Blue Lake Mid-Summer Olympic - Race Report

Short version: I PARTICIPATED in the Blue Lake Midsummer Olympic tri because I thought I might be able to get a personal record (PR). My previous best was something like 2:27 and I negotiated time to race even though it was my wife’s birthday given I could deliver the gift of a 2:23 Olympic PR. Thanks to a late surge in my competitive juices, mission accomplished!

Swim: 27:44 (69/183) 48 seconds faster than June 2008
T1: 2:09
Bike: 1:03:46 (27/183 and ~23 mph average) 15 seconds faster than June 2008
T2: 1:33
Run: 47:48 (63/183 or 7:43/mile pace) 3:12 faster than June 2008
Total: 2:23:01 (40 of 183, 7th in AG) 4:39 faster than June 2008

Longer version: I can do some truly idiotic things when it comes to my preparations for race day. To start this season, I harbored a secret desire to set a PR at every distance I raced in triathlon from sprint through Ironman. Obviously, some PR’s are definitely easier targets than others and frankly, I didn’t know if I could break my ‘calculated’ PR at the Olympic distance. I figured that aiming for this midsummer race would provide ample time to tighten up my ‘skillz’. Unfortunately, it also provided ample time to do something stupid… namely, unplanned speed work just 3 days prior to the race.

A friend of mine convinced me to take my kids to an ‘all-comers’ track meet on Thursday night and before I could say ‘Shizzle’, I was sprinting the corner as part of a 4 x 100 relay team. We did win the blue ribbon, but it’s been a LONG time since I ran as hard as I could for 100 meters. Add to that a pacing run to help a kid to a 1 mile PR and an 800 meter live coaching run and my hamstrings were tighter than violin strings. I tried stretching, hot/smelly stuff and some easy spinning, but when race morning dawned, my hammies were still feeling taut.

As I positioned my bike in transition, I said hello to many of my Ironheads teammates and then realized my race wasn’t going to start for 90 minutes. So, I did a little warm-up jog and tried to keep myself busy and doing anything to loosen my legs. The cloud cover stayed in place making it a cooler morning than I had anticipated. When I finally entered the water, I decided to start my watch when the starter gave us the 1 minute warning, that way I could start the swim with both hands rather than fumbling with my buttons. Of course, I had difficulty right out of the gate. I got behind a zig-zagger and struggled to get around him. First I tried left, then right, then left again. Each time he would zig or zag in front of my just in time to get my follow-through right in the middle of his back. I finally just stopped and let him go. Eventually, I got my own rhythm and by the first corner, felt good enough to push it. I swam at about 80-85% for the rest of the swim and felt good coming out of the water. Of course, at that point, I looked at my watch and thought, “Crap, I lost time!” Yes, this is the point where I forgot I started my watch a minute early. Nothing like some negative motivation!

I hustled through T1 pretty quickly, deeply appreciating the supportive Ironheads like Varney and Benjamin yelling encouragement. I quickly got into the bike frame of mind and set a steady tempo. I spotted Darren Smith on the outbound run in the sprint and gave him a yell. I’m not sure what came out of my mouth, but I hope it sounded positive. After the first turnaround, I was passing a lot of people on Marine Drive westbound when I attempted a difficult nasal surgery on the bike. I leaned forward to drink from my aero bottle just as I hit a pothole and nearly got the plastic straw right up the nose. Yikes! Just shows you need to always pay attention and be looking ahead on the bike. No blood no foul as they say, but it hurt. Good thing the cool morning kept both my feet AND my nose numb. I started to notice the slight head/cross wind more as I neared the last turnaround and couldn’t distinguish if the music I heard was my aero helmet whistling or my hamstrings thrumming with each revolution. I was relieved when my speed easily jumped back up on the eastbound return and the slight tailwind allowed me to ease just a bit. I got passed by one cyclist on the day and couldn’t be disappointed since the guy was simply smoking.

My cyclocross dismount didn’t buy me enough time in transition to stay clear of the fast-flying Taylor Bethel, an Ironheads teammate in his first Olympic distance. Before I could even get out of the park, I watched Taylor bound away taking 1 stride for every 3 of mine. I decided to once again keep my mile splits, hoping it would provide some good motivation. So as I’m hitting my watch, another guy with a 40-something number on his leg passed me. He didn’t pull away real fast, so I made it my goal not to lose him. This is where the competitive juices kind of kicked in. I was able to keep my rabbit/rival within 100 feet or so by maintaining my splits between 7:25-7:40 pace. At the turnaround, I decided to try a surge. I’ve never actually surged before, so it was an unusual feeling. I did pass my rabbit and clocked a 7:15 mile 4 and surprisingly, still felt pretty dang good (despite the music playing on my hammies and still numb feet). I kept up the pace and maintained 7:40 & 7:35 splits coming home for a PR run split in an Olympic distance triathlon.

Just after the finish line, I remembered the one minute buffer and realized my final time was 2:23:01 against my 2:23 goal. I can live with 1 second. So I achieved my goal and set a PR (and my wife couldn’t be more excited about her birthday gift… riiigght), but now I feel even more confident that I can achieve a sub 2:20 next year. Huge thanks to all the Ironheads cheering and racing on Sunday. It truly makes the day more fun. Now on to Hulaman!