The end of 2017 triathlon season

I just closed out my triathlon racing for 2017.

Yesterday was an Olympic distance race (Lake Stevens) and today was a sprint (Tri Turtle Tri).

For me it was a personal challenge to race the ITU Worlds Long Course two weeks ago and follow that up with 2 successive weekends of short course racing and to race well across them all. Now that I’ve passed the 70-year age mark, the number of my age group competitors is very, very thin. This means that to compete I need to focus on younger men, my overall finish position, personal improvement in specific legs, etc., etc.

My swimming has greatly improved this year so that was one of my goals: swim well. It’s always hard to  judge because who knows how accurately a swim course is set. In all my races this year, I felt relaxed and strong for the swim portion; that’s good. Getting to the bike rack with bikes left is also good.

Transitions are another story; they all seem to be pretty slow. I must be too laid back! Plus, I now have these personal idiosyncrasies that take longer: hydration pack for long course, waist water bottle pack for the run. Thinking about it, I realize this is part of my learning how to hydrate. If I hydrate, I race well. If I don’t then I fall apart. Thus a little more time in transition pays HUGE dividends in the racing legs.

Cycling continues to be my strong suit: I can ride strong and position myself to lose spots on the run. Since this is generally far and away the longest leg, I’m able to put more time on the field. My rides this year bear out this strategy.

Then there’s (ouch) my running. These old legs just don’t have the snap they used to and I lose many positions to faster runners. The numbers also show this.

What does this mean for 2018?

Do some off-season run-specific training, working toward some more speed. Ah, where is self-discipline when it’s needed? I intend to enjoy the hills the next few months by off-road running and continue testing out MTB riding (something new for me!). Then, of course, there’s road time in southern California in early 2018. This should get me refreshed and ready to hit the Ironman trail in the spring to prepare to race at Challenge Roth next year.

Bonney Lake Olympic Triathlon, 2017

Last year I raced the sprint version of this race but decided to step up to the Olympic distance this year. My spring Oly race went so well, I figured it would be no problem and I'd be racing off my long distance fitness.

Bonney Lake is pretty small so our course was 2 750m laps. We swam straight into the rising sun for leg 1 (and leg 3) and the buoy was really hard to see. Luckily there were some very distinctive trees on the shore for sighting. Twice around and I felt good. The distance must have been a bit short, based on my time, but I'll take it!

We had quite a run from the water exit across the road and through the sprint race transition area to our area. Most of the bikes were still on my rack when I got there, always a good sign.

Out of T1 we had a short hill almost immediately. This turned out to be an apt description for the bike course: short hills, flat areas, easy downhills. The Oly bike course had a 2 loop section in the middle to give us more distance. At about mile 10 we continued on to go around once more while the sprint course athletes returned to transition. By the time I got to loop 2 there were a lot of sprint races on the course, making it a lot more interesting. Great views, bright sun, decent roads. All good stuff.

After the second mid-course lap I made the left turn to return to transition and the run. Some nice downhill and gentle spinning back to transition helped get my legs ready to run.

Once again we were routed through the sprint transition area. Lots of activity as all kinds of athletes were coming in and going out.

After a decent transition I headed out on the run which turned out to be pretty challenging. Darren had warned me that it was up hill from transition, but how could there be so much up hill when we never seemed to get very high above the lake? I guess it was the rolling terrain. Anyway, it was hard.

We ran along the lake shore then off into the neighborhoods past the 5K turnaround to our turnaround. It seemed that there was more downhill on the way back so I opened up my pace a bit and passed a few people (probably sprint racers). I felt good the last mile and ran in hard.

The numbers:
My goal finish time was 2:45 and I managed to break 2:30 (by more than 4 minutes!), so that was very good. Swim: goal 28 minutes, actual 24:28 (See why I think it was short.) Ride: goal 1:10, actual 1:03 (I rocked!). Run: goal 1 hour, actual 54:17 (sub 9 minutes/mile! Incredible for me). For more details, click here.

There was actually another competitor in my age group; we'll call him Mr. Montana. He's 71 and his shirtless torso was the color of a well-used saddle from many, many shirtless hours spent in the sun. And he looked young. On the podium he told me he missed a turn on the bike course and rode some extra distance. Lucky me! So, I wasn't the oldest person in the race today.

My body was my main competitor today. Last Wednesday I made the mistake of swimming in Lake Washington without my nose clips and I've had a raging sinus infection ever since. It's unbelievable how much mucous can come out of the human head. Just hope I didn't nail any of my fellow athletes when I emptied out on the race course. Of course, breathing was a bit of a challenge. Thank heavens we have a mouth in addition to 2 teeny little nostrils.

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