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Second sprint triathlon of the season: Blue Lake Park All Women’s, August 1
This race was at Blue Lake Park in Fairview, Oregon, about a 4-hour drive away. The day after Chris did RAMROD—what a good guy!---we got up and drove down to Portland (Friday July 31), picked up the race packet, drove on to our hotel at Troutdale by around 3-4 pm. That gave us plenty of time to then drive over to the park to see the race site. I went in for a brief swim and it was WARM, like bathtub warm---temperatures in this area hit about 107 the week before. I started seriously wondering what it would be like to swim in a wetsuit in that water temperature (since it was around 95 degrees at that point in the afternoon, I wasn’t about to try to put that wetsuit on for a brief, “getting to know you, Blue Lake” swim). After the swim, I rode part of the run course on my bike, and we drove part of the bike course—all pretty flat. Back to the hotel, dinner, sleep.
Got up the next morning at 5 am and I immediately said, “Oooh...I don’t think I want any breakfast.” I could tell my stomach was feeling like it had had as much as it could handle the night before (buttermilk pancakes for dinner. No problem. But....um....also Animal Crackers when I woke up in the middle of the night. That was sort of a mistake. I didn’t have MANY but apparently it was more animal companionship than my stomach wished to have). So what my stomach did have for breakfast was...Imodium. Good thing it was only a sprint triathlon since I would guess Imodium would be bad policy for a longer race where nutrition intake and processing matter.
So, what with the extra time we’d left for breakfast, we just went on to the race site—got to transition around 6:30 am (race start 8 am). Arriving at transition, apparently thinking deep thoughts, in my red shirt:
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This is my fourth sprint tri and somehow all that early time goes really, really fast. Was all set up in transition but still pulling up the sleeves of my wetsuit when they chased us all down to the lake. It was an in-water start, and my wave went at around 8:10. I was a little less scared of the swim start than I’ve been previously, so while I still started to the back, I wasn’t quite as obsessed with being at the very back and farthest to the left. I pondered it but then thought, I don’t think you’re the absolute weakest animal in the pack anymore, so let’s just go, okay? And I went. No problem. Only one or two feet/face encounters, and they didn’t last long. I just swam.
Here’s where I heard my spouse and my coach cheering me on before the start—you can just see my grinning little face all the way out, with the blue patch on the chest of the Quintana Roo wetsuit.
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And here’s the swim start---with my blue QR arm sticking up, close to the leading edge of the picture:
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And it was indeed REALLY, REALLY WARM in that water with a full-sleeve wetsuit. Did I mention it was, like, WARM?? Oof. I probably did not swim quite as hard as I might have otherwise, because I was a little afraid I would get really, unpleasantly hot in the middle of the swim. I was glad to get out so I could get that wetsuit off! It was a long walk/run in and out of transition. Pant, pant. Off on the bike.
The bike course was a total delight because it was absolutely flat and you could really work hard and go as fast as you can muster. It was just nothing but fun. I worked my butt off on the bike leg all the way, and had about a 16.8 mph average, which I was happy with (for this time).
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But boy! By the time the run started, my heart rate was already up there and stayed up there. And, as usual, as a newbie runner since only last October, the run was hard for me. I never felt like I caught my breath. It was also pretty flat, but was starting to get warm and there wasn’t a lot of shade on the run course until the very end. That's me in the white cap.
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The run distance was 3.28 miles, says my Garmin. And I went about 13:30 minutes per mile. So I don’t want to hear any more from you guys about who is the slowest runner on the planet---pretty sure I win that one! :) But believe it or not, for me this pace is progress---I was able to keep it pretty steady through the 3.28 miles. And I plan to just keep working on it. Trudge, trudge, trudge, trudge.
So as in the last triathlon (Five Mile Lake in June), I was in about the middle of the pack for the swim and bike, and away down for the run. Here are the times:
Swim: ½ mile, 19:15. I am pleased with it for this year (compared to last year’s swims at 24-25 minutes), although I know I can get faster. And I love swimming, so will be happy to work on it more. Overall place 200/387.
Bike: 12 miles, 43:10, 16.8 mph. Overall place 218/387.
Run: 3.28 miles, 44:43. Overall place 371/387. Gah. At least it wasn’t dead last.
Total time 1:56. Both transitions were a little over 4 minutes each, mostly because I was already working so hard on the various legs that I didn’t run through the transitions, just to give myself a little chance to catch my breath.
I placed 5 out of 8 in Athena, would have placed 17/21 in age group.
After the race, the three of us had lunch and then did a little waterfall touring in the Columbia Gorge. The system won't let me post more than five photos so I will add another post with a couple of waterfall pics.
The next day my coach raced in the Olympic, and Chris and I got to watch. That is the first time I’ve gotten to be a spectator rather than a participant, and it was REALLY fun! What a blast. It sure is nice to have a cheering section during a race, and it turns out it’s just as much fun to BE one, also.
I think I will do one more race in late September, just for fun. Then I will have a nice long winter to work on all this. It would be so nice to be able to run faster! You know, it’s interesting to do this as someone with fibromyalgia. So far, my shoulders and upper back are taking the increased swim work reasonably well. The bike is not a problem. The run, for me, includes a chronic, pretty painful right hip tendonitis. Before starting triathlon, I do not remember having much hip pain, but apparently it is not uncommon. Jocelynlf dug up this blog for me last summer after I’d posted here wondering if there were any other triathletes with fibromyalgia on TE, and got no return posts. This woman, a triathlete with fibromyalgia, also has considerable hip pain. And she just finished her first half Iron. You can see her blog and read her race report here: http://tribeyondlimits.blogspot.com/
I am looking forward to volunteering at Seattle Danskin this Sunday! Even if we DO have to get up earlier than the racers do to get there at our assigned time of....4:45 am. Note to self: Espresso. Bring much espresso.
