Decent Performance at the Issaquah Triathlon

I competed in the Issaquah Triathlon this weekend to get my competitive fire going. There were about 850 competitors in the race. The sprint tri's aren't really my thing as they are too short for me to even get warmed up in any of the events.

The race is 1/4 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 3 mile cross country style run. The race was sold out with 850 participants. I opted to start in the elite wave which was the right choice. I ended up finishing 17th overall in 1:07:37 and 3rd in my age group.

The swim was the typical chaos but overall it went really well I started to feel like I was getting in a rhythm in the last 50 yards (alot of good that was). There was a long transition (about 100 yards) from the water to the mat which marks the end of the swim. I had the 23rd fastest swim split on the day which wasn't too bad considering the only other sprint tri I've done I was the Beaver Lake Triathlon last summer for comparison I had the 175th fastest swim and there was half the number of competitors in that race so I've made significant strides in my swimming. It's still my weak event in my mind but I have a lot more confidence in my swimming than I did a year ago.

I had a quick transition from the swim to the bike and got out and rolling. My bike split wasn't as fast as I had hoped but it was still really good. I had the 10th fastest bike split on the day for the 15 mile ride with a time of 37:30 which as best I can tell is about a 24 mph average. This was slower than I had expected but I really didn't begin to fell comfortable until the last 2 miles. I was a bit ticked as the race was supposed to be a non drafting race (means you can't ride in a group which is more efficient and much faster). There was a group of 6 riders that were a minute back at the turnaround and they caught me in the next 3 miles which they wouldn't have had they not been drafting. I put them in their place by going to the front of the group and then putting about 10 seconds on them in the last 3 miles.

My transition from the bike to the run was a little rough. I had thought about taking my feet out of my shoes while they were still attached to the pedals so I could just run barefoot with my bike to the rack. I ended up not doing this because of the single file lane and speed bumps in the last 1/4 mile in the park. I ended up turning my ankle running across the uneven grass with my bike shoes. The rest of the transition went well.

I headed out on the run and quickly got into my running rhythm without a hitch. I passed a few runners early in the run but was tentative in the run as it was a cross country style course and every so often I'd come down funny on my twisted ankle and this hurt. Needless to say I didn't feel like I ran as fast as I could due to being tentative due to the ankle. I had two runners pass me in the final mile but overall it went well. I finished the 3 mile run with the 31st fastest time on the day in 18:44 which was 6:15 per mile. I felt fine at the finish and wasn't exhausted so I don't think I ran as hard as I could have.

I finished up the weekend with a 70 mile ride with lots of climbing and it was hot so that was good news. Three weeks to go till race day. One more week of hard training then I start my taper. I think I'm ready and now I start hoping for a cool day. The forecast for the next two weeks in CDA is mild tempeatures with highs in the 60's and low 70's which is just perfect but what that probably means is that it's going to heat up for race week. Till next week.........