Portage Lakes Triathlon - Race Report

Portage Lakes Triathlon - Portage Lakes State Park
Akron, Ohio

Rolled out of bed at 6am. Breakfast of "Organic" Frosted Mini-Wheat's cereal and orange juice. My race started at 8:30am. That was cool, but so was the weather at 38 degree's. Took 25 minutes to reach Portage Lakes course. Lucky I got close parking place to transition area. Unloaded my bike and tri gear quickly. Zoot tri backpack was super smart purchase 5 months ago. Really helps me stay organized on race mornings when I'm half asleep. Chit chatted with my training and racing buddies on course. We all commented how it was freaking cold weather. By race start time temperature was 43 degree's. I put my wetsuit on which felt nice and toasty. Feet were really frozen. Water was warmest thing on the course. When I got in the water my feet warmed up. This was my coldest tri to date in 6 years of racing.

[International Distance Race - All 2 laps]

Swim - 1,500 Meters (00:37:54)
Key component of my race strategy was to go all out for swim course. Worked very hard since May on swimming. Swimming has never come naturally to my mind and body. Huge progress though with stroke and endurance. Much room for growth still. Ready to go. Start of race I couldn't breath right. I wasn't loose and relaxed at all. Should have warmed up. Next cold race I will. There was this plant life just beneath surface of water. Only way I can describe it was similar to being caught in a fishnet. After 5 minutes my swimming and breathing was in synch. My race time after 1st lap was 18 minutes. I thought either swimming extremely fast or course is slightly shorter than 1,500 meters. Turns out was combination of both. Near end of the swim I felt strong. Swimming last year was exhausted before I jumped on bike. End result for 1,500 meters - new PR for swim by 15 minutes.

Bike - 23 Miles (01:20:42)
Removing the long sleeve wetsuit is very slow process. T1 needs practicing for next year! Bike course is a mix of flats, slight hills and couple steep ones. I was trying to go fast on bike since I didn't want to sprint the 10K run. Drank bottle of orange flavored Gatorade Endurance and ate a blueberry Cliff bar. Took 2 Hammer Endurolytes too. Saw the "free range" chicken sign - means end of bike course is near. Side note: I've biked by that area 3 occasions and have never seen chickens roaming the fields.

Run - 10K (00:50:34)
Time to suck it up or whimper like the caged chickens. I need sub 3 hour race to close out the fun filled tri season. Knew I had to hustle. Felt solid first 4 miles, but wasn't burning up the run course. With 2 miles to go was concerned sub 3 hour wasn't going to happen - like my sub 6 at the Greater Cleveland Triathlon Half Ironman. Last mile I sprinted and hauled to finish line - 2007 triathlon season over at 02:58:29 hours!

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Greater Cleveland Triathlon 70.3 - Race Report

Half Ironman Triathlon - Mentor Headlands State Park
Mentor, Ohio

Pre-Race Evening Highlights:
After an easy day with no training I prepared a quick dinner. Dinner was Trader Joes potato onion pierogies with stir fry vegetables and salsa verte. To get pumped up and relaxed I went to see the summer action popcorn movie Bourne Ultimatum - big thumbs up. Time now to do everything so I can just roll out of bed and go to race. Checked bike: oiled gears, inflated tires and reset cycle computer. Packed all my gear into the Zoot tri bag. Ground fresh beans and added water for coffee in the morning. Set table for super early breakfast. In bed at 11pm.

The Race Day:
Woke up from clock radio at 4am. Slipped on the 2XU triathlon suit. Starting to get excited. Loaded triathlon gear into car. Turned on coffee. Breakfast of Natures Path Optimum Power Cereal with sliced banana and orange juice. Brewed coffee, poured in travel mug and drove to Mentor at 4:45am. I arrived at the Mentor Headlands transition area at 6am. Felt pretty relaxed and found my transition area rack. I knew the walk from transition area to my swim start was 20 minutes and meant there was no time to waste. Put on Orca Sonar wetsuit up to waist and got walking briskly.
(Swim 1.2 Mile)
Water was calm and amazingly perfect. No mystery junk floating around. Is this really Lake Erie? Clear blue skies. I arrived at swim start with 5 minutes to spare. Saw friendly faces from the Cleveland Triathlon Club (CTC) just starting in wave before me. In what seemed liked a very quick minute our wave was going and we're all running and diving into Lake Erie. Ripple free swim made it easy to sight the distance markers. Best swim I had in a triathlon race. First time I've participated in point to point course layout and liked it a lot. Thought about the Bourne Ultimatum movie during time in water. Fired up when spectators yelled my name running from beach to transition area. Felt energetic after 1.2 mile swim.
(Bike 56 Miles)
The bike course is scenic and fast. 2 big laps and 2 small laps at end. Felt pretty good throughout bike course. Enjoyed so much the support from CTC members both cheering and handing out nutritional supplies. The guy on the monster hill with the cool music blasting from SUV kept my motivation high and jazzed. Top speed of 40 mph was clocked on cycle computer going down that steep hill near the golf course. It was at this point I was having fantasies of sub 6 hour race time. Nutrition: 3 bottles of Gatorade Endurance, 3 Cliff bars, 2 gels and 6 Hammer Endurolytes.
(Run 13.1 Miles)
Fast running at first. After quarter mile the thighs were burning like hell and in a world of hurt. Then the Gatorade and Cliff bars consumed during bike were slushing around my stomach. I knew the run would be tough, but was more painful than expected. Bummer because run is my strongest event and I need to make up time from the swim. Jogged the straight aways and walked up the hills is what I ended up doing for 9 last miles of race. Consumed water on every other aid station. Ran strong and felt healthy for last mile of race. Happy to see family and friends at finish line. 06:37:29 was my race time. Nutrition 8 cups of water, 1 gel and 4 Hammer Endurolytes.

Post Race Reflection:
Last leap upward in course distance was the Chicago Triathlon - International back in 1994. My goal for this Half Ironman distance race was to have fun and finish strong in a sub 6 to 6:45 hour time frame. Now with that goal accomplished I'd like to finish a Half Ironman distance race with a sub 6 time. By vastly improving my swimming speed and increasing running distances this can be accomplished.

Greater Cleveland Triathlon - Environmental Graphics:
For the Greater Cleveland Triathlon I developed with race director a flexible and modular course way finding program. Velcro mounted color coded arrows on safety yellow corrugated plastic sheet with contrasting black lettering. Each primary color was a different triathlon course. Racers stayed on course and were able to focus energies on the competition. Other environmental graphics were developed and deployed in the field on race day, such as color coded course maps and body marking charts.


• Free Standing - A Frame Version


• Wire Standing - H Frame Version