Columbia Triathlon 2010-- Race Report

On May 23rd I had the pleasure of competing in my first tri of the season-- the Columbia Triathlon! This race is one of my favorites and was my first triathlon of the season, and I was really excited and thankful to be racing and to finally see where I would surface in a race situation after a long winter/ spring of training.

My goal for this race was 1st Amateur, finish time of 2:15, and to see how fast of a bike split I could get. I nearly met my goals, with finish time of 2:16:01, 1st Amateur, and 4th female overall, and 2nd fastest bike split of the day (to Natascha Badmann).

Race morning I awoke at 3:45am to my alarm clock and the sound of pouring rain- awesome!! I met training buddies Chris and Sam soon after to caravan up to the race (Sam had gotten up to support at the race with 3 hrs sleep and 16hrs driving from the day prior-- impressive!!) Once on the road, at approx 4:10am, my good friend Doria, who was also going to be coming to the race, called to let me know that she had been watching to news and it looked like the weather was terrible out there!! I thanked her for the timely update as I tried to focus on not running off the road amidst the blinding downpour. Good to know I have someone looking out for me! :-)

Friends and training partners: Sam, me, Doria, Chris

PRE-RACE: When we got to the race, stayed in the car for a bit hoping the rain would let up for a bit, and then decided it wasn't going to so got out and navigated the "grass" parking area that had become a mudslide to set up my transition area. I had a lot of time before the start, but this fact made me move rather slowly and sloth-like... mostly spending time in the car waiting for the rain to stop... which it didn't... so I waited till the last minute to head out on my warmup run.... I would be late getting into the water.... then they announced the race would be delayed by 15 mins-- perfect now I would be right on schedule! :-) Warmed up with easy running for about 20 mins around the race site and then headed down to the swim start. Got there just in time for my wave (of elite amateur males/females)- headed into the water and we were off!!

SWIM: I managed to successfully draft off the "pack" for about 100 meters. Then it was just me... and one other guy/girl to my right who was exactly my pace but enjoyed veering to the left, whereas I veer to the right. Not a good situation. Got free and clear of (ie, behind) all swimmers after about 5 mins and swam solo for the rest of the swim... not the fastest way to swim but kind of prefered that to making contact with other swimmers every 2 seconds.... felt like I was able to get into a better rhythm that way and just tried to be efficeint while not going all out. Exited the water in 24:40- a 2.5 min olympic distance swim PR for me, and 2.5 mins faster than my swim here last year, even though the swim times were about :30 to 1:00 slower this year. Had used Suit Juice inside the suit and on my body-- that stuff really works-- wetsuit came off really fast for once!! Now, onto the best parts of the race!

BIKE: My goal was to go fast here, but I was tempted to throw that goal out the window due to the wet road conditions and rain during the bike portion... but instead I decided to stick with my original plan EXCEPT to be more careful on the turns and on the one steep winding descent.... and to pray for no crashes! I know the course really well so there wouldn't be any surprise turns or anything like that, and was definitely an advantage to be in one of the 2nd swim wave and to not have to navigate a crowded bike course on a day like this. Seemed to work well- ALMOST made my goal bike split of 1:07 (1:08:04), even with a short but severe downpour that hit mid-way through the bike and lasted about 5-10 mins. It took about 1/2 the bike for my legs to really feel strong and fast-- I think for oly and shorter races, it's definitely preferable to get a bike warmup in, though logistically difficult at races like this where they won't let you take your bike out of transition.

Finishing the bike

RUN: At this point I had no idea what place I was in, but knew I was almost on track for 2:15 goal time, and when I exited transition Doria yelled at me that I was 7th... at first I thought she meant 7th amateur, but that didn't seem right... finally figured out she meant overall, which made more sense. I passed the girl who was in first just after the 2 mile mark, who had had a smokin fast swim time! and tried to just keep running the pace I had planned (6:25-6:30 avg, extremely hilly run course) even though I didn't have anyone around me after the 2.5 mile mark which meant I had to focus on trying to make it hurt rather than racing other people. I really enjoyed the run, though! The hills didn't seem quite so bad as usual.... I'm not sure if it was because I was excited and knew I was on target for my goal, or just that I was thankful to be racing here after a running injury setback in March/April made me wonder if I'd be ready for this race.... but it was great to cross the finish line! Found out that I placed 1st Amateur/ 4th Female which was definitely exciting since this race always has such a high level of competition!

Finishing the run

Amateur awards - top 5

POST-RACE: Hit up the free post-race massage tent immediately after the race (added bonus: In the CTA's columbia tri "highlights" video, which mostly features the pros racing and finishing, there is a clip of me at the very end, on the massage table with the massage therapist working on my glutes. I was so happy to see that this was a highlight of the race!) I then secured a nice Waterford bowl and really nice watch as prizes at the award ceremony and then went to eat at Chipotle with Doria. Then onto the recovery routine-- hot tub, swam 1500 pull, hot tub again, then ice bath :-) Seemed to work really well- did not have my usual post-race soreness the next day and was able to jump into my short but intense 8-day training block before beginning to taper for Eagleman!

Why I Tri- and Blog

I've been an athlete since childhood, taking on backpacking trips with my parents since the age of 3, gymnastics, basketball, softball, and cross country running in middle school, competetive running in high school and college, and triathlon since 2003. I have always loved being active and healthy but in 2004, soon after getting into serious triathlon training had my first ever athletic injury, and had a string of injuries over the next four years. During this time I was able to compete minimally, but learned what a gift it is to be active and healthy, and that my time spent being active and healthy should not only serve myself, but others. After spending 4 months on crutches for a hip stress fracture in 2007, and in that down time having the awesome experience of travelling to rural Ethiopia with a medical missions team, I got connected with a talented and caring physical therapist who helped me through my hip injuries that prevented me from running and a shoulder injury that prevented me from swimming. In early 2009 I was able to finally start training for triathlon at the level I knew I was capable of. God has brought me through serious injury to compete again in a sport I love, and has given me the passion I have for a reason- still trying to find exactly what my purpose is in the sport and how I can best serve, but I am thankful for every minitue of it, for the great friends I have met through it, and the way I need to rely on God for every single challenging workout and race. This year I am focusing my efforts on Team World Vision, encouraging everyone to consider sponsoring a child through World Vision and the incredible difference this will make in the life of a child in rural Africa! I started blogging this year to be able to share my triathlon & life experiences with all who are interested. Thanks for reading!