Lake Stevens Race Report

So, I said that I would give a race report about the lake stevens 70.3 on July 6th, down in washington state, and about my more recent olympic distance tri at Squamish on July 13th (this past sunday).

Lake stevens:

Day before race, Caitlin, Risha and I go for a moderate length bikeride, to the race expo and info meeting.  We see donna there, and pick up our race packets.  We then finish off, by riding to lake stevens... The ride was nice, but unfortunently along fairly busy roads. about 25 km or so, so it was nice to just get our legs spinning.  Donna did a short 30minute brick workout at the course to get her legs moving as well. Dropped off Donna's and Caitlin's bikes, and headed out for a nice big pasta dinner :)  Found out that Donna drinks beer now, and she had a pint with dinner (this made me feel quite a bit better about my own beer drinking habits ;) )

Went to sleep and woke up nice and early, in the realms of 4:15am.  Made our way to the course, and got a little psyched up, and ready to go.  The whole thing was exciting, and kinda nerve racking, since it was my first ever open water race.  but, i put my new wetsuit on (which makes me feel like a superhero), and was good to go.  The relays are the last to take off, and it was such a fun, relaxed group to be racing with.  Esp the swimmers.  I mean, really.  we have to exercise for approximently 30mintues, when everyone else around us is getting ready to spend at least 4 hours or longer doing crazy racing.  

so, the swim was warm.  almost too warm for the suit.  But, oh man, did this new suit feel amazing.  it is so sleek, and floats so nice!  i found a pair of feet to draft off of (which Donna had told me about) within the first 2 mintutes, and stuck with them for about 1500meters.  perfect.  But, once around the last turn, the guy left the cable line for the buoys (which you can follow, because of clear, shallow water), and i felt more comfortable following the line.  So, i just picked it up a bit, and went for it.  I finished in about 32 minutes, and was 4th out of the water for the relays.

I caught Caitlin a little off guard, but she was good to go!  she jumped on the bike, and i left the rest up to her and Risha.  At the end of the day, we finished off 2nd in the women's relays, 8 overall in the relays, so we were pretty excited about the whole thing.  Caitlin and Risha were amazing on the bike and run, and i would not choose any other teammates to race with!!! :) I felt great, and cannot wait to be able to do more open water swims to get myself going even faster.

here are some photos!

Getting ready on the dock.

and, off we go!!!!

VICTORY!!!! :)  done and done, my first open water race.  feeling great, and loving life.

So many beautiful bikes in the transistion area!