ and I put in a solid effort. We ended up around 300th place for the Strava segment so we're both kinda a big deal. Luckily they sold cookies at the top.

Seven Falls

The other workout highlight was a long trail run: Bear Canyon/Seven Falls. The trail was a bit treacherous in places, namely because I'm not used to dodging jagged rocks along the edge of cactus filled cliffs. Everyone enjoyed the spectacular views as well as a refreshing dip in the falls. Plus it was worth the priceless looks other hikers gave us when we gracefully pranced by down the rocky trail, pastey* white thighs glowing under shortest shorts they've ever seen on a man.

*Note: I chose the unconventional spelling of 'pastey,' referring to pale white, vampire like skin. To me 'pasty' is a delicious meat pie from the UP.

Beat up by old guys

Beat up by old guys. Again.

"Old Guys" include Dan Cadriel; the really tan, fast 50 year old dude with the abs. He's big into the selfie thing so I played along for all his pictures. Russ is the other pale guy. He's also fast but apparently the ab filter for iPhone wasn't working for him.

Look! There's a banana.

Props for #23578's quality photo bomb

Turns out my sister had signed me up to run the Detroit Half Marathon in the spring,since her and mom were running. This fact had slipped my mind because who would want to run a half marathon only a week after Kona? Long story short, we realized I was registered on Friday. I paid for it so I was going to get my shirt and my medal, plus it would be an opportunity to continue the running in costume tradition (having run as a pirate the year before). Thus I put the call out on Facebook for costume ideas and someone noted they had a banana costume. Thus I give you the fastest banana at the 2013 Detroit Half Marathon.