Race Report: Cascade Edge Olympic 2008
On Saturday, I did an Olympic distance triathlon. I did the same race a year before and wrote it up here.
I am really happy with my results:
Total Time: 2:27:23
Overall place: 28th
Place in my age group: 5th
Swim split: 0:25:54
Overall Swim place: 38th
Bike split: 1:07:32
Overall bike place: 22nd
Place after the bike: 20th
Run split: 0:49:30
Overall run Place: 58th
The swim went fine. Last time I did the race I breathed every other stroke the whole .9 miles. This time I relaxed a bit and did some breathing every third stroke when things opened up a bit. The new wetsuit was great, and I hardly noticed the frigid water. I knocked almost 4 minutes off my time from last year.
I love my bike! At multiple points during the 28 mile ride I thought or even said aloud how cool a machine this bike is. It’s amazing how little energy is wasted converting muscle contraction to rolling. I hit 39.9 mph on one descent, and the bike was solid as a rock. What a blast! I was shocked to learn after the race that I was only 5 minutes off the best time overall. I’ve been focusing on the bike leg in my training, but I didn’t expect it to pay off this much. I averaged 24.6 mph.
The first mile of the run was painful. It was also painful to be passed by so many runners! In the swim you can’t really tell how well you’re doing because you’re underwater. In the bike, I don’t get passed a lot. But in the run, you hear people coming up behind you, then they pass you, and then you watch them slowly pull away. I ran around 8 minute miles, which was great for me, but I need to get to 7 minute miles to be really competitive, I think. I’m not sure that’s even possible!
I had the pleasure of traveling down and racing with John, a friend of mine from previous work experience. It’s a ton more fun doing an event with friends than going it alone. You get to tell all the race stories to someone who cares!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I had a similar experience at a sprint tri a couple of weeks ago. When it came time to start the run, it felt like I was running on wooden feet for the first mile. Thankfully they finally warmed up.
24.6 average on the bike is great!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Thanks Brad! At the start of the run my shins were very tight. Plus, the guy I was biking neck and neck with left me in the dust out of transition to the run, so that didn’t help!