Black Diamond Olympic Race Report

Black Diamond Olympic Race Report: This was my second Black Diamond Olympic distance race (also in 2011); I've also done 1 Sprint (2010). This is the first race that didn't include rain.

The swim started normally for me,

an inside freak out that lasted until just past the 1st buoy then I was able to continue on for the rest of the mile mostly fine. It took a long time to do but I knew I was going faster than last year. It also helped that there was another woman in front of me that I was trying to catch and pass. I didn’t, she was standing & walking up the ramp when I was just touching the bottom of the lake.

Swim time: 42:16 Last year 45:28. I thought there was a bigger difference than this but I was wrong.

T1 starts at the lake shore then you have to go up the hill & into transition,

it’s a couple hundred yards. They’ve got it carpeted for the worst of the rocky part. I got my wetsuit halfway down before I got into T1 so all I needed to do was remove it from the waist down, take off goggles & head stuff, put on biking shoes w/o socks, helmet & glasses and was on my way.

I beat 6 people in the swim.

T1 time: 3:31

Last year: 4:21 Difference must be that it wasn’t raining, didn’t need a jacket & didn’t put on socks.

My bike ride was nice and went by faster than I thought it should. I’ve ridden the course a couple times before so I kind of knew it but didn’t have it all memorized. At one at spot I thought I was passing people behind me but they were in front of me instead but it gave me targets to catch. No wind or rain so it was a much nicer ride than years past. I only passed a few people on the course, maybe 10, one of them a guy, on a hill, I FLEW past him! Came into the park feeling really good.

My bike placing was 117, I beat 41 people on the bike, and I was in 134th place overall after the bike.

Bike time: 1:26:51 Last year: 1:38:13 There wasn’t wind or rain and I’ve had more training & have a better bike.

T2 Starts at dismount, run a hundred yards to transition. Shoes, helmet, glasses off, socks & shoes on, grabbed hat that had food & sweat bands in it & ran. I put the hat on after I was out of T2 & running so I wasn’t wasting time standing there. I use elastic shoe strings so all I have to do is pull them on, no tying involved.

T2 time: 2:00 Last year: 2:24 Way faster this year, considering I had to put socks on this time. Maybe it was the rain before that slowed me down??

The run was not fun and I didn’t have any time that I felt ‘in the zone’ at all. My shins were burning for the first couple miles.

It didn’t feel any better to walk than to run but walking didn’t beat on them. At the 3 mile mark I started running alongside Marianna, another TriBabe. We walked/ran the rest of the race together and finished side by side.

One thing I noticed was my head was hot with a cap on so I either need good running sunglasses and no hat or maybe try a visor.

I beat 5 people in the run.

Run time: 1:17:02 Last year: 1:09:28 Last year I ran the whole time and felt good but it was cooler weather.

Total time: 3:31:41 I was 8/8 in my division (women 45-49) and 142/158 total finishers. Not my best race ever and I felt a lot better after last years race.