PNW Tri Novices

[jesvetmed]

Looking forward to meeting everyone Saturday.

Did you all find out what time you have to be there Saturday? I'm #1836, so 12 to 2pm I think.

Are they actually keeping our bikes overnight? This makes me a bit uneasy. Hmmm.... I can see there are a lot of us to check in, but that's also a lot of bikes to have racked and protect for 24 hours.

KG, I'm sorry you are so far away. Would be impractical to drive down just for food but we will eat/drink in your honor.

I'll eat and drink without a reason any time, but glad to have a good excuse for this weekend! Here's to KG!

We'll try and make you proud, Wahine!

[salsabike]

Thanks, Wahine! I think I will just try to keep in mind how much fun I've had training for this, so it seems like I should have a chunk of fun actually DOING it as well, and, then...try to be quick where I can.


Best of luck, all who are racing this weekend, and have a good time!

[salsabike]

And one more thing---

I made a date at my favorite local spa for Monday---"healing waters" treatment, massage. PM me if you want to know the spa--they're quite wonderful.

See ALL Y'ALL at dinner Saturday!

PS Bib number 695, pickup 9am-10am.

[colby]

Are they actually keeping our bikes overnight? This makes me a bit uneasy. Hmmm.... I can see there are a lot of us to check in, but that's also a lot of bikes to have racked and protect for 24 hours.

Yeah, you do leave your bike overnight. I don't think they've had any problems. I am pretty sure they have security the entire time, too. It is a pretty well-ran race.

[teigyr]

Saturday was race packet pick-up and bike drop off. Despite my aversion to spending the day standing in line and driving, I think Danskin did a great job of lessening the impact of such a huge race. The expo was ok and there was a surprisingly lovely amount of free stuff that could be had.

Saturday night was our dinner. I only have one picture from that; this is us looking tough. They bodymarked us on Saturday so we got the pleasure of walking around with big numbers on our arms. Mine also came off a bit on my sheets, I woke up to an imprint of my race # on the bottom sheet.

On race morning, we were instructed to park offsite and a bus would drive us to the start. We left our house at 4:30am and were on a school bus before 5:30am. All the way down to the parking structure, we saw lightning! It turns out that there was quite a bit of lightning that morning but fortunately it stopped in time for the race.

The transition area was huge. I felt bad about my T1 transition being 6 minutes but then I looked at everyone else's results and that appeared to be right around average. There was quite a long trek from the swim finish to my bike and for those who had a shorter distance, there was a long distance from the bike to the timing mat for the ride. My T2 time was about 2 minutes which kind of made up for T1.

The swim was ok. It was crowded and I was kicked quite a bit. I swam freestyle the whole way but there were those who stopped to breaststroke and there is nothing like being kicked by a breaststroke kick. I tried to be aware and not kick anyone myself until a few people from the wave after me swam OVER me. I figured by that point I'd stop trying to avoid people and try to politely do what I had to do. I am not all that strong of a swimmer but I don't get that tired and I go a fairly steady pace. I ended up passing people and trying to work my way through holes in the crowd.

I wrote my transition spot on my wrist so I didn't lose my bike this time. Transition spots were letters then numbers for the rack.

The bike had a sketchy part where the road narrowed and riders had to make some sharp turns and go up a hill. I was fortunate in that I could squeeze by and stay on my bike. The volunteers were so great about telling people to shift and get off the bike before the hill if they couldn't make it but I think a lot of people ended up stopping where they were so riders that could've made the turn and hill had to stop so they didn't run into someone who stopped suddenly. We did the same bit for back down the turn and hill and I did get stuck behind someone who was intimidated by it. Some people tried to pass and cut in front but I figured it wasn't worth risking an accident for and it wasn't like it would make that much of a difference anyway.

The run was ok. Hot but ok. There was a hill in mile 3 that was less than pleasant but there was a drum band playing and it really helped me just mindlessly put one foot in front of the other.

To put the sheer magnitude of this thing in perspective, I was wave 10. When I was on the run, there were still waves starting for the swim.

I think all the PNW tri people did an incredible job!!! To my knowledge, we all met our goals. Several of our PNW people are going to do another tri in a few weeks so I guess this one wasn't that scary

I can't wait to hear from the other PNW people to see how they felt about the race. It was fun for me and a great experience to be able to race with all of you

And a special thanks to Wahine. THANK YOU!!!!

[melissalb]

Hi ladies! I'm new to the board and did Danskin yesterday too! It was my 5th Danskin! We learned a trick this year. If you sign up for the Mass Mutual breakfast at 7:30am, you get to pick up your race packets and rack your bikes before everyone else, regardless of your race number! It was AMAZING! A definite must for next year. Can't believe it took me 5 years to figure that out. What a great race yesterday! Congratulations to everyone!

Melissa

[mimitabby]

Teigyr, tell us who the ladies are. I know Dex, Salsa and you, and Jesvetmed?
who else???

congrats! i've been very distracted and was surprised to see news FINALLY being posted now!

[Wahine]

You're welcome!!! I'm so happy for you and what a fantastic photo!!

[jesvetmed]

Teigyr, tell us who the ladies are. I know Dex, Salsa and you, and Jesvetmed?
who else???

I'm the one in black and white pants in the center. The gal on the end is someone I used to work with 10 yrs ago -- she and I have now done two tri's together. I dragged her along to dinner (she was my ride to the race, afterall! )

Jes

[jesvetmed]

PS.. Welcome MelissaB! Good information -- my friend did the 7:30am thing. I would have been happiers with 7pm coming from out of town!
Hope to meet you at something soon.
Jes

[salsabike]

The Danskin is so huge that there is no on-site or near-site parking. They ask participants to go to Safeco Field (the Mariners’ baseball stadium) and take school buses to the race site, a 15-minute drive. Remembering the problems with the Seafair Triathlon some weeks ago, when they didn’t plan too well and about 400 runners were left behind because they didn’t have enough buses, we got up at 4 am, left at 4:30 (partly because the lights were flickering constantly due to the passing thunderstorm and I thought it would be nice to leave before we got cast into pitch-blackness), and were in line for the first bus at 5 am, which left promptly at 5:15. Here's how it looked around 5:30 am:



So I had about an hour to set up for transition, go down and look again at the swim course (which we’d seen the day before), find Teigyr and Dex, etc.

Salsa and Teigyr @ 6:00 am:



It didn’t seem like too much time at all! We all had wave start times around 7 am, so went down to the swim start around 6:30. The time passed fast and my wave went at 6:58; Teigyr, a few minutes later; Dex, around 7:15, I think. My wave was the one with yellow caps.



My sole priority was to stay at the back/side. I really didn’t want to get kicked in the face in my first tri, and anyway had already experienced that pleasure in an OWS clinic a month ago. Once the wave went, there was plenty of room along the course and I never felt too crowded. It was choppy and sloppy and seaweedy, but since we’d all been swimming in the lake for the last month, none of these things surprised me, and none of them were that hard to cope with. Since I just kind of relearned the freestyle starting in June, after having last had lessons around 1967, I am looking forward to a year of training so I can keep improving my efficiency and form. It won’t be any hardship since I’ve been swimming all my life and just plain like doing it.

Coming out of the water:



Because it’s such a big tri, it’s a long way from the swim start to the transition area, and back again to the same place for the bike start. The bike course goes down a relatively flat street for about two miles, and then left onto an access road for the I-90 express lane. The Day St. access road is a fairly steep, sort of elongated S-shaped hill. Riders make a 90 degree left turn from the street onto Day St.; several yards later, a similar right turn through some posts onto the hill; several yards later, a similar left turn onto the body of the hill; about a 70 degree right turn at the top, and then a sharp right turn onto I-90. Chris and I had gone to see it on a tandem ride, and Friday Dex and Teigyr and I went there and walked the hill. That’s a real advantage, and a lot of participants never have the chance to do that, so don’t know exactly what it will be like. The access road is one lane and is divided into two lanes by tape because returning riders also descend part of it.

I made it about ¾ of the way up before someone stopped right in front of me. Glad those Quattros unclip easily so I could get my feet down instead of falling over! Then ran my bike up the rest of the way and got back on. The 4+ miles out the I-90 express lanes are great, because the lanes are wide enough so there’s plenty of passing room. There are a couple of inclines that require work but obviously the subsequent downhills are pretty fun. I felt strong on the bike and had a blast the whole way. I am happy with my time and rank there. For this year.

On the bike home stretch grinning like a fiend:



As for the run part---because of the stress fracture in my right foot, of course I walked it. Most of it is flat, along the lake, but there is one quite steep hill not far from the end. A bunch of guys bring their drums every year, and sit at the bottom of the hill and do this great percussion stuff, so you could samba all the way up that hill if you had the juice (no one did, but it makes the hill a lot more fun than it would be otherwise). And then you go downhill right to the finish line. Right at that point, a young runner held her hand out to me and said, “Come with me and finish like a marathoner!” I thanked her but knew I couldn’t because I want the foot to heal as soon as possible so I can start running myself. But it was a lovely thing for her to do, and that is very much the spirit of the Danskin.

Walking along knowing I was through the swim and bike and could hardly NOT finish:



The Danskin is a real pageant, sort of like the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. There are gazillions of volunteers along the way, lots of kids and family members and local people cheering everyone on. You see some amazing racers—cancer survivors, women in their 70s, the deaf-blind athlete I keep mentioning.

It’s very cool.

Finished!



Overall Rank 3099/3710
Class Rank 242/290
Swim 24:49, rank 2585
T1 8:06
Bike 41:28, mph 17.3, rank 1713
T2 3:42
Run 55:42, rank 3548
Final 2:13:48

Given Saturday’s weather—90 degrees—and today’s morning weather—wind and rain—I would say we lucked out yesterday.

Today I went to my favorite spa and had a long “healing waters” treatment and massage. Plug for Ummelina’s Day Spa in downtown Seattle, a very quiet, aromatherapy sort of place with really great staff.

As for “Speedo John”---I figure yesterday was my answer to him. Living well is the best revenge, buddy.

Wahine---I second the thanks, in the most heartfelt way! You and TE were both at our pre-race dinner in spirit:



And also many thanks to my various local advisor/training/race/dinner buddies—Teigyr, Dex, Jesvetmed, KnottedYet, Quillfred, Jocelynlf. Laughing your way to a tri and remembering that having fun with it is what it’s for---worked for me! And to Chris for being such a good first-tri spouse.

See you all at the next one. And glad everyone else had good races as well!

[mimitabby]

aw, great story, great stats, great photos! you did a great job!!! (for someone with a broken foot!!! )

[jesvetmed]

Great story telling and pics, Salsa!
I'd blocked out coming down that exit from the bridge. I had to have my feet down the entire way, too! Someone jumped off her bike in front of me and no one could pass, but none of us were willing to get off!

Thanks for posting all of those -- that morning picture tells a story about the size of this thing!
J

[dex]

Great report and pictures, Salsa!

Looking at the one of you exiting the water just made me realize that you were done with your swim while I was still waiting for my wave to start. See that group of red caps out there? I was in the next group of red caps, so four or five waves later. (I think it was around 7:40 when we finally went.) I could have watched you finish the swim if I'd thought about it (dammit)! Instead, I was floating around in the warm-up area wondering if I was ever going to get to start...heh.

[colby]

Great pictures, salsa! Especially the fish and chips

I was the pinks, which came somewhere right after the blues, which came right after Jes's red wave. Supposed to start at 7:40, closer to 7:45 or so. Was running over blues, greens, and reds toward the end... maybe there was another green wave after the reds and the blues?

In other news, that's the same suit I got, except the green/blue top. It's way more supportive than I expected, and I think I mentioned a pain in the rear to put on . I had to go to the bathroom after I put it on before the race since I had so much waiting time (my mother in law took off about 50 minutes before I did, in the third wave, mine the 20th). That was fun. At least it was before I went into the warmup zone.

In our experience, if you get there that early, you don't need to take the shuttle. We have been able to park fairly close to the race (about a block away) both of the last 2 years (before that we did the mixed group and took the shuttle), near Dakota and whatever the cross street is, 43rd? Super easy to get home from and no shuttling back and forth.