Blog

As predicted,the beginning of residency made keeping up with my race reports a little more difficult!  My first rotation was pretty time consuming and I was working between 60 to 70 hours a week.  Looking back, I'm not completely certain how I managed to motivate myself enough to get all my workouts in, but some how I did and I made it through a tough month.  I do have to give a lot of credit to my husband for cooking, doing the grocery shopping and even cleaning the apartment!  I certainly would not have gotten out of bed to get in the pool week after week if it wasn't for him pushing my butt out of the bed and into the pool!  Now back to the interesting information!  

Since my last blog, I have competed in two races.  I will just quickly summarize the Mackinaw Triathlon.  This has always been one of my favorite vacation destination races!  The water is super clear, the bike course is flat and beautiful, and the run is also flat and the aid stations are manned by cheering and enthusiastic Boy Scouts.  The water, although clear, was very rough!  Two years ago, the water was so rough that the swim was canceled.  It was a little more calm this year, but it still made for a tough swim.  Before my wave went, I saw multiple men swim to shore before even reaching the first buoy.  My swim went pretty well and I was the first woman on the bike.  I held that lead through the bike and into the run.  When I started my run, I decided to try catching as many men as possible.  That definitely kept me motivated and allowed me to repeat as 2nd overall and 1st overall woman.  Todd also had a solid race and finished 1st overall.  My dad also had a very strong race and one of his fastest run times yet!  He has been doing some very hard work on his run, so I was happy it paid off for him.  It was great to have such a lovely break from the middle of a busy work month!

Now on to the Frankenmuth Triathlon!  This was the first time I have ever raced in an Elite Wave alongside professional triathletes, which was a really cool opportunity.  I don't have an Elite License (yet!!), but this race offered to allow any men with an Olympic time under 2:10 and any women with an Olympic time under 2:30 to race in the Elite Wave and race for an $8000 prize purse!  It was a pretty small wave, only 15 of us, which made it even more fun and unique.  Also, the girls and guys went at the same time, which was a neat opportunity.  

To get to the swim, we walked down a ramp and onto a neat river boat.  We walked through the boat and to the back where there was a ramp leading into the water.  The Elite Wave was announced and we dove into the water from the ramp.  After jumping into the water, we swam to the starting line which was under a covered wood bridge.  Before I knew it, the horn was blowing and it was time to go!  By far, this was the fastest group of swimmers I have ever had the pleasure to swim with!  Professional triathlete and a great training partner or mine, Abby Geurink, was there and took off with the fast boys, including pros Ben Collins and Brooks Cowan.  Lucky for me, my favorite pacing partner, Kate Vann, was also at there.  The swim course was in a river and had a line of buoys and rope dividing it down the center.  Originally, I thought this set up would make for easy siting, but unfortunately I chose not to wear shaded goggles and had some trouble with sun in my eyes.  I kept close to Kate and another great male pro, Ryan Rau, and exited the river not long after them.

There was a slightly long run from the water to transition, but the race crew was prepared and set down mats over gravel, so my feet were quite happy when I arrived at my bike.  I headed out of transition at a sprint, hoping to catch up to Kate early on the bike.  I could see her ahead of me as I mounted my bike, which inspired me to a very fast start to my ride.  After passing Kate there was no one.  Like, literally, no one.  I had spent some time before the race speaking with the race official about the drafting rules because in an Elite division, the rules follow pro rules, which means the distance between bikes is 10 meters.  Before the race I was a little worried about the increased distance, but once on the bike I saw I had no reason to worry!  The course was flat and had some really nice pavement by Michigan standards!  I kept pushing my pace, hoping to keep my bike split around 1:05, which I am happy to say I did!

I always struggle a little bit with T2, no matter how many times I practice it, I just can't mimic how noodle-like my legs feel when I'm trying to pull on my race flats.  After shoving my sweaty feet into my racing flats, I grabbed my hat, my racing belt and my inhaler and headed out on the 2 lap run.  And what a unique run it was!  The course took me past a Brew Haus, through a petting zoo, over a bridge, past Bronner's, through downtown Frankenmuth and over the covered wood bridge, all in just 1 lap!  Of course, it is always a little sad to pass the finish line only to start on lap 2!  Luckily, there are plenty of sights on the run course and plenty of aid stations to keep my mind occupied.  I was happy to see the covered bridge and head down the finishing chute for real and finished 2nd Overall to Abby.

Before moving on to how my friends and family did at this race, I wanted to take a moment to share a little about the purpose of this race.  The race was organized by Tri for Life, which was founded by 3 brothers in memory of their brother Chase.  Chase was in a lethal car accident at only 20 years old.  While in the hospital, his family chose to donate his organs and Chase was able to save the lives of 7 other people.  As a physician seeing these decisions made in the hospital, I have seen how hard this can be for families to make this decision, but how amazing the outcome can be for so many others, including the family.  I am an organ donor and I have discussed this matter in detail with my husband so he know what my wishes are if anything were to ever happen to me.  So I encourage everyone to become an organ donor and talk to your family about your decision.  

Now on to the results!  Abby had a fabulous race and finished first overall with the awesome prize of a GIANT check, along with an actual check that the banks will accept.  Kate finished strong with a 3rd place finish.  Ryan Rau had a really strong bike to finish 4th overall and then raced a half Ironman the next day and finished on the podium!  Pro triathlete and former MSU Triathlon teammate Aaron Bachman had the fastest run of the day to finish 5th overall.  I was super proud of my husband, who was the first amateur male and finished 6th overall.  It was also great to see Matt West again, not sure where he has been hiding, but I haven't seen him in at least a year!  He put together a strong race all around to finish 7th overall.  Another long-lost friend and former MSU Triathlon teammate, Scott Przystas also had a strong performance to finish 9th.  

It was such a unique opportunity to race in an Elite Wave and it gave me a little confidence boost for Age Group Nats, which is coming up this Saturday!  I have never done back-to-back Olympics before, but this race schedule is something my coach and I have been preparing for all season, so I'm confident I will be ready come Saturday!  I'm excited to race alongside my training buddies Jef Mallett and Brian Bess and also the Lansing Triathlon Team who will be there in force!  Good luck to everyone else racing Age Group Nats and happy training!