New Olympic Triathlon PR: 2:03:31

Good training, good course, good conditions, great result.

I was shooting for a PR but was pleasantly surprised by how well I felt throughout the race. Here’s a quick recap:

Swim

I was worried at first that I didn’t get enough of a warmup in. I went for a short jog to shake out my legs and warm up. My plan was to get in the water and do a few “strides” before the gun went off. I had a good swim in May at Oregon Dunes and got in the water roughly 10 minutes before my race so I planned to do the same here. However, during my warmup jog I missed the announcement that all the swimmers would need to get out of the water 10 minutes before the race. I had just enough time to walk into the water, dunk my head under, and put my swim cap on when we were all called out of the water. Years of mentally preparing for track and cross-country races helped keep me calm and not freak out that I wouldn’t have the warmup I planned to. I did some arm stretches while I waited for the start and focused on my race strategy. I had my fastest swim of the 2016 season at this race and was hoping to better that again with all of the laps and workouts I’ve been doing in the pool. Positioning myself a little closer to the front of the start than I have in the past I got ready to make the surge to the first buoy.

*Boom*

Within the first couple of minutes I was in the thick of the “fist fight” that is the start of an open water swim race. I had to stop briefly when my goggles got knocked loose off my face and put them back on and plunge back into it. After that it was relatively smooth sailing¹. Unlike the bike or the run you can’t check your split any time you like². I’ve come to enjoy this aspect since it forces you to be that much more aware of how you feel instead of just how fast you’re going. I generally feel I have a good sense of my body and how it is feeling so this aspect of the swim has quickly become the easiest for me to adapt to.

I relied on my training to tell me how hard I was working. I kept reminding myself to continue sighting so I wouldn’t divert off course. After making it through some minor waves in the final stretch I came out of the water knowing I had a PR in the books (for the swim at least). I knew the bike course was relatively flat and fast so I was excited to get out there and start cranking.

Bike

This was the flattest 40k I had ever ridden so I knew it was fast and I had a better sense for how hard I could start pushing from the get go. I chased down as many people as I could before the first turn around. I knew I would have a headwind from then on until the second turnaround roughly 12 miles later. Knowing I would have a tail wind to help me in the last 8 miles I wanted to make the most ground I could during the tough stretch.

I had wanted to get a PR on the bike too since I had been putting in more miles than before³ but realized with about 5 miles to go that the big picture was the race itself, not just the bike leg. Hard as it was, I kept a little extra in the tank to get ready for the run. With the bike turnaround I knew how many people were ahead of me so I knew I had some ground to make up.

Run

Sometimes you get locked into a pace and slowing down or speeding up becomes too challenging. I think I reached that point in this race too. Fortunately it was a pace that I could sustain and that would allow me to play “catch up” on the rest of the field. Within the first mile I could see 4 or 5 people ahead of me. Slowly I picked them off one by one and put my sights on the horizon for the next target. There was one turn around on the run so I knew I would have one more chance to get a better sense for who was ahead of me, how they looked, and how far ahead of me they were.

As I approached the turn around I was in 5th place. 4th place was only 20 seconds or so ahead of me and I knew there was enough race left that I would make up that ground. With about a little over a mile to go I saw 3rd place ahead of me. I wasn’t sure I could cross the gap but I had enough momentum and was pumped up from passing all the others that I just went for it. I passed them and continued to feel strong. I kept up the pace as I wound my way through the final turns of the race as it returned to the lake. I couldn’t see 2nd place but at this point I was just focused on improving my time even further. With the last half mile to go I knew a PR was in the books but I didn’t look at my watch quite yet to see by how much.

I crossed the finish line feeling strong with 3 minutes and 30 seconds less time on my watch than last year.

2:03:31

With that in the books I’m hoping to find a good balance between my speed and endurance as I try my hand at a Half Ironman distance triathlon. I’ve gone back and forth about feeling good about it and feeling overwhelmed but with 2 weeks to go I’m firmly in the first category and ready to give it all I got.

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