Pittsburgh Triathlon and Adventure Triathlon

Adventure Triathlon 2 mile kayak, 20K bike and 5K run

Finish Time 1:07:33

16th overall

4th in age division

Race Review

This was my first time competing in the Pittsburgh Triathlon. I have stayed away from this race in the past because of the price. The race course is centered around Pittsburgh’s beautiful Point Park. The water leg of the race was cancelled due to unsafe sewage levels in the river. This year’s race was turned into a duathlon. The bike leg was mostly on the HOV lanes of the highway around the city on an out and back course. The first 6 miles of the bike course are a low grade steady incline. Once you hit the turnaround point it quickly becomes much faster as it’s all downhill back to the transition area. The out and back run course is flat and scenic as it follows a paved trail along Point Park and the river front. The entire race course provides nice scenic views of the rivers and downtown attractions and stadiums. The greatest challenge in completing this year’s race was the high temperature and extremely high humidity. Race time temperatures where in the mid 80’s with high humidity making it feel like the mid 90’s. Even though this race was expensive there was a lot of added value. The race organizers offered a free reception with drinks and outstanding food the night before the race. Every participant received a very nice high quality tech shirt, finisher medal, and draw string bag filled with samples from vendors and sponsors. Free live participant tracking was available. There was a nice vendor expo during registration, before, and after the race. Most vendors provided additional product samples and prize raffles. They even offered free medal engraving at participating local Dick’s Sporting Goods stores. If you plan to participate in this race next year register early for the best pricing and take advantage of all that is offered.

South Bend Indiana Xterra, off road Triathlon – 8-6-2016

Race is held at Potato State Park- about 20 miles south of South Bend Indiana.

The swim is in a decent sized lake, but they had a outbreak of blue/ green algae that made water conditions less than ideal. The swim was listed as ½ mile, but believe it was closer to ¾ of a mile. Bike loop was 2 loops on a tight 8-mile single track trail. The run was a 4.2 mile off road loop, with a few small hills

The weather outlook was perfect- low 80’s, Friday I pre rode mountain bike loop with Kurt- it helped to know the trail, passing would be a challenge

Race morning was a perfect day.

My swim was decent. I got behind the main pack, and was able to draft at times, and felt comfortable. I was 43rd out of 103 coming out of the swim, and passed 2 people in transition. I hit the bike hard, most people were good about moving when you caught them and so I passed close to 20 people. As I hit the run, I felt really strong and passed 7 people to finish first in my class and 16th overall

This was my last race before National Championships in Utah in mid-September- so feeling like everything is coming together.

Ken

Fairport Harbor Lighthouse Triathlon July 17th 2016

Fairport Harbor, Ohio

2K kayak, 20K bike, 5K run.

1st place overall kayak relay team.

Finish time: 1:22:16

Review.

The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse Triathlon is one of my favorites. Fairport Harbor Beach is a beautiful setting for a race and the course is fast and flat. I usually compete as an individual in the kayak division of this race but because I raced solo the day before I enlisted the help of a few Team ER teammates to compete in the relay. I started the race in the 2K kayak. There were clearly a lot less competitors in kayaks this year probably due to the 2 other adventure triathlons being held the same weekend. The water was calm with little wind. From the turn to the first buoy 4 boats separated from the pack. We left the rest of the field well behind. I was 4th out of the water behind the overall winner, the 3rd place overall winner, and another relay team kayak. I beat my kayak split time from last year by a few seconds. Stacy Rhea took over in the bike leg. Other than a small hill at the start, the course is fairly flat. Stacy rocked the 20K bike course in 36:30 making up a lot of ground on the relay team in front of us. Gretchen Schnee Snyder anchored the running leg. Gretchen battled the rising humidity and intense sun to pass the leading relay team runner and bring home the victory for Team ER. Lake Metro Parks always puts on a great event. They did however manage to miscalculate the number of awards needed for the race. We will be receiving our 1st play kayak relay team awards in the mail.

Headwaters Adventure Triathlon July 16th 2016

Mantua, Ohio

2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 5 mile kayak.

8th overall and 2nd in age division.

Finish time: 1:53:54

Review.

The Portage Park District resurrected one of the area’s best adventure triathlons. The race was not held last year due to lack of volunteers to organize the race. The race starts with an out and back 2 mile flat trail run. Unfortunately the turnaround point was not marked or monitored. At 2.2 miles or so down the trail the leading group of runners realized this and created their own turnaround point. In a show of good sportsmanship the majority of the runners went to the same spot established by the lead runners before turning. The run ended up being 2.4 – 2.5 miles. The bike leg of this race is through the rolling hills of Hiram and Mantua. The bike course ends at Camp Hi in Hiram for the kayak leg of the race. The water was low and slow in the Cuyahoga River. I spent the first 2 miles really paddling hard with little efficiency. It wasn’t until a few boats passed me that I realized my rudder was hitting a lot of seaweed creating enormous drag. I pulled my rudder out of the water and it felt like an anchor was removed! I quickly got by the few boats that had previously passed me and gained on the boats in front of me. I believe had I not used my rudder in the first 2 miles I would have finished 5th overall. The race was well organized. Nice tech shirts were provided to all participants. This race has a few things to tweak for next year but for the first year back it was well organized and had great participation.

Miltonman Olympic Tri 7/10/16 Finished 14th OA, 3rd in AG.

Sunday June 19, 2016 – Louisville, KY “Tri Louisville Sprint”

Tri Louiville took place in downtown Louisville, KY on Fathers day. The event was done extremely well. Not only was the course extremely flat and fast it was also very scenic. The swim took place in the Ohio river and for the sprint was a “reverse” direction through a channel that they start Ironman Louisville in every year. Upon exiting the water, you took a short run and entered a fully closed bike leg that was 4 lanes wide (2 out and 2 back). This course was extremely flat and allowed you to really push in the bike. The course traveled through the downtown core past the river front, museum row (with a special pass along the front of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory) and then back into transition. For the sprint 2 laps were completed and then on to the run. The run was scenic following along the river front; however, at times the course was a bit difficult to follow so you had to rely pretty heavily on course workers that were very friendly and helpful. Also, as an added bonus there were 3 spots where you had to ascend and descend stairs so this really helped to get the legs nice and warmed up. The post race was really nice – there were beverages and snacks aplenty and they also had free snow cones and face painting for kids (it was fathers day) plus a specialty coffee and breakfast food truck that spectators could purchase from – I helped myself to a coffee post race and must say it was excellent!

I had a lot of fun, especially with my wife and boys on course and finished 32nd of 175 overall and 6th of 15 in my age group (35-39). I would reccomend this race to anyone looking for a new venue and will likely return to race the Sprint or Olympic in the future.

Sunday June 26, 2016 – Champ Racing “Munroe Falls Tri”

This was my 3rd race weekend in a row (after GWRT and Tri Louisville) and although I improved my finish time slightly from last year I was struggling to find any reserves in the tank to really hammer down. My age group had some impressive finish times this year which was great to see but that resulted in me struggling to finish in the top 3 (my original goal for this race after a 4th place finish by 4 seconds last year).

Came in 6th of 15 in my age group (35-39)…. Hey – this is the same as the race last weekend? What are the chance of that!!!

2016 Great Island Adventure Triathlon

Lock Haven, PA

3.1 mile kayak, 14 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run

Placed 13th overall and 5th in my age group. Finish time 1:50:29

Race Review.

This was my third year competing in this race and my best result. I knocked 9 minutes off of my previous best time. Every leg of the race including my transition times were all faster than previous years. The race starts with an out and back kayak on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Kayaks head up river first and loop around the island before returning to the bike transition area. The bike course was changed this year to a new 7 mile loop. The first 3 miles include some grade 4 and 5 hill climbs. The rest of the course is mostly flat and downhill with a few rollers. Bikers are required to complete 2 laps of the course before returning to transition for the run. The run course is scenic and mostly flat. Runners make there way across the bridge over the river and then follow the paved trail on the top side of the damn. Runners enjoy great views of the river below as they make there way to the turn around point. This year around 100 total participants competed in the adventure triathlon. The race did offer a standard swimming division with another 30 participants and a kids mini adventure triathlon that was held the night before the main race. Numbers were a little low but competition was not as PA has some of the best kayakers and adventure triathletes in the country. I counted no less then 5 2015 USCA National Kayak Champions in the race field. This race is always well organized and very well supported by the community and sponsors.

Monroe Falls Sprint Tri 6-26-2016
Team ER Cleans Up!

The weather was perfect- 65 degrees at race start- water temp was 70+ degree’s, and with a short 400-meter swim, 10 mile bike and 2.5 mile run it would be an all out sprint

They sent off racers in waves- I was in wave 3, with anyone over 55 years old, about 20 men. I came out of the water in 4th place, with top 3 right in front of me-Since the transition included a 500 yard plus run to get to bikes- even with changing out of wet suit- I left transition in the lead.

Jumping on my bike- I felt great, but could not get my shoes clipped in- I finally pulled over- looked down and like a lightning bolt it hit me. I had my Mountain bike shoes which are not compatible with my road bike!! I have never done that – mainly because even though both sets of shoes are the same- the mountain bike shoes are always dirty!! One of my early mountain bike races was a total mud race- so I actually scrubbed and shined up my shoes.
I did my best without clipping in, and just spun like crazy.

I had another super-fast transition- and hit the run like a man possessed. I continuing passing people, and ended up with a 18-minute run-averaging under a 6:30 pace

Ended up 13th overall (out of 130) 1st in my age group by over 10 minutes, and laughing about my shoe screw up! Team ER had a great showing – with Roy Miller finishing 10th overall , winning his age group, Carlo Buzzetta placing 2nd in his age group and Daniel Deckler making the top 10 in His age group

Karen was great to get up at 5 am and drop me off at race so I could leave right after the race and ride home – I ended up with a solid 35-mile training ride feeling great.

Ken