At the beginning of 2019 I didn’t yet know how to freestyle swim and I didn’t own a bike. I started swim training at an indoor pool that February and slowly taught myself a proper(ish) breathing rhythm and built up some swim endurance. Within a couple months I was swimming 1,500 meters in the 30-40 minute range about three times per week. As soon as the northern Michigan snow melted I went out and bought a Trek Crossrip, which is a relatively affordable and versatile bike. It’s not a high-end triathlon bike, but it did the job in terms of training and getting me through the bike leg of triathlons up to half-Ironman distance.
In April 2019 I signed up for my first triathlon, the Grand Rapids Triathlon in Ada, Michigan, which was an Olympic-distance tri (0.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) held on June 9. I put a lot of training miles on my bike leading up to the event. The Grand Rapids Triathlon was a good entry into the world of triathlon. Although it was cold and rainy, I warmed up once the race started and I was moving. The swim was challenging because it was one of my first open water swims, the water was choppy and murky, and I started too fast trying to keep pace with the other participants in my wave and struggled to get my heart rate and breathing back down. But the bike leg was great, even peaceful in the rain, and I ran a surprisingly fast 10K to finish it off.
My girlfriend at that time was registered for Ironman 70.3 Traverse City, which was held in August. That inaugural event had already sold out, but IM70.3 Steelhead still had some open spots and I jumped in on it. Steelhead was only three weeks after my first Olympic-distance tri, but I felt confident enough about my ability to finish. My biggest concern with Steelhead was that the swim was in the open waters of Lake Michigan, meaning there could be huge waves or icy cold water.
A half-distance Ironman is comprised of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. The entire race must be completed within 8.5 hours and there are intermediate cutoffs for the swim and bike legs. With some training and assuming you’re injury free, the cutoffs are fairly generous. I knew I wouldn’t be competitive but also knew that barring a bike crash, flat tire, wildly rough lake conditions, or an unforeseen injury I’d be able to comfortably complete the event within the allotted time.
A week prior to Steelhead I wiped out on my bike during a long training ride and scraped/bruised my hip. Fortunately, it heeled enough that it didn’t bother me on race day. However, I wound up falling sick with a cold two days before the race and felt pretty cruddy at packet pickup and dropping my bike off at transition the day before the race. Between that and my nerves I hardly got any sleep.
A cup of coffee with breakfast and race-day adrenaline helped me feel better in the morning. Good enough, anyway. I was really pleased to see clear skies and an unusually calm Lake Michigan that morning. The sunrise was beautiful and talking to other wetsuit-clad athletes as we lined up for the start was energizing.
The cutoff for the swim was an hour and ten minutes so I knew I didn’t have to rush. Slow and steady was the best approach. It felt like a long swim, and it was, but in about 50 minutes I was running up the beach towards transition. I stripped out of my wetsuit, ate a granola bar and crammed snacks into the pockets of my tri suit so I could eat during the bike leg, slipped on my bike shoes, and headed out for the 56-mile ride.
Biking is my least favorite of the three disciplines. I enjoy it for an hour or two, but invariably my back and wrists get sore after hunching on the bike for so long. I plugged along at a steady pace and focused on eating and staying hydrated. The course was relatively flat and mostly on smooth pavement, although there was some rougher chip-seal. I made a stupid mistake coming into an aid station. I was rolling through slowly and attempted to reach down for my empty Gatorade squeeze bottle, pitch it in the garbage, and grab a new Gatorade from a volunteer without stopping. My error was not looking down when I reached to grab the empty, and instead I put my hand in the wheel and the tip of my finger was shaved off in the spokes. If I was going faster, or had put my finger farther into the wheel, it would have been really bad and could have potentially ended my day. But I kept cycling on and pressed my wound into the padded handlebar grip until it stopped dripping. Something about the sight of my own blood gave me a boost and I picked up the pace for the next several miles.
By the time I finished the bike leg it was getting really hot and the sun beat down relentlessly. My legs felt heavy and rubbery coming off the long ride but eventually loosened up. The heat was the limiting factor in my running pace, as I felt the need to slow or even walk at times for fear of falling ill from heat exhaustion. The aid stations had coolers of ice, and I shoved ice cubes into my tri suit at every opportunity. Thanks to the residents along the course that sprayed us down with garden hoses!
It was a challenging event but completely doable and I would like to complete a full Ironman someday. I’m not sure if I’ll do another half, given the expense of these races, but it was certainly a memorable event!
The following month I completed the sprint-distance TriWalloon and the Olympic-distance Traverse City Triathlon on back-to-back days (July 27 and July 28, respectively). Both were fun local northern Michigan events on scenic courses. I finished the Traverse City Triathlon in 2 hours, 54 minutes, 33 seconds for a new personal record Oly-distance triathlon.
I completed my first four triathlons within a 50-day window in June/July 2019, but I haven’t participated in one since (as of writing this on July 5, 2021). That’s partly due to races being cancelled in 2020 because of Covid-19 and partly due to my shift in focus to ultrarunning. It’s just difficult to train for a 100-mile run and a triathlon at the same time…
