As I sit in the Phoenix airport on a delayed flight, I find myself with time to type! And I just so happen to have an amazing race to type about!
Oregon State Capital
Short back story, last year I did 4 70.3 races that were all lake swims. Lake swims are fine, but I follow a lot of races and athletes and I became quite jealous of down river races and current assisted finishing times. I’m competitive and haven’t really set any personal records in awhile. 2 races jumped out at me. Maine and Oregon. Both are known to have fast current assisted swims. Oregon reported a 12mph current. Pro athletes were swimming 15 -16 minute swims. I’m usually a 38-40 minute swimmer in a 70.3. I haven’t raced on the west coast since Whistler, 2018. Oregon was chosen.
I signed up as soon as it opened. Made hotel reservations in Salem as soon as I could. There are a few options in Salem but not many. Then the planning began. As this is a race report, I won’t go into detail about our waterfall tour
Multnomah Falls
Horsetail Fallsor Crater Lake National Park
but they were epic experiences!
I always try to be transparent. The good and the bad. The rough part of traveling cross country for triathletes is getting all our race stuff, mainly the bike!, to the race. Tri bike transport goes out of business and I have to make new plans. I do not have the skill to break down and reassemble a Tri bike. I contacted Scott’s Cycle in Salem (which happens to be a block away from transition). Adam happened to answer the phone and was super helpful! He explained how to ship my bike to the shop, they assembled it and agreed to meet me right after the race to get the bike in the shop because we had a super early flight the next day. I also wasn’t able to pack some luxury items like recovery boots or my Hyper Volt (1st world problems!). But they would’ve been nice to have. Traveling is expensive. Bike shipping is expensive. I wanted my girls to see Oregon and share the experience with them. Costs times 4 add up…but we created such core memories! My work vacation was limited to before the race which caused the site seeing before the race, instead of after. I don’t recommend having days of 15,000-20,000 steps of hiking 2-3 days before a 70.3 mile race. But we make do. And I’m not flying all the way out here to not see amazing scenery!!
Ok, enough whining. Day before the race, I get checked in with no issues. Volunteers seem to love us from the jump. I tell them I love their state and its beauty.
Brittney, the best Sherpa ever, agreed to run the 1.5 mile distance with me from transition to swim start.
To be honest, a 12mph current made me a little nervous.
Willamette RiverOver shooting the exit creates a big problem. Swimming over the shallow area sounded bad. Doing a practice swim did 2 things, 1. showed me I could handle the current and how to “superman” over the shallow (I’m talking less than a foot deep” area. 2. Messed with my competitive brain because it took me 31 minutes and I felt super slow. I had to step back and remind myself I was basically by myself, trying to sight and worried about the exit. Race day would be much better. Brittney walked my stuff back to transition, because she’s awesome. She then got in a run on the run course in the park.
I get my bike from Scott’s, Dawn even pumped up my tires for me! Adam gives me his personal cell number for after the race. Stickers on bike and bike checked in. Lunch with my girls and the rest of the day is spent napping and staying off my feet. My shins had been hurting from a lot of walking, I was treating them as much as possible. I had also made a few friends at the hotel who agreed to let me ride with them to the race.
Race day, the best day!! 4am alarm. Met Peter, Sam and Taylor at 4:45. It was Peter’s anniversary! These guys were from Utah and had driven 11 hours to get to Salem. 5am we are parked.
One aspect of Oregon 70.3 I absolutely love is no messing around getting the race started. 6:15am start time. We are told we all walk the 1.5 mile walk up to swim start together, once you walk down the ramp, you jump in and swim! You better be ready.
The week before race day, Oregon was having temps in the 100’s. Day before the race was about 90. Heat is my krptonite in a run. The forecast called for cool weather to start and slowly warming up. A small shower was possible but most of day looked great. We could see lightning during transition prep. Announcements were made the storm was moving away from us.
Like salmon swimming upstream, we all walked together to swim start. The nervous energy filled the air. The lightning in the distance was intriguing. There was no talk of stalling or cancelling. Just let’s get it started!
Down the ramp I go, and into the drink I splash. I hit start on my watch and notice it had went back screen! I only just selected triathlon! I had to hit accept and then start, as I was in the water! Small problem fixed, now swim! Some people were swimming all the way across the river! I had heard the current was strongest in the middle. That is where I aimed for. The middle also solved the shallow area problem from the day before. All the swimmers around solved my sighting issues. Seeing the rocks on the bottom flying by showed me I was flying down the Willamette River! Watch buzzed every 500 yards letting me know where I was distance wise. At 1500 yards, I started moving closer to shore. At 2000 I thought it was time to turn…swim ended up being long. I followed the swimmers to the turn and then swam all the way to the exit. Easy peasy baby! Looked at my watch and saw 23:40! Hell yeah!! Add in the few seconds of watch fiddling and exiting the water, 24:00 official time! Fastest 70.3 swim for me! Water temp was 72, athletes always want to know water temp.
Up the steep ramp, turn right and see another favorite sight!! STRIPPERS!! Wetsuit strippers that is. I go to end of line and pick out a big guy! He has strength. Strength can remove a wetsuit quickly!! He does a great job yanking my wetsuit right off! I make my way to the bike, get shoes on, helmet on, and get out of there.
One thing I’d change was not testing out the bike after it was disassembled, shipped and reassembled. I didn’t plan for that. I had to just hope the bike would be good to go. I hopped on and started pedaling. Not pushing hard, trying to let heart rate settle. There’s a few turns and railroad tracks you gotta watch to not eject water bottles!
First 10 miles flies by.
I knew there was only 1 decent hill on the bike course. It came around mile 13.2. I knew to down shift when I saw the turn. I’ve been training on hills. My cycling is solid. This was not a tough hill. Unfortunately, my gears started grinding. What should have been easy pedaling became hard enough that I stopped, in the middle of the hill. I had not came all this way to get a mechanical issue end my day! I checked the chain, it was fine. Tires not flat. I spun the pedals and changed gears…they were fine. I took a deep breath. I knew every race threw a different problem and it’s not the problem…it’s how you respond. So I got back on my bike, tried like hell to get pedaling but going up hill with zero momentum is rough! I refused to walk up this hill. That would bruise my cycling ego. I tried again and again. I finally stomped the left pedal and leaned forward. Trusted my balance and got going. Not real happy about that as it slowed me way down, but that’s triathlon sometimes. I then worked the gears to see if I could figure out how to avoid it. Finally decided that I wouldn’t use the small easy gear up front unless I absolutely had to. Then I trusted the bike to keep moving! And moving we went! I knew I was averaging about 20mph and keeping heart rate close to zone 2/3 border. Slight headwind on way out then a 180 degree turn and tail wind coming back. Most of trip is a 2 lane road. Bike course was congested in places but kept the race fun!
Mother Nature wanted in on the fun! After my mechanical issue, I then saw a big bolt of lightning, then heard a good rumble of thunder. “The storm is moving away from us.” Made me smile. Another bolt of lightning! I’m talking impressive bolt. Then the rain fell. It wasn’t a hard rain, but my shoes and socks got soaked. I kept a good speed but was safe about it. No need to crash or slide out. Rain let up and clouds covered the sun. I hit this big field, and the sun rays were streaming down through the clouds providing a kaleidoscope of colors! It was beautiful! I again smiled and thought about how lucky I am to be cycling in Oregon and seeing God’s beauty! Just incredible! I asked the clouds to keep doing a great job hiding the sun!
After the tight U turn, I came hauling back. Wind was helping me. Bike was doing its thing. I stayed fueled. I used Base salt. Legs were good. Just keep pedaling! I am happy to report I did not see any major wrecks or injuries. I was told there was at least one “pile up” of 5-8 athletes who wrecked but I didn’t see that. When I was getting close to the hill that gave me issues before, I went full bore and used as much momentum as possible and went right up and over it with no problems. Big sigh of relief. Let’s just get to transition! 56 miles rode. Let’s go for a run!
T2 I took time to switch socks. The rain and pee had my cycling socks squishy. Dry socks to start the run just feel better. No issues racking bike. Packed my back pockets with energy chews and pickle juice…and my lidocaine stick roller. Never have carried that before! If my shins flared up, like they did in Chatty, I had a plan. Didn’t know if it would work, but was willing to try.
Leaving T2 is usually fun, because all the spectators are there and they bring energy! But you gotta temper your speed and keep heart rate in check. I smile. I wave. I ease into the run. I cross the “taco bridge”. Out to the figure 8 course I go. It’s an out, 2 loop then back run. 90% shaded. No real hills but it goes up and down in points through Minto Brown park. Gorgeous trees and well kept park. Aid station volunteers were awesome! Lots of options. Kept using my salt. Maurten gels kept me moving. Talked with a 55 year old lady from San Francisco for a mile. Then talked to a guy from southern Oregon. More I talk, less I think about legs. Then I remind myself of my question…” What if?” Taken from David Goggins. “What if “…” What if today is my day?” “What if I cramp and I just run through it?” “What if I throw caution to the wind and just go for it?” “What if…” Then the hunt continues, where is the next mile marker sign? Just find 8…found it! Now go find 9! Pickle juice shot was supposed to be at 7, I was feeling good at 7, so kept pickle juice until mile 8. I do not like pickle juice at all, but I swear it helps. I got to mile 11 before I needed a walk break. It was a short break. Shook out the legs. Broke out a Honey Stinger energy chew. Asked myself, “ what if you get your ass in gear?” I started running again. Not real fast but I wasn’t walking.
I’m just past the split where the 2nd loop starts and the way to the finish line starts. I cant remember if I caught up or if this female athlete passed me. But I heard her tell another guy she was on her 2nd loop. The guy said we only have a mile left! The lady looked at her watch and said, “I’m on mile 7.” The guy said “you missed the turn.” She seemed confused. I told her she needed to turn around and go back to the split, she had indeed missed the turn. I can attest, the turn was well marked. Maybe she was tired, or not paying attention or just missed it?? 70.3 is long enough..she added a bonus mile!
Then I saw I was catching 2 guys who were shoulder to shoulder. One wearing an AP racing kit (same as me) and another wearing a Plush kit. (Back story ; a few years ago a team called Wattie Ink broke up. The team split into Plush and what is now AP Racing). Just for small talk and giggles, I said, “I’m so happy to see Plush and AP getting along!” Both of them laughed. There really isn’t any animosity between us athletes. We talked for about half a mile. Plush kit slowed down. AP stepped it up. I tried staying with him but he was just a little faster than me at that time. The last mile or so is in full sun. No shade to be found here, but you know when you cross the “taco bridge”, you are almost home!
Taco bridge
The crowd starts to really bulk up. Then you see the red carpet with the M dot logo! I’m pumped! Waving my arms and cupping my ears to get the noise level up! Rock star treatment engaged!! Huge smile! Relief of no cramps! I did it! I came to Oregon, saw the course and the beautiful landscape, overcame a bike mechanical and persevered! Right before the actual finish line I see all 3 of my girls!
High five my kids Brittney is on this side of flag
Heidi and Sav get high fives! I tell Britt I’ll be with her in just a minute! I hear the announcement of my name! I cross that finish line all smiles! Volunteer takes my timing chip. A girl about 5 years old places my medal around my neck! I thank her and her mom for being there!
There’s a picture at the finish line.
It shows different athletes feelings and energy levels at the same place and time. There’s a man with a yellow hat bent over looking like he may fall over, exhausted. Then there’s me, flexing and smiling! We both had just beaten the course, went over 70.3 miles in water, on wheels and then on our own 2 feet.
My girls had moved down to see me past the finish line.
I did a “PR Dance” as this was my fastest 70.3 ever (thank you river current and proper mindset!) Heidi knew I was closing in on the finish line when she the guy wearing the same kit as me. But she said that guy was huffing and puffing. Then she sees me coming around the bend pumping up the crowd and goes, “there’s my Dad!” She said I have a certain energy at finish lines that now many do.
So proud of my girls and so grateful they were there to support me!
Overall, Oregon 70.3 is my new favorite 70.3 course. I loved every minute of it. Highly recommend, 10 out of 10! 5 stars!
2 days after the race, I read that one triathlete, a father and husband, did not make it out of the swim alive. This isn’t the first race someone has died attempting this sport that I’ve been in. I never heard what exactly happened, but it’s a sobering reminder that this hobby, this exercise challenge…can be dangerous. To take every day with grace and gratitude. Hug your loved ones!
I get 3 weeks until Ironman Louisville 70.3! The place I became an Ironman! Also the place of my worst bike crash! Time to be smart and Safe!
If anyone has any questions or wants recommendations for Oregon, hit me up! You won’t be disappointed!!
