Team Mango

Did I mention that it was hot?

On Saturday, June 7 I opened my triathlon season with the Cascade’s Edge Triathlon which was held at Nolte State Park near Enumclaw. I upheld our proud Mango mid-pack tradition by finishing 82 out of 170 in a time of 2:37:24.

On Saturday morning I was up at 5:45 am and it was already hot. 9 am found me at the park, wearing my wetsuit, sweating in the sun. It was a relief to hit the water. The start was the usual mosh pit of flailing arms and legs, pushing and shoving, all in murky, stirred-up water. After 200 yards or so the crowd had spread out and I was able to find a good swimming rythm. Since I was no longer concerned with being kicked in the face I started thinking about my focus points, hands in line with my shoulders on the entry, strong finish of the stroke, count strokes, sight on the next buouy and correct course every tenth time my right hand enters the water…..next thing I knew, I was coming into shore. Again the water was getting murky and stirred up but I kept swimming until my right hand touched bottom on two consecutive strokes and then stood up. At the end of the swim I’m always a little wobbly, disoriented, pleased and slightly surprised that I didn’t drown but I felt REALLY bad. I was light-headed and quite queasy as I made my way to my bike. I peeled off my wetsuit, put on socks, shoes, camelbak and bike helmet, grabbed the Kestrel and headed out of the transition area. I had a slow swim to bike transition, 3:52 and at that point my heartrate was sky-high and I was still feeling wobbly so I spent the beginning of the bike in easy spinning, hoping not to puke. After about 10 minutes my heartrate and stomach had settled down so I found the big ring and started to build the pace. The rest of the bike felt great; I was steadily reeling people in and doing a lot of passing. The Kestrel performed admirably! I had covered a lot of the bike leg during my century with Jason and John M. a couple of weeks back and so was familiar with the course. Shortly after turning onto Retreat-Kanaskat road I caught and passed two of the elite women. I was strong and fast! And then a 53-year old man wearing nothing but a bright orange speedo and a bike helmet passed me like I wasn’t moving. So it’s good to be humble, too. His bike was equipped with the latest tri-geek aero accessory: the Never-Reach Aero Hydration system. It’s a water tank that’s mounted behind the seat, with a tube that runs along the top tube to a straw sticking up from the stem. As he was pulling away from me it looked as if he had a big blue bullet sticking out of his bright orange ass. Anyway, in spite of my slow start I finished with a 1:11:49 bike leg which is the first time that I’ve managed to average more than 20 mph for a 40 km ride. The second personal best of the day!

I had a fast bike-to-run transition and crossed the timing mat at the start of the run 1:44 into the race. I knew a 2:30 would probably put me in the top five of my age group and I thought, I’ve run 10 k’s in 42, 43 minutes, of course not in triathlons but if I make my self hurt for 45 minutes, how hard can it be…..but I quickly realized that I was deluding myself. It was a weird, difficult course. It began by literally running through someone’s backyard, through a gate into a horse corral, out a different gate and into the woods. It was a tight, windy trail run with limited visibility, horse shit and lots of chances for tripping or turning an ankle so that slowed me down and the heat really started to get to me. I think being in the shade was actually worse because there was no breeze at all. Much of the run was through old clear-cuts, which is like running through hell. It’s ugly, the new growth was tall enough to stifle any hint of a breeze but not tall enough to provide shade. I ended up with a 53:10 run, about an 8:40 pace. After finishing the race I headed right back into the lake, this time without the wetsuit. I swam around for about 15 minutes and felt a lot better.

I stopped in Enumclaw at a charming little ice cream parlor for a not-very-good milkshake and drove home with the air conditioner cranked. After much drinking of water and gatorade on Saturday afternoon my urine had returned to its normal pale-yellow shade, and I finished my recovery with a trip to the 5 Spot on Sunday morning, where I polished off an entire 5 Spot breakfast, including the toast.

Next up, Pacific Crest Half-Ironman on June 28. Which reminds me, can anyone recommend a place to stay in Bend, Oregon?

Confusion to the enemy!

Posted by john at June 12, 2003 4:21 PM