Evergreen Lake International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Water was so warm that wet suits were not permitted if you were racing for a spot on the podium. I counted only about 4 people that wore wet suits. I can't imagine how hot it would have been in the water with a wet suit. Race started off in an interesting fashion: as we were waiting for the horn to sound, a large snake starts slithering through the participants in our wave. Guy in front of me grabs it behind the head, whips it around like a lasso and casually tosses it about 30 yards away. Very funny. Swim itself was uneventful. Breathed OK, sighted very well which is a positive takeaway for me. Felt comfortable in the water and exited without that usual feeling of fatigue. Time was very slow, but I was OK with that.

Not much, best I could do given no wetsuit and my lack of swim-specific training this year.

OK T1 for me, 5th in the age group and 69th overall...had a little trouble getting my helmet on which cost some time. Had lubed up my ankles and feet with body glide prior to swim so feet slipped into shoes well on the bike.

More Cossack drill training, but OK with this.

Really enjoyed this bike, 3 minutes slower than last year, but OK with that given the heat and the strategy to try and save something for what I knew would be a painful run. Finishing in top 10 overall on the bike was very satisfying. Course was really well marked and guided by volunteers and police. No way to get lost on this course.

Nothing.

Good T2, 1st in AG and 18th overall. Having a spot on the end of the rack was key. Was a little crowded by the participant next to me who seemed to have layed out the entire contents of his closet for this race. Had strapped race belt on before bike, so grabbed my 2-bottle Fuel Belt and headed off on the run.

Nothing

Most painful 10K I have ever done. Heat and I do not like each other. Luckily, at registration time they were handing out sample packets of Endurolytes. I put some of these in my Fuel Belt pocket. I went through 8+ Endurolytes in this race, 6 on the run alone. I wore my 2XU calf sleeve on my left leg since I had strained it in training 2 weeks prior to the race. Glad I did, but still started tightening on me at mile 1. Popped a couple of Endurolytes every time I felt it starting to give way. Really, really pushed myself at the 3 mile marker. Sprinted with everything I had left for last .2 miles. The finish line is a blur.

More hot-weather training. I had changed my run routine to run in the heat of the day, but ended up straining my calf. Need to figure out how to solve this heat-resistance problem. Marking the overall run as "Good" eventhough it was the slowest 10K I have ever done ("Good" because of the mental effort put into it).

One of my pre-race goals was to leave everything out there on the run. I realized I had achieved that quite remarkably when I stumbled to the food tent, reached down for a bottle of water and promptly passed out from heat exhaustion. Don't know how long I layed there till some kind soul asked if I was OK. I said "no" and he fetched the EMTs. They stretched my legs a little, force-fed me water, replaced that when I puked it up, and then when I could walk again they escorted me to the EMT vehicle. Went inside which was like an ice box the AC was cranked so high. Sat down right across from the very energetic Race Official who was writing up all the race violations. He said, "you don't look so good". I was trying to be sure I didn't puke on him since I'm sure that's a violation of the rules somewhere. I asked if I was on his naughty list and he said "no". I also asked if he had the prelminary results and he looked at me like I was crazy. Another official in the van said I'd have to stumble over to the shower-house to get the race results. When I could walk again, I went over there, saw I'd finished 2nd in the age group and almost cried. I forced down one of the really great sandwiches they had in the tent, drank more water and waited for the Olympic distance awards ceremony. I've won age group awards in the past, but taking second in this Regional Championship race was something that felt really special.


The heat.


Definitely a great experience for me. Loved the race and all the volunteers. The course was fantastic. Would have liked a little cloud cover, but the race officials couldn't really do anything about that.