I would like to share with you my race report on yesterday’s Lake to Forest Triathlon oly Distance in Sandpoint, Idaho. I got up in the morning around 5 and got there around 6:30.I started laying everything out and getting ready. The race was supposed to start at 8. It looked like it was going to be late, so I took my time and all of a sudden the gun went off at about 10 till to come over for a quick meeting. It was going to start like in one minute so I came back and put my goggles on. I jumped in the water and the race started right on time. I took off. It was a triangular shape course and apparently was much as 1.2 miles long instead of the advertised .9. I bounced around with people for about the first 10 minutes. I got out of the water in 33 minutes and ran over to my bike.
The transition area was so full; a lot of us left our bikes just on the side. No racks I put my socks on and shoes and jumped on the bike all-soaking wet. There was a huge hill. It seemed to last about 10 minutes and my heart rate was very high, around 160 to 165 for the first 10 minutes of the ride, maybe even at times 170. I got up towards the very top, after about 10 minutes and I settled in around 150. I had my first gu and the course was very bumpy and hilly and windy. There were a lot of sharp turns. I had a second goo about 35 minutes into the ride. Towards the end of the ride, at about an hour, there was a huge hill to climb. It probably lasted a couple of miles long and I had a little bit of water and Gatorade, maybe about 33 ounces to 40 ounces on the ride. I reached the top of the hill and the descent was extremely fast into t2. I averaged 21 on the bike and 7.21 on the 10k I got off the bike and put my shoes on. I started running and within the first few steps, I had a real bad stitch and the first half mile of the course was flat and the stitch was still there. Then I started climbing a hill for the next two and a half miles. My heart rate was around 150 and the stitch was there the whole time. I kept trying to breathe hard and long during the race and get rid of my stitch by breathing into my nose and mouth and exhaling really hard. At times it got so bad that it almost sort of doubled me over. A couple of times it went away when the ground got flat. Then coming back down a few miles on the descent, mostly downhill, the stitches got worse. I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 35 minutes. The stitch went away instantaneously. I was curious, if I would have stopped in the race for a few moments, if the stitch would have went away, right away and then I could of ran normal. My diaphragm was obviously a little upset. I am not sure why. Maybe I should have had just one goo or no goo and just go with liquid only. The swim was 33 minutes. I finished 5th in my age group. I was pretty pleased. It was a nice time. It’s a great layout for this triathlon. I am 46 yo male…have a great day