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.