MEGAN….3RD FEMALE OVERALL, TIME 1:12:27

8th age group finish

Marked Gorris

Raced Ironman Muncie 70.3
4:42:52
9th AG ~170
78thOA 1500+

The Good
-had a great time and helped my good friend Gary Parsons achieve his goal of completing his first half IM [he went 521 and change..that is one heck of a first half]
-enjoyed a little get away with Lisa, although Muncie is far from a destination location
-had a great run! 1:32 almost on the nose.  Ran the first half [fresher legs and net downhill] at a 703 pace and the second half [tired legs and net uphill at a 659 pace] Final 1.1 at a 634 pace, mostly uphill.  Actually ran the second half faster than my good friend and super fast Brian Stern.  He had the fastest run split of our AG, I was 4th and only 3′ off Brian’s split.  Looks like those long race pace bricks are paying dividends
-first half of the swim.  Swam the leg across the prarie creek resv in 13′, the cross leg in 5′.  18′ with a half mile to go, the swim was actually 1.3 according to numerous garmin wearers
-the last 19 miles of the bike.  Avg 24.3 on that section and was able to up the watts and still have enough to post a good run split
-Hammer sponsored athletes took 1,2,3 and 5 of the top 9 in my AG 45-49

The Bad
-being in the 3rd to last wave.  This caused problems on the swim and the bike as the course was very crowded.  Us old guys get no respect ( – :
-The last half of the swim.  On the final ~.5 mile leg I was looking right into the rising sun.  I could not sight for anything and was constantly swimming over/into people. The final leg took me almost 17′ vs the 13′ out.  I hit the beach in 34:50 then the long run up to T1
-the first 37 miles of the bike. Oh, did i mention it was CROWDED?  300 yards out of T1 I was passing people riding 3 wide.  My good friend and training partner just suffered a horrific bike crash the week prior and I think that was on my mind so I rode tenatively early.  Things got even worse at mile 19-37, see The Ugly

The Ugly
At mile 19, we turned off a beautiful stretch of highway 35 onto what could best be described as a bike path.  Signs were posted all over stating “Ride Single File, No Passing Zone”  I was at an avg speed of 22.3 at this point in the race, by the time I got off the path one mile later, I was at 21.7.  A number of athletes decided the no passing rule did not apply to them and passed the entire mile.  I caught a number of them and gave them an earfull.
As if this was not bad enough, after the no pass zone, we turned onto another horrible road perhaps a lane and a half wide  that we rode for the next 16 miles [8 down and 8 back]  This section would best be described as scary, borderline dangerous.  The edges of the road were in bad shape so people had to ride 3 feet from the shoulder.  You had people riding 3 wide roaring back down from earlier waves on the out and back.  I would get stuck behind slower riders and wait until a gap opened before even remotely thinking about passing.  Then it was put the hammer down, get by and quicky get over before being t-boned by an oncoming cyclist.  This went on the entire out and most of the back.  My power profile on this section is hilarious.  Looks like a giant roller coaster.  Watts at 160 while behind slower rider[s], then a quick spike into the 400-500 range to pass then back to 160-170.
So after those agonizing 16 miles we were met again with the one mile no pass zone.  The guy behind me was screaming at the poor girl 7 riders up to get moving as we were only doing about 16mph.  I turned around and told him to chill and use the time to stretch his legs.  I don’t think he was too happy with my but once we got back onto highway 35 I took off and never saw him again.  This was the stretch where I hammered and got the avg speed back from mid 21’s to just under 22.5 for the 56
Now comes the worst part of this.  The course was changed from the original Muncie Endurathon [33 years old] because WTC [who bought the race in 2011] did not want to pay the neighboring county for the services of using hwy 35.  IOW – they kept the bike in one county to save a few bucks.  All of this at the expense of the safety of the people out on the bike course
Needless to say, I will never do this race again, nor will a number of athletes I spoke with.
I played by the rules on the out and back but many did not.  I know of 3 athletes who finished ahead of me who did not, they readily admitted it to me.  Not sure how this effected my finish time, but I would say it cost me 5′ on the bike.  I have not had a 2:30 bike split in a half in years, more in the 2:20-2:25 range, and on Saturday I went 2:30
On to the next race, Steelhead 70.3, one of my favorites
Train hard and race harder
Mark

Scott Mazon

I participated in the 3rd annual Grand Rapids Triathlon on June 9. The event offered athletes a half Ironman, Olympic and sprint triathlons with over 1500 participants.  Each division had a large number of athletes competing with all different skill levels.

This race was to be my first HIM of the season but with continuing knee issues I decided to compete in the Olympic distance.

The swim took place in the river but resembled more of a reservoir; nonetheless, the water slightly chilly (71 degrees) and calm.  The swim course was perfectly marked and easy to sight. When the announcer started us, the furious wave of arms, elbows and feet was overwhelming. It is one of the few times I got punched, kicked and participated in the full contact sport of swimming. It WAS AWESOME! It took about 100 yards to settle out in front of the mayhem. The rest of the swim was uneventful and I was able to exit the water near the front. P.S. They had wet suit strippers!!

The transition area of this race was HUGE. It climbed up a street and was nearly a .35 long (per my GPS).  So after I got to my steed, I quickly took off to the bike course.

The bike course was an “out and back” consisting of mostly flat terrain with a few rollers. I experienced some headwind going out with a nice tailwind on the return (doesn’t always seem that way).  While on the course there was a group of three teammates that were not adhering to the “no drafting” rule and hopefully they got penalized by one of the four USAT officials. It so noticeable a few of the fellow riders were commenting on it while we passed one another.

A quick transition and it was out onto the run course. The tree-lined streets offered much needed shade as the sun and heat began to rise. There were a ton of aid stations offering gels, Gatorade, water and ice (sorry Mark – no Heed). As for my run, I took off conservatively with the hopes of increasing the pace – to monitor my issues. Good news – never experienced pain within the knee area. Bad news – the run was much slower than I would have liked. I pushed the last mile in; however, too little too late.

I guess I just left room for improvement.

Jason…8th in age group, time of 2:29:46

Mike W…..19th in age group, time of 2:48:41

Alex…..7th overall, 1st age group, time of 59:55

Colleen….9th women overall, 5th age group, time of 1:11:58

Henry…..56th overall, 1st age group, time of 1:10:17

Race report (anything that could go wrong, did).

Started with a 3:30 wakeup call to drive the hour and fifteen to westbranch. Training has been good.

Started the swim, 250m in cramp 1 started, 600m in cramp 2 started. Got out in a ok time but not great, 8th out of the water. Hopped on the bike and started to roll, could not get the heartrate under 180 for the first 20-25 miles. Knocked off my aero bar arm pad off the bike before the first turn around. Had to stop, turn around, pick up pad and put it back and get going. Started cramping at mile 40 in my quads. Backed off pace. Finished bike, in 8th, ran the first 6.5 miles, cramping the entire way with knee starting to flare up. After loop 1 had to start walking due to knee giving problems. Overall time was fastest half yet but in my eyes was horrendous. Should have been a sub 5 race but the tri gods were conspiring against me that day.

Chris

Half Distance
Chris Schmauder, 22nd overall, 1st age group, time of 5:16:32

Olympic Distance
Paul Lenz, 7th overall, 1st age group, time of 2:31:16

Sprint Distance
Henry Hauenstein, 21st overall, 1st age group, time of 1:25:12

Jason Hall, 10th age group – time of 2:29:39

Mike Williams, 24th age group – time of 2:47:15

This was Mike`s and Jason`s first ever Olympic distance race!

Scott Mazon, 1st age group 5th overall 1:02:38

Alex Kuhn, 1st age group 7th overall 1:04:22

Jason Hall, 2nd age group 12th overall 1:06:27

Paul Lenz, 2nd age group 24th overall 1:09:19

Mike Williams, 6th age group 44th overall 1:16:23

Henry Hauenstein, 1st age group 53rd overall 1:18:40

Colleen Poling, 2nd age group 8th overall female 1:21:02