Black Diamond Olympic Triathlon - Race Report

I'm an Olympian! Ha, I wish, but I did complete my first Olympic triathlon on Sunday - The Black Diamond Olympic Triathlon. All my hard work this year paid off in my "A" race of the year!

The quick and dirty: Swim was great, bike was okay and the run was hard

You want a little more detail? If you insist...

I woke up to pouring rain and wind race morning and just about died. Just my luck that I get this weather on race day after a streak of perfect weather the past month. But by the time I got to the race site - Nolte State Park in Cumberland, WA - the rain had subsided and the wind was much calmer.

Transition Area

I got to the park early, so I had plenty of time to set up transition, dilly daddle, get my car to the off-site parking, take the shuttle back to the park and get in a warm up swim. I had purchased a new pair of goggles for the race - Speedo Vanquisher - and had to test them out prior, so I'm happy I had time to swim around and make necessary adjustments. For the record, those goggle rocked, clear as day, great suction, I didn't really want to take them off for the bike...

Typical transition photo

Deep Lake - nice and calm

Before the race.

SWIM - 1.5km - 29:39 - 1:51/100yards
The swim was the best leg of the race. It was 2 half mile laps in a really small lake. All men started together and all women started together. I was able to find my water and swim pretty quickly and I just concentrated on swimming straight and picking off the buoys as I went. I went out pretty conservative on the first lap, so I picked it up the second lap. I've never felt that good on a mile swim EVER. Goal was to get out of the water under 30 minutes and my watch said 29:40 when I stepped out of the lake. Score!

After I saw 29:39 on my watch I smiled and said "SWEET!"

Swim exit

T1 - 3:40
I suck at transition. Really should practice these more. I run to my bike and stare at it for a minute before I gather my thoughts on what to do next. I need a game plan cause this is too long!

BIKE - 24 miles - 1:28:44 - 16.82 mph average
The bike course was great, but harder than expected. I'd like to ride it again because it was a good challenge, but I'm not thrilled with my time. I tried to keep my cadence up and push myself, but I didn't want to push too hard cause I knew a 6 mile run would suck after dead legs. This is where I got passed by at least 3 girls in my AG, which sucked because I really wanted to try and keep up, I just couldn't. Really frusterating, but at the same time, really motivating to work at getting stronger on the bike. I took 4 shot blocks over the course of the bike and drank a whole bottle of water, which worked for me during the race.

T2 - 1:48
So much better at T2 than T1

RUN - 6 miles - 58.07 - 9:41/mile
The run course was described as "flat and fast" was surprisingly hilly and for me, slow. There were 3 hills that I had to run/walk up. Trust me, I don't walk unless I really need to and if this course was really what it was advertised as, I wouldn't of had to walk. Whatever, can't do anything about it except keep moving forward, so that's what I did. I would have liked to been more around 9:20-9:30 pace, but again, something to work toward.

OVERALL
3:01:47
7/10 in 25-29 age group
The 6th place girl finished 13 minutes ahead of me, so there was no way I could have beat her.

Yay! Gosh, that Orca tri suit makes me look like an orca...

I'm stoked on my first Olympic tri and although I really wanted to come in under 3 hours, it is what it is and a great learning point to set goals for next year. Thanks for all the "good lucks" and "have funs" from everyone, I thought of you guys when I was racing, I really did! And thanks to Stephanie at SAS Performance Training for kicking my butt into shape.