Apple Capital Triathlon

This morning was my 3rd olympic triathlon of the season. Good thing it started at 9:00 because I overslept until 7:30, rushed around to get ready, checked out of the hotel and drove to the event site arriving at 8:50. I barely had time to pick up my registration info and set my transition zone before I was in the water swimming!

The tri started in three waves: all women and relay teams, men 34 and under, men 35 and over. Since I was in the last wave it gave me a few extra minutes to prepare, but it also meant I was one of the last people out of the water - I am a slow swimmer. I had a great swim and came out at 0:29:46! In fact, the swim was so good for me I suspect the course was a bit short. :)

The tri was held at Daroga State Park, which is on the shores of the Columbia River, a bit north of Wenatchee in central Washington. It is hilly as you can see from the picture below, and that meant the first thing on the bike course was a climb out of the park to the highway, a climb that continued alongside the road for a few miles. The bike course was a simple out-and-back along a highway, which was uneventful other than the headwind and heat. Bike time was 1:23:27, a great ride for me considering the hills.

The run course was a double loop, which was totally devoid of mile markers. I only knew I went through 5K when I passed the starting area. As an extra challenge, the run course climbed the same hill out of the park to the highway. At this time, it was at least 90 degrees, and I was thinking that this event really needs to start earlier - but in that case I would have missed it. Anyway, I play a game with myself at olympic distance tris, where I check the time when I have 5K to go - to see if it is feasible for me to break three hours. Today I was under 2:30 when I went through 5K, so I knew I could do it, with some effort. So I dug in and ran as fast as my various side stiches and minor cramps would allow, and did the 10K run in 0:58:49, good enough for a 2:56:40 overall time!

So, a great day for me - only the second time I've broken three hours at an olympic distance tri, and this was far more challenging then the other one I broke three hours at.

I liked this tri - it had a small, local feel to it. But I'm not sure I'd do it again because of the heat. It was over 90 degrees for most of the bike and run, and the announcer kept mentioning that we lucked out as far as weather - normally it is even warmer! Well, that doesn't sound like much fun so next year I'll likely do the Beaver Lake tri again.

Daroga State Park

This is the view of the Daroga State Park area, the event site. In view is the swim area on the Columbia River - if you look closely you can an orange buoy that marks the swim course.

After the race

Here I am posing wearing my snazzy SeaTri bike jersey.

Heart rate and Elevation profile


Check out the bike course elevation - the leftmost two large bumps in the graph. The run was also a bit hilly as well. My heart rate crept up the entire run, to nearly 90% (185-190 beats per minute for me). So I was working hard. ;)