As a runner and a former swimmer who could ride a bike, I decided to start doing some triathlons in 2013. Ten years later, I’m so glad I got sucked into challenging myself with these crazy multisport adventures. Saturday, June 3 marked the start of another season with the Island Lake Triathlon in Brighton, MI. It’s the fifth time I’ve done the Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40K bike, 10K run) there, and it has been hosted by Epic Races for four of those years. 

This year I was chosen to be an ambassador for Epic Races. That basically means I help spread the love for their races and encourage others to join in on the fun. (I have a 10% discount to share if anyone wants to do an Epic race!) Despite being an ambassador, my recap is not biased in any way. I genuinely love the experiences they provide and have always raved about them in the past. There’s a good reason I’ve done this race with them four times now!

This year the race served an additional purpose – a practice run before making my first planned attempt at the half iron distance (70.3 miles) the following weekend. Even though I’ve done plenty of triathlons, there are so many logistics involved and a lot of gear to remember. I have checklists so there’s no reason for me to forget anything, yet the first race of the season is always a bit nerve-wracking. This race would remind me that I know what I’m doing and help ease some of my worrying.

Island Lake Recreation Area is about an hour from home. I got there around 6:00 which was an hour and a half before the start of the race. Having plenty of extra time helps reduce my stress levels. Worrying, stress…I realize now that people might question why I do this to myself? I really do think it’s fun – honest!

I admired the gorgeous sunrise as I collected my stuff at the packet pickup.

I was able to park in the lot right by the transition area so everything was close and easy. The transition area was set up based on gender and age group so I found my appropriate spot and picked a place to rack my bike.

It’s always nice to chat with others in the transition area. Some people are new and can use a little bit of guidance and reassurance. Others may have done a ton of triathlons but still have their own concerns. I talked to a woman from the Cleveland area for a bit and we took pictures for each other, plus she asked to take a selfie with me. 

Eventually I made my way down to the beach to get in the water for a couple of minutes. I’m not sure what the water temperature was but it felt just right with my sleeveless wetsuit and probably would have felt totally fine without one. I’ll take any help I can get though and the buoyancy of the wetsuit certainly helps. 

The pre-race meeting helped clarify how the swim course would work. It seems like Kent Lake has issues with seaweed growth every year and race directors have to get creative with marking a swim course that will avoid as much of it as possible. From the shore it always seems like there are a bunch of buoys out there in the lake and I can’t quite tell how it all works. It didn’t help that we’d head right into the sun either. I knew it would all be fine because the Olympic-distance men would start first and I could watch them while I waited for my turn. 

We had a “time-trial” kind of start where people are supposed to place themselves in line based on how fast they’ll be. I just figured I should go somewhere in the middle. People started every few seconds which is SO much less stressful than a mass start.

I started around 7:45 and attempted to run through the water where it was still a bit too shallow for swimming. That turned into more effort than I liked after a minute. I realized later that it may help to duck down instead of dragging through the water standing straight up. When I did start to swim, it was really hard to see where I should aim. I could barely see the buoys because of the sun and it was disorienting. I just followed the people in front of me and at some point I could see a little better. 

We swam between the orange buoys, turned around a couple of yellow buoys, then headed back. It always gets congested making those turns and the second one was a pretty major pinch point. We could only swim a couple people wide between the buoy and the volunteer on a stand up paddle board. I got a little frustrated but got through it soon enough. Then I swam back to the beach, got out of the water to run around a buoy on the shore, and went back into the water for a second loop. 

I had a few moments of annoyance when I got too close to someone and had to tread water for a few seconds to avoid a collision, or when I found myself wanting to get between a couple people but there wasn’t much space. Those moments pretty much always happen and I know to expect it. I think trying to get around people helps me speed up versus what I would do if I was comfortable with all of the space I needed. Despite my initial trepidation about not being able to see, the swim went really well. I snagged little strings of seaweed a few times but it really wasn’t an issue for me. 

I know the photographer Greg Sadler, so when I saw him on the shore it made me smile extra big for the photos. I got through the swim, which was around 1500m, in 27:04.

I ran into the transition area and dealt with the usual battle of trying to get the wetsuit off around my feet. The ankle openings are so tight I can never manage to do that smoothly and I wasted some time. I noticed that many of the bikes were still on the racks so I must have done pretty well in the swim. I was still doing okay even as I spent 3:10 in transition.

Next it was time for 24 miles on the bike. Like the swim (and the run) the Olympic athletes did two loops of the course. Since this was my fifth time racing on the course the ride was very familiar to me. There are plenty of rolling hills to keep it challenging but nothing overly difficult. I do most of my riding on fairly flat trails and I can still manage the course well enough. I always figure the speed I gain on the downhills helps make up for my lack of speed on the uphills!

The first loop went well aside from a little out-and-back stretch just east of the transition area at the end that seemed to slow me down. The park was still open to the public and I had to be more cautious in that stretch because some people tried to park as we rode through. I think there may be a bit of a gradual climb there as well.

During the second loop I ate a Picky Bar that I had stashed in a back pocket. I was thankful that I didn’t hit any bumps to send my bar flying out of the wrapper. I learned that lesson the hard way at this race last year so I made a point of watching the road surface before I ate my bar. Things went smoothly eating, drinking, and riding! 

The out-and-back loop just before the end of the bike course seemed to slow me down even more the second time around. I’m not sure if it was due to dodging a couple of stopped cars or my tired legs, but I had my slowest mile of the ride in that segment. I started to wonder if my tires could be a factor. In the last month or two I realized that my back tire was flat the day after a ride and I know it shouldn’t drain that quickly. In the days before the race BOTH of the tires started doing that. I’ve been okay through a few longer rides but I know I’ve been pressing my luck by not taking care of it. It’s possible that I could have been losing air pressure, but maybe I was just ready to be done on the bike which is my weakest of the three segments anyway. I rode just over 24 miles in 1:26:24. According to my Garmin I averaged 16.8 mph which is actually a tiny bit faster than last year. Maybe my tires held up enough after all.

I transitioned from the bike to the run in about a minute then had a 10K to run. Plenty of people were out on the run course from a mixture of all of the different races – mini-sprint, sprint, and Olympic distances. It always makes me feel good when I can catch people on the run since it’s usually my biggest strength. I didn’t fly along especially fast this time though.

It was an out-and-back course on a paved path that was mostly flat, but there are a couple of hills that are challenging. I didn’t pay much attention to my pace and just did whatever I felt I could do at that point. After the fact, I see that I started around an 8:00 pace for the first mile and gradually slowed down with each mile, hitting 8:30s for the fourth and fifth miles. The temperature was in the mid-70s at that point which wasn’t necessarily too hot, but it still felt warm enough. I always dread the climb up the grassy hill at the beginning of the second loop. It’s just brutal. However, at least we flew down a hill right before the end of the race. 

As I approached the finish it made me smile when Alise from Epic Races screamed her head off with encouraging words. She was the best hype person! I knew I had to give Greg Sadler a big smile for my photos and I finished strong.

48:23 for the run which came in at 5.8 miles on my watch and an average pace of 8:22 per mile. I finished in 2:45:56 overall.

I took a minute or two to recover before heading straight to the food – one of the major highlights of doing a race with Epic! Pancakes, egg wraps, cookies, ice cream sandwiches – so many great options. I like to reward myself with treats at the end so I’m always happy when a race offers more than a granola bar and a banana. They had a beer garden area as well.

I chatted with a couple people about how our races went and swapped photo duties with one woman as we posed in front of the backdrop. I had a coaster to pose with since I collected one for winning my age group!

I headed toward the finish line to encourage others who came through. I found a woman who I know from the gym and chatted with her as she waited for another gym friend to finish. It was nice to catch up with them before heading out for the day.

I felt good during the race and know I gave it a solid effort so I was satisfied with how it went. Winning my age group was a bonus! In general, I placed somewhere in the middle of all of the participants: 51st out of 111. I was 6th out of 27 for women so I did pretty well there! It’s interesting to see that the Olympic race had a significantly higher number of men. The numbers were a little closer in the other races. It’s also interesting to see how I placed in each discipline. Usually the run is my best segment but this time I placed 33rd versus 24th in the swim. It’s kind of a pleasant surprise to see that I did fairly well in the swim. The bike is always my letdown – 86th out of 111. Oh well, I just do what I can!

This was a great way to begin another triathlon season. Things went so smoothly that it definitely helps reassure me as I head to Grand Rapids to tackle the half iron distance on June 11. I’m ready for this, I really am! That’s what I keep trying to tell myself!

– Janet

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