Black Diamond Race Report

Okay, I know this post is WAY overdue. No excuses, here it is, my race report from my VERY FIRST tri - Black Diamond Oly. This race was a 1.5 km swim, a 40K bike (25 miles) and a 10K run.

Pre race: Saturday night we had a quiet night at home. We cooked chicken on the grill and some whole wheat pasta, and then sat in front of the TV and practiced changing tires on an extra bike wheel. Good thing we did that - you'll find out later. I'd already laid out all my gear & clothes for the race, so I would be ready to go in the morning.

My goals for the race were simple: stay calm, don't panic, just get it done. Timewise, my stretch goal was to finish in under 3:00, but I really didn't have a good idea of how my body would respond to stringing all three events together. So I didn't have any real expectations for the race - I just wanted to get this one under my belt.

Race morning: The alarm went off at 4:45 am, and after a quick shower, I tried to put some food in my stomach. Well, my stomach just wasn't having the cream of wheat (nerves I think) so I gave up and went to loading up the car. It was cold out, so I pulled on my knit cap and gloves, and we finally headed out at 6am. Packet pick-up started at 6:30, so I really wanted to get there early enough to get a parking spot in the park lot. We pulled in at about 6:40, and got one of the last spots (whew!). We hopped out to pick up our packets, get our bodies marked, and check out the swim course. I had to exchange my swim cap for the right color (even though they marked me as a woman, starting in the women's wave, they gave me a green cap, the color for the men's wave).

Then it was back to the car to get the bikes, pump up the tires, and put the race numbers on everything. Eventually, I headed into transition with my bike to set up my transition area. Finally, after a bunch of back & forths to the car (I'm really going to have to refine this whole getting set up before the race thing) we were ready to go in transition, and it was time to consider actually putting the wetsuits on.

I knew the water was going to be really cold, so a "warm up" / acclimatization swim was going to be crucial. At about 8:45, I finally had my wetsuit on, and it was time to leave transition. That was a little nerve racking - I hope I had everything ready! We went down to the water, and got in - BRRR! I got my head wet and let the water soak into my suit - then it was time to do some standing around & shivering waiting for my wave to start.

The men started first, so I kissed Jason good luck as he moved off into the water. The gun went off and they were gone, and I was alone in a sea of women. I got back into the water to get my head wet again, and then took a strategic spot in the back. Soon, we were off too, and more than once I thought to myself - WOW, I'm really doing this! Of course, I was also thinking, just breathe, relax, head down - relax. Finally by about the first buoy the swim spread out and I was able to really focus on my stroke & swim. I never got freaked out, never got too off course, and never really stopped swimming. Before I knew it I was through the second lap and headed back in to the beach, and then, I could see the sand on the bottom. When my hand hit, I stood up and pulled off my goggles. As I made my way up the hill and slowly began jogging toward transition, I looked at my watch. It said 35:xx - I was thrilled! Official swim split: 34:46

I peeled off my wet suit as I made my way to transition. The Pam vegetable spray I used before the race made all the difference - my wetsuit came right off! I put on my jersey, my socks & bike shoes, and threw on my helmet. I grabbed my nutrition, but forgot to grab my pump, grabbed my bike and ran out of transition. I felt like I was going as fast as I could, by my T1 time was slow: 5:10.

I got to the bike mount zone, hopped on and pedalled off through the parking lot. Something seemed not right, but I thought it was just me so I kept going. As I made the turn out of the lot and onto the road, I knew something wasn't right, so I pulled over, and hopped off to look at my bike. Sh*t! My rear time was COMPLETELY flat. I instinctively reached for my pump in my jersey pocket only to discover it wasn't there. Now I was really in trouble - I realized the only choice I had was to head back towards transition. I ran/jogged as quickly as I could in bike shoes, with my bike, back through the parking lot, asking somewhat desperately "does anybody have a pump?" Luckily just as I was about to get back to transition, some wonderful spectator finally answered me...

"I have a pump in my bag" - Oh, thank god!

I pumped up my tire as best I could (I even put some extra air in it, knowing that Jason would have said that I left it with way too low PSI). The spectator even offered for me to keep the pump for the bike leg should I have any more problems. We established a mechanism to return the pump, and I was back off on my bike. I don't know how much time I lost, but I would guess it was about 6 or 7 minutes. Thank goodness I didn't have the thought that I should replace the tube, as I would have lost more time. As it turned out, I didn't need to replace the tube - I only needed to have actually closed the valve after I topped off my tires before the race! Lesson learned there!

So I was finally off on the bike leg - with a racing heart and more than a bit of apprehension about what was going to happen with my bike. I tried to settle in and just focus on riding smooth and smart, and trying to get some nutrition in. The couple of bites of clif bar I took went down like big rocks, so from then on I focused on my bottle of Gu2O. I figured that, along with the flask I had for the run, ought to do me just fine. The bike leg went by quickly, and I started to pass people one by one. There were a couple of times I felt like I was riding by myself, but I could almost always see someone off in the distance in front of me. I rode strong for the entire race, and got down in my aero's as best for the last stretch back to the park. I was SO relieved to see the turn in, knowing that I'd made it through the bike leg without any further problems. Bike split: 1:29:01.

I got into transition and racked my bike as fast as I could - it was a little harder this time, as there were already bikes on the rack (Jason's included). I pulled off my helmet and jersey, changed my shoes, grabbed my hat and my flask and headed out. I felt like I was going fast, but T2 was still a little slow as far as things go: 2:29

When I headed out of T2, I felt like was the last one to be leaving. I knew when I looked at my watch and saw 2:10 as I got off my bike that my hopes of a 3:00 were out of reach - there was little chance of me running a 50:00 10K, so I just wanted to run strong and do the best I could. I was working hard to ease into the run and keep my HR at a manageable level - as I got out on the rode, I was happy to see it at 125.

As I passed the 1 mile mark I started to feel stronger, and shortly after I passed Jason going the other way on the course (with a great big smooch!), I passed my first person on the run. Things got better from there. Though I was fighting the need to use the porta-potty, I passed it up at mile 2 and kept on going. I passed more women on the rolling hills on the out and back, caught my "rabbit" and dropped her on the hill just after mile 4. I knew I was close now, so I just kept focusing on running strong, and picking off the runners in front of me. I continued to pass people on the final 1.4 miles around the lake, and even passed 2 people on the final hill in the last 1/2 mile. I could hear the announcer at the finish line, and when I saw Jason cheering me on, that was my chance to really put it into the sprint. I picked up, and then once again when I heard my brother cheering me on on the sidelines.

I sprinted across the finish line - final time: 3:07:16. Run split: 55:50.

Overall I was very pleased with my performance. I went into the race with very little expectations, and while I was disappointed that I didn't make my stretch time goal, I'm really thinking that without the flat, I would have been DARN close, if not under 3:00. And I came out of it without feeling wasted, so I knew that I could have gone a bit harder. I've got alot to learn, I know, about racing - which I'm really looking forward to learning from Jill. As far as learning experiences go, this was a pretty darn good one. I am hooked - I love triathlon! Onward to SOMA!