Airman Bergquist's First Triathlon

That’s right; I’m an Airman First Class in the Air National Guard. The first weekend of August will be my first Drill but I won’t be leaving for Basic Training in San Antonio until January… so I’ve got to get all the racing in for the rest of the season that I can before I start my 5 month process of getting out of shape.

Michael hinted that he was interested in the Tiger Triathlon a few weeks ago and I decided that I should be okay by now to race again after Ironman. My training has been meager and easy since and I know it’s time to get back up to speed for the rest of the season so this race would be a good start.

Because of Michael’s work schedule we couldn’t camp the night before so I got up at 3:30 (to my surprise, Michael got off early and was home already), I strapped on the red, white, and blue suit that Michael brought back for me from Estonia, we packed up and I pretty much gunned it to Colville. Getting through Spokane turns out to be a lot faster at 4 in the morning when all the lights are flashing and there’s no one on the roads so we made pretty darn good time and got to the race start a little after 6 am! Michael has had a BAD habit this year (love ‘ya though, hubby!) of showing up to races just in the nick of time and I’m just not wired that way! To me, if we are on time that means that we are at least half an hour late and I absolutely hate being late… Michael has to deal with my nervousness, tapping, and grumpiness when we are late to races (or anything for that matter) so I know that when he’s with me he truly tries to rush.

Once everything was in place for the race start and I was getting warmed up for the swim I started feeling the excitement of racing. At Ironman is was a lot more nerves than excitement so it felt good to get revved up like that. My arms were feeling good, this was a very good sign for me since most of my swims have been more of a struggle to get it started and done than to have a good workout. Cherese has been working really hard for us at the Master’s team and she was there watching so I wanted to show her that I was capable of a decent open water swim.

I started out faster than I normally do with more kicking, and I was soon in the front group. By the first buoy it was a woman (turned out to be a 13 year old from the SAS swim team), a lean and burly looking team guy wearing a full length Speedo Fastskin, and I out in the lead. I don’t know the distance to the next athlete since looking back in the swim doesn’t really give an advantage. The order stayed the same through the swim and I came out of the water in 14 minutes and change. I am very “princess and the pea” and getting out of the rocks was pretty aggravating to my poor little feet so I took my time to navigate the big ones and get out. I have been having issues with getting my wetsuit off and today was no different. My transition of over 2 minutes shows that I either need a lot more practice with wetsuit stripping or one that fits better.

Once out of transition and onto my bike I began to settle into a pace but was still a bit wobbly and twitchy. It seems that each time I go from swim to bike it takes a while to get my bearings and feel the balance on the bike. The “precarious machine” that Phil Liget and Paul Sherwin always call TT bikes was what I was thinking about for the first 4 miles of the ride. I was trying to relax myself but I still had the same feeling you get right after you have had to sprint away from a loose dog that just saw you and wants to play. It didn’t take Vicki long to ride by and say “nice swim”… with a bike and run like she has my goal at this point was to try to hold off more girls from passing.

The ride was a fun one and I felt fast with my race wheels on. I passed several guys and didn’t remember if the 13 year old who beat me out of the water also beat me out of transition so after about half of the ride I decided she must be behind somewhere… I may be in second. Other than small local sprints and the FAFB triathlon, I’m not used to being in this place. It’s pretty enjoyable I would have to say. It’s easy for me to put a lot of pressure on myself to perform well and I was working a lot of this ride to try to maintain or even extend my lead. The ride finally ended, for being almost all downhill it actually seemed like a long time… that’s a testament to how little I have been training. Overall it took me about an hour and 16 minutes.

The second transition was strange for me. I haven’t done this race before and I was a bit lost getting into the transition area with all the flags and the arrows pointing the opposite direction (for the run). I tried to stop where the dismount sign was, but they apparently wanted me to go further to the mat… sure, I can do that. I took a while to get everything changed and ready, but I finally got to running. I don’t have a lot of years under my belt and really don’t practice transitions besides ones in my basement or at races so, unlike my husband, I really don’t have every movement down to a science. As a result I end up taking more time than I really should. “Oh, well” I though to myself, “I will just be more rested for the run.”

Starting the run was fine because you’re in the parking lot, but then you get the grassy field. Let me just say I HATE RUNNING ON UNEVEN SURFACES! This goes back to the “Princess and the Pea” story. I have knock knees to begin with and when I run where there are divots, cracks, large rocks, even gravel my legs think it’s time for feet fight! Between my knees bumping into each other and my ankles rolling almost constantly I didn’t have a lot of drive to work the “smooth” sections. That’s not to mention that the “smooth” sections have steep hills up or down and I absolutely suck right now with run power and efficiency. My run training before Ironman was long runs on roads with some threshold workouts on a treadmill and after Ironman it consisted of short runs on roads or the Medical Lake trail with absolutely no speed or quality work. Yes, it is my fault for not being prepared for this run and I paid for it with a 58 minute 6.55 mile! I ended up pouring more water on me than I drank, but I’m not sure that had a significant impact on the run… no, I’m pretty sure it is my sucky training that I have to thank for my time.

I did enjoy the race as a whole, though. Being my first time doing this one, I set a PR! Finishing the race maintaining my placing felt pretty good, I wish I could have offered Vicki better competition, but that’s just not in the cards right now. It seemed like everyone had a good time at the race, I didn’t hear about any disappointments. I got to hear all about Michael’s race. It had been many years since he’s done this race and he wanted to make a good showing. I would say that he achieved his goal, battling with a few fellas along the way to end up first overall with a new course record to boot. Check out his blog post on this race for the details on the events of his day. I’m also glad that Michael and I got to socialize a bit more today. He usually ends up needing to expedite A.S.A.P for work so it’s a treat to get to talk with people and even stay for awards. Great job to everyone who raced and thank you so much to those of you who volunteered, I really appreciated the water, Michelle!