Blog

It’s taken me a while to sit down and write my race blog from the Reeds Lake Triathlon.  I’ve been trying to think about why.  I think part of it is that with three races in a row, I was beginning to feel a bit repetitive.  Same routine on a different day: wake up before dawn, warm up, set up transition, swim, bike, run.  Triathlon tends to be a rather repetitive sport with small nuances from one race to another that may only seem exciting to the person who raced.  Certainly by the time I had reached my third race in a row, I was feeling some déjà vu!  I think another part of it was that I began to question how my race blogs were actually helping anyone.  I try to throw in some tid bits of information here and there, but there is a lot of sorting through the wordy blog to find the “golden nuggets”!  So let me start this blog with some information, then I’ll quickly brush over the race and then move on to an announcement of how I hope to be more helpful to fellow triathletes in the future!

The big difference at Reeds Lake was pretty clear: rain delay.  I had checked the weather the day before and hadn’t even seen a hint of a chance of rain on race morning.  But there it was.  The first wave of men was lined up at the start, ready to run over the rocky shoreline and dive into the water, when a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and they were told to exit the starting area.  At first I panicked!  In all my years of racing, I had never faced a rain delay!  My nutrition would be completely thrown off, how would I ever survive this?!  So my first tip is this: stay calm.  Don’t let your heart start racing from anxiety.  The best way to stay calm is to have a plan.  Lucky for me, Abby Geurink, a Grand Rapids area based pro, was with me.  I followed her like a little baby-pro duckling and emulated her routine.  She stayed calm.  She took an extra trip to the restroom.  She went into the transition area and grabbed a bit more nutrition.  She moved around and kept loose.  So I did the same: I went to the bathroom, I went into transition and grabbed an extra GU and I walked around and swung my arms about in swimming motions to stay loose.  The bottom line here is to have a backup plan!  That way you are calm and ready!

Once the skies had cleared and the boys were off, it was the ladies’ turn.  The horn blew and I followed Abby over the rocks and into the water.  My plan for the swim was pretty simple: swim fast.  I wanted to stay as close to the lead pack of women as possible and thus give myself a better chance of catching them early in the bike.  Of course Abby, who swam in college, was gone like a fish!  But I managed to stay in the group of lead women almost until the end.  An awesome friend of mine, Kattie Carpenter-Rosa, was at the swim exit cheering me on and told me I was 4^th out of the water.  Sweet!  Not too shabby!   I passed a woman in transition, which is exactly why I practice my transitions!  Free time is the best!

Onto the bike!  Thanks to the lovely rain delay, the roads were slick.  The first part of the Reeds Lake bike course had quite a few turns, which I decided to take cautiously.  I caught sight of the next woman and pushed a harder gear in pursuit.  I passed her a little before a big downhill with a sharp right handed turn at the bottom.  After I made a very slow turn, I heard the unmistakable crunching crash of an athlete falling.  I looked over my shoulder briefly to see Megan James, the woman I had just passed, fall on the sharp turn.  She got back up pretty quickly and I hoped she was ok!  Another reason why the Reeds Lake bike course is tricky is because going out is a lot of downhill and coming back is a LOT of uphill.  I probably should have taken the downhill portion a little faster, but I was a little shaken by seeing Megan crash and stayed a bit too conservative, but I came back to transition safely.

Now to the run!  The run course is really pretty, but with no out and back section it is difficult to judge where I am in relation to other athletes.  I knew Abby was happily cruising along ahead of me, so no chance to catch up to her, but I was hoping to hold on to my 2^nd place position.  Not too far into the run, I heard the unmistakable cadence and breathing of Jake Crowe.  Seriously though, if you run with someone on a track once a week, you learn to recognized people by their cadence and breathing!  I told him a breathy “good job” and focused on my own cadence.  In the last stretch of the run I started to pick up my pace when I looked ahead and saw a ponytail.  I was in the last mile of the run and had really thought I was in 2^nd place!  So I ran harder, hoping to catch the woman ahead.  When I drew closer, I saw a “D” on her calf for duathlon.  Oh well!  I have her to thank for a faster run spit!  And in the final stretch there was a guy running just ahead of me.  I decided it would be good practice to bust out my sprinting, which I rarely use in racing but could be vital in a pro race!  It was a great sprint and the crowd went nuts!  I think he edged me out in the end, but I gave him a good run for his money!

Now for the quick summary of the results!  Abby finished 1^st overall female in 1:28:01 and I took a respectable 2^nd behind her in 1:32:36.  And a very strong and determined Megan James recovered from her bike crash to finish 3^rd in 1:36:56.  My wonderful and always supportive hubby finished 1^st in his age group in 1:25:52 and the always speedy Jake Crowe from Playmakers finished 1^st in his age group in 1:29:27. 

So another race, another race blog.  But back to my goal of helping fellow triathletes… I am so happy, proud and honored to announce that I will be working with the Lansing Oak Park Y Triathlon Team!  It has long been a goal of mine to help fellow triathletes and the amazing coach, Kathi Shipley, has generously offered to help me contribute in any way possible!  I don’t want to spill too many trade secrets, but one of my goals is to do a monthly blog answering a question (or maybe two!) submitted by team members.  I’m also planning to be part of a nutritional seminar in the spring, and my topic will be Race Day Nutrition.  I’m very excited for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to get started and meet more amazing and inspiring members of the Oak Park tri team!  I hope to meet many of you soon and please feel welcome to contact me with any questions, comments or anything else! 

Happy Training!