Lake Stevens 70.3 Race Report

My race kit for the season.  The bright colors make it easy to be spotted among the other racers.  

Me and Kristen before the race with Lake Stevens in the background, she is the best cheerleader ever!  She battled out the cold and rain and cheered me on!  Thank you, Kristen! 

Yesterday, July 15, I raced the Lake Stevens 70.3 triathlon.  It was probably the hardest I have ever raced and I am feeling the effects today, but I am happy with how hard I pushed myself.  I finished 10th in my division, here's my race report..

The race started out in the swim (obviously).  The coolest thing about Lake Stevens is that there was a cable under the water that you could follow so you would not have to sight the floating buoys!  How cool is that!  I was pretty excited about it, so I followed the cable as if it were a swim lane and ran into the first buoy head on.  Oops! Hoping no one saw me, I learned my lesson and sighted the cable from there on out from about four feet to the side.  The swim was a wave start, so there were not hundreds of people fighting for the lead pack.  I was in wave 6 and did not see anyone in my age group the entire swim.  Turns out I finished 5th in the swim, so that would be why no one was around..  I had a good swim, finishing the 1.2 miles in 31:11.

The bike was very challenging.  There was over 3000 feet of elevation gain and over 15 sharp turns all within 56 miles.  Did I say it was a challenging course?  The weather turned nasty during the ride as well.  The outside temperature was in the 50's, it rained and was windy, which does not do me good as I get cold easily.  Needless to say, my hands turned white and numb, and my body was shivering before I was even half way though the bike.  It was so cold!  I guess there were quite a few crashes because of the slippery roads and the numerous turns, I did not see any though.  I raced on the bike by following my heart rate, so I could not go much faster than I did but still managed to average over 18 mph.  With being so cold and having to keep my heart rate down, I was pretty happy with my bike slit finishing 56 miles in 3:04:11.

The run was also hilly!  What's with this course?  It was a two loop course which was nice as it kept the racers condensed.  I saw some friends of mine racing and got passed by some pro's, which is always cool and humbling.  (How do they run so fast?!)  I of course tried to keep up with the pro's for about 3 seconds, but immediately thought better of it and ran off my heart rate again.  I was surprised at how well I did running!  I finished the half marathon in 1:50.57, giving me 10th in my division.  I am happy with that final ranking.  


The goal for this race was not to win, but rather to race to my heart rate and to use it as a strong training day. I met that goal yesterday and was happy enough with my time.  The course was much more challenging that I had realized and the weather was very cold.  


Below are my race stats for each event for those interested.  I'll explain later why my name is Sarah when I race... 

BIB:	269
Division:	F30-34
Age:	31
State:	WA
Country:	USA
Profession:	Teacher

Swim:	31:11
Bike:	3:04:11
Run:	1:50:57
Overall:	5:30:23

CONGRATULATIONS, SARAH, ON YOUR FINISH!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 5

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace
Total	1.2 mi	31:11	31:11	1:36/100m

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 8

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace
Total	56 mi	3:04:11	3:37:43	18.24 mi/h

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 10

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace
6.4 mi	6.4 mi	53:49	4:33:15	8:24/mi
13.1 mi	6.7 mi	57:08	5:30:23	8:31/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:50:57	5:30:23	8:28/mi

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	2:21
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	1:43

What kinds of races do you like to do?

Have you done a triathlon before?  Which one?