Gull Lake Sprint Triathlon Race Preview

Well, here is another race preview of a race that is coming up soon (June 28th, 2014), so I'd figure I'd better get this out there for folks to look at before race day.

Sadly, I'll be in town for this race, but the sad part is that it is the same day as my wife's twin sister's wedding, so no mas for me!  It's a shame since I LOVE this race, not only because it was my first ever triathlon, but also since I was last year's Master's Champion (and 2nd place overall; cough, cough, minor brag! ;) ), but it pains me to miss this well run, well executed event.  But enough with the blah-blah, on with the preview!


The Race:  The sprint race consists of a 500 yard swim in Gull Lake, followed by a 10 mile out and back ride, culminating with a true 5K, out and back run.


PARKING:

Make sure you park ONLY in the designated area, just follow the signs!  Last year the race director, Jim Mishler, had volunteers out to help folks to the correct parking area, and while it is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away, it isn't that bad of a walk / ride (just make sure you wear your helmet on the bike!).

All in all, well planned parking all around, so just follow the cars and park where you are suppose to!

TRANSITION AREA:

Map--> http://www.gulllaketriathlon.com/GL%20Tri%20transition%20and%20venue%20layout.pdf

Exiting the transition area

 

This TA is an all grass area, with more than enough room (as long as you don't hog rack space!) for all the athletes.  Note, this year the map appears to have just two entrance / exits (last year there were two as well) but slightly different locations.  Since it is first come, first served, get there early not only to get your packet, and a good parking spot, but to get that good rack spot near the bike in/out exit.  So once you get there early, you can get out and pre-ride the first 2 miles of the bike, check for the potholes (unless it was repaved).

SWIM (500 yards):

The swim is in Gull Lake and prior to getting in the water for the race (you are free to get your warm up swims in until announced) where they will count you into the water.  This is for safety, but there are boats and you are not too far from shore the entire time.  The swim is a easy to follow, clock-wise swim with two turns that are clearly marked.  The start is a semi-deep water (depending on how tall you are, it was deep water for me!) with a count down.  I believe that it was a three wave start with a 40 and under Men, over 40 Men, and all Woman waves, just pay attention to what your bib says (I didn't and started in the wrong wave, and had to get my time adjusted correctly, oops).  But the swim is nice, and last year I didn't wear my wetsuit, but three years ago I did, just how well your body works in the water.  Jim swam recently and says the water is "not bad" and crystal clear, so looks like the harsh winter didn't do too much to it.  After exiting the water, you have a little up hill run to T1 where you cross the pavement, but the pavement isn't too bad, just watch out for sticks and shell fragments, but those are few and far between.  Just jog on up and get your gear and run to the mount line!

BIKE (10 Miles):

Out on the bike (Note many stayed left, please stay right as much as possible!)

My Strava results from last year: http://www.strava.com/activities/63672788

The bike is an out and back affair, which I'll break it up into three different sections (just repeat on the way back).  The first section is the Mount Line to corner of "B" Avenue / 40th street.  This consists of rolling hills and bad pavement.  The potholes are patched most of the time, but are all marked, with the "best" lines near the double yellow.  But be aware, you should be riding to the right as much as possible as not to get a "blocking" penalty.  But once you turn onto 40th Street heading north, it gets a bunch better.  First section is about 1.5 miles.

The second section is 40th Street to the "S" curve.  During this section, just put your head down and push the pace.  This section is mainly flat and very straight, so this is where you can "look at your stem" and push it.  This section is about 1 mile long.

The third section is the "S" curve to the turn around, and it is 2.5 miles in length.  This section has some shade and some rollers, but another fast section as you get to blow through Hickory Corners with police protection!  Once north of HC, you head to the turn around at Gilkey Lake Road (with more police!), but watch the turn around, lots of loose rocks.  Now, you just repeat the three sections in reverse.  After you get close to the park, get ready for the mount line, as it is almost time to run!

RUN (3.1 miles):

Here is my Strava info from last year: http://www.strava.com/activities/63672785

The Strava data is a little off, I fumbled with my watch as I was running out of T2, but the race was a nice 5K out and back with multiple waterpoints at each mile.  The elevation was slightly rolling, but no major hills and very shaded, so that should set you up for a good run off the bike, given if you didn't cook your legs on the bike!  Plus you can judge how far up (or back) others are of you since you get to pass them on the road.  The traffic control is good with people if they are driving the road and dead center, slow, and with their flashers on!  Good stuff.

AFTERPARTY!:

After the race, you can jump in the lake to cool down, visit the vendors near the finish chute, cheer on your buddies, and grab something to eat.  The awards ceremony was pretty fast, results were up quickly, and it was just a nice day to be at the park!  Overall, this is one of the oldest tris in Michigan(even though it was put on the shelf for many years), I am glad that it was brought back in 2011, and taken back over by Jim Misler in 2012, because this is a must do race, and it pains me not to be able to race this year (especially being at home for it too!), but I am sure it'll be another great one.  If you have this weekend open (28th of June, 2014) you owe it to yourself to do this classic race!  You won't be disappointed!
 

Gull Lake Triathlon Race Report

Ah another trip down memory lane with this race.  if you remember from my 2011 RR on Gull Lake, this was my first ever triathlon, back in 1993!  Wow, that was some time ago, but since it is about as close to a "hometown" race as I can, so either way, it is always great to get back and race it.  Just too bad I wasn't in shape enough for the Olympic distance, but next year I will make sure I am rip roaring ready for it, since I have a wedding for my wife's twin sister to go to, just hope the dates are good!

Well won't have any race pictures since I can't figure out how to download the ones from the race photographer (and I AM too cheap to pay for them too!), so I'll have to use "other" photos.  But I promise, they'll be entertaining!

I got up at 0500 to head over from Paw Paw to Gull Lake, about a 30 minute drive or so in order to get their early and get my warmup and transition set up all nice (and get a choice spot too!), so I skipped the standard hot shower and got out the door at 0515, and headed out.  Nothing like no traffic that early in the morning.  I rolled in and found a nice parking spot, got my gear, and rode the 1/4 mile back to the race site.

Got into the transition area, and found that all the good spots were gone.  Bummer!  But I found a spot in the middle, on a post that would work, I set up my area in minimalist fashion (my T times are getting really good, so I'll keep the K.I.S.S. from now on), moved my bag out of the way next to the fence and headed over to pick up my chip and packet.  I ran into the race director (RD), Jim Mishler, who I have chatted with in emails and on the forums at Slowtwitch, so I stopped and chatted with him a little bit, but let him go, since I knew he was a busy guy.  But it was great to chat with him and meet him in person.

After I got my goodies, I headed back to transition, and headed out on my bike to warm up and get ready.  I have been finding that warming up is a key part to getting ready, so I will continue to do that as well.  Nice uneventful ride, and got back and got myself ready.  Headed to the lake to check the water, and it wasn't too bad, so decided to skip the wetsuit this race as well, since it takes me a while to get it off, so no worries.

Well time was about ready to get this thing going, so got my warm up swim in and felt pretty good, so felt like a top-10 kind of day, so figured I'll find out in a bit.

The swim was an in-water start and of course the buoys were past where I could stand up in so I was towards the middle left and we took the countdown and we were off.  I put myself in the 40 and over wave, even though my bib said 39 and under (more on this later), and I could see that I was hanging in there with these guys.  My sighting was pretty bad, but just like in the Topeka Tinman, I was actually passing people in the water.  This is a new thing for me, so I worked to keep on peoples toes until someone faster went by, then jump to them.  So this is how you are supposed to swim!  It felt good not to get blown out of the water.  I stayed in the pack and we actually caught the under 40 crowd a bit (they had a 3 minute headstart) and I poured it on after the final turn buoy and came out of the water with my "death-warmed over" look, and ran up the hill to transition.

Swim - 9:13 (including a long run up to T1), good for 21st overall

I shot thru transition and turned in a blazing :37 sec T1 time!  Again, I kept it nice and simple, shoes on, glasses on, helmet on and bike and gone!  That was good for fastest T1 all day!  Passed a bunch of folks working on their wetsuits there.

T1 - :37, 1st overall

Now on to the bike, one of my favorite events, which helps set the table for a good run most days.  Well I ran past the mount line and conducted the flying squirrel mount and stuck the landing again (one day, I'll miss, and that might not be a good day for me!), but I got going and up to speed and started to hunt down other swimmers ahead of me.  I picked off a few guys ahead of me in the first 2 miles, when I felt a disturbance in the force.  Some guy had pulled up to me and sat on my wheel.  As you know, drafting is a big time no-no and against most every rule book (except when it is an ITU or other race that let's you, written, in the rules).  Most drafters in triathlons are looked at in the same breath as dopers and course-cutters, I think they are the lowest form of pondscum.  Guys who let others do 100% of the work to save their energy for later.

Usually most folks I know will pee while riding, covering the drafter in, um, nasty stuff, but I couldn't (I couldn't pee and never tried it while riding), so I just put in a nice surge to try to shake him off my wheel, which was difficult to do, since he was a bit fresher than me, since he was riding my draft for a mile already or so.  Well that didn't happen, so I just kept up my pace and tried to leave him behind.  Well, guess he got the hint and passed me, so I dropped back the 21-ish feet and kept working hard, while his "surge" must had pooped him out since riding out front is hard work. 

Well I passed him back and bang, there he is again on my wheel!  I wasn't going to let him mess with my ride so I just kept cranking and praying for a pothole to take him out!  But he just hung with me until about a mile from the turn around, and I just let him go.  About that time, the lead sprint racers were passing me, and as I saw, not that many were ahead of me.  NICE!  I didn't really see who was who, since there were two waves of sprinters, so I knew I was top 15 or so, so I put in another push and caught up with, and passed the DB (not douchebag, but draftboy!  But either works for me!)  I outbraked and out turned him and put in one more good surge to try to open the gap up a bit and that worked, for about a mile.  After he passed me with about 2 miles to go, I asked him if he was going to sit on my wheel all day or actually do some work of his own!  I might have tossed in a "cheater" and "asshole" too, but I ended up passing him on the last hill and rode into T2 with 20 seconds on him.

Bike - 28:04 (21.4 mph), 7th overall

Well, I am not sure what happened in T2, since I really gave away a bunch of time there.  My socks took a while to get on (gotta learn to run sockless), my shoes took a while to get off (might try dismounting without being in shoes, ouch!), and getting my running shoes on was slow (I have to run in shoes at least!).  But my T2 was just ugly!

T2 - 1:12 (could have been dead last for all I know, leader went out in :25, uggh!)

Well, my little friend DB headed out of T2 ahead of me and for me, that was game on (cue the video of the kangaroo with the ball!)  So, despite taking my time in T2 (tea and crumpets take time, ok?), I was out of T2 and starting to chase down folks like they owed me money!

The 5K run was an out and back route, which was good since you can keep track of everyone out there.  I caught a few folks in the first half mile and was really feeling good today, so I was just rolling on the power and catching people.  I came up on my little buddy, DB, and was going to ask him if he wanted to draft me on the run as well, but decided against it and just blew his doors off passing him.  I wanted him to know it was me and I was not just "ambling" bye him.  And I carried that effort past the first water stop where I let the volunteers know I was good and thanked them.  Up ahead, I counted only a few more folks and was surprised to see I was in the top 7 overall, with both waves included.  Wow, and the race leader (and overall winner) shot me a thumbs up as he was headed back in and I tossed a shaka his, letting him know I was nice and strong.  After the turn around I just put my head down and kept the legs turning over, and got only one other person before the line, but had a bunch more just ahead of me.  I finished up strong, didn't hurl and got my chip off, and waited for DB.

Run - 20:03, 1st overall (NICE!)

After he came in, I asked him why the need to draft me almost the entire bike leg, and he told me that it was draft legal today.  I let him know to the contrary and that drafting is weak sauce, and unless the rules specifically state it is draft legal, it isn't.  I told him to do his own work on the bike next time and left it at that.  I headed back and chatted with 1st place guy for a bit (he was in town visiting his parents in the area) and headed down to the water to clean up, cool off and change.  Wow the water was a lot colder the second time around!

After changing and feeling a bit more refreashed I went over and looked at the preliminary results, and looked in the 40-44 and didn't see my name.  I thought that weird til I looked at the top and saw that I was the Master's Champion.  Holy cow!  Ended up 2nd overall, thanks to a good run off the bike.  On the downside, I still haven't won my AG, but I'll still take a trophy anyday!

Overall, I was going into the race with a "I can make Top-10" and came away with a 2nd overall.  In addition to that, I found out that I qualified for the AG Nationals this August in Milwaukee, but I won't be able to go (getting ready to move and overall REALLY busy), but again, I will be working next year towards qualifying for the Nationals in the Oly and doing it in an Olympic race.

I have a nice long layoff till my next race (middle of August), so I guess it is time to get back to training!  I'll try to find some photos if I can.

Pre-Race Goals

Bad Squirrel!

Well I often neglect writing my goals down prior to a race, so since I have a free second or two, I will put them on paper (...err, internet) so I can look back and see if I was close or not. Let's start with the swim, and no, that isn't my squirrel or bike.

Swim: The swim leg will be a 500 meter OWS in Gull Lake with a temp of 73*F (per the RD and as of last week), so my plan is to have the wetsuit handy, but more than likely going to go without it, given my prior wetsuit swim fail at White Lake. I am going to set my goal at 12:30, mainly since I haven't swam since my last tri (see previous posts) and I dread OWS (but I'm willing to work on them!) So anything less will be a victory, anything over will mean more work in the pool / lakes.

T1: My T1s have been a mess, so I am going to tweak the freak out of my system, and try the flying mount with the shoes rubber-banded to the bike, and no socks. This should cut my time by about 33% to around 1:00, since I am giving too much time away in T1. But this is all dependant on how big the transition is, and if there is rough ground between me and the mount line, so we shall see.

Bike: I am going to hammer the hell out of the bike this time, since it is only 10 miles and slightly rolling. I am looking for a sub 30:00 on this and a top 20 bike split, especially if I am riding the QR. I still haven't talked to the wife about taking both bikes home, but we shall see. I know I am capable of pulling a 23 mph average, but will be happy anywhere above 22 mph.

T2: Again, I am going to cut this down some, going with no socks (hope this works!) and get in and get out in less than 1:00 (again size dependant).

Run: I know I am not going to set the world on fire, so I am gunning for a sub 23:00, and really hoping for a 21, but beggars can't be choosers on the run. But I really want a good showing back at Gull Lake, where it all started for me.

Overall: I'd like to podium, but I know that might be out of reach with all my issues, so a top 10 in my AG will be awesome and top 40 overall. It is just a bummer, but the 6 months of hard work came undone by injury, it just hurts (no pun intended) to not be on my A game each race. But I am old, and I recognize that.

Well, I guess only time will tell if I reach my goals this weekend, but I have a funny feeling that I might just do pretty well, since I am home and there are things to say about that. So we shall see! Wish me luck folks!

Well there's good news and there's bad news...

Well I FINALLY went to the doctor's to get my hip (and stiff neck) checked out after, oh say, a month and a half (I know, I know, older I get the slower I heal, I'm not Wolverine afterall!) and after a bunch of poking and prodding, and 10 or so X Rays (I guess I got the bulk discount), I am on a running profile until this Thursday when I get a reevaluation. Awesome (note the sarcasim). Well at least I talked her into letting me ride and swim (with pull buoy) and I got a nice scrip for Naproxen (love it!)

I never missed not running until I was told I CAN'T run, now I am stir-crazy to go running. Case in point: this weekend was the monthly Ft Bragg Family 5k run/walk and I HAD to walk it. It was a fun walk, but I would much rather ran it, but I was a good patient and followed doctor's orders. So relaxed a bit on Saturday, and planned an epic bike ride for when I get back from vacation around the ranges and drop zones of Bragg (60 miles of open roads!). I capped it with a nice 13 mile ride on Sunday morning, and now just getting ready for the work week.

Oh almost forgot, got to do a water jump (for the non-airborne speakers among us, I purposely jumped from an aircraft while in flight with a parachute into a lake) on Thursday. I'll get a few pictures posted, since it was a fun time, and also zero impact on the joints, so all in all, a perfect jump!

But next week is going to be busy with packing, getting new tires for the wife's truck, anniversary (!!), wife's birthday and race on Saturday, not to mention a long drive back to Michigan! And that is just one week! But I am stoked about racing at Gull Lake on Saturday, and I hope the lack of run / swim won't kill my buzz for this (and might have to adjust my goals for this race too!) so, just got a lot on my plate.

I promise some more pictures of the jump, so stand by!