2012 Benaroya Seafair Olympic Triathlon Race Report

Goal:

Results:

Nutrition worked well. No nausia or sickness
Swim was awesome. I was nervous because there were so many people, but it went really well. I only had contact with probably 5 people.
Bike was awesome. I felt strong throughout and I am constantly impressed with the speed I can go on this bike.

The Bad:

I had to use the restroom after the bike. I opted to use the one in the transition area as I didn't know if there were any out on the course. Unfortunately, the way the transition area was set up, I had to zig-zag through the racks which killed my T2 time. You can see this in my garmin details.
I cramped up pretty bad leaving for the run. They loosened up about .75 miles in.

The Ugly:

There was nothing really ugly about this race. Felt marginal to good throughout the duration.

Lead-up

I completed the Ocean Shores Sprint triathlon the previous weekend. I didn't want to cause any problems, so I called it a rest week.
We worked it out so the family would have campchairs and a pop-up tent in case it rained. Gratefully there was no rain, but the temperature was still pretty cold.
The race started early in the morning, so I couldn't be there when I usually like to be there for races. We got there as soon as we could. I got my transition set up and ready for the swim.
I didn't have any warm-up. It was really just get ready and get into the water.

Pre-Race

Set up transition area. Put Rehydrate in bike bottle. Put water in another bike bottle. Drank Advocare SLAM about 15 minutes before race start. I walked down to the water and tried to act like I was comfortable.

Swim

This time I wore earplugs. I felt a bit like a dork, but I didn't really care too much.
The wave started. There was a bit of contact at first as people were trying to get a position. It was a little difficult because there were pillars in the water that you had to dodge on the way out.
I just swam. It was cold but I just swam.
It was a good swim.
Coming back into shore I spent a lot of time sighting because of the pillars. It was a little frustrating, but I felt grateful when I could stand up again.

I'll be honest. It was cold. I really didn't feel comfortable with the temperature.
I still grabbed my bike. My son colored a picture for me and he handed it over the fence. I said thank you, put it on my bag, and took off.

Bike

I mounted my bike and took off. I passed a few people right off the bat. There was one person I couldn't really pass. We were going about the same speed. I tried to pass him but it took too much energy to do so. I pulled back and got some distance behind him.
We hit the hill going up to the expressways and I pushed it. I passed the guy, but soon learned that he and one other would spend an amount of time riding near each other.
The bridge was nice. There was a great deal of exposure
The tunnel was the first point in the race in which my skin felt warm. The tunnels were about 70 degrees inside.
I pushed the whole time so my stomach wasn't feeling good. I knew that I would have to start taking some nutrition at some point. On the bridge on the way back, I took my Advocare rehydrate gel.
Kept pushing hard.
Rode back down to the park.
I was a little surprised when I got back down there that there were still swim waves starting.
I was paying so much attention to that, I forgot to get my feet out of my shoes.

I waddled into the transition area in my bike shoes. I got my running shoes on and started to head out.
I had to go to the bathroom. I headed back to the port-a-potties. This ended up being a bad idea as I had to zigzag the entire length of the transition area to do so.
After the bathroom, I went back to the "run out".

Run

The run was hard from the get-go. My calves and my glutes immediately siezed up. I knew there would be a lot of pain on the run, but that is the nature of the beast.
About one mile into the run, I hear some gagging and spitting behind me. A guy catches up to me. "One too many 'Shot Blox', I guess". He decided to keep pace with me. We talked briefly and ran.
We got to the hill and I fell behind. I never stopped running up that hill, but I knew I wasn't going to be going the speed that I wanted to.
I was grateful to see the finish line/second loop so close behind the hill. I knew that I was halfway there. I started my second loop.
All of the sprint people and relay people started mixing in. It was no longer possible to see where I was at in the standings, so I just ran. My legs were breaking down and I really couldn't control my speed any more. I was going as fast as my legs would let me.
By the time I got to the top of the hill on the second loop, my legs were empty.
I felt like I finished strong.

Post-Race

The Race Clock Doesn't Care About You.