Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon

Here is a link to the full results

And top ten right here:

                             OVERALL    DIV     SWIM          TRAN    BIKE            TRAN  PL AFTER  RUN
  NAME                 AGE SEX    TIME    PLACE    TIME   PLACE  TIME    TIME    PLACE   TIME    BIKE    TIME   PLACE  CITY & STATE

1. Roger Thompson        37  M    1:53:54     1    0:20:09   10   1:32   0:54:00     1    1:01      1    0:37:12    5   Spokane, WA          
2. Matt Berg             36  M    1:58:22     2    0:19:49    8   1:49   0:57:27     3    1:03      2    0:38:14    7   Milwaukie, OR        
3. Cameron Dorn          21  M    2:00:41     1    0:22:49   35   2:01   0:55:57     2    1:13      3    0:38:40   12   Waterloo, SC         
4. Chris Ramsey          36  M    2:00:49     3    0:23:22   43   1:55   0:57:50     7    1:29      7    0:36:12    1   Portland, OR         
5. David Gettle          27  M    2:03:55     1    0:21:14   19   1:51   0:57:44     6    1:13      4    0:41:52   47   Weiser, ID           
6. Joshua Monda          27  M    2:04:23     2    0:23:25   46   1:46   0:59:08    13    1:18      9    0:38:46   14   Vancouver, WA        
7. Warren Bloomberg      39  M    2:04:40     4    0:20:11   11   2:38   1:01:38    38    1:53     10    0:38:20    8   Salem, OR            
8. Daniel Hough          28  M    2:05:10     3    0:21:20   20   2:29   0:59:36    17    1:29      8    0:40:16   23   Talent, OR           
9. Josh Speer            29  M    2:05:11     4    0:24:05   60   1:55   1:01:15    34    1:32     22    0:36:24    2   Portland, OR         
10. Dave Campbell         40  M    2:05:15     1    0:22:25   33   2:29   0:57:43     5    1:20      5    0:41:18   40   Newport, OR  

I had a decent race. I got to race site extra early and snagged the "pole position" (first spot on elite transition rack) just seconds before Roger Thompson (overall winner). I was pretty paranoid about getting a flat tire this race (i've had 6 or 7 of them in training since Wildflower). So i brought my trainer along and rode on the trainer by my parked car for a warm up. I got down to the lake fifteen minutes before the start and got my warm up in. In total i ran 15min easy, rode on trainer for 15min easy w/ pick ups, and splashed around in the water for 5 minutes before the start.

SWIM- The horn blew and i took off in the Elite wave (maybe 10 or 12 of us?). Everyone seemed to be starting out pretty hard and my original plan was to build into the swim so I hung back and just tempo'd. The other part of the plan was to wait for one of the Uber swimming 30-39 yr olds who were starting a minute after us. I knew that if i got passed by a blue swim cap that would be my chance to jump on some feet and really get pulled along.
Well, starting off easy left me in "no mans land" pretty quick and by the second buoy i was all alone. I started to pick up the pace and felt fine....and then it happened...i saw a blue cap flying by on the left. I jumped on his feet and he pulled me for about 45 seconds before he lost contact. That was pretty cool, I thought. I just knocked 10 or 15 seconds off my time! The rest of the swim was pretty "blah". Came out in 23:25 (1:25/100yd pace) which is more of a pace i would like to his in a 70.3 race...but it is what it is...need to keep working on the swim.

T1- 1:46- third fastest overall

BIKE- I still have not put in a whole lot of threshold work on the bike so I knew it would be important not to hammer right out the gates and just try to build into 300+ watts. I started out at 270ish for the first 10-12minutes. Got time splits on Roger Thompson and saw that he was already 5-6 minutes ahead of me...sheeesh! That's annoying when you are as competitive as me. but he is one of the top amateurs in the country so what can you say?.... anyways, props to Old TIm Winenstorfer who passed me right away on the bike en-route to a 57:36 smoking hot bike split (I forgot to ask his heart rate on the bike!). At 15 minutes in I started to pick the pace up to 290watts. At that point i found myself in no mans land again as I could see NOBODY up ahead of me. These guys were really getting busy on the bike today. I was happy when Chris Ramsey flew by me because then i just kept him in my sight and it was good to have another racer to look at (since it is a race) instead of just being in TT mode by myself like its a hard training effort. After the second turn around at the airport, i started pushing the pace into the low 300watt range. I really pushed hard the last 2 miles of the bike. Maybe i should have pushed harder earlier so I could spin a little easier before getting off the bike...because...as soon as i got of the bike i felt cramping coming on...uh oh...however i did PR with a 59:08. Only 13th fastest bike of the day though...I told you these guys were getting busy!

T2- It was great coming off the bike to hear all my friends and family. Mom, Meena, Aunt Mary, Sal & Aaron, Paul and lots of other voices i heard encouraging me. t2 time 1:18...only 6th fastest or so. I was cramping up in the hammys as i put on my shoes.

RUN- I transitioned way faster than Chris Ramsey as I was right on his heels coming out of transition. I noticed he was not in the elite wave so he was actually 1 minute ahead of me since his race started 1 minute after i started in the water. He made a comment about all the people cheering me on, which really made me appreciate everyone. As we started to leave the park I could tell he was feeling good and I was starting to get really tight in the abdomen. so tight to where i could not inhale but short shallow breaths. I passed Old Tim (who was looking pretty strong actually) and tried to get into a rythm and force some deep breaths but it was not happening. I had to stop to try and stretch and take some deep breaths. I thought about dropping out, but knew i couldnt and shouldn't, knowing everyone is waiting for me to finish. As Tim came running back by I started to run with him. My first 3 miles were 6:12, 6:34 (stop and stretch), and 6:57 as i ran with Tim (his heart rate was 160). The cool part about this race is you get to see the leaders on the out and back and get time splits. Then as you hit the turn around you can see about 3/4 of a mile in front of you. So you can really eye down your vicitims if you plan on going hunting. Well I felt like going hunting and decided to give it a GO. The 6:57 third mile when i was running and relaxed and conversational with Tim really helped because i went 5:45 on the next mile. Then 5:51 as we hit the one tiny hill on the course, and made my move from 9th to 7th before the end of the 5th mile. I saw Warren Bloomberg up ahead (I had passed him right on the end of the bike, but he passed me when i was struggling early in the run.). He was having a good run, but i was feeling good now (I could breathe!). I caught him with about .5 mile to go. ran 5:45 for the last mile and cruised home the last .2 in 6th place overall (2nd in my age group). My final run was only 38:46 - 6:14 pace- the first 5k killed me. The second 5k i ran at a 5:47 pace which would have put me at a sub 36min 10k if i did that the whole time. Oh well.
The best part about the race for me was forgetting about my overall goal time of 2:02:00 when I hit mile 3 and just enjoying being out there competing and catching guys on the run. JUST RACING! It felt really good to pass those 3 during the last two miles.


FINAL TIME- 2:04:23 (about 2minutes faster than when i did this course last August)
I just need to figure out what i could have done wrong to get the stomach cramping. i did not drink too much caffeine, i had one bottle of watter with GU2O (100calories) a gu roctane gel and one thermolyte on the bike.
Props to all the guys that killed it out there today and everyone who PR'd.

Thanks to GU for keeping me fueled. The Wife for letting me train :-) Sal for being an assistant coach! CRST Swim team for helping me with my stroke. Thanks to Everyone who came out and watched cheered. And Pops for cheering from far away in AZ!

I also want to welcome to the Pacific NW local Tri scene
-Cameron Dorn fresh in from South Carolina (1st overall in the sprint yesterday and 3rd overall today). This guy is a Beast on the bike.
-Chris Ramsey from Boston (fastest Run split of the day and a smoking fast bike split to accomodate it, taking him to 4th overall)
Watch for these guys on any confirmation lists in the future. they are No joke and it sounds like they will be around competing for Podium spots out here for a while!!