I hadn’t planned on squeezing in another full distance race prior to Kona, but when I had the opportunity to head up to Michigan and see family around the same time that the Michigan Titanium was taking place I figured “why not?” I needed to take a “rest” week anyway, which would be my taper going into the race. Plus, it would give me a great opportunity to retest my fueling strategy.
After a fun time seeing family in Chicago and Battle Creek, I headed up to Grand Rapids on Saturday, the day before the race. The weather wasn’t looking too promising as it was a torrential downpour the whole day Saturday. And for someone who has spent the last two and a half years in the Florida Keys, it was pretty cold for me with the temperatures in the 50s. But hey, at least it wouldn’t be hot!
It was a seamless experience at packet pick up, and then I headed over to drop my bike off in transition. I covered the bars and Di2 with garbage bags, hoping to avoid any issues with the electronic shifting in the morning then headed off to meet my sister and her fiancé for dinner after they had made the drive over from Chicago to cheer me on. Then it was an early bedtime, all the while hoping the rain would stop for the race.
Thankfully, it did! My alarm went off a little bit before 4. After a quick high carb breakfast, I grabbed my hydration bottles for the morning. I had mixed by BTA bottle with 1st Phorm’s Intra-Formance, and the bottle on my downtube had Ultra-Formance. Both of these have a mix of carbs that includes cluster dextrin, dextrin, and fructose, along with an electrolyte blend high in sodium, potassium and magnesium (I use two scoops per 16 oz). I had been using these pretty much exclusively in my training with some Precision Hydration 1500 mg tablets when I only wanted the sodium and not the carbs and have found so far this had been sitting well in my stomach. Then I double checked that I had all my bike, run, and swim gear, along with my UCAN gels, and was off to the shuttle. It was race time!
Once in transition I stripped off the garbage bags, made sure the shifting and brakes were working, and set up my transition bags and water bottles. After waiting around nervously for an hour or so 7 am finally came around and we were jumping in the water!
The Swim
If you know me, you know that swimming is not my favorite thing to do. The water temperature was 76 degrees, making it just wetsuit legal. I was a little worried about overheating, but that definitely wasn’t going to stop me from using a wetsuit. Once it was my turn, I ran into Versluis Lake and dove in, ready to get the first leg behind me. The sky was overcast, and I was thankful I had brought clear goggles for this race. Swimming is hard enough without throwing in sighting issues! Compared to the branded Ironman races, there was a relatively small field. Which can be both good and bad. On the plus side, I wasn’t getting elbowed in the face. However, there also wasn’t anyone to really draft off of and I pretty much swam solo the entire 2.4 miles. I felt slow and at times got a little bit off course as the buoys were spaced pretty far apart. But after the two-loop course I was thankful to have my feet on solid ground again. My official time was 1:09. A bit disappointing but at least it was over. Onto the bike!
The Bike
After getting my wetsuit stripped off, I ran to my transition bag to grab my shoes and helmet, stuffed a few gels in my trisuit, and grabbed my bike. As I got to the mount line, I was told that there were two girls ahead of me. “Okay, not too bad”, I thought.
I quickly caught both of them in the first 10 miles or so and got into a steady pace. The course was an out and back that we would have to make two loops of for the full course. There was a headwind going out for the first 28 miles, and it was a rolling course with around 5000 feet total elevation gain. While not super hilly, I still decided to be a bit more on the conservative side. And I stuck to this plan even as I was passed by another girl around mile 20. In the past, I would have tried to have pushed it to keep pace, but I also knew I had done this before and blown up on the run. So, I just rode my race.
There were a lot of rollers with a few steeper climbs. And while the headwind wasn’t crazy (about 10 mph) it was relentless, especially on the second loop. I saw the first-place girl on each turn around and tried to estimate how far ahead she was. It seemed like a couple miles. As we got deeper into the race, I fought off the urge to push more power and told myself to be smart. There was still a lot of racing to go. It reminded me of something I heard Lionel Sanders say before. And while it’s not the exact quote, it was something like “with 10K to go in the marathon, no one wishes they had biked harder.” That is definitely true.
I used the tailwind on the way back into transition to try to make up some ground and finally made it back into transition. I heard the race announcer say that I was the second-place female in the Ultra race and that I was about 9 minutes down. I had a lot of time to make up, but luckily, I also had a lot of time to do it.
The Run
I didn’t have a set pace to run at and decided to just go by feel. Looking back, I probably went out a bit too hard. But hey, that’s why I held back on the bike, right?
The first few miles were around a 7-7:15 minute mile pace. But then I hit a few 6:45 minute miles. I was going to pull back some but then I saw the first-place girl on the first turn around (it was a four-loop course, so eight chances to see your competitors). I was only about a quarter mile behind her! I felt good so I just kept the pace until I caught up with her and passed her right around mile 5. I wanted to keep the pressure on her so stayed right around a 7-minute mile pace. On the next turn-around I realized I was gaining ground. And this continued until I realized that even though my pace was slowing to about 7:15 minute miles I was now ahead by 2 or 3 miles.
Not wanting to implode I let myself slow down a bit more. Even at 7:30 minute miles I was still pulling ahead so I decided to play it smart. Then around mile 20 I had to make an emergency pit stop. I had made the mistake of taking in some gels from the aid stations that I hadn’t trained with without enough water, and the infamous “runners trots” decided to make an appearance. Luckily there was a porta-potty at the next aid station. I tried to make a quick stop, but after wrestling with my tri-suit it added 2 or 3 minutes on. I didn’t see the second-place girl on that loop and wondered if I had missed her during my bathroom stop.
With 10K to go, I was ready to be done. My stops at the aid stations became a bit longer as I walked through to grab water and cold towels. At this point I just had to keep picturing myself crossing the finish line to keep myself going. On the final straightaway towards the finish, I heard my sister’s fiancé Ethan cheering for me and holding up his camera. “Almost done” I heard him say. “I know, thank God” I replied back. Then I saw my sister on the final turn, which was another big boost. Finally, I was at the finish line. I heard them call my name and announce me as the USAT Ultra National Champion.
The Michigan Titanium was an awesome experience at a great venue with amazing volunteers. It was my first time running this race, but I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great course and just a really top-notch race experience. Everything was so well organized, and you can tell that the race directors truly care about the athletes, and everyone involved.
Winning was of course great. And fun. But most of all it helped me realize a few more things I need to tweak before Kona. While I was really happy with my nutrition on the bike, I will need to make some changes on the run, especially since the conditions in Kona will be quite different. Luckily, I have about a month and a half to continue working on that in the heat of the Florida Keys. And I know that I will want to pace the run a bit differently. After some easy days of recovery this week I’m ready to get back at it and work even harder this last half of the year.
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