Graniteman Big Lake Olympic 2017

The final event in the Graniteman Triathlon Series is the Big Lake Triathlon. Coming into this event, I was sitting in 5th place.


I love that this event is less than 2 miles from my sister's front door! When I got up and was ready, I just hopped on my bike for a short warm up ride to transition. I arrived in time to secure a premium spot.

As we were departing WIBA last weekend, I found out that one of my new friends was going to be in town this weekend. A little peer pressure & I  convinced Kelsae to bring her bike and join me for her first MN Tri!

Photo by Phreeance Fotography

I was In the second Olympic distance heat. My swim was unremarkable. The long turns were marked with white swans that I had difficulty sighting, but my bigger mistake was spotting off a SUP that I thought was the inflatable Graniteman marking the swim exit. I swam about 150 yard long, so nothing too bad! As I came in toward swim exit, we rejoined the sprinters in a fight to the finish.

T1 was fast and efficient for me.

Photo by Phreeance Fotography

The bike started out quick dodging a few sprinters as we headed out around the lake. I struggled to find my rhythm. My quads were screaming with fatigue from last weekend. Coming into the turn, I had about 10 in front of me, but had no idea which heat each was in. I just tried to buckle down and hold a steady pace, power, and cadence. My ride back along the shore became interesting as I had to keep dodging vehicles pulling out of driveways. One pulled out and stopped right in front of me! Fortunately, I was able to safely pass and keep going (rather than find an abrupt stop in their backseat).


T2 was a quick turn and burn for me. Nothing too exciting to report.

On the run, I just kept pushing forward. I knew I was just behind PR pace and did my best to hold on without the wheels falling completely off. By the turn, I knew it would take a miracle, but kept pushing. About a quarter mile from the finish, my PR time came and went. As I entered the park, I took a quick glance back and then let off the gas. I had put in my effort, there was no sense hurting myself in the last few hundred yards.

I missed my PR by 2:18. Scouring over my results, I lost all of that and then some in my bike effort. It was not meant to be today! I finished the day with a 22nd overall, 17th Male, 3rd in my AG, and 4th in the series...by 18 seconds! I am happy with my efforts. It was a hard fought series with some great racing from all! Never count yourself out!!!

Wisconsin Brick Adventure 2017

How do you finish the month of July? Well, WIBA Weekend of course!

Back last fall when the registration for WIBA opened, my arm was twisted to join a teammate for this training weekend. Honestly, it didn't to take much twisting. Who cares that I was not racing IMWI, it is great training on an amazing course with inspiring athletes! I was In!

Between October and July, many things changed.  The week we were supposed to leave, my teammate fell ill. As difficult as it was to not share this training opportunity, I still attended solo.

I arrived in Madison Wednesday evening set myself up for a huge training weekend. Thursday morning I met up with the OutKast Triathlon Team at Rocket Bikes Studio in Verona to get the party started!  As we kicked off the ride, I caught up with some of the group I rode with last year plus met many more in the group. Thursday I saw 2 loops of the IMWI bike course. The first loop was with the big group. The second was solo.

Friday was an early start as we met in the hotel parking lot for a planned 105+ mile ride. We rode the course from the hotel out "The Stick" to " The Loop." We proceeded to do 2 loops on the course as the race day course, then took the stick back to the hotel. This day served as a race rehearsal for many on the team. On the way back into Madison, there is an infamous hill know as "the white picket fence" hill. Any normal day, this would be no big deal, but after 100 miles of hills, it has a tendency to bite. That is exactly what happened to me this Day! As I approached the hill, my vision started to narrow, I started to feel dizzy, and my legs started to fade! I backed off of the group, took in some GU Energy Gels, and continued to soft pedal myself forward. It took about 2 miles to get myself  back to where I needed to be. I had been following my on bike plan, but had not accounted for a couple stops we made along the route. By the last couple miles, I was 100% back and cranking away on the bike.

Saturday I awoke with very stiff shoulders. I had shrugged off an invite to swim from the night before. I was already awake and my shoulders needed to loosen up. The peer pressure kicked in and I joined Josh and Kelsae at Fireman's Park for an "easy" 2.75 mile swim supported by SBR Coaching. My shoulders felt AWESOME afterward! Then I looked at my Garmin...how did I pull off 1:28/100 when it was such a relaxed swim!?!? From there, it was back to hitting the loop with the bikes.  Two more loops conquered on Saturday. On party with last year, I couldn't escape the ride without breaking a spoke! Fortunately, I had a spare wheel with this year!

Sunday kicked off with a quick run around the IMWI run course. It was "only" a half marathon.  About halfway through, I took in HEED mistaking it for water.....oops! About a mile later on the UW campus, I felt like a frat boy after a bad night. I was in the trees forcing a bad decision from my stomach. After the next aid station with a few glasses of water and some GU Energy, I was back on my Way! When we got back to the hotel, it was a quick cleanup, pack the car, and farewells to friends both old and new. Why is this such a great weekend? Because when you surround yourself with people on the same mission as you, you are pushed, challenged,                                                                        inspired, and walk away stronger for it!

A special thanks to Jessica an Peter from Rocket Bikes Studio, the OutKast Triathlon Team, Tammy and Mark from SBR Coaching, and my friends at GU Energy!