Blue Lake Olympic - Race Report

It was two weeks to the day yesterday for the race. I had done exactly one swim, two rides and zero runs since Brasil. I was back to having zero expectations for a race again, felt good not have those. There was a lot of in-good-fun shit talking going on between the male Ironheads. A bunch of us entered to try and win the team competition, we should have come close, we took 4 awards home, but Tri Fusion from Spokane had just as many, if not more athletes place.

The weather forecasted to be overcast with some showers and some sun breaks...we got both plus as nice head/tail/crosswind depending on where you were on the course. This was actually my first Oly since 2004 @ Hagg Lake. I had never raced the Oly at Blue Lake, just the Sprint.

Last year the swim was a 1/4 mile short...so times were super fast onthe swim and overall. They also have little to no wind. We all joked that they would not make the swim short and make it long to make sure it was a sanctioned race for USAT. Sure enough it was long...

With no expectations, race prep is SO easy! I don't care about anything and I just get my stuff ready in slow motion and have no worries. Racing this way is very nice, I need to remember this calm for bigger races. On to the swim...

30-39 year olds were the first wave, we started in the water and were doing a clockwise loop around the lake with all the bouys on our right. I lined up in front, gun went off and I went out hard. Last time I raced after and IM and went our hard, I blew up and ended up on my back not being able to breathe...not this time. I went hard, but not very long, worked out. No feet to grab for awhile, but those around were fading by the first bouy anyway. Latched on at one point only to feel like I slowed down too much. Moved off and swam up to another group 25m ahead and sat in there until the last bouy. At that point I was over 18 minutes and knew the swim was long. I got out in 21:14. I had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off, so T1 was slow @ 2:02.

On the bike and rolling. Sweet tailwind to the first turnaround by the Troutdale Airport. Then a bitch of a headwind for a few miles with some very little rain. Got a bit chilly. Wind died and the rain did too after about 20 minutes. Then it was a guessing game as to were and when the wind would come from. Felt like head wind to the next turn-around, but I wasn't any faster and actually slowed coming back in...whatever. I was hoping for a sub one hour split and got one, barely - 59:50. T2 was much better @ 1:13.

The run was expected to be a little rough...it was in parts, but mostly pretty good. That moment of clarity during Hawthorne Farms that I thought I could hold 6:15 for 10k was almost verified. I averaged 6:24 for a 39:45 two weeks after an Ironman...pretty good I'd say. I was fully expecting my legs to be jello after the bike, but they weren't...guess I didn't push it hard enough.

The day ended with 2:04:04 and 12th place OA and 5th AG. PR's all around even with a long swim. The field was very deep and fast. Pro Matt Lieto won with 1:54...he almost caught me on the run after starting 10 minutes back due to a wave start format. I saw him coming and wasn't going to let him get me.

There were shit load of Ironheads out there, which made it super fun to see everyone racing and doing well. The Blackwell Research rep I bought my new race wheels was there, so I brought my bike over to display in his booth. He said it got a lot of attention. I'm letting him display it at Pacific Crest and Hagg lake while I travel the next two weeks.

More traveling and training. I'll le tyou know how that goes. I have a Half Ironman a week after I get back to either get a slot to Canada or to 70.3 Champs...no decision yet.