RACE REPORT by Jim Peplow
Unless it's a local race that I can travel to within a day, when deciding what races to sign up for there are basically two things I consider; the race venue itself and the vacation (racecation) we have along the way. With those to two things in mind I decided to sign up for the IM Michigan 70.3. The race was ranked as the #1 best overall event in North America in the most recent Ironman Athlete's Choice Awards, along with earning the top spot as the best bike course. As for the vacation part of it we had never really spent any time in Michigan, plus we would explore new areas in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. In all we ended up covering 12 states on our 17 day road trip.
After spending three days in Branson, MO we spent the night in Decatur, IL. A morning run the next day brought back some memories. My dad was born in Decatur (1916), so obviously I was thinking about him during my run. I then thought about the last time I talked to him. It was Saturday afternoon in August 1989. I had competed in the Chico Triathlon that morning and he called to find out how my race went. I talked to my parents every Sunday night and when he wanted to call on Saturday, my mom later told me that she said to him, why not just wait until our regular Sunday call. She was so glad he ended up making the Saturday call because he had a heart attack and died the next morning. What's interesting about this is that the call was initiated because of the triathlon, and now in Decatur thinking about him I was on my way to another triathlon.
After having planned on the normally cooler Northwest Michigan mid September weather we were pleasantly surprised with a little heat wave than saw temps range from mid 60s-70s, rather than the normal mid 50s-60s. Once again using my IM AWA (All World Athlete) status, I was able to secure a low bid number and a rack position right next to the pros. This area, right by Lake Michigan, is known for beautiful sunrises and sunsets and race day morning was no exception. The water temperature was a refreshing 66°. As I was putting on my wetsuit a noticed a tear develop in the side of the suit. It wasn't big enough to make the suit ineffective, but it was a bit annoying. Checking out the wetsuit after the race I found that it was a seam that had separated, so I'll have to contact Xterra. I thought the swim went okay, but after looking at the results it turns out it was a bit disappointing. More on that later.
After T2 I was glad to be out of the water and on the bike. It was a beautiful day for a ride along with great scenery, especially the portions that skirted the lakes. If I had one complaint about the bike course it would be the narrowness of some of the lanes that were marked out with traffic cones. Several of the cones had been knocked over making it a bit more hazardous than it should have been. It was not a very hilly course with about 1200 feet of gain and I was very happy with my time of 2:51, for an average speed of 19.6 mph. It was my second IM race with my new QR tri bike and it definitely makes a difference.
The run was a flat double out & back around Betsie Lake (where we had swam earlier in the day). Running is by far my strongest event and this one was no different. I was happy with my pacing and felt good through the entire leg. Out of the 21 people in my age group I had the 2nd fastest run leg, and the 6th fastest bike leg. However the swim leg was the Achilles heel of my race where my time in the water ranked 17th.
My overall time of 5:56:11 landed me on the podium with a 4th place finish. However my frustration with the swim leg that I mentioned earlier was because my swim time was about seven minutes slower than I had planned on. My combined bike/run legs were the 2nd fastest in my AG, but the difference in my swim knocked me from 2nd to 4th overall. I guess I really need to commit to some serious lessons if I want to improve that part of my race. The issue is that I love my running workouts and enjoy my bike training, but I really only swim in order to compete in triathlons. Since I train and race for fun, and I don't get as much enjoyment in swimming, serious swim training apparently isn't in the cards for me.
We had a nice little cabin by Lake Michigan for the weekend and that evening enjoyed another beautiful sunset. Now for the rest of my season; I have a local Sprint Triathlon in BCS at the end of the month, then start training in earnest for the Houston Marathon in January where I'm trying for another Boston Marathon qualifier. This will be my first stand-alone marathon since Boston in 2015 (that is, a marathon that didn't come at the end of an Ironman race). My only other scheduled event, which I incorporated into my training schedule, is the BCS Half-Marathon in early December
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Ivan (Friday, 27 September 2024 20:43)
Still a great job! Congrats.