Deuces Wild - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

The gun went off and the whitewater began. I kept my head up for the first few yards until the group had thinned out a bit, then was able to put my head down and start swimming for real. I followed the group for the first bit before loosing track of everyone. But by that point I could see the first Dorito chip buoy for the first turn. For this first leg I was swallowing way too much water, and was having a tough time breathing at the increased elevation than what I’m used to. It always feels like one of my lungs was left down in Tucson or something. About half way to the next Dorito chip I started getting nauseous, and I figured it was from all of the air in my stomach. I stopped for a few seconds and went vertical to have gravity help with the air. After I burped and got the air out I was able to keep going. It was probably better to stop then and get rid of the air before the air bubble got bigger and brought breakfast with it. A few minutes later I felt much better and was able to swim pretty well. At that point I saw another pink cap as she was rounding the Dorito chip. We ended up staying with each other for the remainder of the race. I also saw a white cap and a few green caps out there as we swam by. On the last leg the sun was in my eyes as I breathed on my left side, which is my dominant side. I tried to breathe on my right, but my left goggle had a bit of water in it at that point that made breathing on that side annoying. So I decided to just deal with the sun and keep going.

I finally saw the last group of buoys that brought us into the dock. The pink cap girl was still with me, but taking a different line in. She was heading off to the left but I went in straight towards the dock. I was able to come in from the swim a bit ahead, and waited until I could feel the dock with my hands before standing up. I did a quick check of my watch and I was slow by about 4 minutes, but I figure that was probably due to elevation. The elevation difference always seems to affect my swim the most.


Bring an extra set of lungs.

I got the top of my wetsuit peeled off and used the wetsuit strippers to help with the bottom half. With my wetsuit off I climbed the hill to the transition area and got my swim stuff off and bike stuff on. I grabbed my bike and shoved it under the transition bar, but my rear water bottle on the rear rack below the seat fell off, so I lost some time trying to grab it before it rolled down the hill. I got past the timing mats and mounted my bike, and was on my way. I was so glad to be on my bike and done with the swim.

Either move the rear bottle rack lower, or remove it completely! Still, with this slight mishap, I was 4th fastest in T1 in my AG.

I was prepared for the hills and was glad that I had the wider ratio gearing on the bike. This gave me 2 gears higher and one gear lower than what came on the bike stock for the hills. Zac had lubed my chain the night before, which was a good thing because I was doing a ton of shifting. For the most part I tried to keep my legs spinning instead of mashing the pedals on the uphills, and only had to stand up a few times. The downhills were a little freaky, but I stayed down in my aerobars and stayed focused on the road to look for hazards. I’ve crashed a motorcycle at speeds ranging from 30 to 75mph in roadracing on the track, so biking above 30mph always makes me a bit weary as I feel naked without a leather suit. I tried to look for anything that might snag my wheels and send me over the bars on the downhills, and luckily was able to avoid everything.

On the climb up the 77 I saw quite a few people on the side of the road with flat tires. I was hoping I wouldn’t flat here, as it would be hard to get going again on the climb. I slowly climbed along in my lowest gear just trying to make it to the top. I came up on a guy in a blue shirt who was behind a gal on the climb. For most of the climb I stayed behind him, as I knew I couldn’t pass him in the 15 seconds required. But somewhere towards the top the slope of the hill changed because my legs started spinning faster, even though we were still climbing. I took this as a chance to pass, and was finally at the top. The next downhill was fun, and I tried to carry as much momentum as possible up the next hill. I made it to the top, and enjoyed the next bit of flat ground as we headed back to town.

As I approached the park I could see several Deuceman runners on the course. I yelled for each of them as I went by on my bike. The last little bit of road was pretty rough, and I was hoping I wouldn’t pinch flat with only a few miles left to go. I made it through the rough stuff and turned in to the recreation area. The bike ride, my favorite part, was over.


Train more on a hilly bike course.

I came into T2, but was unable to do my usual bike dismount because my foot got caught up on my rear bottle. I really need to do something about this rear bottle setup because it screwed up a lot of things up in the transitions this race. So I had to stop and step off of my bike. I didn’t hear the timing mat beep, so I was worried that it didn’t get my time logged. But I kept going. I got my bike stuff off and put my run stuff on and headed out onto the run course.

Same as T1. Stupid bottle rack! 3rd fastest in T2 in my AG. Screw tris...I'm just going to do transitions. :)

I forced myself to push at the beginning of the run because I knew that I was going to fade towards the end. The run course began on the dirt trail that went around the lake. I was able to run for most of it except a small part where we crossed a rocky wash. I didn’t want to fall there, so I walked that little bit. After that we climbed up towards the campground and entered the camping area. We had lots of campers to cheer for us as we ran along. I made it to the aid station right by our campsite and they had these wonderful sponges to wet the racers down. I had them douse me with the sponges as I continued on. I opened up my gel pack and took a bite, but it was hot from sitting in the sun in the transition area. Blech! That was gross. I chugged down water from the bottle I was carrying and stuck the foul little foil packet back in my rear pocket. The drippy gel had managed to get all over my hands, so I did my best to rinse them with my bottle as I ran. I really hate sticky hands because the sticky gets everywhere after that.

I ran along the campground loop and came up to our campsite. I waved at our camp neighbors, who had asked me about the race the day before. I got to tell them all about triathlons and the race, and they said they’d cheer for me as I ran by. Sure enough they saw me and cheered. I saw my “Go Tucson Tri Girls!” poster and was glad it was still up. Then I saw Zac next to our camper. “I made you a sign!” he yelled, and there in the window of our RV was the extra piece of poster board with “Go Elaine…love Zac” on it. I couldn’t yell back because I almost started crying. Again, emotions going all wacky during races. So instead I waved to him and continued on.

Most of the campground part of the course was on concrete, and I don’t usually run on concrete, so my knees were feeling it. I made it to the dirt road, and was glad I was finally back on dirt. This was the out and back section, so there were a lot of racers to see. I saw a lot of Tri Girls out on the course, which was really cool. What wasn’t cool was the hills that we had to climb. They weren’t much, but my legs still weren’t happy. I made it to the turnaround, and faced a nice breeze and a downhill. What a difference a slight downhill makes! At this point I could feel my energy waning, so I forced down a few Cliff Blocs. They were warm too, but at least I was able to get them down, unlike the gel. Mentally, I was just trying to get myself to Mile 5 because I knew that was a downhill. I was back on the concrete at this point, and my knees were aching. Even the blacktop was better feeling to run on. I got to the last aid station, and was on my way to the finish line. The only problem was one last stinkin’ hill in the way. I had to walk this part, but tried to do it quickly so that I didn’t get into a walking rhythm. At the top I resumed a jog and slowly made it to the finish chute. I spent the last of my energy speeding up and going as fast as I could to the finish. I finished about 10 minutes slower than the Tempe Oly, but I figure that was mostly due to the elevation and hilly course. I got some water, and a wonderful volunteer handed me a popsicle. I sat down in the shade of a ramada and enjoyed my blissful popsicle like a 7 year old. It was the best tasting popsicle ever!


Train to run on hills more. Run better. I suck soooo bad at running!

I visited with a few more Tri Girls, then picked up my stuff in the transition area. At this point I could really notice how hot it was and wanted to get back to camp. My hammock was waiting for me in the shade, and I collapsed in it as soon as we got to the campsite. After about an hour that was too hot, so I went in the RV and took a nap under the wonderful air conditioner for another hour before finally getting a shower and some dinner.

Overall, it was a really fun weekend. It was great to see so many Tri Girls at the race. Zac and I were able to make it a fun weekend of camping with my tri mixed in. And even though it was in the 90s up in the White Mountains, it beat the 105 weekend that Tucson had!



3500 ft of elevation over what I'm used to, and a hilly bike & run course.


TriSports.com puts on a good race! I'm thinking I'll do this race every year. It's worth the drive, great venue, and a lot of fun.