Scoggins Valley Triathlon

Oregon rain.  It can show up at the most inapporiate times and put a real damper on things.  Such was the case yesterday.  On a somewhat last minute whim and with some prodding from my buddy Trevor, I decided to race - a term I use loosely - in the Scoggins Valley Olympic triathlon.  I had been contemplating doing this race since the beginning of the triathlon season but never got around to planning my full triathlon season as my sole focus has been on training for Ironman Arizona in November.

My training has been going relatively well up to this point and I am in pretty good shape.  I figured why not incorporate a race here or there into the training schedule.  The summer has been a busy one and it seemed to pass by very quickly to the point of missing a lot of triathlons.  So I had to bite the bullet, ignore the weather forecast that called for rain and temperatures in the 60's and take on one of the last opportunities of the season to race an olympic distance triathlon by registering for Scoggins Valley.

True to the forecast it was pouring down rain on race morning.  I left the house at 5:30 in the dark miserable morning to make the hour and half drive north to Hagg Lake.  The rain was just dumping the entire drive and on numerous occassions I contemplated calling it a day before I even got started.  I kept reassuring myself that I was going to use this race as a training day and would take it easy on the course.  Afterall I don't know what the weather will have in store in Arizona come November.  Once I settled down and accepted the fact is was raining and I was going to race in the rain, I was good.

Hagg Lake is a cool park and I have participated in multiple triathlons out there as well as multiple trail runs so I am very familiar with the terrain.  The only thing I knew for certain was that the water didn't effect the fact the hills were still there to be climbed and the challenges would still need to be faced.  The water on the roads would increase the level of caution needed on the bike portion of the race.  To suffer a crash today would be nasty and jeopardize my Ironman event.  I am going to take it easy - no need for speed today or to prove anything.

I arrived at the park to be greeted by a less than normal size field of participants.  It seems the weather kept a lot of people indoors.  No worries.  I put my race number on my bike and helmet, loaded up my gear bag and made my way over to the transition zone.  I ran into Trevor just after getting my body markings with my race number and age group written on my legs in black marker.  As I found my assigned location on the rack, I laughed as Trevor was on the same rack next to me.  Trevor is a stud - the guy can really race and he is a hell of a nice guy as well.  All around good dude.  I shared a laugh with him when I asked if I could  be humilated anymore by having to be racked next to him!  It was all in good fun.

The race director was discussing the challenges of the event today related to the rain.  He told us to pressure down our tires to around 90 psi because 120 psi was too much.  You could instantly hear the air valves releasing air all around the transition zone.  He mentioned the buoys would be hard to see on the swim because of the gray skies.  I would soon be able to attest to that point as well.  We donned our wetsuits and headed down to the lake for a brief swim warm up and more course instructions.

The swim was two laps around the orange set buoys and a return to shore.  Trevor and I confirmed the directions with each other one last time and wished each other the best.  I told him I would see him well after he finished.  The countdown was on; the gun sounded.  I settled into the swim in the front half of the pack and quickly made it to the first orange buoy.  Not too bad.  Then we had to make our way to the furthest buoys and that's where I had a bit of a challenge sighting them in.  No big deal as I was still drafting off a couple of guys in front of me and just followed them.  The second lap proved a little bit more challenging on the sighting as I got a little sidetracked headed towards the first orange buoy for lap two.  I probably lost a couple minutes not swimming in a more direct line.  Oh well it's a training race right?  Twenty six minutes after the gun went off and five minutes behind Trevor I finished the swim.

I made my way up the long carpeted path to the transition zone to get my bike.   Trevor was long gone by then.  There were still a lot of bikes racked so I felt good about my swim.  Threw on my helmet and shoes and ran with my bike through the transition zone to the bike mount line.  I was off.  The first thing I noticed as I headed counterclockwise around the lake is that I had no power in my legs at all for the first section of climbing.  Now I was getting pissed off.  What the hell posessed me to ride 23 miles the night before and tire my legs out?  It's called stubborn stupidity, but I digress.  I was here now and had to make the best of it.  I tried to refocus and tell myself to calm down.  Settle in Quigs, settle in.  I got past the first climb and started on the descent.  Started to really pick up the speed and apprehension about crashing and burning.  I looked down to see the speed odometer posting 37mph.  I remember the words of caution from the race director and tempered myself.  Crossing the dam and heading out on Scoggins Valley road would give me the only glimpse of Trevor on the bike as he was well on his way to making the climb on the second half of the first loop.  Go get em Trev!  I made the turn on the out and back portion and started my climb. 

My triathlon bike is different than my road bike and at several points along the climb, I was sucking wind hauling my 205lbs up that incline.  I reassured myself it was almost over and that I only had to climb it once more.  No sweat, I motored on.  I really held back on my bike as I really didn't want to crash and my overall bike time reflects it.  About 2 miles out from finishing the bike leg, my saddle becomes loose and is shifting back and forth under my weight.  Not good, but another thing I have to deal with.  I just keep clenching my thighs against the seat to prevent it from moving anymore.  At about 1.5 miles to the bike finish, I hear Trevor say "nice work Quigs"!  Trevor is well on his way in the run. After a 1:21 bike split,  I make it back to the transition zone, rack the bike and head off for a 6.2 mile run.

Running has never been my forte and something I have really worked at for years to try and improve.  My legs felt suprisingly good on the run after the challenging bike.  I settled into a training pace for me with the goal of just knocking out the 10k without too much effort.  This portion of this race has always been my nemesis in the past.  The run course has several rolling hills and I have always ended up walking sections in the past.  I was determined to not let that be the case today.  I pulled down the brim of my hat down and focused on the task at hand.  As I was coming over the rise of one of the hills at mile 2, I met Trevor on his return at mile 4.  A quick handslap and  effort acknowledgement and we continued on our way.  I made it to the turn around and knew it was only another 3.1 miles until my training race was over.  I settled in with several other runners on the return for a nice pace, slammed down an gel pack and before I knew it pass the 6 mile sign.  A quick .2 mile sprint into the finish line ended the day with a run of 56:35.  My overall time was 2:51:13  Much to my surprise, that time is a course PR for me by well over 10 minutes! Not bad for a training race on what turned out to be a fun filled day regardless of the rain.

I caught up with Trevor briefly at the end of the race to find out that he took 3rd overall and 1st in his age division.  Great effort bro!  Nice work!

All in all it's just another great adventure in my blessed life.