Apple Capital Triathlon

Another week and race down and the summer is nearing a close. Racing is wearing thin, but I have to enjoy the weather while I can. Before I get to that, I’d like to express an observation, made obvious by those I work with, but apparent in most when looking for it.

After a serious bee reaction, and I’m not talking about the vitamin, I also had to fight off pneumonia. The bee’s stinger might have been as big as a baseball bat because I felt like I was beat to a bloody pulp with one. I was so ill that people could see it when they first saw me, which made the usual cues of illness unnecessary. Despite all that, some seem to think that if I can run, then I’m clearly not sick. Some resign themselves to bed, which is a good idea, but I have goals I won’t compromise. A real question a US troop can ask is what he/she would do if wounded by the enemy. I can only answer for myself by saying I won’t surrender just because I’m wounded. I will fight until I win or they do. Although every situation I face in life certainly isn’t life or death, I measure myself by it. I’d imagine that like everyone else, I feel pain, illness, etc. Pushing through it makes it harder, but oddly gets little sympathy. That doesn’t make sense to me. How I handle it doesn’t make it any less real. I guess society doesn’t seem to think that “tough” people need sympathy. Although that and some understanding would be nice, I’m not going to curl up into the fetal position and wait for life to get better. OK, I’m done with the venting.

This is not how I like to wake up in the morning! It does the trick though.

My plan for the weekend was to get some good quality in to make up for a couple weeks of taking it easy. I wanted to go hard Friday, race Hell’s Gate Saturday and Apple Capital on Sunday. Friday went as planned. Saturday didn’t because I didn’t want to sacrifice about 8 hours for a 1-hour workout. I needed sleep and would workout hard at home instead. Sunday I forced myself to get up and race because it’s the best training.

After years of racing, I commit as little time as possible to “B” races. Sunday I got up, ate breakfast and did all my organizing and packing that people usually do the day before. After 16 years of racing, it’s a pretty easy task, so I was driving away at 4:46. It was a nice drive, but took almost 2 hours 30 minutes to get there. I had to work at noon, so the Olympic race was out. I figured I could do the sprint, which started 20 minutes earlier, and be driving away before I’d be done biking in the Olympic. I was suspicious of the distances because the previous year’s splits looked slow. I’d find out why soon enough.

The swim was supposed to be 450y. I can do that in about 5:20 to 5:30, but would be fine with a sub 6. I stayed in a group of three to the first buoy, then pulled ahead and broke away. I rounded the 2nd buoy and headed for the shore in a pretty straight line. Despite being first out, my time was 7:56.3! That would be over 1:45 per 100y! I’m guessing it was 600 to 650y. I wasn’t really working the angles as much as I was forcing myself to get my third hard workout in three days, so I fumbled a bit in T1. It wasn’t great, but was enough to get me on the bike with a lead.

I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. I think I'm heading out for a tough ride now that I'm awake.

We started by climbing a hill to the highway and my legs were quick to remind me why it’s not a great race strategy to prep for a race with two hard days leading into a race. My legs felt like rubber pretty quickly, but I kept it under control and recovered. It took until the run, but I did recover. My expectation for the bike was to hit the turn in 15 minutes. I wasn’t pushing 100%, but was working it pretty hard, so a 30:00 20K was reasonable for me on a hilly course. I didn’t get there until 15:54. Yikes! I expected to see a host of riders coming as I started heading back, but I saw open road to the top of a hill I had just descended. It took 2:00 to meet the next rider, which meant I had about a 3:40 lead. That was a nice surprise, so I just focused on my riding and constantly battled the hills that dominated the sprint race before the flats the Olympic race must have enjoyed. A cautious descent into the park gave up a lot of time, but I was 14:59 on the return. My official time was 31:21.1. It’s possible that it was a 20K with the hills, tired legs and cautious finish, but I’m guessing it was a little long.

Finally! Coming around a corner and down a little hill into the finish. Now that I'm awake, I'm tired enough to go back to bed.

My goal for the run was to run sub 5:50 pace. With the hilly run course and not wanting to risk an injury with a week to go before my season finale, I didn’t want to push any faster than that. The run was as tough as I remember it from the race’s first year (2000) when they only had the Olympic race. Still I got it done with a 5:47 pace (17:56.1). It helped me meet my other goal of going under an hour with a 58:27.1. The record was 1:03:14.77, so I was pretty pleased. There was no time to think about any of that though. I had to go straight from the finish to get my gear, pack my car and get on my way to work. I wasn’t aware, but they had a premium for the best bike and run times as well as some overall prizes. They handed some of it to me on the way out. Jessie Sullivan was nice enough to get the rest of my loot for me. A while after I got to work, 34 seconds late, I saw the results. Apparently Sean Williams of Spokane outran me by 6.9 seconds. If you’re out there Sean, let me know. I have $50 with your name on it. I wish I had known about the premiums, because I would have pushed harder, but it was a nice surprise. The race is going to be a good one with Jason Jablonski taking over. He’s a real elite athlete and seems to have things turning in the right direction, so give it a try if you’re able. It will only get better. Perhaps they’ll have more accurate swim and bike distances next year. They certainly had awesome post race food, drink and snack selection.