Age Group Nationals – Haag Lake – Portland, OR – 9.20.08
1.5K swim – 40K bike – 10K run

The Portland, Oregon area is absolutely beautiful.  After having raced nationals here last June and experiencing a challenging, scenic course, I knew it would be a great opportunity to come back this year.  USAT did not disappoint with putting on a top-notch race, including the amateur age group nationals as well as the professionals national championship race.

Weather on race day was perfect.  Some might have considered it cold, but 50s* and cloudy was a great start to the day.  I got in a good swim warm-up in beautiful Haag Lake and was ready to go.  We lined up along a long dock and when the horn sounded we pushed off, all 53 of us in my age group (30-34) and started thrashing for position.  Almost immediately I was in clear water (this never happens!) withCathy (the eventual victor of my AG) right beside me.  I found some familiar feet of the lead girl andfell into position.  On the back stretch, feeling like I could push the pace, I pulled out around the lead but didn’t seem to be swimming any faster so I fell back in line, finishing up the swim with our lead pack of 3 girls.  A long run UP hill brought us to transition and it was time for the bike.

I felt pretty good on the bike, being motivated and energized by the hills, descents, views of the lake, giant trees, and some friendly competition.  Two loops of the bike course around the lake and I came off the bike in 2^nd.  What this meant was that I knew Cathy would be way ahead and I didn’t know what the situation was behind me.  Time to run scared.

I exited transition, trying to build into the run.  However, the first ¼ mile is UP hill out of the park and will put you in the red zone pretty quick.  The run course is just like the bike, all up and down.  It is an out and back route and encouraging seeing other participants running the opposite direction.  I pushed through the miles with my legs feeling fatigued and continually reminding myself that slow is not an option.  There is a whole group of girls behind you that would love to take over your position in the race, so with a ‘suck it up Bannink’ to myself, I pushed through the hills.  After the turnaround I found that I was being heavily pursued and was eventually passed by the girl that would end up 2^nd in our age group.  ‘Ok, Cindi, how bad do you want this, push, push, push.’  I raced in through the finish (are my legs going to fall off?) and was greeted by several guys from my Timex team.  It felt awesome to be done.

After reviewing the results, my time was pretty close to last year with a slightly faster bike and slower run (pretty much par for the course this season).  I came in 3^rd in my age group and the 13^th woman overall.  I’ll take it.  The timex team was well represented with Bruce breaking into the top 10 overall, and Roger, Chris and Ian all claiming an age group podium spot.

After the race, I spent an additional 3 days in Portland to attend USA Triathlon’s Art and Science of Triathlon coaches’ symposium.  This seminar was packed with speakers who are ‘experts’ in their field, many of whom work with our Olympic team and top athletes in the world.  I definitely learned new concepts and ideas that I will implement into my coaching and my own training.  Thanks to USAT for an excellent race and education seminar.

Additionally, I’d like to say a special thanks to my Timex teammates for all their support throughout the weekend, my childhood friend, Ryan, who came out to watch, athletes Ed and Ben for being part of the event with me, and my family (Jeff, Marcia & Kids) for a fun vacation (and I can’t wait for my next visit so we can finish our Lincoln-Log Ranch).