Steelhead Trip Report

The short version: Another PR - 5:10!

The really long version:

Prerace
After a grueling three hour drive through Chicago we arrived at our hotel just outside of St. Joseph, MI and got checked in. Transition opened at two so we repacked the family and headed down to get a feel for things and get checked in.

The Triathlon was staged from Jean Klock park a small lake front park with a fantastic beach for the kids. My wife and kids headed down to check out the beach while I browsed a bit at the expo and headed over to get my packet. After getting my packet and body markings I ran into a few folks from the health club as well as a couple people from my Triple T race earlier this summer. Triple T folks get around - each race I've been at I've seen at least one. Afterwards I racked my bike and then headed to the beach to find my family.

Hung out down at the beach for a while with the kids and then pried them away (they weren't very pleased) to head back to the hotel for a quick change and then dinner.

Dinner was arranged by Habeela at an awesome Italian restaurant called Santinellos that was just five minutes away from our hotel. Shelley and family, E-Speed and a couple of friends, DJGoldnboy and his wife, and Habeela and her Mom were present. It was great to meet everyone. Everyone was very nice and very excited about the coming race. My kids were a bit antisocial and cranky (they were banking on more beach time and McDonald's for dinner) but what's a parent to do.

After dinner headed back to the room, premade my coffee, stuck in some earplugs and drifted off to sleep in record time - it had been a long day of traveling back and forth so we were all pretty wiped.

Race Morning
Up at 4:30, fully caffeinated by 4:45. Mixed my Perpeteum bottles and roused the family. They were all quite pleased at getting up so early - especially the kids. Knowing they were headed back to the beach helped encourage them a little. Got them fed, packed into the van, and then we were off.

Last year this Triathlon had around 800 participants. This year there were 2000, so there was a bit of growing pain. Parking was a bit of a nightmare as they routed us through an industrial park about a mile away from the start. The idea was that we'd be bussed to the start. After waiting for about 10 minutes with a mob of people (kids and wife very pleased by this time) we were told by a volunteer that we'd have to walk to the other side of the industrial park to get a bus. Glorious.

Finally got a bus and got to transition. Said goodbye's to the family as they headed down to the beach. Their mood improved the closer they got to the beach. Good thing.

Set up my transition area and then wandered over to the porta-potty's and the water coolers to top off my bottles before catching yet another bus to the race start - the pier marking the entrance to the St. Joseph river. While in transition I ran into Habeela and E-Speed and friends, as well as my buddy The Mountain who I did Triple T with earlier this summer and one of my spin instructors from the club. We chatted a bit and then headed for the bus.

On arrival we regrouped and finished getting our wetsuits on. I wandered down to the water to check the temps (very nice) and to rinse my goggles before heading up to the pier with my wave.

The getting to the start point part was the most stressful part of the day. Once I got there and got ready to begin my usual race-calm descended. I get a little jittery and nervous prior to a race but once things begin I slip very quickly into my zone. The fact that my plan for race day was to focus on fun first also helped keep my mind in the right place.

The Swim
For the swim start you lined up with your wave-mates and jumped off the pier. The drop into the water was a good 6-8 feet and you had to wait for the person in front of you to pop up before you could jump, otherwise you'd probably land on top of them. By this time I was totally calm and pumped - an odd combination, sort of like a spring coiled and ready to go. The countdown came, the horn sounded, and I launched.

I hit the water and quickly sank down, and then popped up like a cork. Cool! Got myself oriented and started swimming. I kept my mind focused on pulling from my back instead of my arms and was for the most part successful. About 15 minutes into the swim I started picking up people from the wave ahead of me. I was also passing quite a few folks from my wave so I knew the swim was going pretty well. About mid way through though my goggles started fogging badly. I thought about stopping and rinsing them out but was afraid I'd get hit in the face by a swell and wash out my contacts so I carried on. It got to the point where I was sighting through a dime sized clear spot in my goggles. Fortunately I'm a pretty straight swimmer so though it was a pain not to see clearly it didn't really hurt me and I didn't get spun up about it.

As I reached the beach I took off the goggles and swim cap and started running up the beach into the crowd of supporters gathered at the waters edge. I looked up and there was my family - very cool! I gave my daughter a quick wet hug and then ran up the hill and into transition.

The Bike
Got out onto the bike course and found my rhythm immediately - very good sign. I slipped into cruise control and started picking off riders one by one. The weather was perfect, the road surface was awesome, and the scenery was beautiful.

Things were going perfect until mile 15. At mile 15 I got a front row seat to the worse crash I've ever seen. A woman had just passed me and I dropped back the required four bike lengths to avoid a drafting penalty. She pulled to the right a little too much and her front tire went off the side of the road. She tried to compensate by turning back into the road but her tire slipped and her bike shot to the left right in front of me - very similar to my crash a few weeks ago, except this time it was her and not me crashing. Her attempts at regaining control of the bike only seemed to make things worse. As her back wheel lifted she flew off the front of the bike. I'll never forget her scream as she went down hard. She rolled for a good ten feet before stopping. Her bike continued for a few more feet before sliding to a stop. Fortunately her and the bike went down to the left of me and I avoided the crash. I turned and a few people had stopped to help out. I saw the intersection ahead had a volunteer so I continued and let the volunteer know that someone had crashed. I never found out her number so I don't know if she finished. I don't think so though.

The rest of the bike was fortunately much less eventful. I had my computer set to show me splits every 10 miles and each split was a bit under 30 minutes - perfect pacing. I ran through my nutrition according to my plan as well and felt great. With about 10 miles to go The Mountain caught up with me. He was tackling the hills in big gears and grinding his way up so I encouraged him to go with little gears and spin. By the second hill he got my point and was cruising away from me. I was tempted to pursue but instead stuck to my plan.

I hit transition and glanced down at my computer - right around 2:30 - good news from a pacing standpoint. After that though I totally botched the transition. This was my worst T2 ever - clocking in at above 4 minutes. The problem was I didn't think through the mechanics before I entered so my mind was all over the place. First I started without my race belt and gel pack. Then I started without my watch. Third time was a charm and I finally successfully escaped the confines of T2.

The Run
legs: Umm, hello?
mind: Yes?
legs: Whatcha doin?
mind: (slightly annoyed) Running.
legs: Yeah. About that. Umm, aren't we going a bit fast?
mind: No. Anything else I can help you with? I'm a little busy.
legs: Uh, guess not.
mind: Great. Mind out.
legs: Yeah. You can say that again....

My prerace plan was to focus on form if I felt bad, and go fast if I felt good. I felt good. Instead of starting at a 10 minute pace and splitting down I started at an 8:30 pace and kept that for the whole 1/2 marathon. Normally I wouldn't do this but I felt really, really good. I had good form and rhythm and felt very calm and smooth.

The great thing about this run is that there are a few out and back legs so you get to see and cheer on other athletes as they go by. As I saw people from the health club and the blogger group we'd cheer each other on. That made the whole run that much more fun and gave me something to focus on other than counting my steps. The positive energy you pass comes back immediately and I milked every bit of it. The run was a mixture of shady neighborhoods, unshaded roads, and industrial park areas. There were plenty of aid stations along the way and this time I avoided filling up my running shoes with water!

By mile 12 my legs were getting smoked. I could feel the energy ebb. I could also see the final hill and turnaround down to the finish line so that got me through. I shot down the finish line and saw my family perched on the side of a hill adjacent to the finish line. I looked up and saw the clock. 5:35. My wave left 24 minutes after the clock started. I knew then that I had a new PR. With a huge smile I crossed the line and reunited with my family.

After hydrating I met my family down by the beach and soaked in the water for a while. The perfect ending to a fantastic day.