Monday, May 05, 2008

WWU Triathlon VI

I love doing this event. It has been a great early season test for me and I have improved my time each year. I missed 1 hour by 1 second last year and was hoping to break the elusive 1 hour mark. Another reason I really enjoy this race is all the friends I get to see before and after, a lot of Bellingham triathletes come out for this race.

I've been joining the Bellingham Masters Swim Club in the evenings and it has improved my swimming in just the 4 weeks I've been. I was really hoping to improve on my swim time.

As usual, I arrived pretty early and got a great transition spot on the end pretty close to the bike exit. Now that that was done I had the next 90 minutes to walk around, wait around, and visit. I could of gotten another 30 minutes of sleep as I was early enough that no one else showed for the next 30 minutes or so. People started arriving and I did a quick bike ride to set my bike in the correct gear and leave my shoes attached to the bike. Got my transition area all set and made my way into the pool to get a short warm up. I got about 75 yards before they had us get out for the start.

Debbie and Alex arrived about 5 minutes before my start time, so they hit it perfect and got some great shots. I waited in line for my start time and finally moved into the starting slot.





Started right on time this year, I was off and swimming. I knew Debbie and Alex were at the far end so I tried to give a good photo opportunity and I think they got a good one.



After hamming it up for the camera I tried to settle in at an easy pace and keep an even pace the whole 300 yards. I had been working on this at the masters swims and I think I hit my marks each 100 yards. I got close to the guy in front of me to finish about 10 yards and 5 seconds behind him. I ended up taking 10 seconds off my time from last year. My fastest timed 300 yet at 5:20



Up and out of the water and started the run to the bikes. I'd left some crocs and my jacket near the pool so I could run on the gravel and have my jacket on before I got on the bike. This worked great as I had my jacket on before I got to the bike, biking this early in the season with a wet tank top on doesn't work to well for me.



This is a short 9 mile loop, but they send you up and over quite a few hills just for fun. They adjusted the course slightly to actually take one hill out at the end, so it was a bit shorter than previous years, but my time was the same. 29:32 although I forgot to hit the split until my running shoes were on, so I'd say about 29:00 and put the 32 seconds on my T time.



They send you straight up the hill to the top of the ridge which is the worst of the run. I ran a bit, tried jogging slower, but eventually started to a walk. Just till the next light pole and then started back up and made it to the top and then downhill way past campus just to turn and another hill and then the long slope back up into campus. I thought I was moving along at a pretty good clip but a couple of track team members went past much faster. I was catching other runners though and just tried to keep on moving forward. Up through campus and on a trail out the other side just to turn around again and back towards transition. Last year we finished right next to transition. This year they added about 400 yards as we ran past transition and onto the track for 3/4 around to the finish. My 26:32 was about 3:43 slower than last year, but adding the 400 yards should not of taken that long, so I was a bit slower, oh well, I had fun! but happy to be done too.



1:03:01 total time (last year 1:00:01)

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