This afternoon, was my hardest workout of the week, a mini duathlon.  A co-worker tipped me off to an alumni 5k after Catholic Central’s, my alma mater, first cross country meet of the season.  This is the first year that they were going to have a 5k for alumni, parents, and friends in hopes of making it an annual event. 

The team races at Riverside Park which is exactly 7 miles (according to the Garmin) from our house.  Unfortunately, there is no good way to get there without biking through some heavily trafficked* areas.  Nevertheless, I headed out on my bike at 4:30 for a 5:30 start time.  As I started to ride, the rain started to fall.  I got pretty wet on the way to the park before the rain let up.

When I got to the park, I ran in a woman I swim with at the pool.  Her son is on the XC team.  I had no idea he went to Catholic Central, let alone ran XC.  Small world.  After chatting with her, I looked for the XC coach.  At that time, he was unsure if they were even going to do the event because the turnout was so low.  In the end, they decided to go forward with the race despite only having 5 participants.

We all toed the line; two marathon runners, myself, and two younger guys fresh out of highschool.  The two young guys took off like a shot followed by one of the marathoners leaving me in 4th place.  I had completely forgotten how different it is running on grass, especially wet, muddy grass, than it is on pavement.  It felt like I was barely moving.

After the first mile, one of the young guys started to drop back and I moved up to 3rd place where I would end up finishing.  I ended up with a 20:42 time and was completely drained.  I can’t say that I am anxious to do more XC runs though.  I’ll stick to the solid surfaces.

After the run, I hopped back on my bike and road the 7 miles back home to complete my bike-run-bike duathlon.

I’m thinking of doing a longish run (10-12 miles) tomorrow or Saturday, but I am going to completely play it by ear on how I feel.

*I have a general disdain for words that require a “k” added when making them past tense.  Just thought I’d share.

First off, a huge “Thank you!” to all my blog/Facebook buddies and family out there cheering me on along the way!  It was so exciting to see all of your comments on Facebook after I finished.  I owe it all to Jennifer.  She did a tri of her own – cheering, photographing, and Facebook updating. 

I know that I am a little late getting this posted.  But we decided to stay Up North for an extra day to celebrate Jennifer’s birthday.  If you know anything about Northern Michigan, you’ll know that cell reception is shoddy at best and free Wi-Fi was non existent.

Pre Race

Race weekend started up by driving up to Petoskey on Saturday afternoon.  Not long after we got on the road, we settled in behind his car.

Always good to start off the day with a laugh.

We got to Petoskey without incident and headed straight to packet pickup.  It was a very low-key setup with a single table for registration and no other booths.  The schwag for this race included a nice cotton t-shirt and a Headsweats visor.  Generally, I prefer a tech shirt, but I have horrible luck with sizing on tech shirts.  If I pick medium, it ends up being too small.  If I pick large, it ends up being too big.  And I’ve gotten hosed too many times because I wasn’t allowed to switch sizes.  So now I have shirts I can’t ever really wear.  Anyways, the shirt is nice, but the visor is AWESOME.  Jennie even ended up buying me a second visor for $5.  I think it is technically last year’s visor, but it doesn’t have a date on it.

After packet pickup, I headed down to check out the swim course.  The course changed since I last posted.  Instead of an L shaped course, it was two rectangular loops in the harbor.  This would be my first time doing a looped swim course.

I could tell right away that this was going to be a great swim course.  It was surrounded on three sides by either a breakwall or dock leaving the water as calm as a pool.  On top of that, it was crystal clear and clean. 

To give you an idea of how clear the water was, the above picture was taken from the dock.  You can see the bottom and it was about 15 feet deep at that point!  Obviously, the down side with clear water is that you can see EVERYTHING.  So, if you don’t like seeing seaweed at the bottom, it’s not the course for you.  As Jennie said, “It’s just like grass.” So no need to worry about it.

After checking out the course, we went to check into our hotel.  After seeing the room, we knew that we weren’t going to want to spend a minute longer there than we had to.  Needless to say, the pictures on Expedia were horribly inaccurate.  Two thumbs WAY down.  The only positive of the hotel is that neither of us ended up with bed bugs – which seemed like it could have been a distinct possibility.

So, not wanting to hang out at the hotel, we headed to the City Park Grill for dinner.  We both got the lasagna and it was absolutely delicious!  The restaurant has quite the history too.  In the early 1900’s, it served as an underground house of beer during the prohibition era.  The actual bar in the restaurant dates back to the late 1800’s and is one of the coolest bars I’ve seen.  Ernest Hemmingway must have agreed with me because he spent a good portion of time sitting at the end of the bar penning some of his classics.

(photo courtesy of www.cityparkgrill.com)

After dinner, we headed to a small park to walk around and watch the sunset.

Leave it to Jennie to find a place to wash her hands.  I was getting into race mode and practicing my dolphin dives.

Against my better judgment, I decided that I wanted to walk out to a small offshore sand bar.  This meant climbing over a large pile of rocks any of which could have thrown me off balance and caused me to twist an ankle.  Then it was a walk over some really sharp rocks.  Thankfully there were no twisted ankles or cut feet and I made to the sandbar (and back) victorious.

After the sunset, we headed back to the hotel for a restless night of sleep.  I learned that I don’t fit on a double bed – my feet hang off the end a good foot or so.

Race Day

Before I knew it, it was 5:30 and time to get moving.  I had a quick breakfast; blueberry bagel, banana, yogurt and OJ.  And then we were off.

I ran into Becky, a high school friend doing her first HIM, as soon as I got to the transition area.  Bikes were racked alphabetically (what is this, kindergarten?).  I’m an “N”, she is a “P”, so we were practically next to each other.  I was actually happy with the assigned bike position and it has nothing to do with the fact that I moseyed into the transition area 30 minutes before the race meeting and still had an end spot on the rack.  Oh wait, it has EVERYTHING to do with that.  So freaking sweet to get assigned an end spot.

I got my area setup and then headed over to get my chip and body marked.  This has to be biggest race chip I have ever worn.  It felt like I was Lindsey Lohan on house arrest.  It was the biggest pain because you couldn’t wear it under your wetsuit.  Not only would the wet suit cause it to dig into your leg, but the race director said that the timing mats wouldn’t read it if it was under the wetsuit.

This picture is for you Jon.  Proof that I properly applied sunscreen before the race.  I actually reapplied sunscreen after the bike and am happy to report that there was no unfortunate accidents like last time.

I was actually a little bit hurried getting all my gear setup.  I’m glad that I have done this enough times now that I have to down to a science though.  No sooner was I finishing up that we were getting called down to the boat launch for the athlete meeting and National Anthem.

The Swim

After the athlete meeting, I jumped in the water to warm up a bit and make sure my goggles were adjusted.  I was wearing a new pair of goggles for the first time in a race (been wearing them in the pool for a couple weeks) and wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to have any leaks.  I’m going to do a full product review shortly, but so far this is the best pair of goggles I have ever worn.  They are Aqua Sphere Kayenne’s and they are amazing.

I was in the 3rd swim wave of the morning; the first two waves were the men and women Olympic distance athletes.  After they started, we got lined up.  I positioned myself fairly aggressively, but because it was an in-water start there wasn’t as much elbowing as there is during a beach start.

The course headed straight out the boat launch.  At the end of the dock, we turned right, did two rectangular loops and then headed back to the boat launch.

And we’re off!  Strategy-wise, this was one of my best swims ever.  I drafted for over 50% of the course.  On the first loop, I realized I was swimming next to the same guy and neither of us was gaining on the other.  So, I fell back and started swimming behind him.  Because the water was so clear (and my new goggles are freaking awesome), I could actually see feet rather than just bubbles.  I stayed behind him until he took a bad turn at one of the buoys and headed off in the wrong direction (he did eventually correct himself, but not until he was about 25 yards off course).  I was on my own for a little bit before I found a new set of feet to latch on to.  My only fear in drafting was that I was “settling” for the pace the leader was setting and not pushing myself.  So, at a couple of points, I would move to the side and swim on my own before realizing that we really were swimming the same speed.

Now, here is the absolutely coolest thing about the swim.  Because of the layout of the course, there were spectators lining part of the course.  On the swim!  How cool is that?  Generally, there is nothing but water and wetsuits on the swim.  In the picture above, I am waving to Jennie.  I could actually see her standing on the dock as I went by.

There was only one downside to the swim course.  With the Olympic athletes doing a slightly shorter course some of the leaders were turning back into the dock as the HIM athletes were starting their second lap.  I ran full speed into an Olympic swimmer (see yellow circle below).  It completely took me by surprise because I hadn’t realized the potential for the collision.  I actually shouted “Sorry!”, but I doubt he heard me.

In no time, I was headed back to the boat launch.  I ended up with a 33:55 shore-to-shore time; 34:27 including the run to T1.  My goal was 35 minutes, so doing great so far!

T1

T1 was horrible.  I try and not sit down in transition because it makes it harder to get going again.  However, with the ankle bracelet we had to wear, it was impossible to get my wetsuit off without sitting.  Regardless, I threw on my socks, shoes, and helmet, grabbed my bike and I was off.  I gave myself 3 minutes for T1 and actually made it in and out in 1:40.  Despite having a horrible transition, because the transition area was so small, I really didn’t have to run much to my bike or to the bike out.

T1.5

Yes, this course had a T1.5 – at least that is what I am calling it.  After leaving the transition area, it was a long run to and then UP 4 (yes, four), sets of stairs.

Here I am checking out the stairs before the race.  I wouldn’t have even know about the stairs had I not read a few race reports from previous years.  On the way out, you had the option of using the ramps or the stairs with the stairs being a much shorter distance.

Up I went.  By the top of the stairs, my legs were killing me.  Not a great way to start off the bike.  As I was getting on my bike, there was a fellow cyclist standing next to his bike holding a broken chain in his hands.  It sounded like the volunteers were seeing if they could get it fixed, and judging by the online results, they must have because I didn’t see any DNFs after the swim.  I felt bad for the guy though.

I didn’t get my time for T1.5 but it appears to have been included as part of the bike time.

The Bike

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  This bike course SUCKS! Plain and simple.  In case you missed it last time, here is the elevation profile for the course.  I don’t think there was a single flat portion on the whole course; ascending and descending the whole time.

The course starts off with a nice 150ft climb in the first half mile of the course.  I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it to the top.  I was granny gearing it for the first time all season – in the first mile nonetheless! 

As much as I’ll complain about all the climbs, I really did love them.  They were a challenge and that is what this is all about right? Pushing yourself to your absolute limit and then going a bit further.

Obviously, what goes up must go down and the descents were awesome.  There were a couple that I coasted down to give my legs a rest, but for the most part, I pushed it on the downhill as well.  Being comfortable on the descents was a huge plus.  I have no problem going 40mph downhill, but I could see them being pretty nerve wracking if you weren’t used to it.

Going into the race, I knew that the aid stations would only have cups of water/Gatorade and no bottles, so I made sure to carry my own.  I had my Aerodrink with Gatorade as well as an extra bottle of Gatorade and one of water.  I also had two tri-berry Gu’s and a Nature’s Valley Sweet & Salty Peanut bar.  I spent first half nursing the Aerodrink bottle.  I had a Gu at about mile 20 as well.  I tried to eat the Nature’s Valley bar at mile 35, but it really wasn’t easy to chew and just seemed to dry out my mouth.

The course was a modified out and back – we headed south of the main road first before rejoining the main road until the turnaround.  Then we took the main road all the way back into town.  The course was on country roads that were open to traffic, but I saw maybe 20 cars the entire time.  It really made for a beautiful ride.  It was one of those rides were I wished I would have had a camera (and time to stop). 

The turnaround was at about the 30 mile mark.  Until that point, I really had no idea how I was doing against the field.  I started counting riders as I approached the turnaround and estimated that I was in 15th place or so.  That was a huge boost of moral.  The second half of the course felt easier than the first and I actually negative split the bike course by about 5 minutes.

I rolled back from the bike course in 3:00:23 for an average of 18.6mph.  My goal was to average 18mph which would have been 3:07, so I was ahead of schedule.

T2.5

Remember those stairs in T1.5?  You guessed it, they were back for T2.5.  Thankfully though, on the way back in, everyone had to use the ramps.  My guess is that it was a safety issue and I was not going to argue one bit.

I walked/jogged my bike down the ramp, but it was pretty windy and it was better to just rest my legs a bit.

I timed myself for T2.5 and it took me 2:09 which was again added to the bike time.  Because both T1.5 and T2.5 were added to the bike time, if I subtract the time spent running my bike, my bike average was closer to 19mph – which may explain (along with the hills) why the bike times appeared much slower for this race.

(And yes, I know that 2.5 is greater than 2 which screws up my numbering of the “extra transitions”, but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want)

T2

Other than the long run down the ramp, T2 went very smoothly.  I was in and out in 1:32 and even took time to reapply sunscreen and body glide (to avoid nipple chafing) before heading out on the run.

The Run

I started out on the run feeling great.  However, it wasn’t long before the hills on the bike started to catch up to me.  My first two miles were right were I wanted them to be and then I started to fall apart.

Mile 1: 7:49
Mile 2: 8:09
Mile 3: 8:51
Mile 4: 8:47
Mile 5: 8:52
Mile 6: 8:55
Mile 7: 10:01
Mile 8: 9:15
Mile 9: 9:47
Mile 10: 10:19
Mile 11: 10:57
Mile 12: 9:33
Mile 13: 10:08 (including final .1)

Despite slowing down, I really didn’t get passed by ro many people so I guess everyone was in the same boat that I was.

At the turnaround, I caught up with a guy who had been just ahead of me for a mile or so.  We started to run together for the next few miles.  We’d run to each aid station, walk through while we had water and Gatorade and then start running again.  We really didn’t talk at all on the course – I think we were both hurting too much to hold a conversation.  After mile 9, I fell back and let him go.  After a hard mile 11, I picked it back up.  I could tell that the next guy in front of my had started walking and decided to try and catch him. 

As I got closer, I noticed his calf said “29” – my age group.  I couldn’t let him get away now.  We played the world’s slowest moving game of leap frog for a while.  At mile 12 he started walking, looked back at me and said, “I’m trying as hard as I can to hold you off, but my legs are cooked.”  I laughed and said I was trying to do the same and offered him some encouraging words.  As I passed by, he yelled to me, “You’ve got 2nd in the age group now.”  I was shocked.  I knew that there weren’t a lot of people in front of me, but I assumed that most of them (or at least 3 of them) were in our age group.  That was the motivation I needed.  I picked up the pace as much as I could.  I even caught up to the guy I had been running with after the half way point.  We ran most of the last mile together and even chatted a bit as we finished up.  He was three time IMWI finisher and really helped me get through the last mile.

Finally, the finish in sight!

Here I am getting medal-ed.  I was so happy to be done!

I ended up finishing the run in 2:01:30 – not the 1:47 I had hoped for.  Oh well, I really didn’t feel like I totally bonked.  Even though my splits slowed down over the course of the run, I really never had that, “This really sucks, I am blowing a good race” feeling that I had at Steelhead.

Post Race

The guy I had been running with finished about 20 seconds after me and ended up with first in his age group.  I ended up jumping in the lake to cool off and started talking with him a bit more.  He offered some great advice of IMWI and IM and in general.  I’ve yet to meet an unfriendly triathlete – one of the reasons I love this sport.

Next across the line was the 3rd place in my age group – they guy I had been battling with.  He too had done IMWI.  He said, and I quote, “Wisconsin was a breeze compared to this.”  I think at this point, he was depressed because he thought he lost out on a podium spot. Another athlete in our age group actually finished before him, but I think it must have been a relay team.

My support crew and fans!  My Aunt Anne, who lives near Petoskey, came out to cheer me on.  This was her first time seeing a triathlon and I think she enjoyed the experience.  (Not pictured is Hannah, the dog, who was very eager to swim in the lake).  Thanks for coming out to cheer Aunt Anne!

One of the cool things this race had was a results tent with 4 computers setup where you could do instance race result lookups.  I headed over and checked the age group ranking.  I really did take 2nd in my age group!!!

I had a bit of the post race food, but we needed to find Jennie some food too.  So, we headed out to remedy that.  The first stop was a campground next to the park where I bought a pass to use the shower for $1.  It was so nice to be able to get cleaned up (and stink-free) right away.  After that, we headed to Jet’s Pizza for some fresh slices of pizza and then to the liquor store across the street for a 6-pack of Corona.  Pizza and beer – is there really any other better recovery food?

After finishing lunch, it was time to head back over for the award’s ceremony.  Age group winner’s each got a bottle of wine with a custom label that had the race name and award print on it.  I felt bad for the 17 and 19 year old guys who placed in their age groups (the 19 year old was actually 2nd overall – 4:56:15).  Because the award was wine, all they got was a pair of socks.

This was my first ever podium finish, I was so excited!

Finally, I got to see Becky after she finished her first ever HIM.  She did awesome on such a tough course.  I gave her a hug after she finished and she was smiling from ear to ear.  You can read her report here if you are interested.

Overall

Overall, this was a great race.  It was tough, I won’t argue there.  But I knew that going in.  Knowing that IMWI has a hilly bike course even helps me justify this as good practice for the future.  Obviously, I missed my goal time of 5:34:00 by 5 and a half minutes, but I am really happy with my results.  I did better on the bike than I had anticipated and like I said, I really never felt bonked on the run.  My legs were tired, but I never got mentally down which is a big accomplishment.

I would definitely recommend this race to anyone looking to challenge themselves.  I would never consider this a PR course though.  The winning time was 4:47:24 with a top speed on the bike of 20.8mph. I am really starting to like smaller events like this (versus Ironman sanctioned races).  The total number of athletes in the HIM was less than the number of athletes in my wave (there were 20 or so waves) at Steelhead.  I have a couple of constructive criticisms that I am hoping to share the race director (namely poor aid stations on the bike), but overall, you could tell that the event was organized by someone with intimate knowledge of the sport.

Thanks for reading.  And thanks even more for your support and encouragement along the way!

Official Results

First off, THANK YOU for all the encouraging words leading up to race weekend.

My race this weekend, the Breakwater Triathlon, is a fairly small race and doesn’t offer any official athlete tracking like the fancy Ironman branded races.  Never fear though.  The lovely Jennifer has volunteered to post updates of my progress on Facebook.  She did this back during Racing for Recovery and actually enjoyed doing it because it gave her something to do while I was out being crazy racing.

So, if you want to stalk me follow my progress, just become my friend on Facebook*.  You can view my Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/kevinmichaelneumann or by clicking the Facebook icon in the upper right corner of my blog.  If you have managed to resist signing over your soul to Mark Zuckerberg, never fear, I’ll try and post a mini race report shortly after I finish.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  If your weather forecast looks anything like Michigan’s, it should be beautiful.

*Yes, I realize this can be viewed as a pathetic attempt to increase my friend count on Facebook.  What’s your point?

So far, the taper has been completely uneventful which to say it has been perfect.  I’ve done a couple of easy swims, short bike rides, and quick runs to keep myself from going completely crazy.  Today I cleaned my bike and made sure everything was tightened, adjusted, and greased.

The one stupid thing I did was look at last year’s results for the Breakwater Triathlon.  There were about 100 HIM finishers last year, so it looks like it is going to be a fairly small event.  That shouldn’t be the issue.  The issue is the bike course.  I know, I know, I have complained about this already and I swear this is the last time (at least until my race report).  Last year, the fastest bike split was 20.9 mph with an overall average of 16.8mph and an age group (25 – 29) average of 17.4mph.  Compare this to the overall average of 19.7mph and age group average of 20.1mph at Steelhead.  So, what does this mean to me?  It looks like I should expect up to a 3mph slower bike split.  Yikes!  Good to know, but sort of intimidating.

That said, I am going to make my goal 18mph on the bike.  I did a 34 mile ride earlier this month on part of the course at a 17.2mph pace.  That ride was a casual ride and I really didn’t feel like I was giving it my all.  Especially after having done a 56 mile ride the previous day.  So, I think 18mph is a fair race pace to set for this course.

The run is my chance to shine.  So far, I haven’t been 100% happy with how I have finished the run.  My best outing was at Racing for Recovery where I logged a 1:41:32 on a shortened course.  Adjusted for the distance, I would have come in around 1:50:00.  In hindsight, I’m happy with that time, but the unofficialness slightly diminishes it for me.  So, my goal for this weekend – 1:47:00.  How did I come up with that time?  Well, my half marathon PR is 1:37:XX (7:24 pace).  I’m giving myself an extra 45 seconds per mile which equates to an estimated 8:10 pace.  A challenge, but definitely doable.  This will definitely be the nicest HIM run course I have done.  A simple 6.5 out, 6.5 back on a bike path.  No endless loops and no big hills.

For the swim, the course is sort of a funny L-shape.  This means extra turns or the way I like to look at it – extra places to accidentally lengthen the course.  Also, with fewer athletes, there will be less chances to draft.  On the other hand it will be less crowded and shouldn’t be too physical.  I’m going to shoot for a swim time of 35 minutes.

So, that means 35 minute swim + 3 minute T1 + 3:07 bike + 2 minute T2 + 1:47 run = 5:34.  Yikes.  Seeing it added up like that makes it seem awfully aggressive – at least for this course.  Oh well, I’d rather set an aggressive goal than sell myself short.

Finally, if you have a chance, head over to The Last Month, a blog by a high school friend who is doing her first half Ironman at Breakwater this weekend.  Read her story here and wish her luck!  Good luck Becky and I’ll see you in Petoskey!

This morning, Jennie and I ran the Mitchell’s Run thru Rockford benefiting Muscular Dystrophy research. This race was actually a “Jennie’s Choice” race.  She found this one after finishing up Reeds Lake back in June .  It also gave me another chance to try and break 20 minutes.

We arrived in Rockford at about 7:30 for the 8:30 start.  At the time, it was still drizzling after raining all night.  We headed over and picked up our number, shirt, and D-tag. It was nice that all you got were the essentials and they didn’t give you a bag of crap as well.  The shirt is actually a pretty good design with the main logo from the website on the front and not too many sponsors on the back.

We headed back to the car where Jennie embarked on a journey to win her award of the day.  That award?  Straightest race number of course!

It took her long enough, but she eventually got her number pinned on.  Notice how straight and centered it is?  I think that I better get her a race number belt like I have.  It will save us a boat load of time in the future.

After that, we looked for the potties.  We ventured to a park down the White Pine Trail in an attempt to avoid the porta-jons, but unfortunately their bathrooms were still locked.  On the plus side, Jennie got to play on the dinosaur slide!

So, back to the porta-jons we headed.

By this time, the rain had stopped.  While this meant we wouldn’t get soaked, it meant the humidity was going to start to creep up.  It remained overcast and humid for the duration of the run.  Not the ideal race conditions, but you take what you get.

Finally, it was time to line up.  It was nice because they actually had pace signs setup so it was easy to tell where you should line up.  I jumped in the front most corral – the 6 minute mile group – and Jennie jumped into her corral.  As soon as I jumped into my corral, I ran into a group of former Aquinas College XC runners.  I didn’t run XC in college, but I was friends with quite a few of the team members.  One of the guys was the 2-time defending champion for this race (and would go on to 3-peat).  Another recently knocked out a 2:38 marathon at Bayshore earning him 7th overall.  And another just BQ-ed with a sub 3-hour time at Bayshore.  So, as you can probably tell, all out of my league.  Nevertheless, I decided to start as close to them as possible.

The actual start of the race was almost unnoticed.  Just a guy (sans mega-phone) yelling, “Ready, set, go!”  Because of the quiet nature of the start, there was a bit of jostling as the runners realized what had happened.  I took off with as fast of a pace as I could manage.  I kept one of the guys in my sights for the first mile, but the other two disappeared immediately.

They had volunteers at each mile yelling out splits.  My first split came in at 5:25 (6:01 on my watch so they must have not had the mile in the right spot).  Yikes!  Either way, that was smoking fast for me.  After the first mile, I eased back just a bit.  I knew I couldn’t keep up a 6 minute pace.  Shortly after the 1st mile, we looped back and could see the other runners in the pack.  I immediately saw Jennie in the crowd and yelled to her.  She was carrying the camera with her and tried to snap a picture of me.  It came out pretty blurry though – you’ll just have to trust me that it is me.

I hit mile 2 at 12:24 (12:05 according to the volunteer).  At this point, it really sunk in that I had a chance at breaking 20 minutes.  I kicked it into gear again and charged ahead.  The last mile included a long steady incline, but I pushed through it. 

I ended up with a 6:31 last mile and 5:37 final .1 for a final time of 19:38!  WooHoo!!!!  This is a 37 second PR and the first time I have ever gotten under 20 minutes in a 5k!

In the end, I am really glad I went out as fast as I did.  At the time, I was really regretting the speedy start, but after looking back at my splits, it is that first mile that pushed me under the 20 minute mark.

After finishing, I headed back to look for Jennie.  I met up with her with a little over a quarter mile to go.  She was doing great and had a big smile on her face.

Other than being hot and tired, she was in great spirits.  I told her there was just one more hill and then it was time to start her kick because the finish would be right around the corner.

Jennie kicked it in for a 32 second PR and ended up finishing with a sub-10 minute pace for the first time ever!

After the race we stopped by Robinette’s for some fresh donuts.  They were so fresh that the they melted in our mouths.  This just emphasizes Jennie’s motto, “I run for donuts.”

And now, the taper begins.  Petoskey Breakwater 2010 is in one week.  I went through and read a couple of race reports from last year (here, here and here).  From what I have read, the bike is going to be the toughest leg (which I assumed).  So, the game plan is to just gut it out and have fun.  It’s not going to be a PR race by any means.  Just a chance to get some more HIM experience under the belt.

I’m sure you have already read this elsewhere, but in case you haven’t, make sure to track Jon and Mandy at IM Timberman 70.3 tomorrow!

Official Results

Standard Product Review Disclaimer: All items were either purchased by myself or received as a gift purchased by a family member (ie. Jennie).  I am not receiving any compensation from any of the listed companies (however, I would be will to accept any sponsorship they may wish to offer).

Michelin Krylion Carbon Tires (700x25c)

Link: http://two-wheels.michelin.com/2w/front/index.jsp?codePage=2092004115340_21032005140627&codeRubrique=2092004115340&lang=EN

List Price: $60

I bought these tires after my first set, Continental UltraRace tires, started to wear out.  I purchased these tires from biketiresdirect.com for about $20 under list price.  I selected them mainly based on the reviews the website offered.  So far, they have been great.  While there has been a lot of talk lately about flatting (here, here and here), I’m going to knock on wood before I say this.  I have not had a single flat with these tires.  There, I said.  Nearly 2,000 miles and no flats.  Because of the lack of flats, I am rating these tires pretty high.  I still don’t know exactly how long they are going to last before they wear out, but so far, so good. 

Rating: (4.5 out of 5 wheels)

Profile Design Aerodrink

Link: http://www.fizik.it/product.aspx?c=ARIONE-TRI2-Wing_Flex

List Price: $20

I got this Aerodrink bottle as a birthday gift from Jennie back in July.  I have now used it in two races (Steelhead 70.3 and Millennium Sprint Tri) as well as a couple of training rides.  When I first got it, I was a little leery of it because it attached to the aerobars using only a couple of rubber bands.  Also, with the configuration of my aerobars, there isn’t a lot of surface area where the bottle is supported by the bars.  Surprisingly, the rubber bands hold the water very securely.

My first ride with the Aerodrink was a mess.  I didn’t use the sponge at all and put the straw in the larger hole (where the black lid is).  Within the first mile I was soaked with sticky Gatorade.  Every bump I hit splashed me with the sticky goodness.

For my second ride (the Steelhead 70.3 race), I added the sponge beneath the black lid and used the secondary straw hole instead.   This really cut down on the splashage.  It also made it really easy to refill the bottle on the go.  Had the straw been in the hole through the black lid, it would have been difficult to open and refill.  I also found that as long as I take a few big sips right away, it lowers the level of the fluid enough that it doesn’t splash as much.  I just have to remember to only drink on the smooth roads.  If the road is too bumpy, you risk the straw digging into the roof of your mouth.

Overall, this has been a great addition to my bike.  I’m giving it 4 out of 5 wheels mainly because there is a bit of splashage regardless of how hard you try to avoid it.  In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a huge deal, but it is a bit annoying.

Rating: (4 out of 5 wheels)

Profile Design: Airstryke Aerobars

Link: http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/products/aerobars/aluminum-aerobars/airstryke.html

List Price: $125

This is my second set of aerobars.  I bought this set of aerobars when I went in for my bike fitting.  My previous set (the Century bars – see below) didn’t adjust on the horizontal plane which made it hard to get a good fit.

The biggest downside to these bars are that the arm rests are spring loaded.  When not in use, the pads flip up.  While this does afford some extra handle bar space when not in use, they are quite noisy when going over rough roads.  The salesman did warn about this when I bought them and it did take some getting used to, but it was still annoying at first.  Had I not been warned, I would have thought my bike was falling apart when I hit the bumpy sections of roads.  Of course, this can al be solved by staying aero as much as possible.

Compared to the Century aerobars, these are much more comfortable.  However, I think this is purely related to the fact that I am fit to these aerobars and in a more comfortable position overall.

If you are in the market for some aerobars, I would recommend this set.  The only thing you will need to consider is the fact that they are single piece and may not fit all handlebars if the stem is too wide.  Some configurations may require aerobars that are separate bars which allow you to customize the width between the bars.

Rating: (4.5 out 5 wheels)

Profile Design: Century Aerobars

Link: http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/products/aerobars/aluminum-aerobars/century.html

List Price: $78

The Century Aerobars were my first set of aerobars.  I selected this set of aerobars simply because they were the cheapest ones I could find.  These worked great for me on my first bike and my newer bike until I had a bike fit.

My first two years of racing involved primary sprints and Olympic distance races, so I didn’t notice any problems with these aerobars.  It wasn’t until I had an actual bike fit that I realized how poorly the aerobars actually worked for me.  The lack of horizontal adjustment is what did these bars in.  However, if you were able to be fit to the bars without needing any horizontal adjustment, then these are a great starter pair of aero bars.

Rating: (3 out of 5 wheels)

Profile Design: RM1 Saddle Mount Water Bottle Cage

Link: http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/products/hydration/all-hydration/rm1.html

List Price:

I have had the RM1 bottle cages for a little over a year now.  I bought them back in the summer of 2009 in anticipation of my first Steelhead 70.3 race.  At that time, I knew that having only two bottle cages on my bike would not be enough to get me through a 56 mile ride.  In one of the two cages, I usually keep an old water bottle which holds my bike tools (multi-tool, CO2 cartridge, and tire levers) leaving me with one cage for an extra water bottle.  Because of the location of the cages, it really isn’t possible to use both the cages and saddle bag which requires storing the tools in the water bottle.

For the first year or so (about 10 months), these cages worked great.  However, after that, they have rapidly started to deteriorate.  First off, the elasticity of the cages has worn out and water bottles will shoot out of the cages when going over larger bumps like railroad tracks.  This was easily solved by adding extra rubber bands to hold the water bottles in place.  This works well, but it makes it harder to remove the water bottles with only one hand.  The second problem has been more of nuisance.   There is a single screw that allows you to adjust the angle of the cages.  After about 100 miles of riding this screw will loosen enough that the cages will be dangling below the seat.  In one case, the cages actually fell off the big. 

The fact that the main screw needs tightening every once in a while wouldn’t be a huge deal if it wasn’t such a pain in the ass to tighten.  Because of the location of screw in relation to the cages, it is nearly impossible to tighten the screw without removing at least one of the cages.

I contact Profile Design about my problems and they suggested using Loctite on the screw.  I don’t have any Loctite on hand, but I am going to try a locking washer to see if that solves the problem.  Regardless, it has been more of a pain than it has been worth.  Especially now that I have the Aerodrink, this cage has become almost worthless.

Rating: (2 out of 5 wheels)

Fi’zi:k Arione Tri 2 Wing Flex

Link: http://www.fizik.it/product.aspx?c=ARIONE-TRI2-Wing_Flex

List Price: $159

This is my latest purchase for the bike.  I purchased this new saddle earlier this week after noticing that my current saddle was in poor shape.  Below is a picture of the bottom of my previous saddle with the cracks highlighted in red.

I actually noticed the cracks in the saddle shortly before Steelhead this year and they had me worried.  However, at that time, I was leery to swap out saddles that close to race time.

Even though I have two more races this season (a HIM and sprint), I decided that now was the time to invest in a new saddle.  After reading multiple reviews, I settled on the Arione Tri 2.  Now, I realize that it isn’t wise to base choose a saddle based on reviews alone because the fit of a saddle varies from person to person.  With that in mind, I chose a saddle very close (if not identical) in size and shape to my current saddle.

At this time, I have only done one ride with the new saddle.  The first thing I have noticed is that it is much stiffer than my old one (TWSS).  Because my old saddle had a couple of cracks in it, I got used to the fact that it had a bit more give to it.  So, I think it will take a few rides to get used to a new saddle.  Other than that, I have high hopes for this saddle and will hopefully report back with an actual rating at some point.  For now though, I can only give this a “TBD” for a rating.

Rating: TBD

Thanks for reading.  I hope these reviews have helped you if only a little bit.  Are there any products that you couldn’t like without?  Ones that you regret ever buying the first place?

Today, however, was different.  I embarked on my weekly long run.  I set out with Jennie on the bike for 12 miles; my longest run since Steelhead.  It was only 80*F, but the humidity was 82% which meant I was dripping with sweat after the first mile.  I started out nice and easy.  The first 8 miles were between 8:30-8:40 min/mile.   After that, I picked it up a bit and finished the last 4 miles between 8:00-8:15.  So, not only did I get in my long run for the week, but I also was able to pick up the pace at the end without falling apart.  Redemption!

I think the biggest difference was having Jennie on the bike carrying water.  I went through about 32oz of water on the run stopping at every 1 or 2 mile mark along the way.  Even so, I was down a couple pounds when I got home so I chugged some more water and chocolate milk to refuel.

But that isn’t even the biggest news of the day.  The biggest news of the day is that Jennie did her first brick workout! After biking along with me for 12 miles, we went on a 1.5 mile run immediately afterwards.  So, now Jennie has felt the feeling in her legs that is a brick workout.  And not only that, but she is looking at getting her own RoadID.  She has a birthday coming up, so well have to see what happens.

In my opinion, she looks too good for having just done a brick workout.  At least I’ve never looked this good after a brick workout.  Come to think of it, I don’t look this good on a normal basis.

I generally look like a sweaty mess after my workouts.  In this case, I left a nice swass mark on the deck after I got up.  Yep, these clothes aren’t allowed inside until they have air dried.

Now, we are spending the day vegging out on couch and watching TV.  Jennie is currently engrossed in some Gilmore Girls reruns during which she has seen ice cream sundaes, fresh strawberries, hamburgers/fries, donuts, and baskets of fresh bread; all of which are leaving her with insane cravings.  It is only a matter of time before she starts baking…

Any ways, onto my bike rides.  While up in Harbor Springs, I did two bike rides.  If I had to describe the rides in two words, they would be “Holy (bleeping) Hills!!!!” (bleeps don’t count as words right?)

Ride #1 Tunnel of Trees

For my first ride, I headed up M-119 to the Tunnel of Trees.  The Tunnel of Trees is a state designated scenic road along the shore of Lake Michigan and Little Traverse Bay.  It was a gorgeous, but hilly ride.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The entire stretch of road is essentially a single lane.  It was almost like a bike path that cars were allowed on.  Because the road is so narrow and windy, the speed limit is only 25-35mph.  On top of that, if two cars are going in opposite directions, you really almost have to go off the edge of the road as you pass by each other.  Because of these limitations, the road has very light traffic and is generally only used by tourists and cyclists.

The ride consisted of lots of ups and downs.  The ups sucked, but the downs were a ton of fun.  I was hitting 40-45mph on some of the down hills.  It was good practice for descending hills without riding the brakes.

I stopped to snap this picture, but didn’t stay long for fear of running into any wandering spirits.  This sign was at one of the hair pin curves along the course.  It was quite an adrenalin rush to ride down the hill and around the curve at 30mph.

The tunnel would occasionally open up with gorgeous views of the lake.  It was a serious drop off down to the water though, so you really couldn’t get to the beach from the road.

Unfortunately, the weather was a bit overcast on the day I chose to ride.  In fact, when I got to the turn around point in Cross Village, it had started to rain.  Despite not raining in Harbor Springs, I ended up getting drenched through and through at the halfway point.

This is the elevation chart from the first half of the ride.  I did an out and back for a total of about 56 miles, so the second half the elevation chart is the reverse of the above.  As you can see, lots of ups and downs with very little flat stretches.

I had multiple technical difficulties on this ride which was a big pain in the butt.  First off, my Garmin wasn’t fully charged.  I figured I would use it as long as the battery held off, but then forgot to start it on the way out.  So, I was just going to rely on my Cateye bike computer.  However, when I got to the halfway point, I accidentally reset it when I tried to cycle through the functions.  And then to add to the mix, my stupid Profile Design saddle mounted bottle cage fell off just short of the halfway point.  I really need to email Profile Design to see if they will replace it because no matter how much I tighten it, it loosens up after about 100 miles of riding.

Because of the problems with the Garmin and bike computer, I don’t know my exact time, but I am estimating the ride was about 3 hours and 15 minutes which put me at just over a 17mph average.  It was a great relaxing ride and a cool way to explore the area.

Ride #2 Breakwater Course Preview

My second ride was on a portion of the Breakwater Half IM course.  I wanted to ride part of the course in case I decide to do the race at the end of the month.  Yep, that’s right, not only am I thinking of doing another HIM, but I am procrastinating about making the decision.

This was less than a mile into the ride and already a good sized climb.  I have a bad feeling about this…

It didn’t get any better.  This course was even hillier than the Tunnel of Trees route.  And after the first ride, my legs were already tired which didn’t help.

After I got out of downtown Petoskey, the road was more or less a country road with a good sized shoulder.  The road wasn’t particularly smooth, but I’ve ridden on worse.  It was primarily a chip and sealed road that was worn down over time.

I ended up riding 17 miles out and then turning around.  I was only going to do 15 out, but at the 15 mile mark, I saw another hill in the distance.  At that point, I turning into a hill-slayer and wanted to slay every hill in sight.  No hill was too big.  So, I charged off for another climb before turning around.

Finally a down hill! YAY!! The ride back into downtown Petoskey was much more downhill than the way out. There were still a couple of climbs, but nothing like the way out.

Again, I did an out and back course.  Above is the first half of the course with the second half being the reverse.

I ended up finishing in just under 2 hours for a 17.2mph average over the 34 miles.  This was another great ride and was really took a lot out of me.

Breakwater Petoskey Half IM Course

After my test ride of the Petoskey HIM course, I went back and looked at the actual course map.  I realized that I didn’t quite ride the course correctly and that the actual course would be a bit easier than what I rode.  That was a semi-relief.  It will still be a very tough bike course with lots of good climbs though.  Probably not a PR course with all of the hills, but it will be a challenge.

On the plus side, the run course is almost entirely flat.  It is a 6.5 mile out and back along the waterfront so there should be any hills.  I like the prospect of doing a simple out and back course versus the loops I have had to do at my previous HIMs.  I would think that an out and back would be mentally easier than the loops.

Now, I just have to make the decision.  To do the race or not to do the race.  I’m really not looking forward to another 4 hour drive (each way) to Petoskey, but I really want to get a 3rd HIM in this season.  I guess it is time to head on over to Priceline and see if Will Shatner can find us a hotel.

Race Morning

I did packet pickup the morning of the race to save a trip downtown on Friday.  I was pretty comfortable with the race and area having done the race once before and packet pickup twice before (last year’s race was cancelled due to weather the morning of the race), so I didn’t envision any problems.

I love doing these small races because they are so much easier to plan for.  Can you believe that all of my transition gear is in that small backpack?  Not having a wetsuit makes for much lighter traveling.  Technically, it was a wetsuit legal swim and there were a few people in wetsuits.  But for a 500m swim, I didn’t think it would add enough of a benefit to be worth it.

I quickly got my gear setup and got out of the transition area.  There was a one cocky d-bag on my rack and I wanted to spend as little time near him as possible.  Despite talking shit and acting like he should have been racked with the pros, I still beat his ass.  Take that!

The yellow bike is the cocky d-bag’s.  See all that rack space to the right of his bike?  He claimed that someone else was already racked there and kept anyone else from using the space.  I never did see another bike there – before, during, or after the race.

There was another guy on my rack doing his first triathlon.  He had a pair of Vibrams on and someone asked if he was going to run in them.  He said that he was and that he was going to bike in them too.  The person then jokingly said that he should swim in them too to save time.  Apparently, he had actually tried swimming in them but they absorbed too much water and were too heavy!  How great would that be, wear the same foot wear go all three disciples.  haha.

Swim

I headed down to the beach and did a bit of a swim warm up.  This is the first year that I have started to get in the water before the race actually starts.  The past two years, I have waited until the last possible minute to get in the water.  The swim warm up does make me colder as I wait to start the race, but I feel more relaxed and ready to go when the gun goes off.

I also met up with Rob down at the beach.  This was Rob’s first big triathlon.  He seemed a little nervous, but he was going to do great.

And off we go.  This was by far the most violent swim I have been in.  There was a group of guys who (in my opinion) started way too far in the front.  They were in the front left corner, the most aggressive positioning, and were doing the breast stroke before they got to the first turn buoy.  Needless to say, there was a lot of contact and fighting for position.  I feel that I did pretty well establishing my position and not shying away from the contact. 

The added contact did slow me down a bit and I didn’t make my 8:00 minute goal I had hope for, but overall I am happy with my swim.  My official time on the swim was 9:38 which included the run to transition.  My shore to shore time was closer to 8:45 though.

Rob (on the left) had a great swim and beat me out of the water by about 20 seconds.  When I talked to him afterwards, he didn’t have as much contact in the water as I did and stayed more towards the outer perimeter.

I was out of the water shortly thereafter and cruised up to the transition area.  It was so nice to be able to get out of the water and just run and not have to worry about a wetsuit.

T1

The first transition went pretty well. The only snafu was that I put a spare tube in my back pocket and as I was running out of transition it fell out of my pocket so I had to run back to get it.

Bike

Just like Steelhead, I had a great bike ride.  My goal for this race as to push as hard as possible on the bike no matter how much it hurt.  I wanted to destroy my legs so that I would have practice running on tired legs.  Going into the race, I wanted to try and average 23-24 mph on the bike.  It was only a 14.8 mile ride, so I knew that I could push the pace, but keeping up a 23-24 mph average was going to be hard.  I ended up finishing in 38:49 for a 22.9mph pace.  So close! I’ll take it though.

I love the start and finish to the bike portion of this race.  It is hard to tell in the pictures, but you start and finish by going around a roundabout that is lined with cheering fans.  It feels like the Tour de France because you are so close to the crowd as you fly past them.

The bike course is fairly flat with a couple of rolling hills.  I was able to stay in the big gear for the entire ride and only had to come out of aero for a climb at mile 1 and a second climb at mile 13.  Other than that, it was head down and pedal to the metal.  I used my AeroDrink for the 2nd time in a race and it worked great (I’ll eventually do a product review with some pros/cons).  Between that and a Goo halfway through the bike, that was all the nutrition I needed to get me through the race.

T2

Transition was uneventful.  I was shocked to only see a handful of bikes back on the racks.  I was probably in the top 10 back to the transition area. I quickly threw on my shoes and headed out.

Run

Remember that bike tube I shoved in my back pocket in T1? Well, I forgot to drop it at T2 and I didn’t want to run with it the entire way.  So, I tossed it to Jennie when I saw her as a I started the run.  Check out here amazing action shots.  Tube in hand, tube in mid area, and off I go!

I’m happy to say that despite pushing my legs as hard as they could go, the run went great.  I only got passed by one guy on the run and he went flying by me.  He ended up finishing 10th overall and logged 6 minute miles on the run.  There was another guy on the run that I chased the entire time.  He left transition shortly before I did and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make up the distance.  I found out afterward that he was in my age group and finished about 15 seconds ahead of me. Looking back at the results, I actually made pretty good progress on catching him.  He started the run about 45 seconds ahead of me and only finished 15 seconds ahead of me, so I made up nearly 30 seconds on the run – just not enough to beat him in the end.

A great mid-air, thumbs-up shot as I head towards the finish.

My official time was 1:12:11, over 3 minutes faster than 2 years ago!  This earned me 32 out of 592 overall and 6 out of 53 in my age group!

Post Race

After I crossed the finish line, I chatted briefly with the guy I had been trying to catch on the run.  He’s got that telltale arm tan line of a dedicated triathlete.  Love it.  We ended up taking 5 and 6 out of 53 in our age group.  At first I was bummed about this because I though awards went 5 deep.  I found out later they only went 3 deep, so Whew! I didn’t miss out on placing by 15 seconds.

Shortly after I crossed the finish line, Rob was charging in.  I missed getting a shot of him crossing the line because he was too speedy, but he finished in 1:16:11 taking 52 out of 592 overall and 12 out of 53 in our age group!  Talk about a great first race!

After chatting with Rob, I went back to watch for my coworker David and his son.  David had an awesome race and is showing great improvement at each race this year.  David was too fast for the camera as well and I didn’t get a picture until he was already passed me.

It wasn’t long after David went by that his son Connor came cruising in.  This was Connor’s first triathlon ever and it sounds like it won’t be his last. 

Here is Connor running to the finish with his mom cheering him on. 

Overall

Overall, another great race.  The weather was great and each event came together nicely for me.  The races are even more fun as I start to meet people and see them at different races.

Thanks again to my pit crew and photographer!  These short races really keep her on her toes.  I looked at the time stamps on the pictures she took and the most “down time” she had was about 30 minutes while I was on the bike.

Official Results

Anyways, Jennie and I just returned from a short vacation in Harbor Springs.  After a sprint triathlon on Saturday, we headed up to Harbor Springs for a few days of rest and relaxation.  My Google Reader has a backlog of nearly 75 posts to go through and I look forward to seeing how every one else’s training and races went this past weekend.

Details of our weekend are forth coming, but here is a quick preview:

I finished the tri with a 3+ minute PR from two years ago and took 32nd overall (out of 592).   I had an awesome race and was really in a groove.  Not only that, but my coworker David had an amazing race while his son rocked his first tri ever.  Rob also knocked his first big tri out of the park.

Then, it was up to Harbor Springs for a little of this

a little of this

a lot of this

and way too many of these

Stay tuned for more details and pictures!