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By Roxane Kippen, Team OAM NOW/Athletic Mentors Tri-athlete

This weekend was a busy one for Michigan triathletes, including Team OAM NOW / ATHLETIC MENTORS, whose athletes batted 1000 in podium performances at both the Little Traverse Triathlon in Harbor Springs, MI and the Grand Haven Triathlon in Grand Haven, MI.

Chuck Grzanka and Jeff Towner won their age groups,Paul Raynes was third in his age group and Roxane Kippen won the overall female at Little Traverse. Meanwhile, in Grand Haven, Todd Anthes was third in his age group.

Little Traverse Triathlon is in its 6th year and boasts some of the most beautiful scenery of any race in the state. The 600 meter swim is in the crystal clear, 66 degree water of Little Traverse Bay, where racers can see the bottom of the bay for the entire swim. The 19.6 mile bike follows M119 as it climbs out of Harbor Springs through the beautiful Tunnel of Trees and the 4 mile run course sends racers out and back on the stunning shoreline of the bay past beautiful historic homes.

Little Traverse is an annual event for Team OAM NOW / ATHLETIC MENTORS triathletes Chuck Grzanka and Jeff Towner. They have a home course advantage and it paid off with first place finishes in their respective age groups. Teammates Paul Raynes and Roxane Kippen were new to the event this year and found their way to the podium as well with a third place age group finish and overall female win, respectively.

Jeff Towner, Roxane Kippen, Chuck Grzanka, Paul Raynes

Grand Haven Triathlon has been a popular West Michigan race for a number of years with a great venue along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The Olympic distance race includes a 1500 meter swim along the sandy beach at Grand Haven State Park, followed by a 40 kilometer bike on the rolling hills of Lakeshore Drive and a 10 kilometer run along the boardwalk and around Harbor Island.

Grand Haven is a home town race for Team OAM NOW / ATHLETIC MENTORS triathlete Todd Anthes. He trains in the chilly Lake Michigan waters and puts in a lot of miles on the local bike and run course. The race this year was changed to a duathlon because lake conditions were too dangerous for swimmers, so the 1500 meter swim was exchanged for a 5 kilometer run. Todd pulled out a solid run-bike-run for third in his age group and finished less than ten seconds off a top 10 overall finish, which is a tremendous achievement given the strong men’s field at this event.

Team OAM NOW / ATHLETIC MENTORS triathletes are up next at Tri del Sol, XTERRA Ionia, and Millennium Triathlon.

By Raquel Tavares-Torres, Professional Tri-athlete

Last year, I had my first Elite experience (ITU draft legal race) in Sarasota, Florida. In hindsight, I have to laugh at myself. What was I thinking?  To race at that level with just a few weeks of “training,” especially after more than 12 years without riding a bike or doing anything remotely similar to triathlons, didn’t seem like a great decision.

While we were packing the bike Coach Mark Olson let me borrow (I didn’t even have my own bike!), I told him I was apprehensive and nervous about racing at the elite level; when I decided to try the triathlon, it was just for fun, as more of a personal challenge. I didn’t know that weeks later I’d be flying to Florida to compete.

I can still hear him saying to me, “Raquel, just go and have fun. Go there and learn.”

So, basically, that’s what I did. I flew to Florida, with minimal experience, without enough training, without the right equipment and by myself! I might have been apprehensive and I might have been a bit scared, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done because of what I learned.

When I arrived in Florida, I didn’t have a wet suit.  I had to borrow one from another coach and one of his junior athletes. One hour before the race, I squeezed myself into a super tight wetsuit. During the race, I felt as if I was swimming in a straitjacket. As a result, I was out of the water a full 3 minutes after the first group. 3 minutes is a long time in an Elite race, in any race really. Racers who are fast out of the water are able to, as mentioned above, join the peloton, conserve energy, race faster, and race with the lead pack. Those of us left behind in the water must face the head winds alone as we struggle to catch up. Catching up, at this point, is difficult, and unlikely.

A race official dressed all in black, riding a huge motorcycle, pulled me over and said, brusquely, “Give me your chip” (referring to my timing chip with which I would be scored).

I’d been lapped. Once you’re lapped, your race is over. I looked over and saw a few of the other women on the ground, next to their bikes, tears streaming down their faces, and felt my own tears well up in my eyes. We’d all been lapped. Our races were done.

So what did I learn?

– In draft legal races, you can “cheat” or you can work. If you are in a big group of good riders and you draft, you avoid the head wind and expend approximately 30% less effort than the people who are working in the front of the group or peloton. You want to be with the pack. You want to conserve energy.

-In Elite racing, every part of the race is important. A good, fast swim means you get to ride with the fast riders and draft with them as well.

-Bad races happen, even to experienced athletes who have trained. Sometimes it’s a bad swim, sometimes you get out of the water and your legs are spent. There are a variety of factors, often beyond your control, that can influence your race, and if just one of them is off, it can set off a chain reaction. What matters is that you know it can happen to anyone. Even elite athletes have bad races. Even elite athletes get lapped, and it happens quite often.

More importantly, what matters most is that you look at every racing opportunity as a chance to learn whether the outcome is what you expect or not. The true measure of my success is my ability to walk away from a bad race and use what I learned to my advantage in my next race. This is how you get better. We do not learn to walk on day one, first we must fall, and from falling we learn balance. The triathlon is no different. It is about balance. It is about learning. In order to do this, we first must get out there.