Race Results- Pacific Crest Olympic Triathlon

This was my first triathlon of the year, and as a first major race it could hardly have gone better. Here’s the breakdown:

Swim- 1.5K
Okay, this could have gone better. I did say hardly. The route was a diamond shape of three floats that went out clockwise into the middle of the lake. I was mad pumped while we were waiting on the boat ramp; in fact, I was hoping an innocent brown bear would be swimming by during the race so that I would have the chance to wrestle it in a watery brawl to the death. Instead, after about 50 yards of swimming my goggles started to leak. Ugh. That took the bear wrestling right out of me. I stopped to readjust, swam a bit, stopped to readjust, swam some more, and stopped to adjust one more time. I also got wildly off course during the first leg, having to make a pretty large course correction once I passed the first buoy. After that I fell into a slow grove, and had no other problems other than seeing a bunch of people from waves that started behind me catch up and pass me. Booooo.

Transition 1
Usually when I get out of the water I am woozy, but this time I was clear thinking and methodical. No problems here.

Bike- 40K
This is where it became a race. My friend Mary lent me her sweet Kestrel Talon TT bike, with Zipp aero wheels and aero bars and Shimano Ultratega gears and most importantly, a cute butterfly on embroidered on the seat. Hmmm. That won’t do. Ah, here we go, it’s not just any butterfly, it’s the Monarch, the king of the butterflies. Yes, much better. Anyway, once I got on the Monarch I started passing kids like a 9th grade English teacher who just doesn’t care anymore. I passed probably a good 150-200 people, including most of the swimmers who passed me and most of the slower duathlon racers, who all started at the same time as I started the swim. No doubt, this was the first time in a tri I was truly racing, not just biking. It was exhilarating; perhaps too much so, as I was having so much fun passing people I probably left a little too much on the bike and not enough for the run. Or did I?

Transition 2
Awesome transition. Lost a minute hitting the bathroom, but couldn’t get myself to pee in the lake during the swim. I choose dignity.

Run
Turns out I had just enough energy for the run, but it was close. No sprinting the last quarter-mile for me. By this time it was blazing hot, so it became a game of “when the hell is the next aid station?” Fortunately, they was one every mile, plus residents had set up sprinklers along the route to cool runners off. I am happy to say I didn’t walk, and that I started off strong in the run without any of the wobbly bike legs you can sometimes get if you haven’t done your brick workouts (thanks, weekly du series!). I didn’t pass a lot of runners, but I did pass a lot of walkers, so a pass is a pass.

Here’s a link to the results for the race, and here’s my times:
OVERALL- 3:02:47
Swim- 0:35:08
T1- 5:09
Bike- 1:24:40
T2- 2:43
Run- 0:55:07

Overall, it was a great performance at a great race. I’m definitely stronger than I was at the Dash last year, so hopefully over the next four weeks I will be able to improve even more and crush my Dash time this year. Good times!

At T2, giving the ladies some eye candy

Oh hey, s’up?

Not pictured: my cape

The big winners

OH YA WE GONNA DRANK

A little postrace flexing, just to let ‘em know (let who know what, I am not sure)