Stumptown Triathlon Race Report

Running back in for T2 after bike course

I completed my final triathlon for this season September 4, the Stumptown Triathlon, at Blue Lake in Fairview, Oregon. This was the exact same course as the second tri I did, Blue Lake Triathlon, so it was a great way to finish and compare. I PR'd this course and placed second in my division.

Stumptown Triathlon, September 4, 2011, Blue Lake Park, Fairview, Oregon - 1:35:12 (-00:03:31)
It's a good thing I wasn't graded on use of technology, though, because I failed miserably in that! There is NO Garmin data for this tri because, 1. I didn't start "multi-sport" correctly at the beginning, so the Garmin didn't start recording, 2. Running to T1 is a poor time to try to troubleshoot why a Garmin isn't recording, and 3. The Garmin Quick-Release Mount is a poor handle for running into T2....the Garmin WILL fall off the bike without you realizing! DOH! Fortunately, I can do a triathlon without a Garmin! Lessons learned!

My comparison times are from Blue Lake Triathlon in June, as it is the same exact course.

The Swim - 0.5 miles, 00:19:34 (-00:01:16)

The swim went fine, but I didn't feel as efficient as I did during the Portland Triathlon two weeks prior. I seemed to be in the thick of swimmers all the way to the first turn buoy and there were a lot of folks doing backstroke from the start, so it was very congested. After I made the turn, the sun was glaring on the water, making it impossible to see the next buoy. I did notice that the rest of the swimmers were about 75 yards south of me, nearly at the buoys marking the Olympic distance swim. I stayed my course, as this was my third sprint swim here and I knew where the buoy should be. After a few minutes I spotted the buoy, was on course, and was able to sight my course off of distant treeline. The sun glare recurred with the next buoy, but again was able to spot it and re-sight in a few minutes.

I swam sleeveless again this swim, like I did in the Willamette. For some reason, though, I felt as I was being pushed with a current from my left. I don't think there should be a current in Fairview Lake! I don't really know what was going on with my swim. Knew my time was off. I was 0:01:57 slower on this swim from my Portland Triathlon swim.

T1 - 00:03:49 (-00:00:10)
While running up toward transition, I saw that my Garmin was not recording and still on the "Select Multi-Sport" screen. I futzed around with it, hitting "start", "lap", trying to get it to start and then gave up until I got on the bike. On the bike I realized I didn't hit "enter" to select multi-sport and got the Garmin recording for the bike course.

Bike - 12 miles, 00:39:45 (-00:03:22)
The bike portion felt great! In fact, my average speed was 18.2 mph, which is the fastest I've done on flat during a triathlon yet. We'd had a strong east wind the day before, so I was expecting wind at my back on the way out, but turns out there was a slight west breeze, so the last half was faster than the first.

T2 - 00:02:08 (-0:00:34) 

Note hand location

As I mentioned, after dismounting the bike, I ran back into transition holding my front stem. I've never done that before, I usually grab the saddle and steer in that way, I don't know why I did that. I remember my hand on my Garmin and waving to my friend, Cindi, but when I got to transition my Garmin was gone. I don't remember anything from this transition, seriously, gone! On the drive home, I looked at my running shoes on my feet and thought, "I don't remember putting my running shoes on!" I was so distracted by losing my Garmin that I went though T2 on autopilot.  

Coming out of T2 I saw Cindi and asked her to look for my Garmin in the corridor from bike to transition. Nothing more I could do at that point.


Run - 3.1 miles (5K) 00:29:55 (-00:00:34) 
The was my best sprint tri run of all my triathlons this season. Maybe it was not having my Garmin? I ended up with a 9:38 min/mile pace, only walked a couple steps during the two water stations, ran every bit. I didn't feel fast, but I felt consistent.

Medal Ceremony with First Place finisher

So, I think a pretty great finish to my first triathlon season! It has been a blast, so much fun, such a great experience, better than I even imagined. Lots of lessons learned, especially on this race!

And a super special thank you to my friend, Cindi Morrow, my running inspiration, for coming out to cheer me on and taking photos. And, ESPECIALLY, for finding my Garmin, needle in the haystack...YOU ROCK! Cindi, I'm bringing you over to the dark side of triathlon...you know you want to! :o)