MI Titanium race weekend - Guess I'm Titanium STRONG

I started this blog back in January 2014 to document my quest to knock off an Ironman AquaBike off my bucket list and the hopes of encouraging others to push their limits. Once finishing that race I decided, done that...don't need to do it again. But I still wanted to have a goal or two for my yearly training. This year I returned to Grand Rapids, MI to do a 1/2 IM AquaBike (1.2 mile lake swim and 56 mile bike...this one was 57 miles).

It was fun to share the adventure with my friend Michelle, two of my fellow Otters Jessica and Karie, fellow Pearl Izumi Tri Champion Gigi, and Jeff a Dare2tri athlete. Everyone else was doing the complete 1/2 IM distance tri. I was content with Swim, Bike, Done!! Jeff would go on to complete his first ever 1/2 IM distance race. Very inspiring.

In the days before and during race weekend I couldn't help on reflect on someone that was missing. Two years ago when I did this race, my friend Mark came with to compete taking 2nd in his age group. A remarkable triathlete who unfortunately passed away last year. We were the same age and it just broke my heart to lose yet another friend so young. You truly must live every day to its fullest as you never know what tomorrow brings. I believe Mark was there in spirit and even finding humor in what we endured.

Michelle and I left on Saturday morning in a rain storm. The cell stretched from Northern Wisconsin all the way to Southern Illinois and was heading east. So our 3.5 hour drive took a little over 4 hours and the torrential rains followed us the whole time. I equate it to driving in a car wash for four hours. Michelle was riding shot gun and would update me what color on the radar we were driving into. Just in case I couldn't see out the car window at the time.

We got to Grand Rapids and proceeded to the YMCA for packet pick-up. I was excited to see that my swim wave had purple caps. My favorite color. Plus the goodie bag had powder blue socks...Power socks!!! (inside joke ask me some time) These were all good omens. But within minutes of my excitement they announce a tornado warning and we all had to evacuate to the locker rooms for safety. Us and a 100 of our closest friends huddled in the locker room. We had no windows to see what was transpiring outside so relied on our cell phones to check radar. We were dab center in a bright red cell. Then the woman came over the intercom with panic in her voice "Three tornadoes are reported on the ground heading towards us and will be here in 5 minutes."  I was about at my wits end after white knuckling it for 4 hours in pouring rain and now waiting to get hit by a tornado. A man nearby had a little Yorkie with a service dog vest which was his comfort dog. I really wanted to wrestle it out of his hands since I needed some comforting.

After the all clear I get a text later from Gigi that she unknowingly drove right into the tornado. Oh our little storm chaser. It ended up the tornadoes touched down in Wyoming (MI) and southern Grand Rapids. Luckily no one was hurt, just property damage and power outages. We were fine and of course the sun came out.

We headed over to the venue and transition, constantly debating if we should rack our bikes or wait until the morning. After consulting Weather.com a few more times we decided to rack the bikes and cover them with plastic garbage bags, tuck them in for the night, kiss our babies goodbye and hope for the best in the morning. It did rain again but nothing too bad. Vermonster was safe and dry.

Vermonster all wrapped up for the night

After racking our bikes, Jessica, Michelle and I went to drive some of the bike course so I could show them the 13% climb at mile 3. But to our delight they had changed some of the course since 2 years ago and just lots of longggg rollers most of course and two 12% grade climbs tossed in back to back just for giggles.

It was time to go check into our hotel. Just before pulling into the parking lot we get a call from the hotel that they overbooked. Ends up they would offer to move us to another hotel and pay for our stay. The catch was they knew nothing about the hotel, plus it wasn't  a known chain. We declined since where we were was a known commodity and we needed a good night's sleep.

Then it was time for dinner. Could the day get any worse? Well yeah. I was served raw chicken. Well that meal was free. Fingers cross I wouldn't get sick.

The last bit of excitement for the day was a tattooing party. We got temporary race number tattoos instead of the regular handwritten Sharpies markings. BTW, these aren't temporary. Two lake swims and two showers and I still can't get these damn things off.  Totally open to suggestions.

A 5am wake up call and we check the weather. Rain starting at 1045am until 3pm. Lovely. At least we'll get the swim in. So off to the race we go, expecting the worse (weather wise) but hoping for the best.

You couldn't ask for better conditions for the swim. Smooth water and partly sunny skies. Michelle and I compared notes on the drive home. We both had our own "swim boogers" attached to us for 2/3 of the race. Those are swimmers who seem to think they are tethered to you and swim right up close and personal, sometimes swimming right in front of you or hitting you with every stroke. No matter what you do you can't get rid of them and unfortunately you can't drown them.

Out of the swim feeling great, made good use of the lightning fast volunteer strippers and off to transition carrying my wet suit. Unlike 2 years ago my legs felt pretty good and I'm not hyperventilating.  First 10 miles I'm averaging 18.3mph and enjoying yelling "on your left" instead of being the one yelled to. The course is hilly. Not the kind that you can go screaming down and back up the other side with little effort. These are long hills that you scream down and slog up the 5-8% grade on other side. It was also very windy so I was getting blown around a bit with my aero wheels. The roads had a lot of chip and seal, pot holes and cracks. So you had to use your best bike handling skills when flying down some of the hills.

I was in a groove, playing cat and mouse with this gal Renee I met on the course. Right at 1030 it started drizzling. Wait they said not until 1045am. Liars!!! Then at mile 31 I flatted. Renee made sure I had everything and kept going. By this time my average was 17.6mph. I thought it was just the sidewall but this morning I looked closely and there's a big slice down to the cords. I changed the flat in 3 minutes easy peasie. But then my CO2 inflator malfunctioned and drained both my CO2 cartridges. What happened next is what I love about triathlons. Every single rider asked if I was okay, did I have everything I needed, etc. I didn't want anyone to stop their race to help me. Figured the truck would be by quick enough to help. But no such luck. I found out later it was busy helping Gigi who had THREE flats along the course and needed a loaner wheel.


Then all of a sudden one woman circled back, pulled out her inflator and a cartridge, handed it to me and rode off. I had begged her not to do that because if she flatted she’d have nothing. But she insisted. The inflator worked like magic, but only gave me about 60PSI but I was in business. I took off like a mad woman trying to make up for the 20+ minutes I was on the side of the road.

As I passed each aid station I'd yell out "do you have a pump?" but no one did so I kept peddling. I finally saw the woman who gave me the CO2 inflator. She was fading in the strong headwinds. I pulled up next to her and quickly thanked her over and over, asked her name (Deana) and apologized that it wasn't a draft legal race or I'd pull her home. I left her behind and by mile 43 the clouds got black and the wind picked up even more. It started to pour sideways. I just kept my head down and pedaled. Praying I wouldn't flat again since I didn't have another tube or wipe out on the flooded roads. The goal was to finish this thing and finish it as fast I as could. But the wind and the rain had other ideas.

About 2 miles from the end, the sun came out and the rain dissipated. But no such luck for the wind. I battled the wind and continued passing these poor souls who were beaten down by the bike course. I just knew that I didn't have to run after this. So just continued to drive home. I pulled into the Finish shoot at 16.4mph average, soaking wet and a big ass smile. I'd had hoped for an average in the mid seventeens but with the wind, rain, hills and low pressure rear tire this was definitely acceptable. I ran across the finish line the best I could in cleats and was proud that not once did I want to give up. I was strong like Titanium.

Posing with medal and flatted tube

Not sure what's next. Part of me would like to do an Ironman AquaBike again. Part of me knows the time commitment is grueling and this body isn't getting any younger. I'll noodle it and decide by early January. For now, I'm just going to Enjoy the Ride...

Sheri