Blue Lake Sprint, 6/4/05

Preparation

Sandwich

Fair

Nervous and Anxious

3 - Jumpy

2 - Farily Mellow

Music, Friends/Family

Post Sept 2004, the original plan was to train all winter, turn in countless laps in the pool, miles and miles of pavement, and even get on a stationary bike to pretend like I’m going somewhere really fast.

Post Sept 2004, the *actual* plan ended up more like this- take a month off to relax, go on some fun trips, play a little volleyball, sell my home myself, buy a new place, and stab myself in the finger causing persistent tendon damage.

I signed up for the first triathlon I had done last year, wanting to compare apples to apples year over year. Two weeks before the race, you’d find me in Boston, eating, drinking, and up at 4am every night sick as a dog.

A sick dog.

Not all dogs are inherently sick.

You get the point.

Since this was a local race (about 20 minutes east of Portland), I had invited my friends to come out and watch. With 1 person or less in the 2004 Team Chris Crew, I was surprised, and thrilled, to know that 6 of my friends were coming that morning.

On this calm, chilly morning, I arrived a little late, and had to hurry down to the water to get in a few strokes before the start. At 8:20am, they started the first wave, 4 elite athletes motoring around the lake like dolphins. After that, there would be 4 additional waves. I was in the “Males under 40” wave, and one of 32 men in my division (25-29 yrs old). Zooming in on the picture below, I found out that there were roughly 105 people in my wave, larger than any heat I’ve been in before.

One minute after this picture was taken, we were off- heading left around the orange buoy in a clockwise triangle. The swim was the most challenging event of the day- every 7-10 strokes, you would run into someone or get run into. You could spot someone ahead of you and shoot for a hole, but by the time you got there, someone else was in that spot. After several stops and starts in the water, I ended up drifting to the outside, swimming another 25-75m than the marked course.

I came out of the water at 16:00m, a full minute over where I conservatively thought I would be. But I was on fresh legs, and cheered on by anxious friends on the shore, so I sprinted off to the transition, quickly changing and back out the other side-

Unlike last year, the winds were light, and the course was dry. Trying to make up for lost time on the swim, I’d pick the strongest rider I could find 25 or 50 meters ahead of me, and one after another, slowly reel them in... with an eye on my watch and odometer, I forced myself to stay above 21 mph. Unfortunately, even after a very strong bike, I knew the stronger riders with faster swim times were far ahead as I came into T2.

The same legs that were light and energized after the swim were now heavy and wobbly as I put on my running shoes. As I trotted off in half-steps, I knew my race now was against physical pain, and the voice in my head that began as a whisper... “you don’t have to do this... you’re not going to place anyway... why don’t you just walk a little?”.... And when every part of your body wants and needs to rest, that voice is reasonable... tempting... pleading.... then incredibly demanding.

Seeing friends ahead is a huge emotional lift- Mark, Dan and Courtney saw me out of the transition, and then Tara, Chrissy and Tim were waiting another 200 yards away. And who’s going to start walking when your friends are there to see you race??

5 - Completely Overachieved

Looking back on it now, that was my greatest victory of the day. I didn’t walk. And I won’t lie- it hurt. But I turned in mile split times that were competitive with the height of my training last summer. I passed one guy in my age group, and was passed by another.

At the finish, I was welcomed by my friends’ smiling faces. All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple hours of a Saturday morning. My times were indicative of my training, and my training was indicative of life’s priorities. I didn’t place, but I improved my time by 8 minutes over last year, and I think that’s a pretty darn good start to the season.

My next race will be July 9th at Hagg Lake in Forest Grove. Hope to see some more friends there, watching and competing.

Probably

Good

Good