The sun was bright and shimmering on the cold river water. I was knee deep in
the water waiting for the signal to begin. I’d done my rituals that my bud Justin
had shown me almost a year ago to the day. Jaime and I exchanged a fist bump
and wished each other the best before we waded into the water. Another race,
everything was pretty much the same except in a way it wasn’t. I was racing
without a plan.
I guess in some ways there was a plan but it was different from my other races. The lead up to race had been interesting. I was coming off an injury and the training had been full of hiccups. Jaime hadn’t talked to me about the race and hadn’t giving me any instructions. I wasn’t sure how my foot was going to react and had thought about pulling out of the race. Jaime reminded me that we needed to support the local events or they wouldn’t exist. With that in mind I decided to simply race for fun and not worry about the numbers. I’d have my watch for data purposes but I wasn’t going to look at it during the race. I’d just need to remember to hit the lap button to advance the multi-sport function.
A year ago I had focused my energy on completing the sprint portion of the Deschutes Dash triathlon. It was my original reason for beginning to train. Since that time things had changed and now what had been a primary focus was now just a training session for a bigger and longer race. Today I was going to do the Olympic, almost a year to the day since my first Olympic Tri.
The signal went off and we were into the water. The Dash is unique in the fact that the open water swim occurs in the Deschutes River and goes downriver from point to point. You can really get going if you get into the current, but that also provides an interesting challenge. Sighting sometimes involves trying to determine the riffles as well as figuring out whether or not the swimmers on either side are zooming ahead without much effort. Part of the race had us sighting directly into the rising sun so it was a bit of lucky guessing and hard effort. In the middle of the mayhem I realized I’d forgotten to do the only thing I needed to worry about – start the watch! I paused as bodies thrashed all around me and got my watch started and began again to swim. We swam under three bridges, each full of cheering fans. The feeling of going underneath the bridges and into darkness only added to the unique nature of this portion of the race. I felt good during the swim portion and was happy with the effort. My attitude this year was to get over the fear of the open swim. I really felt that this race, coupled with Boise and Bozeman finally got me to that point. I came out of the water ready to get on the bike and head up the hill.
The bike portion of the race would take me up towards Mount Bachelor with a turn around at the Virginia Meisner Snowpark. Half the race was uphill with the other half being the opposite. It was a route I had taken so often with Jaime and Riley and I was confident in my abilities. I had already decided that I’d attack the hill, work hard, and use the downhill to regain my strength for the run. Last year I remember how hard I felt the bike portion was and how long it took to reach the turnaround. This year I found myself surprised when I reached that same turnaround. I couldn’t believe how easy it felt and I was ready to hit the real climbing that I’d encounter for the remainder of the Olympic route. I played tag with another rider and picked off riders as the elevation increased. I felt good and was confident as I continued up the hill. On the final climb I began to see the leaders zipping back into town on their descent. Our red short-sleeved Laughing Dog kits made it easy to spot my teammates and I yelled encouragement to Riley and Jaime as I made my final push. Once I turned around the fun began. My speed picked up and I began passing other riders at will. Going quickly down a hill can be a thrill but with aero tires it can also get interesting because you really feel the air pushing against your bike and it can make things sometimes feel a little squirrely. It was best that I didn’t realize until later that I hit 48 miles an hour coming down the hill. I rode my way back into town and maneuvered through the two roundabouts before heading down the last hill to the transition area.
I guess in some ways there was a plan but it was different from my other races. The lead up to race had been interesting. I was coming off an injury and the training had been full of hiccups. Jaime hadn’t talked to me about the race and hadn’t giving me any instructions. I wasn’t sure how my foot was going to react and had thought about pulling out of the race. Jaime reminded me that we needed to support the local events or they wouldn’t exist. With that in mind I decided to simply race for fun and not worry about the numbers. I’d have my watch for data purposes but I wasn’t going to look at it during the race. I’d just need to remember to hit the lap button to advance the multi-sport function.
A year ago I had focused my energy on completing the sprint portion of the Deschutes Dash triathlon. It was my original reason for beginning to train. Since that time things had changed and now what had been a primary focus was now just a training session for a bigger and longer race. Today I was going to do the Olympic, almost a year to the day since my first Olympic Tri.
The signal went off and we were into the water. The Dash is unique in the fact that the open water swim occurs in the Deschutes River and goes downriver from point to point. You can really get going if you get into the current, but that also provides an interesting challenge. Sighting sometimes involves trying to determine the riffles as well as figuring out whether or not the swimmers on either side are zooming ahead without much effort. Part of the race had us sighting directly into the rising sun so it was a bit of lucky guessing and hard effort. In the middle of the mayhem I realized I’d forgotten to do the only thing I needed to worry about – start the watch! I paused as bodies thrashed all around me and got my watch started and began again to swim. We swam under three bridges, each full of cheering fans. The feeling of going underneath the bridges and into darkness only added to the unique nature of this portion of the race. I felt good during the swim portion and was happy with the effort. My attitude this year was to get over the fear of the open swim. I really felt that this race, coupled with Boise and Bozeman finally got me to that point. I came out of the water ready to get on the bike and head up the hill.
The bike portion of the race would take me up towards Mount Bachelor with a turn around at the Virginia Meisner Snowpark. Half the race was uphill with the other half being the opposite. It was a route I had taken so often with Jaime and Riley and I was confident in my abilities. I had already decided that I’d attack the hill, work hard, and use the downhill to regain my strength for the run. Last year I remember how hard I felt the bike portion was and how long it took to reach the turnaround. This year I found myself surprised when I reached that same turnaround. I couldn’t believe how easy it felt and I was ready to hit the real climbing that I’d encounter for the remainder of the Olympic route. I played tag with another rider and picked off riders as the elevation increased. I felt good and was confident as I continued up the hill. On the final climb I began to see the leaders zipping back into town on their descent. Our red short-sleeved Laughing Dog kits made it easy to spot my teammates and I yelled encouragement to Riley and Jaime as I made my final push. Once I turned around the fun began. My speed picked up and I began passing other riders at will. Going quickly down a hill can be a thrill but with aero tires it can also get interesting because you really feel the air pushing against your bike and it can make things sometimes feel a little squirrely. It was best that I didn’t realize until later that I hit 48 miles an hour coming down the hill. I rode my way back into town and maneuvered through the two roundabouts before heading down the last hill to the transition area.
I rode into the transition area and grabbed my things for the run. In the back of
my mind I was a bit worried. How would my foot feel on the run? I had run in my
Newtons without issue but this was different. This was a race. I began running
downriver along the trail. As I rounded the corner I was greeted by cheers from a
couple of cute ladies, one of which I realized was Jaime’s wife Heather. I felt
energized and felt my pace pick up. I saw Jaime running across the river and
yelled encouragement to him. Things felt good I enjoyed running the trail. I
crossed the river and mentally began crossing off the race distance. I do this to
kind of spur me to keep going and tell myself that I have things in the bag. I
made my way up the river trail and from the brick path onto the dirt. I was used
to this trail but usually I would run it in the reverse distance. I did know from
experience though that a nasty hill would be coming up soon. I got one more
glimpse of Jaime across the river, gave him a whoop, and mentally turned my
cap around and prepared myself to tackle the hill. It did not disappoint and as I
tried to push myself up the hill I told myself that this would be my last challenge
of the race. Along the way I met up with plenty of pedestrians out for morning
walks. With each hello I’d give I got more energy. The big hill was done and the
bridge was crossed. Now it was only a matter of picking up the pace and running
back to the finish. I passed a couple of runners and ran under the Healy Bridge.
Only a quarter mile or so to go before I was done. I saw two runners in front of
me and I made it my goal to catch and pass them before I reached the finish line.
As I passed them and ran back onto the brick pathway I saw Jaime and Riley
ahead of me encouraging me and cajoling me to kick into high gear for the last
little bit. I went all out and crossed the finish line knowing two things – that I’d run
a good race, and that I needed to puke.
It wouldn’t be until later that I’d determine that I’d run my best race in terms of pace, and that my bike had been literally another best. I bettered my Olympic time by 20 minutes – a bit misleading due to the downriver swim (although I did have a friend remind me that the river wasn’t necessarily worth a 20 minute advantage). I also finished second in my age group, which made me feel good about how things went. I celebrated with Jaime and Riley, my wife Angie, as well as Kevin and John a couple of other tri buddies who had been very supportive through my journey. It was nice to be able to share the feeling with others you would train with at the pool, on the road, or on the trail. I felt great and was confident that I could now look forward to Lake Stevens. It wasn’t exactly planned but things had gone well and it was nice to share it with friends and family.
It wouldn’t be until later that I’d determine that I’d run my best race in terms of pace, and that my bike had been literally another best. I bettered my Olympic time by 20 minutes – a bit misleading due to the downriver swim (although I did have a friend remind me that the river wasn’t necessarily worth a 20 minute advantage). I also finished second in my age group, which made me feel good about how things went. I celebrated with Jaime and Riley, my wife Angie, as well as Kevin and John a couple of other tri buddies who had been very supportive through my journey. It was nice to be able to share the feeling with others you would train with at the pool, on the road, or on the trail. I felt great and was confident that I could now look forward to Lake Stevens. It wasn’t exactly planned but things had gone well and it was nice to share it with friends and family.
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