July was a great month because after a few years off from triathlons I completed two races! I did the Olympic distance in Flagstaff and then a few weeks later I completed the inaugural 70.3 in Salem Oregon. The Olympic went really well and I improved my time over previous years by several minutes. I won the over masters category (over 40) and I was 5th overall. I was really happy with my performance and that race has always a good race to do as a tune up for my “A” races. I choose Salem another tune up race to do before my full Ironman in October. I had a client that was doing it as well and visiting Oregon for the first time was a bonus. It was a fast course with a relatively flat ride and a fast river swim!
We decided to swim the course the day before the race. It is with the current so we would’t be working too hard the day before the race and we could get a feel for the water temperature, current, and sighting when swimming into the sun. I was really glad we did this because we both ended up buying new goggles so we could see better. I didn’t want tinted goggles but clear wouldn’t be great either. I ended up getting the same style I always use but they had a blue tint. These worked perfectly swimming into the sun. When we swam the course the day before we ended up swimming right into the really shallow area we had heard about. The next day I made it a point to avoid this area. I usually pride myself on how well I sight in races. I usually swim really straight and rarely swim extra by veering off course. My swim was fast!!! I finished the course in 24 minutes however I swam close to 2600 yards! I made it a point to swim far across the river to avoid the rocks then that must have been further than I needed to go however I think the route I took had a faster current so I wasn’t too upset. I checked with a few other people and several did exactly what I did and they had really fast times. A few that didn’t swim quite as far across the river swam a shorter distance but were slower.
I got on the bike and felt really strong riding the first half. Like many flat courses there was a lot of bike traffic for the first 20 miles and made it hard to not draft. At some points I felt I could have gone faster but didn’t want to pass several people and not be able to hold my pace. I averaged 21mph for the first half and I was so excited about my speed but knew it could change if we had wind on the way back. We did have some wind coming back which cut my average to 20mph by the end of the bike.
Even though I love to run and its my favorite of the three sports its not my strongest. I have to power through the swim and bike and hang on for the run. Coming off an injury I have only been running 3 days a week so my goal was to just run the whole thing and not walk. I didn't walk and finished the run exactly where I thought I would in 2hr and 10 minutes. The run course was great with a little bit of shade and several miles of gravel instead of asphalt.
I ended up finishing in 5:33 and was 11th in my age group. It’s not my fasted course but I felt really great about my overall performance. I would highly recommend this race! It was such a great experience and fun place to race.
Happy Racing!
Coach Cyndee
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