Belle Isle Oly

This morning was the Belle Isle Triathlon, which took place near the airport. It was originally scheduled for 9/18, but the organizers moved it since another popular tri picked the day before.

The swim was in Warren Lake, which is supposed to be spring fed and clean. This was true, except I could smell and almost taste the fuel from the boats that were patrolling the swim course.

I made a horrible error by wearing my tri top in the water, because that thing acted like a parachute, slowing me down and making me work far harder than I should have. I don't mind being slow, but having to work hard to be slow - that just isn't right. ;) After the first lap, I wasted a good 2 minutes taking it off, wading to the edge of the swim beach to hang it on a pole, and starting off again. Total swim was 38:57, including the jog from the beach to transition area. Ugh, what a lousy time, but that did include a slow first lap plus clothing issues.

The bike course was absolutely flat: no overpasses, underpasses, or anything grade variation. Seriously, it makes Blue Lake look hilly. There were winds however, so I didn't get off too easy. ;) When the wind was with me, it was easy to go 23 mph. Coming back the other way, 15 mph was a struggle. Still, I managed 1:19:11 for the 40K, averaging 18.8 mph, which is a good ride for me.

The run course was flat and wound through the surrounding neighborhood. There were trees, and I'd say more than half the course was shaded, which was nice since it was heating up. This course also had distance markings every quarter of a mile, painted onto the road! The olympic tri course was two laps of the sprint course, and there were two aid stations. The first one only had water... and so did the second one. That was a bummer because I really wanted some sports drink, and I didn't pack my fuel belt and my own since I thought something would be available on the course. My calves were stiff, which could either be low carb or electrolyte levels, a tough bike segment, or the fact I rode yesterday. That's cool, this event was just for fun so after the second aid station, I just took it a little easier for the remainder of the run.

My run was 53:40, and total time was 2:55:48. The results are up. There were 9 men in my division, and I did 9/9 in the swim, 7/9 on the bike, and 5/9 on the run. At least that is a good performance trend. ;)

Overall, it was an OK outing. I was hoping to do better on the run, but for various reasons I just didn't have it today. Still, I had fun and it is nice to see good weather for triathlon extends into October here.