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Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Sun River, Oregon
United States
AA Sports, Ltd.
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 05m
Overall Rank = 317/435
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 53/60
Pre-race routine:

I worked on getting myself psyched for the race. I was as nervous as all the appropriate cliches could possibly make it sound.

My adrenaline was pumping so hard starting as early as Saturday (the race was on Sunday), that I couldn't sleep all night. I went to bed at 9:30 and laid there until at least 1:30 before I fell asleep. I felt like I'd drank a hundred cups of coffee and was as wired as hell! I did drift off sometime and got a rather restless four hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 5:30.

My wife got my son Daylen and his friend Steven up, they were both also doing their first triathlons and sleeping like babies, while I stayed in bed lamenting my poor nights sleep. I took a shower and at about 6:30 all of us, wife, daughter and Steven's mom included, headed up to the Wickiup Reservoir and T1. The night before the boys and I drove up and set up our sight, so before the race I just made sure everything was prepped, made the necessary porta-potty break (twice), walked around looking like an idiot, and really seriously thought about hiding behind a tree and not racing! At some point I got my wetsuit on and went over and stood by the start line with everyone else.
Event warmup:

Nothing really... I wanted to get in the water and do a warm up swim, which really would have helped, but there were too may people in the way. Anyway, I was really busy just trying to stay awake!
Swim
  • 34m 36s
  • 1640 yards
  • 02m 07s / 100 yards
Comments:

Wow... we went for a practice swim on Friday and I literally got so freaked out by it that I almost quit. The wind was up and the lake had around one and a half to two feet choppy swells that were amazingly closed off. I didn't think much about it and dived in.

Okay, my body went into shock every time a wave broke on my face. I could not believe my reaction. It was as if no matter how hard I told myself to breath, my body said "NO! HOLD YOUR BREATH!" It was really bad. Well, Sunday morning I was still really freaked out. I wanted to leave and hide, but i told myself just to calm down and swim relaxed.

The water was calm and just almost as smooth as glass, but I still couldn't shake the panic. Anyway, when it was my turn, I jumped in and just started swimming. It took about 200 yards or so, but soon I found a rhythm and was able to swim very well. All in all, it was a great swim... I've swam open water a few times, but this was the first time with so many people... It was freaking amazing!
What would you do differently?:

NOT, I mean NOT! get in the water on Friday with the chop being like that. It did sooooo much damage to my mental state!
Transition 1
  • 05m 42s
Comments:

I was really off balance when getting out of the water so I walked from the water to my bike. I took some time after getting out of the wetsuit to shake the dizziness and get myself together... I didn't wanna fall off the bike 30 seconds from the mount point, you know!
What would you do differently?:

I need to figure out what to do, or not to do, to keep myself from being so dizzy... T1 would go a lot faster.
Bike
  • 1h 16m 52s
  • 25 miles
  • 19.51 mile/hr
Comments:

I think I did really well on the bike. Of course, there is a lot of room for improvement. Most of the time I was breathing way to hard to drink enough water and I wish I could have gotten more liquid in my system. In the last 3 miles my left hamstring was thinking about cramping, but I slowed the pace just a bit, stretched in the saddle, and did some fast spinning. It ended up being relatively okay.
What would you do differently?:

Most important, I should have gotten in longer and more frequent rides. Riding is my strong point, but I should have trained harder on it.
Transition 2
  • 04m 18s
Comments:

Okay, I'll just say this once... When you are setting up T2 the night before... Untie your freaking shoe laces!!!!

Sometime over all the years, I've gotten in the habit of just kicking my shoes off after a run. I'd heard there was going to be a slight chance of rain over night, and since I was setting up T2 the night before and I didn't want my shoes to be wet, I bagged up my shoes. Yep, that's right, with the laces still tied. So, I got to T2 after the bike, pulled open the bag, and spent a good 45 seconds each just untying the darn things!
What would you do differently?:

Pretty obvious, isn't it! LOL
Run
  • 1h 03m 33s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 10m 14s  min/mile
Comments:

I totally blame the lack of sleep the night before, but I was totally out of energy for this run. I lost a ton of ground and couldn't even keep a 10 minute pace. I had to walk through two of the water stations just to catch my breath enough to drink and once around the 4 mile mark had to walk for about a minute. At mile 5 I kicked my self in the ass and pushed my way to the end as best I could. All in all a poor performance that cost me around 10 minutes on my overall time.
What would you do differently?:

I should have taken some benadryl the night before. Usually, about four of them will get me right to sleep, but I didn't want that groggy, drugged up feeling you have the morning after when I went to do my race. Well, I guarantee you, the groggy, drugged up feeling would have been far, far better than the only had 4 hours of restless sleep since 7 am the day before feeling!!
Post race
Warm down:

To little and definitely not enough!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The lack of sleep.

Event comments:

I loved the Pacific Crest Weekend. I recommend it to anyone thinking of coming to Oregon for a triathlon or other endurance event. As a beginner, I'll say the Olympic Tri at PC was great and any one could do it as their first if they put some training in. I had a lot of people tell me I should do an "easier" tri for my first tri, but I would have been extremely disappointed had I done anything else.




Last updated: 2007-01-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:34:36 | 1640 yards | 02m 07s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 292/435
Performance: Good
Suit: ProMotion Fluid Drive, fullsuit
Course: A diamond shape, clockwise course with each leg being close to 1/4 of the distance. Large white, pyramid shaped buoys marked the corners and round, orange buoys marked the center of each leg. The turning points were easy enough to see, but I wish they had of been a color other than white. The starting area was rough and covered with rocks. I stumped a toe and split the the toenail, but I didn't feel any pain until the next day. I guess adrenaline is good for something! The finish on a smooth boat ramp was much better.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 62F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 05:42
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:16:52 | 25 miles | 19.51 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 279/435
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: A beautiful, scenic ride beneath the Cascades from Wickiup Reservoir to Sun River. Road work on the highway caused the course to be a bit short, but I wasn't complaining. The first 10 or 12 miles had a few hills, with only one of them reaching what I would call moderate. The rest was downhill or flat. Overall, it was a great bike ride and I made up a lot of time.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: ~85
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 04:18
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
01:03:33 | 06.21 miles | 10m 14s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 361/435
Performance: Below average
Course: A rolling course with only a few small and easy climbs along some of the 31 miles of bike paths that run through Sun River. A very nice and mostly shady run that couldn't be better for such an event.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2007-06-26 3:15 AM

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Extreme Veteran
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Champaign, Illinois
Subject: Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon


2007-06-26 7:12 AM
in reply to: #860161

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Champion
6931
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Bellingham, Washington
Subject: RE: Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon
Great Race.   Lots of learning done for this race.  Next one will be so much better.
2007-06-27 12:02 AM
in reply to: #860244

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Extreme Veteran
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100100100
Champaign, Illinois
Subject: RE: Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon

BellinghamSpence - 2007-06-26 5:12 AM Great Race. Lots of learning done for this race. Next one will be so much better.

 

I'm already looking for what my next race is gonna be! 

2007-06-27 9:30 AM
in reply to: #860161

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Extreme Veteran
487
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Spokane, WA
Subject: RE: Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon

Excellent race and great RR! Super job for your first race! Keep up the strong work.

Oh.......don't forget to untie your shoes! hee, hee

2007-06-27 10:34 AM
in reply to: #862398

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Extreme Veteran
303
100100100
Champaign, Illinois
Subject: RE: Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon
Isn't it amazing how those ingrained habits that we never even think about can affect us so much!
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