Lee
08-03-2009, 09:09 AM
I had been excited for this race since a better than expected race result at New Balance in Victoria in June and it did not let me down. Jen and I originally planned to drive over to Spokane for Sunday’s race on Saturday. With the excessive heat and no A/C in our house, we decided Friday morning to head over Friday night to get an extra night of sleeping in an air conditioned hotel room. The hot weather in Seattle did help me prepare for the race in the typical August heat in Spokane.
We arrived at our hotel just before 10 on Friday night. I had a good night’s sleep and woke up feeling refreshed. I met up with teammates Kirk and Marne Sall Saturday morning and we biked the run course together. We then drove out to the lake for a short swim and then drove the bike course, went back to town to meet up with Jen for a late lunch and picked up our race packets.
Sunday I woke up feeling relaxed for race day. I had my usually fruit/soy/protein smoothie for breakfast and started hydrating because I knew it was going to be hot on the run course. Kirk, Marne, Jen and I arrived at the lake around 6 AM which gave us plenty of time to set up for the 7 AM race start. It was sure nice having a dozen of us team members competing in the race as it gave me plenty of people to chat with kept me from worrying too much about the race.
Swim – The swim went fairly smooth. I was picking up good draft lines most of the swim and my stroke was feeling fluid. I may have been a bit too relaxed as the swim took a couple of minutes longer than I expected.
Swim time – 40:52
Average heart rate – 142
T1- 2:09
Bike - I was feeling good right away on the bike. I got in to a good rhythm and Iwas as comfortable as I have ever been riding in the aero position. I was surprised to see Andrew in T1 and I figured he was going to catch me fairly soon so I kept my pace up to prolong the time it took him to catch me. For some reason he never did and I kept plugging along. I was glad I took the time to drive the bike course on Saturday as being able to picture the course while riding it was a big help. The course has a lot of rolling hills and I attacked them aggressively. I spend more time out of the saddle on this ride then I ever have before and it gave me good momentum on the downhill parts. I got plenty of liquid calories and electrolytes down on the bike. I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, I was merely preparing for running in 90 degree heat.
Bike time – 2:38:16
Bike pace – 21.5 MPH
Average heart rate – 146
T2 – 1:09
Run – I have a habit of starting out way too fast on the run and bonking so I made it a point to pace myself better. It was a nice surprise to see my wife Jen between the run start and mile 1. She was just finishing a run over her own on the course and this gave me the opportunity to show her a little affection that she deserves. Having her at my races makes them so much more enjoyable. I hit the first mile marker at 8:38 and I was satisfied since I felt I was running much slower than that. The legs we feeling pretty good considering I felt I hammered on the bike. I was not feeling any cramps coming on other than a friendly reminder from my left hamstring that has been strained all summer telling me not to push too hard. As I reached each mile marker, I looked at my watch as I was keeping steady 8:30-8:40 pace. I caught up with teammate Steve Quinn between mile 4 and 5. He looked to be having a hard time at the moment so I slowed down to run with him. I was thinking we could pace each other the rest of the race. After a few minute Steve said “move on mate, I’m holding you back”. I felt like staying with him because I wanted to tough the rest of the run out with him. I reluctantly kept running without him. I saw Shawn and Mike from the team around this time as they were looking strong and had already made the turn around on the out and back course. I made the turn around and met up with Kirk. I would not see him the rest of the race and was wondering where he went. Apparently he hit the bathroom and I had passed him. It was getting warmer and warmer as the run went on. I was spending more time at each aid station, drinking water and HEED, dumping ice water over my head and grabbing wet sponges. I got to see the rest of my teammates on the run. It was nice being able to spot them in their VO2 kits. With about 4 miles left, Steve had pulled himself together and caught up with me. He made it clear to me that we were going to finish the race together. I guess my karma from earlier in the run had paid off. Steve is a stronger runner than me and was giving me the push I needed. He was not slowing down for me but he was not allowing me to drop back. Every time I fell a few strides back, he would give me some positive word of encouragement which kept me going. When we made it over the finally bridge we ran side by side across the finish line together hearing a big roar from the VO2 supporters. What and awesome feeling. VO2 Rocks!!
Run time – 1:55:28
Run pace – 8:48/mile
Average heart rate – 159
Overall – 5:18:03, average heart rate – 150
Great experience. Once it was so nice being part of our team, it made the experience so much better!!
We arrived at our hotel just before 10 on Friday night. I had a good night’s sleep and woke up feeling refreshed. I met up with teammates Kirk and Marne Sall Saturday morning and we biked the run course together. We then drove out to the lake for a short swim and then drove the bike course, went back to town to meet up with Jen for a late lunch and picked up our race packets.
Sunday I woke up feeling relaxed for race day. I had my usually fruit/soy/protein smoothie for breakfast and started hydrating because I knew it was going to be hot on the run course. Kirk, Marne, Jen and I arrived at the lake around 6 AM which gave us plenty of time to set up for the 7 AM race start. It was sure nice having a dozen of us team members competing in the race as it gave me plenty of people to chat with kept me from worrying too much about the race.
Swim – The swim went fairly smooth. I was picking up good draft lines most of the swim and my stroke was feeling fluid. I may have been a bit too relaxed as the swim took a couple of minutes longer than I expected.
Swim time – 40:52
Average heart rate – 142
T1- 2:09
Bike - I was feeling good right away on the bike. I got in to a good rhythm and Iwas as comfortable as I have ever been riding in the aero position. I was surprised to see Andrew in T1 and I figured he was going to catch me fairly soon so I kept my pace up to prolong the time it took him to catch me. For some reason he never did and I kept plugging along. I was glad I took the time to drive the bike course on Saturday as being able to picture the course while riding it was a big help. The course has a lot of rolling hills and I attacked them aggressively. I spend more time out of the saddle on this ride then I ever have before and it gave me good momentum on the downhill parts. I got plenty of liquid calories and electrolytes down on the bike. I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, I was merely preparing for running in 90 degree heat.
Bike time – 2:38:16
Bike pace – 21.5 MPH
Average heart rate – 146
T2 – 1:09
Run – I have a habit of starting out way too fast on the run and bonking so I made it a point to pace myself better. It was a nice surprise to see my wife Jen between the run start and mile 1. She was just finishing a run over her own on the course and this gave me the opportunity to show her a little affection that she deserves. Having her at my races makes them so much more enjoyable. I hit the first mile marker at 8:38 and I was satisfied since I felt I was running much slower than that. The legs we feeling pretty good considering I felt I hammered on the bike. I was not feeling any cramps coming on other than a friendly reminder from my left hamstring that has been strained all summer telling me not to push too hard. As I reached each mile marker, I looked at my watch as I was keeping steady 8:30-8:40 pace. I caught up with teammate Steve Quinn between mile 4 and 5. He looked to be having a hard time at the moment so I slowed down to run with him. I was thinking we could pace each other the rest of the race. After a few minute Steve said “move on mate, I’m holding you back”. I felt like staying with him because I wanted to tough the rest of the run out with him. I reluctantly kept running without him. I saw Shawn and Mike from the team around this time as they were looking strong and had already made the turn around on the out and back course. I made the turn around and met up with Kirk. I would not see him the rest of the race and was wondering where he went. Apparently he hit the bathroom and I had passed him. It was getting warmer and warmer as the run went on. I was spending more time at each aid station, drinking water and HEED, dumping ice water over my head and grabbing wet sponges. I got to see the rest of my teammates on the run. It was nice being able to spot them in their VO2 kits. With about 4 miles left, Steve had pulled himself together and caught up with me. He made it clear to me that we were going to finish the race together. I guess my karma from earlier in the run had paid off. Steve is a stronger runner than me and was giving me the push I needed. He was not slowing down for me but he was not allowing me to drop back. Every time I fell a few strides back, he would give me some positive word of encouragement which kept me going. When we made it over the finally bridge we ran side by side across the finish line together hearing a big roar from the VO2 supporters. What and awesome feeling. VO2 Rocks!!
Run time – 1:55:28
Run pace – 8:48/mile
Average heart rate – 159
Overall – 5:18:03, average heart rate – 150
Great experience. Once it was so nice being part of our team, it made the experience so much better!!