Michigan Titanium 70.3

This year, my 'A' race was the Michigan Titanium 70.3 I've decided to stay at the 70.3k as my furthest distance because I can do training here and there if life gets hectic or if the Army gets in the way and I can still feel good about the race. Considering I'm not in AG podium shape just yet and am 'finisher' and not a competitor, I'll just compete with myself. I have the experience of doing a 70.3 already, so I know a little of what to expect in order to better my time. I'll also do a post in the future to review the season and the improvements that I've made.


Michigan Titanium:

I was initially drawn to this race because it was another option aside from the expensive WTC. Plus, it was perfectly timed for when I wanted a race. This was the race that I talked about finding for Jon and I in this post. The plan was to spend the summer getting those longer bikes and runs in on weekends, sprinkled with hard intervals on the trainer and medium runs with speedwork during the week. This didn't go according to plan because I was sent to Fort Sill, OK for 7 weeks during the height of the summer, where it was 103 degrees pretty much every day. I did do some racing, and those reports are also found in my previous posts. That racing definitely helped me on the bike leg for MITI 70.3. I had spent the majority of my training time on my bike and it showed when it came to the race. Without further ado, the report:

Swim:
Typical swim. It started in the water and followed a NASCAR-like 'Left, left, left' fashion and then returned to the beach where we had entered. Again, I didn't panic when I swim in open water, it's one of my strengths. I may not be fast, but I don't freak. I did catch a heel to my right eye at about half-way through the swim and that caused a small headache to spark. Came out of the water and got up and onto the bike. As I was getting into transition I took one packet of Frog Performance Frogfuel.

Time: 44:09 - 2:17/100m 11/15 AG
Strava link: http://www.strava.com/activities/78340704
T1: 2:45

Bike:

Here's where I knew I would be the strongest in the three events. Right from the get-go I started picking people off. I was a little surprised at the amound of rolling hills the course had, but they weren't too terrible. With exception to 2 or 3 of the hills, which ended up having a grade above 10%. Good thing I was climbing hills on EVERY ride this summer. For the first 10-15 miles I did get to play leapfrog with a guy on a steel-frame who would burn matches working to beat me up any hills. He was pretty un-aero as he had a Camelback and stock wheels with lots of spokes. I would inevitably pass him on the downhills since I had aerobars and a deep front wheel with a Zipp disc rear wheel. I will admit, it gave for a fun target and we passed smirks every time we passed each other. I enjoyed the tailwind for the front half of the course, but as we circled around on the back half I could definitely feel it start to affect my progress. It was especially bad when the wind would pick up slightly while going up a hill. Then there was an 800 meter section where the road had been torn up, so they laid a roll of tar-paper so we wouldn't flat on any sharp rocks. Unfortunately the 800 meter section started at the bottom of a hill, so we lost momentum by having to slow down to 10 mph AND we had to work harder to get up hill with the soft ground stealing energy. Once past that it was fairly uneventful and I was just ready to be on my feet and finishing this thing. Keeping me fueled was Hammer Nutrition's orange cream Perpetuem.

Heading out onto the bike course.

Time: 2:49:31 - 19.8 mph 3/15 AG
Strava link: http://www.strava.com/activities/78333272
T2: 3:43

Genevieve waiting for me to finish.

Run: Coming from this summer I knew that I wasn't going to be as fast as I was hoping. Most of my runs were around 3-4 miles and were fast. I started off at a decent pace, I think if this had been a 5k run it would've been a pretty fast run. I started running on E at about mile 3 and started walk-running. Started out as run 5 minutes and walk 1-2 minutes. Then it moved to walk 1 minute, run until the next mile mark, walk 1 minute, run to the next mile mark etc. until that stopped happening. Eventually I got synced up with a guy who was cramping up a bit, so he and I walked and ran together. I say ran, but it was more of a slow jog. Generally when I'm not trained enough for a running race I'll make a habit of walking through aid stations and I found more things that worked well to replace salt and calories. Pickles are awesome. Cookies are incredible. Basically all food was awesome. I pushed through my sore and tired legs for the last mile or so to get a PR. Not the result I wanted, but a PR nonetheless.

Time: 2:33:04 - 11:42 min/mi 12/15 AG
Overall: 6:13:15 - 9/15 AG 116/300 OA

About 50m from the finish line.

Almost there!!

Good:
-Definitely happy with the bike avg
-Swim was only a few seconds off per 100m compared to Bigfoot Oly
-Nutrition was good and didn't cause cramping

Needs improvement:
-SWIM. I've said it all this summer, didn't get enough swimming in.
-RUN. Needed more long runs with better intervals.
-Keep building the power on the bike.

Overall I am fairly pleased with the race. The course was great, although I'm glad I only did one loop of each rather than doing the 140.6. I am grateful to all the volunteers and law enforcement that helped to make it a safe course. I would suggest to them, treat spectators with more respect, though. My wife reported to me that one marshal was being very rude and yelling at spectators.

Thanks, MI Titanium!! I wish I could come play again next year, but I'll be in California!!