The Polson Olympic Triathlon was held in Polson, Montana on August 17. Being an Olympic distance, it was a 1500m swim, 24.9 mi bike, and 6.2 mi run. I was training pretty hard leading up to this race and had some pretty attainable goals of a 2:30 in mind. Well on August 3rd I got talked into running the Elkhorn HURL which trashed my legs and then on August 14th I went mountain biking with Chad and Eric and crashed pretty spectacularly which bruised my left shoulder and left thigh. Having only three days between the bike crash and the race I chose to use ice, ibuprofen, and rest and not try swimming before the race. I wasn't even sure I could swim but I figured it was worth a try. Lindsay, Miles, and I loaded up the camper and headed to Polson on Friday. We got checked in for the race and then had a light dinner while we tried to stay out of the heat.
About three weeks prior to the Polson Triathlon I had mentioned it to my parents and told them they were welcome to come over and watch if they wanted to. When we saw them at the baptism the week before they didn't say anything about it and so we figured they weren't coming. Well about 9pm we got a call from my parents, and surprise, they were in Polson. Well we were already trying to put Miles to bed so I told them we wouldn't join them for dinner but if they wanted to quickly stop by they could. They made a brief visit to our campsite before gong to dinner and I gave them a brief run down of the triathlon schedule. After they left, we proceeded to prepare for bed and try to get Miles to sleep. Looking back on that evening, Lindsay and I can joke about it now, but it was a rough night. Miles didn't really sleep at all, or when he did, we couldn't. Polson was having a blues festival that weekend and late that night some of the blues attendees came back to camp. In their defense, they were actually pretty quiet, but it didn't seem like it to us when we had just gotten Miles to fall asleep. Somewhere through the night I figured I pieced together around three hours of sleep. Between lack of sleep, a sore shoulder, and my parents showing up somewhat unannounced, I was pretty grumpy the next morning. I was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole Triathlon and Ironman stuff.
I proceeded down to transition and setup my gear, changed into my wetsuit and mentally prepared for failure in case my shoulder was too sore to swim. I took a long time to stretch and warm my shoulder before heading to the lake. I then headed over to the lake to get in and found some stairs leading into the water near the swim area. Not thinking, I blindly started walking down stairs and bam, my feet went out from underneath me and I landed on my left arm. Ouch! I quickly turned to warn the next guy but he already was checking to see if I was okay. Surprisingly my shoulder didn't feel too bad. I swam around a few minutes and then found where I wanted to start and clung to the buoy rope to await the start. Eventually the race was started and we were off. This was my first open water triathlon and I had quite a few nerves going but it wasn't bad at all. Between having a relatively small field of participants and a wide starting area I don't think I had more than one or two bumps with someone else. The swim consisted of two laps and I swam very conservatively due to concerns about my shoulder and also not having swam that distance in a triathlon before. I think I was breathing every fourth stroke for almost the entire swim. At the end of the swim I felt really good but when I stood up I got really dizzy. I have heard this is common, so I focused on a light jog to the transition area while I stripped my wetsuit.
My transition to biking was pretty quick. I was able to quickly strip the wetsuit, get my biking shoes on and get out of the transition area. Coming immediately out of transition is a very short but somewhat steep hill, which I hadn't planned for and was geared all wrong. Hoping to get a quick shift in before the climb, I darn near stalled out, but managed to get going. The great thing about being a slow swimmer and a fair biker is that you get to pass a lot of people on the bike course. I was somewhat expecting this but I didn't pass anyone the first couple of miles. I was beginning to worry that my swim was WAYYYY slower than I expected. I was hoping to hit the swim at 30 mins which I later found out I did in 32:18. After about 1.5 miles the bike climbs up the hill out of Polson. It's not a tough climb, but it's easy to go too hard on. I focused on spinning up the hill but had to keep pulling myself back. Once at the top I started catching people. We were riding a counterclockwise loop through the valley on secondary highways that had several small rollers which were a lot of fun. Throughout the entire ride I kept chasing people down and passing them one by one. Around mile 20 I was passed by two riders but I kept them a short distance in front of me after that. The last two miles into town is a fast downhill followed by several turns in residential areas. I came into transition feeling a little tired but overall pretty good.
My bike to run transition was really slow. I had ridden without socks and planned to put them on in transition. The problem was, my feet were still pretty damp and I was really clumsy. I finally decided to run without socks because I was feeling pressured by watching all these people I worked so hard to pass on the bike run through the transition way quicker. Out of the transition area you run about 100 yards and then up a flight of stairs. I focused on staying light and easy on my feet and not to push it that first mile. When my watch beeped one mile I took a look and was shocked. I thought I was running around 8:45 but I had just clocked an 8:06. I was feeling good! The run course makes a lap through the residential areas of Polson and trends uphill for the first 4 miles and then downhill for the last two. In reality it was one block of flat running, following by one block of uphill running as we stair-stepped through town. The second mile I focused on maintaining my pace and getting some gel and water down and I ran around an 8:15. After that, the wheels started coming off. I was getting really warm and feeling dehydrated. I drank two bottles of water on the bike but I am a heavy sweater, so it wasn't enough. Fortunately they had aide stations every mile so I was able to keep taking water and pour some over my head. The other issue was that I wasn't wearing any socks. I had gotten away with this on a three mile run at the Queen City Triathlon, but by mile three of this one I was getting a lot of blisters. Somewhere around miles three and four were two pretty steep uphill climbs. They only lasted for a block, or long block, but with being too hot and getting blisters, they killed my morale and pace. I was reduced to 9 minutes per mile or slower. Around mile five the course takes a lap through the softball fields across the grass and this killed my feet. At this point I was in total survival mode and was just trying to get through the last mile or so. Fortunately the last mile was in some residential areas that had big shad trees, a little relief!
The last 1/4 mile or so of the run portion takes you through three short blocks to the finish line and I was planning to just jog it out but some guy was grunting and working hard to catch me. He was a ways back so I figured I would just pick up my pace a little and beat him to the line. I picked it up a little, and realized this guy is really moving, I should let him go, but suddenly my competitive juices kicked in and I started sprinting. He passed me in the last five yards and finished a half a stride in front of me but the official results had us at the same time. The results actually placed me higher than him. Yay!
Immediately following the run I started feeling a little nauseous and woozy. I quickly grabbed some fluids and found some shade to recover. I spent about 30 minutes at the finish line taking food and liquids and trying to feel better. Whether it was lack of sleep, dehydration, heat, or what I am not sure, but I hope this isn't a recurring issue. After I "recovered" my parents, who met me at the finish line, went and found Lindsay and Miles. They were playing in the shade in the park and was a wonderful sight to see. We hung out on the lawn and watched most of the awards ceremony. Lin was feeling pretty tired so I took Miles and she headed back to the camper to leave. My parents also wanted to hit the road, so Miles and I hung out through the swag give away. Miles actually fell asleep on my tummy and we cuddled on the lawn for about an hour. What a way to recover!
Later that afternoon, Lindsay's friend Kelsey joined us at the park and we grabbed some Mexican food for dinner and then took in part of the Blues festival. I danced Miles to sleep and then we headed back to the camper for a well-deserved good night of sleep!
About three weeks prior to the Polson Triathlon I had mentioned it to my parents and told them they were welcome to come over and watch if they wanted to. When we saw them at the baptism the week before they didn't say anything about it and so we figured they weren't coming. Well about 9pm we got a call from my parents, and surprise, they were in Polson. Well we were already trying to put Miles to bed so I told them we wouldn't join them for dinner but if they wanted to quickly stop by they could. They made a brief visit to our campsite before gong to dinner and I gave them a brief run down of the triathlon schedule. After they left, we proceeded to prepare for bed and try to get Miles to sleep. Looking back on that evening, Lindsay and I can joke about it now, but it was a rough night. Miles didn't really sleep at all, or when he did, we couldn't. Polson was having a blues festival that weekend and late that night some of the blues attendees came back to camp. In their defense, they were actually pretty quiet, but it didn't seem like it to us when we had just gotten Miles to fall asleep. Somewhere through the night I figured I pieced together around three hours of sleep. Between lack of sleep, a sore shoulder, and my parents showing up somewhat unannounced, I was pretty grumpy the next morning. I was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole Triathlon and Ironman stuff.
I proceeded down to transition and setup my gear, changed into my wetsuit and mentally prepared for failure in case my shoulder was too sore to swim. I took a long time to stretch and warm my shoulder before heading to the lake. I then headed over to the lake to get in and found some stairs leading into the water near the swim area. Not thinking, I blindly started walking down stairs and bam, my feet went out from underneath me and I landed on my left arm. Ouch! I quickly turned to warn the next guy but he already was checking to see if I was okay. Surprisingly my shoulder didn't feel too bad. I swam around a few minutes and then found where I wanted to start and clung to the buoy rope to await the start. Eventually the race was started and we were off. This was my first open water triathlon and I had quite a few nerves going but it wasn't bad at all. Between having a relatively small field of participants and a wide starting area I don't think I had more than one or two bumps with someone else. The swim consisted of two laps and I swam very conservatively due to concerns about my shoulder and also not having swam that distance in a triathlon before. I think I was breathing every fourth stroke for almost the entire swim. At the end of the swim I felt really good but when I stood up I got really dizzy. I have heard this is common, so I focused on a light jog to the transition area while I stripped my wetsuit.
My transition to biking was pretty quick. I was able to quickly strip the wetsuit, get my biking shoes on and get out of the transition area. Coming immediately out of transition is a very short but somewhat steep hill, which I hadn't planned for and was geared all wrong. Hoping to get a quick shift in before the climb, I darn near stalled out, but managed to get going. The great thing about being a slow swimmer and a fair biker is that you get to pass a lot of people on the bike course. I was somewhat expecting this but I didn't pass anyone the first couple of miles. I was beginning to worry that my swim was WAYYYY slower than I expected. I was hoping to hit the swim at 30 mins which I later found out I did in 32:18. After about 1.5 miles the bike climbs up the hill out of Polson. It's not a tough climb, but it's easy to go too hard on. I focused on spinning up the hill but had to keep pulling myself back. Once at the top I started catching people. We were riding a counterclockwise loop through the valley on secondary highways that had several small rollers which were a lot of fun. Throughout the entire ride I kept chasing people down and passing them one by one. Around mile 20 I was passed by two riders but I kept them a short distance in front of me after that. The last two miles into town is a fast downhill followed by several turns in residential areas. I came into transition feeling a little tired but overall pretty good.
My bike to run transition was really slow. I had ridden without socks and planned to put them on in transition. The problem was, my feet were still pretty damp and I was really clumsy. I finally decided to run without socks because I was feeling pressured by watching all these people I worked so hard to pass on the bike run through the transition way quicker. Out of the transition area you run about 100 yards and then up a flight of stairs. I focused on staying light and easy on my feet and not to push it that first mile. When my watch beeped one mile I took a look and was shocked. I thought I was running around 8:45 but I had just clocked an 8:06. I was feeling good! The run course makes a lap through the residential areas of Polson and trends uphill for the first 4 miles and then downhill for the last two. In reality it was one block of flat running, following by one block of uphill running as we stair-stepped through town. The second mile I focused on maintaining my pace and getting some gel and water down and I ran around an 8:15. After that, the wheels started coming off. I was getting really warm and feeling dehydrated. I drank two bottles of water on the bike but I am a heavy sweater, so it wasn't enough. Fortunately they had aide stations every mile so I was able to keep taking water and pour some over my head. The other issue was that I wasn't wearing any socks. I had gotten away with this on a three mile run at the Queen City Triathlon, but by mile three of this one I was getting a lot of blisters. Somewhere around miles three and four were two pretty steep uphill climbs. They only lasted for a block, or long block, but with being too hot and getting blisters, they killed my morale and pace. I was reduced to 9 minutes per mile or slower. Around mile five the course takes a lap through the softball fields across the grass and this killed my feet. At this point I was in total survival mode and was just trying to get through the last mile or so. Fortunately the last mile was in some residential areas that had big shad trees, a little relief!
The last 1/4 mile or so of the run portion takes you through three short blocks to the finish line and I was planning to just jog it out but some guy was grunting and working hard to catch me. He was a ways back so I figured I would just pick up my pace a little and beat him to the line. I picked it up a little, and realized this guy is really moving, I should let him go, but suddenly my competitive juices kicked in and I started sprinting. He passed me in the last five yards and finished a half a stride in front of me but the official results had us at the same time. The results actually placed me higher than him. Yay!
Immediately following the run I started feeling a little nauseous and woozy. I quickly grabbed some fluids and found some shade to recover. I spent about 30 minutes at the finish line taking food and liquids and trying to feel better. Whether it was lack of sleep, dehydration, heat, or what I am not sure, but I hope this isn't a recurring issue. After I "recovered" my parents, who met me at the finish line, went and found Lindsay and Miles. They were playing in the shade in the park and was a wonderful sight to see. We hung out on the lawn and watched most of the awards ceremony. Lin was feeling pretty tired so I took Miles and she headed back to the camper to leave. My parents also wanted to hit the road, so Miles and I hung out through the swag give away. Miles actually fell asleep on my tummy and we cuddled on the lawn for about an hour. What a way to recover!
Later that afternoon, Lindsay's friend Kelsey joined us at the park and we grabbed some Mexican food for dinner and then took in part of the Blues festival. I danced Miles to sleep and then we headed back to the camper for a well-deserved good night of sleep!