Blue Lake Triathlon - June 10th

I completed my 5th Triathlon today! :o)

I left home about 6:35 thinking that would give me plenty of time to drive 15 miles to Blue Lake Park and get my packet and be in the transition area by 7:45. Driving there was no problem. It was just waiting in the line with 150+ cars to get into Blue Lake Park that took a long time...

I was watching other people that had carpooled, or a family member had driven them there, they were hopping out of their cars and jogging into the park, or hopping onto their bikes and riding into the park... I couldn't find the auto-pilot on my car, so I had to wait through the line.

Once I got in, and parked, I was thankful that I had all my gear ready to be able to hop out of the car with a bag on one shoulder, unload the bike & go...

Found where to pick up my packet, got it, my t-shirt & my goodie bag and headed to the transition area. Stopped to get my lovely body marking... Race number on one calf & age on the other... (Where else do you get to display your age to everyone? LOL) Into the transition area (a big corral of bike racks with numbers on the end of them). Found the rack with my race number and started to get everything set up...

Chatted with people around me, all of the people that entered the event in the "Tri-it/Novice" division were all grouped together, so it was fun to talk about our experiences, or lack thereof. I wandered around a bit. Looking at the water, people watching and just passing time.

Around 8am when the first waves of people were starting in the water, I made a few phone calls - the dr's office, the babysitter, and Mike. Ahh what did I do before having a cell phone?

I finally figured it was time to get the wetsuit on. Went on easily, with the exception of the cuffs on the arms... They are TIGHT... I pulled at them trying to stretch them out a bit, no go. Finally figured out I could fold them up once and it made it more comfortable. Did one more check of the gear, making sure I had the stuff out for the transition from Swim to Bike.

I headed down to the waterfront & watched the people out doing the full 1/2 mile swim and the people getting ready to start. There were 9 waves of people starting 2-5 minutes apart. I was in the last wave... It was finally time to get into the water... Brr... I slowly advanced into the water, the wetsuit sure made a difference... I wasn't really cold until I had to get my arms wet in the water...

We were off... Like a herd of puppies dog-paddling... Just kidding... I tried doing the breast-stroke for a bit, but one big gulp of water killed that idea... It was onto my back I went... (What I have done previously in these open water swims) The wet suit was great! It kept my core warm & helped with buoyancy... Swim, swim, swim, that's what I did... I would peek every little bit to make sure I was on track for going the right direction. Yep on course, and making way, slowly but surely...

By the time I was heading into the shore I was so ready to be able to stand up and walk. I tried a few times, but was still too deep... But when I could stand up I was so happy... Finished with the most difficult part of the triathlon (for me).

I trudged my way out of the water - feeling the full effect of the change in the feeling of your body when you go from water (feeling like you weigh less) to air again... I had the people on the shore laughing when I got to the hill I had to climb up to get to the transition area "Who put this hill here??"

Once I was up the hill I started stripping off my wetsuit. Felt like I was in handcuffs for a minute or two while I worked to get my arms free from the suit. I had it peeled off down to my waste by the time I got to my bike. Easy to find since I was one of the last people out of the water & most everyone else had already left on their bikes.

Got the suit off the rest of the way, dried off a bit & got socks and shoes on. Added a long sleeve biking jersey over the top of my sport tank. Put my helmet on and started to push my bike out of the area, to the mounting area. Onto the bike & off again to the easiest part of the triathlon for me. The biking is where I am able to make up time. I enjoyed myself on this out and back course. As always it is fun on an out and back course where you get to look at people coming back at you. Also it was very scenic along the Columbia river, with the river to one side of me & the road and industrial areas along Marine Drive on the other side.

I peddled along really well maintaining an average speed of 16 MPH... I was going as fast as 19 MPH for awhile on the way back... It was lots of fun. And as I said before, a way to make up time... I may have been one of the last ones out of the water, but in the biking I was definitely not the last... :o)

Came back in from the biking, always fun to stop the bike at the dismount area & remind my legs of what they need to do again to walk... Made my way back to my stuff to change my shoes and get a quick snack. Off again walking this time. Got into a rhythm quickly and just walked, walked, walked...

Went pretty quickly considering that I was walking and out there a bit longer than most were since I only saw a few other people walking the 5K portion. Got up to the turn around and grabbed some water to drink, always fun to "chug" water quickly so you don't have to worry about a place to get rid of the cup later... (no littering...)

Headed back in and going as fast as my body would let me (not as fast as if I had just been walking). Finished up the walk in just over 41 minutes. And finished the whole thing in less than 2 hours!

This was a lot of fun. Have to wait for my medal to be mailed to me since they ran out, but that's ok... :o)

Here are the details of each section of the triathlon...
Swim - 1/4 mile - 16:05
Transition 1 - 5:34
Bike 12 miles - 45:24
Transition 2 - 3:26
5k Walk - 41:25
Total time: 1:51:54