Maumee Bay Tri

[Eric]

I just looked at the results and saw some awesome performances. I want to hear from the likes of Durno, Aussie, Jen P, Miceli, et al.

Great job everyone who was out there.

[Aussie Rob]

Durno's a robot. I'm pretty sure Miceli is a cyborg.

[kfoster]

always nice admiring all you wicked fast people from a distance over there! I had a solid race for myself, placing 3rd in my division and 45th overall (yea! top 50!) Most importantly, I beat myself from last year by 3 minutes.

Too bad I ran head first into a kayak during the swim. Not sure why she was cutting across a line of swimmers so early in the race. I had just managed to get around a guy who couldn't swim a straight line for more than two strokes when, wham! Hello kayak wielding guard!

[Aussie Rob]

Some of those lifeguards are hot though. Almost pulled a timmy walsh and asked for a phone number, but quickly remembered i was married

[kfoster]

surely Walsh just smiles and they offer up #'s without much prodding...

[Aussie Rob]

More or less. If that fails though he just flexes a few muscles and that does the trick i think.

[Eric]

Wow....we went from race reports to the mating rituals of Timmy Walsh. Talk about a hi-jack.

Great job Kevin. Yes....Kayaks bad for swimming into.

[jen]

Alright, here goes....so this was my first Olympic Tri. I knew I'd be fine biking and running the distance, now the swim was the biggest concern as last year I only did a couple local tris where the swim was .25 mile and I had trouble with that. BUT! Thanks to Rob Reddy I can now swim! Surely, I am not fast in the water but I can do it and I did!

So during the swim I felt like I sighted well and stayed on course pretty well. Got some body contact with other swimmers and that disturbed me as I haven't really experienced that so sometimes I slowed and let them go on their merry way and then I continued on. I felt more comfortable when I could just do my own thing and get into a rhythm. Perhaps not so good for time but with the swim at this point I want to enjoy it and feel comfortable. I definitely need to work on my speed in the water but as I looked at my watched when I exited the water it said 28 something and I was expecting about 33 or so. (The sprint tri a couple weeks ago was 500M and I did that in 11 something.) So when I saw that I felt pretty good!

T1 went very well for me. Came out of the water and pulled the wetsuit down as far as I could and still run. Once I got to my bike I pulled it down to my knees and plopped on the ground, got the rest off easier than I thought. Shoes, helmet, sunglasses on and I was off! Very happy with this!

On the bike I felt good. Started off spinning to get the legs going and then buckled down and got to work. The wind wasn't too bad except for one section. I was happy to pass a girl on a Cervelo and thought "see, it's not about the bike, it's the operator!" Also passed a few guys-even a couple on tri-bikes (but they looked like they were strugging) and was only passed by guys on tri-bikes. Entering T2 I felt like I really had to slow down due to a couple other bikers and figuring out where we went -and to dismount, but I got there. I'm disappointed there are no T2 times posted because again I felt like my transition was good.

Off on the run-my strength. Started off staying at a comfortable pace, a little under 8 min miles. It was HOT! There was one tiny spot of shade otherwise the sun was blaring down and happy to have my sunglasses and CTC visor on! Took water at every spot and dumped some on myself. Along the run I passes a woman who, I'm not sure what was wrong with her physically, but she was an inspiration to me. I picked it up the second half of the run doing about 7 -715 min/mile pace. I probably could've done that the whole run but having never done this distance I didn't want to run out of gas. A strong finish and was happy with my time.

Overall I thought it was a great race, great location. Definitely good for a first oly. It was nice to see the other CTCers out there on the course. I'm definitely hooked! (Not that I wasn't already

[Charlie]

Well done Jen. Nice report.

Aussie, I swallowed a lot of water on that swim. Very well staffed.
Good job to all!

[Eric]

Fantastic report Jen. A wonderful finish to a well executed race.

[allanjel]

Great report Jen. Very glad to hear your first Oly went super-well. I estimate you will be ready for a full ironman in about 14 months and about 2 weeks.

Hey, look at that I just checked the calendar and they are having an ironman at Cedar Point that weekend....haha!! What perfect timing!

[jen]

Thanks everyone!

Beth-you crack me up! I am considering it. First, trying to figure out if there's a half IM I can work in this year because I think that'd be a good idea for experience and to gauge if I'd want to do a full. Still deciding on the mary too. Good luck to you at the Dam tri. (and Eric too!)

[Aussie Rob]

Better late than never, but i wrote one for www.sssmst.com and was too lazy to write a new one.

Having hurt myself and not testing to see if i was healthy enough to race kept my expectations low for Maumee. Went mostly for the camaraderie as most of the SSSMST were attending. Chances of a DNF were high, but race day is always fun. Drove up with Leah – she drives fast!

Swam well (for me), passed some people with full aero gear on the bike (always fun) and spent some time going back and forth with Marty Mason who looked cool and composed. Leg started to ache about mile 20 so backed it down a little thinking it might be the beginning of the end. Got a little misdirection from a volunteer at T2 but no big deal, and headed out on the run just to see what would happen. Leg ached, but not too bad, and passed Marty around mile 1 wondering if it would stick. It didn’t and Marty passed me back about mile 4. Saw Aaron Rood on the run chasing down the leader of the Du race; he asked me how far back he was and i yelled something akin to how my 2 year old daughter might answer. Suffice to say it wasn’t helpful.

Tried to stay with Marty but i couldn’t hang, and my leg started pinging around mile 5, so i again backed it down a touch and focused on my form hoping i wouldn’t have to walk it in. Managed to get through okay though and finished in 2:08 (7:27 PR!), won my AG, and got 16th OA. All things considered I’m pretty happy. Although my leg hurts today and i have some sweet blisters….it was worth it

Beat Durno for the first time, but in his defense, he raced some ridiculous adventure race and slept on the ground the day before Maumee, and i only got him by 13 seconds, so I'm still counting that as a win for him. As mentioned though, he's a robot, and should be racing in the automatons division.

[MarkD]

Double Shot Weekend:

I was debating on how to write up this race report. This past weekend was, by far, one of the most gratifying experiences since I began this crazy lifestyle about 5 years ago. The past 2 years, I've become less competitive and have learned to enjoy this sport more. Two years ago, I would have never dreamed of doing two events in two days - mainly because I knew my 2nd day performance would suffer and cost me time. Two years ago, I would have not considered having a few drinks the night before a race. Don't get me wrong, when the gun sounds - I'm exceptionally focused and I work my a$$ off, but, I don't worry about the things around me as much - I enjoy them. Sunday night and into Monday, my body was completely broken down and it was one of the best feelings - I want that feeling back already and can't wait to race this Sunday.

Race #1, Saturday: M22 Challenge (Bike, Run, Paddle)

A friend told me about this, so, I strategically planned a work trip (that I was overdue for) the day before. This was the inagural offering of the event, so, I figured it would be relatively small and, in those types of races, no-so-fast people like me can fare pretty well. So, this race would be the focus of the weekend (i.e. go as hard and fast as I can). About 150 peeps were in the race. The pre-race was a bit scary. They had one long transition bike rack for ALL of the bikes. About 20 minutes before the race, the entire structure fell over. All I could think was MY NEW WHEELS HAD BETTER SURVIVE THIS. Picked the bike out of the mess - checked it out - no damage done. Whew... The race start was cool. Immediately, one super-bike (aussie's calibur) jumps out in front and hammers away from us. I'm holding second position, but losing ground to this dude every mile. I had him in sight for the first 10 (out of 17) miles. What pissed me off was the 8 people were drafting me in a non-draft race. No sh*t - it looked like a pelaton behind me. All I could think was "if these pansies need to draft, I will clock them on the run". The course was around Glen Lake (sleeping bear dunes national park). Absolutely fabulous. Even though I was totally red-lining, I'm glad I took the time to look around at the amazing scenery. As the bike ended, I realized I drop all but 2 of the drafters. One of them hung with me on the run, the other, we dusted quick. The run was a 2-miler with 100 yards of it straight up a sand dune. Holy hel l. This was the most painful thing I think I've ever experienced. Luckily, after a 50 yard run across the top, it was right back down the dune. The kid continued to draft me on the run. Into transition... this is where I lost the race. I took my shoes off, put a life jacket on. The kid simply jumped into his kyack and went (no life jacket was required in this race - dammit). I was a minute behind by the time I kyacked out. We both tracked down the super-biker quickly (we put a ton of time into him on the run). Then it was the two of us. I gained about 30 seconds on him, but a 1-mile paddle just wasn't enough time. When I found out the he was only 19 and an olympic qualifier in speed skating for the 2010 games, I felt pretty dam* good about the race - especially since he drafted me the entire bike !!

The race had a very laid back "California" feel to it. The trophy's were by far the best I've seen and they even constructed a podium for the finishers. Very well done. Check it out -CTC on the podium:

www.m22challenge.com

Race #2: Sunday, Maumee Bay Olympic:

As Aussie stated, I drove down to Toledo, met my family and set up camp at the park. What he didn't mention is that I went to BW3 for dinner, had 18 spicy garlic wings and drank about 6 beers !! Yeah baby... Nothing like enjoying the moment after really fun day in Northern Michigan. Maumee morning, needless to say, brought many trips to the port-a-cans. The wings may have been a good idea - they really cleaned me out for racing. My legs were trashed and I went into this with one goal... Have Fun !!

The swim began with an interesting sensation... my diaphram was a bit sore from the red-lining the day before, but, my arms/chest/back felt really good 'cause I hadn't swam the day before. I came out of the water and saw Anne (wife) and the boys. I stopped, gave the boys each 5 and gave Anne a smooch - I figure this delay took about 14 seconds.

Onto the bike. I felt surprisingly good. My Hed3 wheels really cut the wind well - I'm amazed at how well they slice. Uneventful, but, good bike.

Then came the run. The first mile plus felt really good. Again, I was just enjoying the day - really surprised at how good I felt. Then mile two hit. On a flat course, my legs started burning. Uh Oh - the sand dunes are coming back to haunt me. Yep - it was a suffer fest the remainder of the run - but, I gotta say - I really enjoyed it. Mainly because there were no expectations and seeing all the familiar faces from the club really helped. Funny thing is - I think I set a PR with a "c" race performance - I'm gonna have to check my records to see for sure.

Its been a long week of recovery. I'm really considering doing this exact routine next year. Anyone interested?? I guarantee its worth it !!



ps: Yeah Rob... you got me by 13 seconds but, since I took 14 seconds to spend time with my fam between the swim and the bike... well, you get the picture ;-)

pss: Jen - congrats on a fantastic first OLY - its been cool watching you progress the past year.

psss: Dave - incredible performance. Loss of speed, my a$$ !!

[Aussie Rob]

It's ok, i spent a good 1:30 with Anne before i got on the bike.

What a woman!

[MarkD]

Yes !! I knew you were quick (per Joan), but, really... 1:30 Oh yeah - you're in your 20's - that 'splains it. O.K., I concede. Too funny.

[ebanks2]

Aussie failed to mention that the 1:30 included foreplay, the actual deed, pillow talk and cuddling.