Blue Lake Triathlon...and a lot of pics

Today was our anniversary

Wow, what a great anniversary weekend Jessi and I had. Spending it with some of our friends and racing a triathlon. Pretty good if you like that kind of stuff I guess.

This weekend would find us on the outskirts of Portland at the very popular Blue Lake Triathlon on Sunday along with 1000 other people racing the Oly and sprint tris. We headed over on Friday after school. It should have been the last day of school, but thanks to those wonderful 5 snow days, we would be returning to school on Monday. So in the Excursion were Jessi, Emma, Steve, Tiffany, and Eric. This would be Eric’s first Oly race. So he was VERY excited about this often asking if maybe he could do the whole course just to make sure he was ready :).

Very nice dinner at a secret restaurant

Livin' it up at the Quality Inn

We stayed at a pretty decent place that had a continental breakfast. One that I never get to totally tear up. This one had all the fine fixins…donuts, waffles, dainishes…yum. Buuut, I would have to refrain and have more sensible breakfasts. But it’s fun to window shop.

Steve in his race, runnin' strong

Saturday was the Sprint race where Steve participated. He wanted to do the Oly race, but he would be racing IM Cda the following weekend and a 10k run takes a little out of the legs. So he decided to test his new bike on the Sprint course. He ended up rocking it and getting 7th overall and having a very solid race. It’s fun to watch friends race. Normally they are racing with you and you never get to see them or cheer them on. Steve has worked hard all season and I am excited to see how IM Cda goes for him.

On race morning Natalie, Eric, Tiffany and I loaded up the rig and headed to the course. Tric, Steve, and Emma would soon follow and make up the cheer squad.

Loaded in the Excursion race morning

Eric REALLY excited for his first Oly race

Tim, Eric, and Tiffany

Getting on the Helix in preparation for the swim

I knew the racks were numbered but wanted to get a decent spot. In all reality, most spots are decent. You don’t spend too much time there hopefully. After I racked my bike I unloaded all my stuff and went for a short run to get away from all the chaos and other peoples’ nerves that somehow impact me. I felt a little sluggish, but that always seems to be the case race morning. I feel like lounging around and just walking everywhere. I am in major slo-mo. I ran into some other Tri Fusion athletes…Matt and Jessie. Matt always has some random observation that are kinda funny and this would be a big race for Jessie. Tim was there too with his wife Andie and newborn Elise.

Andie and Elise...hardcore.

Jessie, Matt, Trisha, and Emma

I have raced this event for the past 3 years and have come to really enjoy the event. It is early enough to establish a baseline. I am not one for flat bike courses because it normally means that there will be a lot of drafting. But I have never really seen that to be a problem at Blue Lake. It does create a great opportunity to test some thresholds and compare from year to year. It has normally been a pretty fast course for me and I have had some good splits there on the bike. The run is flat too. But if you do too much work on the bike, it’s very easy to get run down, and I know I can get run down :)

A quick pre-race good luck kiss...we all need these

The race started at 8:00am in water that was about 71 degrees and air temp that was 60 with an overcast sky. Not too bad really. Would have like to see some rain, but you can’t have it all. In the elite wave, there were about 15 I think. We lined up and took off. I went out fairly hard, or quick, and got passed about 200 meters in by Matt Berg. Then I got passed by another guy and got on his feet. Only problem was his feet kept going from side to side in the lake, i.e. was not swimming straight. So I maintained my line and would catch up to him and then he would get away, then I would catch him again. We made the turn for the finish and as he drifted off course, I swam straight and was 2nd out of the water. I knew Matt was ahead, but I did not think by more than a minute. I saw him in T1 and caught up to him. He left transition about 4 seconds ahead, so I closed almost all of my deficit I had from the swim.

Heading out of T1

As I was putting my feet in my shoes on the bike, Matt went by and got back the 4 seconds that I got back at the mount line. I eventually caught him again and passed him about 1 mile into the bike. Then it was pretty much open road for 24 miles. Well, and a motorcycle. I locked into a steady effort that I felt I could maintain. At the last turnaround I took a split to 2nd (still Matt) and realized I had a pretty good gap, but I thought I would need more time. With about 9 miles to go, I picked it up a bit and pressed on to the finish. I ended up with one of my fastest 40k bike splits, and highest power output as well. I was pretty excited about that.

Coming into T2

Emma, my super cheer squad...the "BEST" cheerer out there hands down

I rolled into T2 and was greeted by many spectators cheering me on. I was really impressed. There must have been 100 people right ON the dismount line. I cruised in and threw on my K-Swiss K’onas and was off. I normally feel slow in the first mile and know that I just need to get settled in.

Heading out on the run

I could see the 5 that were behind me coming in and realized I have about 3:30 on 2nd, so that gave me a little breathing room. I ran to the turn and was feeling good. I felt like I got going from mile 3 to 4 when I saw my mile split I realized that the mile markers may be off because it was a little faster than I was running. But it really did not matter. At this point I had about 4 minutes on 2nd, and knew that I just needed to keep doing what I’m doing…nothing stupid. Just run my race. I saw the first woman on the way out and knew Jessi would be close behind. I cheered her on and she was looking good. I came into the final quarter mile and was pretty excited knowing that I would defend the number 1 I was wearing this time.

Running along the lake...nice and cool

After crossing the line, I grabbed a bottle of water and headed out on the course to cheer some friends on as well as Jessi. I saw Tiffany and ran with her for a mile or so and then ran a bit with Jessi on the way back. Tim was close to her so I was able to throw some cheers his way too. I ran with Jessi for about a mile before she took off down the last ¾ mile. I headed to the finish to see them all come in.

Post Race Winnings

It was my fastest true Oly race I have ever done. I was happy with all my splits. None of them were earth shattering…well, maybe the bike a little, but they were consistent and efforts that I “should” be able to replicate in future races. There was never a time I felt like I was racing out of my control. So that feels promising.

After the race, we hit the local Dairy Queen and then a Carl’s Jr. 3 hours down the road. Love post race food. We had a very eventful trip down there with some hilarious happenings. A few memorable moment were:

1. Tiffany imitating what it sounds like when doves cry and making this mournful pigeon sound
2. Dropping Steve off at the Medical Lake exit and told him he needed to ride the rest of the way home at 8:30pm (30 miles) on our way back to Spokane…and he did.
3. Having Eric read a 20 minute story off his phone that literally did not have a conclusion about a guy named Tucker Max.

Another amazing trip with great people. Races are a lot of fun, but they are even better when you share them with friends, on your anniversary, and end up setting a PR. That’s a good weekend.

Hope your weekends are great, and thanks for all of your cheers out there.