to podium or not to podium (portland sprint triathlon)

Growing up in Oregon, Portland always brings a familiarity and comfort, but in the years since I’ve left the city, it continues to blossom and change. It’s always exciting to see what is new, but also embrace the old face of the city like an old friend. I love visiting Portland. Isabella and I were down in Portland to try something relativity new for the city, the Portland Triathlon.

In the 3rd annual event, it hit some growing pains. With a last minute decision to race due to recovering from Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 the week before, we headed to Portland assuming the race would not be sold out. The year before they only reached a quarter of the capacity limit. We felt safe. To our surprise, when we arrived at registration it was closed. The lady before us was the last. We arrived fairly early in the day. With sad faces and a sob story about coming down from Seattle, the registration lady contacted the race director. After some time of sitting anxiously, we get the word. He delivered on 3 more spots. Yay! Of course by this time there were many people waiting for the news and 3 would not be enough. We later found out they decided to do away with rack numbers and reopened it up for everyone. Personally I’m excited to see the success and growth of the event.

I’ve been graced with a lot of good weather for my triathlons, unlike the weather I usually get for my bike races for the Starbuck Cycling team (oh rain, hail, fire from the sky, etc). For the Portland triathlon, it was another gorgeous day, clear and comfortable. The Willamette, which is the cause of the triathlon, was warm and water was calm. Getting into transition was a pain due to the lack of bike numbers for people who registered day of. We had to make makeshift numbers so we could get into transition. Once in, you could rack it anywhere as long as there was space. Isabella and I racked our bikes in a pretty good location. Long run from the water, but short run out and in on the bike.

It felt a little bit like a movie premier party with photographers all about, people chatting and having fun, but instead of champagne and designer clothes, it was sport drinks and bright color wetsuits and recycled swim caps. The atmosphere was very friendly, we were in constant conversations with people. For most, it was their first triathlon. I was the seasoned veteran even though this was my first season. It was a good morning.

This was a casual fun race for us, but I also expected to do well. I had pretty good fitness for the race, but with a foot problem since Lake Stevens I was unsure how I would do. Although the course was perfect for me, for a sprint triathlon, it had a long bike leg, which gave me a big advantage. I also felt strong on my swim during the week leading up and I expected to have a my best swim. That with what I’ve been doing on the bike and run, I should be in good position to podium. Alas it was not too be.

We started in the river holding on to the dock, which didn’t have enough room for all the participants. Some of the strong guys just decided to start about 5 ft ahead of the rest of us. It really didn’t matter. Personally I felt really good in the swim, I was in the pack and then worked my way through a bunch of people. I got to learn how to pass people better in the water, I just usually swim long around people. On the return trip back I had more room, I kept the pace up, although I might not have been on the best line. I should have had my fastest swim and if I get into the 15 min range, I should be in good contention. The reality, I was 20:47, my slowest swim at this distance which still puzzles me.

The run to the transition was long for everyone, but I was excited to get on the bike. My transition was pretty quick. I pre-road the course and it is an interesting course, one long climb and descent and repeat. I believe it was over 16 miles for the sprint distance. I took off and blazed by people up hill as though they were standing still. Considering it was a hill climb course, my 21 mph average was not too bad. I was first in my age group and second overall male with 45:47. Although, they messed up my official time when they try to figure out my swim time by adding my T1 time with my bike time. Sigh.

The run out of transition was long and my feet started hurting almost immediately. That was what I was worried about. I just got to push through it. It was a short 5k run. There were hardly anyone around on the run course, which was weird. I must be one of the leaders off the bike, I thought to myself. I know I can put down a good 5k run, I’ve run in training at 6 min pace, but have never gotten that close in a triathlon event. The fastest is sub 7:30. I was hoping to put down the best run in a race, but with a foot problem and stopping to tie my shoe again (~30 seconds), it was not to be. I ended up with 23:40. I was passed by 4 guys during the run and unfortunately, some in the last few 100 meters. Considering everything, I thought I had a decent run.

It was great to see my family and friends at the line cheering me on. My brother said, he thought I finish pretty well. I thought, really? Pretty soon, they said they posted the results of the initial finishers who also defined the age group podium positions. I looked at the list and I was 3rd for 30-34 age group. Yes! Oh no, I was placed in the wrong age group. I look at my age group and it looks like I should still be 3rd in that age group. I go and correct the mistake and find out that others had the same issue. I ended up 5th overall for my age group and only seconds separated me from podium. If I had tied my shoes properly I would have likely been on the podium for my age group. Overall, it was great experience and fun event. I would love to come back next year and win my age group, but with Ironman Canada potentially close to this event, I might not be able to. We will see.

racing with super heroes (lake stevens ironman 70.3)

After two sprint triathlons, I was beginning to get a sense of what triathlons were all about--until I showed up for Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3. It was a bit surreal. In a society known for large super sized waistlines, I suddenly found myself in the mist of all of these slender, lean, and super fit folks. Everyone looked a bit alike, short hair outfitted in high-tech clothing. I thought I finally found the lost super race. At one point in my sleepless daze, I thought I saw Superman and Wonder Woman chatting about the T1 transition strategy. It might have been real. Not sure.

It was a beautiful day--cool and sunny. I had planned for plenty of time to prepare my transition and warm-up, but I didn’t factor in such things as the 30 minute port-o-potty line. Without missing a beat, the announcer gets on the intercom says the race is delayed by 10 minutes due to fog. It was sunny, but there was fog on the water. It was like the weather went out of its way to help me with my first half ironman (HIM). And the fog made the water seem like this serene and magical place. I jumped into the water to warm-up. The water was very murky in the swim area next to the starting dock and extremely warm; sticking your head into the water and all you get is complete darkness--a little disorienting and disconcerting. I swam for a short time until the pros were about to start. At which time I gathered myself and got ready to go as well. They are about 11 minutes before my wave, perfect time for some photo op with my wife.

After learning to swim with enthusiasm and focus last fall, I’ve completely regressed and not swimming much in the months approaching Lake Stevens, until the last couple of weeks. Swimming has been my slowest event and it’s also the only leg that I hoped to just complete and not focus on time. It was also my first in water start. I thought I would be tired from treading water before I even started swimming. The reality with my buoyant wetsuit I had to do nothing to stay afloat. Soon enough we were off and I was trying to track to the guidelines under the water used by the crew team, which also marked our swim course. I let the group go ahead and start my swim. I eventually pass a few folks that started off too hard, but the bulk of my wave was far ahead. Every few minutes a massive wave of people would pass me and I would slow down and get out of peoples way, so I don’t get batted around in the water. I swear I saw a guy with scales who didn’t take any breaths torpedo by me with a smile. It had to be Aquaman. He must have been old to be in the wave behind me. It wasn’t until we rounded the second buoy on the swim back that I started to pick up the pace and started to pass folks that just passed me, saving a little bit of time. Out of the water and into the transition.

The transition was not at all smooth. My new Garmin 310XT had not had a run-through in a race or in practice and I messed up setting it into multisport mode and out of lock mode, so I had no data going at all. I tried messing with it in my sleep deprived state and things just weren’t working. So I decided to grab my biking gear and start heading out. Time wise it wasn’t that big a deal, but I didn’t have what I needed ready.

Immediately I needed bike data and the Garmin was my only option. So I tried again on the bike, got the thing to progress to bike mode, but realize it didn’t display power. So I tired paging through menus to see if I can’t get what I needed--nothing. Finally decide to cancel the multisport mode all together and just run it like normal. Restart and what? It’s in run mode. Darn it. Cancel and change mode to bike mode and restart. Finally. I bet the other folks around me were confused as to what I was doing with my wrist. Now it’s time to settle into a good rhythm and close the gap on folks on the bike. It was still early in the morning and the first loop was going well, above 21 mph. I was flying by folks. As I was approaching the first major fast descent, there’s an ambulance at the bottom. Just got to make sure whatever happened didn't happen to me going 35+ mph. Interestingly at that particular moment, I hear a guy yelling on your left. He flew by me as though I was standing still; I swear he had an aura of flames like the Ghost Rider. The second lap was a lot more problematic. There were considerably more cars on the road. Many times I was blocked by a line of cars behind a bunch of slow riders. It was fine when it was one car, but trying to pass a bunch of cars felt dangerous. Although each time I resolved to pass, I leap frog each car and eventually passed the bikers with a trail of cars behind them. This slowed me down considerable because these were all on the fast sections. The second lap must have only been a little above 19 mph. It was disappointing because I was hoping to go faster than 21 mph. Se la vie.

T2 was for the most part uneventful, but I spent more time playing with my Garmin to get it into the correct mode before I started. I also took some Bloks for a nice caffeine boost and as it was going to be the only real calories I take for the run. My run was a bit disappointing, but I manage to meet my fallback goal of sub two hours. During the run I had to stop a few times to adjust the chip strap, which was really bothering me. At the end of the day, my ankle was scraped up and bloody. My pace was on track, 8:30, into in the beginning of the second lap, although I was being passed by everyone it seemed. I had a woman zoom by me like the Flash, it was amazing to see people run so fast. Then my hamstring started to do the muscle cramp twitch, trying to take over my effort. Several times I almost stumbled because of this. I took the pace down quite a bit to let it work its way out, but every time I try to kick it up, especially in the final few miles back to the finish line, that twitch and cramping would immediate come back. Sigh. I didn’t know how my body would handle my first 70.3 distance and it was interesting and fun finding out.

Finishing seeing my wife and friends at the finishing line was the best thing. In the end, 5:34 is something I’m happy with as a baseline. Let’s see if I can’t work out some of the cramping and catch all those Lake Stevens 70.3 super heroes.

my green run as a triathele (issaquah triathlon 2009)

Does someone that’s never won Paris-Roubaix deserve his own denim collection, Hincapie jeans? I wonder if finishing 119 in the Issaquah Triathlon 2009 allows me to put my name on someone’s ass. Probably not. At best I might be able to persuade my wife to get my name (it’s short) on a cupcake, but she also did the triathlon and won’t be too impressed.

Triathlons can seem daunting. Before you do one, you imagine drowning in the swim, crashing on the bike, and tripping over a squirrel and smashing into a tree on the run. The worst excuse is that it’s too hard. It keeps people from ever attempting it. So it’s awesome to turn out to an event and seeing numbers upwards of a thousand people tackling their aspirations (triathlon, duathlon, 5k, etc). I’ve been to these types of events before, but this was my first triathlon.

In some ways it was like the first time I went snowboarding. The experienced boarders I was with took me down a black diamond run to “teach” me to board. After that all the other runs were easy. To some level, that was my experience with my first triathlon. The triathletes that I know are competitive and they set my expectation in training. So the green run of a sprint triathlon seems pretty easy.

In the Obama era, even the Issaquah triathlon changed. The bike was shorten due to road construction and the run was extended to make it closer to 5k. All this was minor, probably the biggest change was the increase of the participants by over 30% for the triathlon from 2008 (704 to 929). That’s a good change in my book.

After a few months of training, I'm one of these new rookies. Last fall, my friends threw me into a pool and taught me to swim, just about the same time I started my running again. Both were tough starting out, I couldn’t even swim a length of a pool when I started and my knees would be so sore I couldn’t walk after a 3 mile run at slower than a 10 min/mile pace. So when I look at a triathlon, the swim and run are the most intimidating, where the mass start swim is probably the most infamous part of a triathlon and potentially the most terrifying.

Well, the swim indeed lived up to the expectation. How my friend described it to me afterwards was that I was stuck in the washing machine part of the pack. I guess I need to avoid that part in the future, going faster than the pack or swimming off the edge or the back. I vote for being in front. The first 100 meters were crazy. You just surfed the mass of bodies undulating in the water, elbowing and kicking each other to the first turn. After that you can almost swim without being clobbered constantly. Of course, you have to stop seeing stars first.

The bike was my strength as I’ve been biking for a good number of years. I’m pretty comfortable, with my stealth bomber Orbea Ordu, riding in a pack in tight situations. Since there’s no drafting in a triathlon, the biggest benefit is being comfortable passing people on the road in the aero position. I pretty much passed everyone I saw on the road and felt pretty good. However, it was not like what I’m used to in a conventional time-trial with a lot more people dodging and a lot more easy spinning. The mile in and out of the park was slow without much opportunity to pass unless you want to take unnecessary risk to make better time, potentially knocking a few aspiring triathletes off their bikes, including yourself. So I lost a lot of time in those parts, which I imagine can vary dramatically for each competitor. In the end, I was pretty happy with my bike with plenty of opportunity to improve next year.

Running was not like I trained at all. I couldn’t just keep hitting the up arrow to increase the speed to my target pace and watch the Oxygen channel to build mental toughness. Also the treadmill doesn’t have all the bumps of the uneven terrain. I wonder if someone is going to invent that. The run course is beautiful on a sunny day, if you weren’t gasping for air and have tunnel vision. Probably the biggest thing next year is trying wearing a shoe that has more stability, which may be helpful for the trail running and increasing my run speed. Or just tether to the guy blazing by me from 2 waves back. I’m slow, just started running, and decreased my run volume before this triathlon. There should be some good room to grow.

Adding all that up, including some OK transition times for a rookie, I had 1:10:41 for my first sprint triathlon with a ranking of 119/929 overall or 23/116 for my age group. I was able to beat John Curley a local celebrity and health and fitness advocate working the cause, http://ibeatjohncurley.com/. For next year, maybe I’ll be bold and try to break 100 overall. Ok that’s a lie, but check back next year to see what happens. Next up, a blue run, Lake Steven’s Ironman 70.3. I can’t wait to get to my first black diamond triathlon.

BTW, does anyone want to buy jeans from a guy who finished 119 in a triathlon. I loved to be sponsored and do this for a living.