Rebecca Mongrain's Blog

Lake Stevens Olympic Tri Race Report

4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning came too quickly and too darkly. I awoke and got ready before peeking outside. I really didn’t know it could be that dark and quiet. I then loaded up my bike and took off to Lake Stevens.

Stephanie and I arrived around the same time and parked near each other. We went to get our timing chips and some air for our bike tires. Couldn’t find the bike guy but quickly received body markings and timing chips. These were really nice ones with neoprene strips.

They announced that the international racers would be starting before the sprinters and so we lined up at the shore of Lake Stevens. The buzzer went off and I quickly dipped into the balmy 70-degree water. The faster swimmers quickly drifted out of view but there were some die-hards stroking alongside me. A one-mile swim is quite a distance! I ended up chafing my neck somehow during the swim and I now look like I have a hickey! Not so good looking at work!

Swim Time: 42:32

Once out of the water, I dashed up to my bike and grabbed some Goo and a Powerbar.

Transition 1 Time: 2:27

I started along the 24 mile bike course and felt a little woobly. I kept pedaling and soon found out about the deceiving hills on the bike (they looked like flats but weren’t!) along with a nice steady rain, some serious hills and the occasional headwind. It all made for a hard bike course. There were some times when I felt so alone out there but I made it!

Bike Time: 1 hour 48:07

Susan, a fellow Supergirl caught up with me about 2 miles before the end of the bike and cruised into Transition 2 with me. We took off together but she quickly lost me in the run.

Transition 2 Time: 1:56

The first half of the 6.2 mile run was completely uphill. I saw most of the other Supergirls on the course from Seujan to Diana and Stephanie. I knew I was almost dead last at this point but didn’t really care. I was finishing and I was doing it strong. I ran intervals for a 5 minute run and a 1 minute walk. It was hard in the beginning but after the turn-around, it was all downhill. At mile 6 with only .2 miles left a 70 year old woman with asthma passed me! I was a bit upset because I really didn’t want her to beat me! Diana ran me in the last 150 yards (as usual) and cracked me up. I finished strong and I did it!

Run Time: 1:32:30
Total Time: 4 hours 7 minutes and 31 seconds.

I also did some knitting this weekend but will discuss that later. I'm tired from the race and writing the race report!