Race Report: Apple Capital Triathlon (8/23/2009)

Tri Wenatchee (event organizer) logo

After a night of interrupted sleep I found myself walking my bike out to the car for a quick drive north from Wenatchee along the Columbia River to Daroga State Park. The Park, lining an inlet and framed by the rocky cliffside of the gorge, is to me the perfect site for what has come to be one of my favorite races.

I ate my peanut butter and blackberry jam (never jelly) as I made the scenic drive between lush orchards and the wide river. Making the left turn into the park, I drove down the long downhill (which is tragically featured twice as an uphill on the run course) to park right next to transition.

Surprised at the chill in the air, I walked over and performed the usual sign-in ritual. Despite the early time, each volunteer was cheerful as I got my packet, some energy gels, an well-designed, high-quality performance t-shirt, and then left to set up transition.

Even though I arrived early, all but one of the 'end-of-rack' positions were taken in transition. I took the remaining spot, which was closest to the swim entrance. I prefer being closer to the bike entrance/exit as then you have to run with your bike for a shorter distance (every second counts).

The very first bike that I did see in Transition was an orange Trek Equinox TTX. The sight has sent a chill down the spine of any Washington triathlete, as it's a sure sign that Team TIMEX member Roger Thompson is in the general vicinity. I had the good fortune to catch Roger before the race and we had a nice conversation. He's a great guy and a excellent diplomat for the sport and his sponsors.

Having accepted that today's festivities were now a race for second, I set up my transition area and began my warm-up. I really enjoy warming up on the bike trainer, believing it to be a great way to spin up the legs, do a final check to ensure my bike's running smoothly, and demonstrate an heir of cycling authority (those needn't be backed up by performance by the way...)

We were soon called over to the swim start and I was ready to go. The surprisingly cold waters of the flowing  river will assuredly wake you up if you're still sleepy, and after a short swim I did some stretches and waved my arms about to keep them warm.

There was the final countdown, a hard push against the soft mud of the bottom (I started about belly-button deep in the water) and we were off. One of the very few imperfections in this race lies in the presence of millfoil, an underwater weed of sorts that grows towards the surface. The directors contract the county to clear a 6-foot swathe through the plant, however, so you can keep out of it and stay on course.

This year's swim was two laps of the triangular course. I took it out fast and settled into a sustainable pace as I watched my placing in the field. I was pleased that my sighting went flawlessly, except on the section of the triangle that comes back into the beach, as that was directly into the sun and, lacking vision, I had to essentially sight by feel.

In the past month since Chelanman, where I averaged 1:30/100 yrds for the swim, I did my best to try and achieve the swim fitness that would result in a pace of 1:25/100 yrds. I was proud to emerge from the water in 25:35. Why proud, you ask? Well the swim was approx. 100 - 200 yrds long due to buoy drift, making my  adjusted time right at target pace.

I came in to the beach and stood up right as the ground came in reach. I saw my wife and mom cheering and snapping photos to my right as I made the short sprint to transition.

Given the fairly long uphill that leads out of transition to the highway upon which the bike course treks out and back, I decided to put my shoes on in transition rather than on the bike. I didn't want to climb for a kilometer on the shoes or struggle with putting them on while riding uphill, but it hindered my T1 time to 57 seconds.

From this cropped picture of me in transition, you can note three things:

1) I'm racing on my road bike. It's always best to use the bike you've been training on and I hadn't had time to put miles on the tri bike. I certainly sacrificed some time in aerodynamics, but it was the best choice.

2) I'm using an aerobar mounted water bottle.

3) My bike pump (with adapter for the rear wheelcover) and spare tube are taped to the back of my saddle, aerodynamically tucked behind the seatpost. If you have the cash, I recommend purchasing an aerobottle to use as your flat kit carrier, but at least this way my emergency supplies presented no frontal profile. I already had a mess of cables, a drop bar, and a fairly upright position combating the benefit of the rear disk.

The bike course is surprisingly hilly, with some incline and decline for the first six miles leading to an equivalent distance of flat out and back. You can really hammer along the wide shoulder, but do your best to keep your eyes on the road and off of the gorgeous vistas of desert cliffs framed by the orchard-lined river.

I did my best to maintain an optimal cadence and level of exertion. I had an aerobar mounted bottle with Nuun and downtube mounted bottle with Gu2O. In addition, I took a gel 15 minutes in and with 15 minutes remaining. Taking my race hydration and nutrition more seriously greatly enhanced how I felt during the race and how I performed. This system worked great, but I'm excited to perfect it in future races.

Coming out of the water in about 5th, I lost my position in the field by several paces on the bike, but I was confident that I would take them back in the run.

The long downhill into transition gave me free speed to get out of the shoes and prepare for a speedy transition. Here I'm about to make the final turn to the dismount line and onto the grass before a very short run to the transition zone.

                          The short run to the transition zone.

Despite taking the time to put on socks ( more than 7 blisters helped me learn my lesson at Chelanman), I had a quick 35sec T2 and can be seen here just a few strides into the run.

 The two laps of the 5km circuit around Daroga State Park is scenic but punishing. After a short loop of with a quick ascent and decline, you're lead to the long climb out of the park to an equally long descent along the highway. Coming off the descent you snake your way through the beautful park and run past transition for your final lap. In the above pic, if I am actually smiling and not grimacing, it's despite the pain of the uphill.

In training I had prepared to hit the final half-mile hard and did just that in the race, digging deep to make a final surge to the finish. I put in a hard final sprint to make to to the line.

                     The final sprint to the finish

Having just finished, you can see me standing there feeling pain as my timing chip is removed.

I would finish 8th overall and 1st in my age group in a time of 2:21:58 (25:35/1:10:24/44:25). I received an excellent Apple Capital Triathlon wine glass for my efforts but didn't take home any of the free swag from the best post-race raffle I've ever seen (Zoot shoes, a wetsuit, bike trainer, apparel, etc...). I can't speak highly enough of this race and would of course recommend it to any triathlete looking for a challenging but fast Olympic distance race in a beautiful desert setting. I'd like to thank my wonderful mother for her support and my incredible wife for her love and support.

I'm pleased to have taken 7minutes off of my Chelanman time and look forward to breaking 2:10 next season and hopefully 2:00 the season after. Any improvements found next summer will be made over the base miles during the winter ahead, so it's time to stop typing and hop on the trainer.

                   Icing down in a cold river following the race