Gatorman

La Jolla, California

          This was no doubt the most difficult swim from a mental standpoint that I have ever attempted. I have raced over twice the distance, but this race was more challenging. I can summarize this race in one phrase, “lost at sea” That is how I felt for a great part of this race. Below is a map of the course:

 

 

The red is the 1 mile course which I successfully navigated and completed half an hour prior to beginning the Gatorman swim. The purple line is the Gatorman course. The yellow line is my course.  
 

After completing the 1 mile swim, I had 30 minutes to rush up get registered and marked for Gatorman. I also had to eat, hydrate and get back down for the Gatorman start. They referred to attempting both races as doing the double. Not as many people attempt it as I would have thought. Physically I was ok. Being out in the cold water for that long without a wetsuit was a concern of mine since in Arizona this time of year I can’t find any cold water to train in. But the toughest part of this race was mental. Going out to the turnaround seemed to take forever. The swells got bigger the further you went and I actually started to feel a bit sea sick. Going out I tried to draft but just couldn’t seem to find a fit. This race had some strong and fast swimmers. The turnaround was straight into the swells and reminded you just how small you are in this big ocean. After the turn around I was alone. I don’t know what happened to everyone. I could not see anyone ahead of me or behind me. I felt lost at sea. I began to experience the mental torture of self-doubt. I could see land in the far off distance, but I had no idea what to aim for. I had no one to follow and worst of all. I knew that if I did not finish in 1 hour and 45 minutes it would not even count, so I swam hard because I felt like I had already been out there over an hour. I had to just swim and have faith that I was going in the right direction with nothing to confirm that for me. That plays on your mind. “Am I swimming this hard in these swells the wrong direction?” Am I swimming in vain?” “Where the hell is everyone?” Am I lost? There were no buoys, and no swimmers. What happened? Eventually a lifeguard on a SeaDoo told me I was way off course and needed to correct. You can see that point on my yellow path on the map. Eventually I saw the buoy from the 1 mile swim and sprinted towards it once it was in sight. I did not want all this effort to be for nothing. I had to finish before the cut off. I pushed myself into a place of pain for a very long time. As I neared the shore I could see the giant plumes of Kelp flying by beneath me. When the kelp or seaweed got thick at the surface I grabbed it with my hands and pulled in an effort to get through it as fast as I could.

 

 

I was not going to fail. I did not want to have to come back and do this race again. If I failed to make the cut-off I wanted to know that I gave it everything in me. I was not going to look back and wish I had swam 3 seconds faster at some point. After what seemed like an awful long time I hit the beach. I tried to stand in two feet of water and fell forward. I crawled a few steps and tried to stand again. This time my legs held me up and and I ran forward stumbling. The long swim, the cold and the exerted effort of sprinting for so long had taken away my ability to balance on land and one of the volunteers seeing my distress grabbed my arm. I pulled it free as I raced up the beach towards that timing mat. Remember I was not going to miss the cut off by 3 seconds or something. In the end I swam a 1:31 and had 14 minutes to spare. I have this to say about this race. This race should not be attempted by anyone who is not very comfortable with open water swimming, or does not have good navigation skills. I thought I had both, but this race humbled me.

 

La Jolla Rough Water Swim

 

La Jolla, California

          This is a great event. There are so many events and age groups going on all day. There are lots of fantastic swimmers. I found the course unique and a little bit of an adventure. The water was reportedly 67 degrees. I did not have a problem with the temperature and actually enjoyed it. The swim has a view and comes complete with a few obstacles. Every so often there is a plume of kept you need to steer around. It is fun swim all- around.

 

 

Nautica Malibu Triathlon

Malibu, California

With my wife and daughter out of town, it was time for a race weekend in California. I had lined up three races. This is the second time I have done this race. I have had a great experience both times. It is an all-around good race. It seems to be a good course for me. I led my division and my heat in the swim. I led my division in the bike which does not happen very often, but I could not find my running legs and ended up second. Christian raced his new tri bike for the first time and placed second in his division also.

Christian and I were walking out to the swim when we heard a familiar voice walking behind us. It was two time World Champion Chris McCormack. We have been to many races in California where Maca just shows up. No fan-fare or anything, he just likes to race. He goes back to back too. The year he won Kona last he raced and won both races we picked to do this exact same weekend. That year it surprised me to see him out racing local races back to back a month away from the World Championships. It works for him. The guy likes to race and I can certainly get understand that. Running out in the other direction, Christian gave Maca a high five as he headed towards the finish line to win the race.  As if one world Champion weren’t enough I was surprised to see the familiar red TYR tri-suited Chrissie Wellington there as part of relay team.

               

Anthem Sprint Triathlon

 

Anthem, Arizona

When we woke up in Gilbert it was a normal morning, as we headed toward anthem, the closer we got the more rain we encountered. I wasn’t really worried about the rain, although I prefer not to race in rain. I was paying more attention to lighting. I know that race directors will cancel a swim if they even hear a rumor of lighting, and sure enough that is what happened with this race. Even though I did not hear or see any lighting or thunder within an hour of the start of the race, they cancelled the swim and I ended up doing my second Duathlon. I had signed up to compete as a Clydesdale and came in 1^st that division. After the results were posted some guy decided to switch divisions and I ended up with second. I did not even know you could do that. Sometimes I sign up as a Clydesdale, sometimes I sign up in my age group. Hills and elevation usually influence my decision making process. Many a time when the results are in I wished I had chosen differently, but I always thought that it just the way the ball bounces. You are not allowed to compete in both or switch. This switch particularly pissed me off for two reasons: 1) the guy was no Clydesdale; 2) my swim would have erased his him.

Beat the Heat

 

Scottsdale, Arizona

This race was purposely planned to take place during the Summer Solstice and historically the hottest day on record, at the hottest time on record. That temperature was 122 degrees. This race starts at 2:47 in the afternoon on what should be one of the hottest days of the year. Interestingly enough the race is sponsored by the Scottsdale Fire Department and PMT Ambulance.

The race started inside an equestrian stadium. What a strange group of people that seemed disappointed when the race director announced that the temperature outside was only 104 degrees. That was in the shade of course. By the end of the race my Prius registered 111 degrees while I was driving home. They measured the road temperature at 150 degrees. It is hard to say how hot it actually was, but I can tell you this for sure: 111 degrees in the shade is a lot cooler than 111 in the direct sun. 111 degrees in the direct sun is a lot cooler than 111degrees running in the direct sun. 111 degrees running in the direct sun on a dirt path is cooler than 111degrees running on a black asphalt road. It was hot. I had envisioned and planned on using cold water and ice to regulate my body temperature during this race as I do in Ironman races. To my surprise, the aid stations only had warm Dixie cups of water. No ice and no cold water at all! I kept thinking that the next aid station would have ice, but it never did. I made sure to keep myself as wet as I could so that at least evaporation would cool me. By the end of the race my throat was very dry. I ran hard and it felt like I had a hair dryer blowing down my throat for an hour. It took me 1 hour and 1 minute to cover the 11.22 kilometers. While it was not my fastest running, I managed to hold an 8:41 pace in that heat which I am proud of. There were a lot of people who struggled, especially towards the end. I finished strong. At the finish I was handed a warm water bottle, there was no food or anything else. I have no desire to do this race again.  The heat was bad enough, but to have nothing but warm Dixie cups out there is just stupid. Doing this race with that kind of support is just plain unnecessary brutality to your body. I see no reason to mistreat my body like that again in the future, especially given the price I paid for overheating my body during this run in Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs a week later.

 

IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii

 

Kohala Coast, Hawaii

            This remains my favorite race of the year. . . . and favorite trip. Lori ended up flying having to Indiana a few days before the trip to help her Mom. She actually left the kids home before I even got back from San Francisco. That is two years in a row that she has not gone.

The kids and I had a lot of fun together and did a lot of snorkeling. Vayden was fearless and I had her a hundred yards from shore. She really loves the water and made huge progress in swimming this trip. She also fell in love with the lava hot tub at the Fairmont Orchid. She learned to pronounce the State fish, and even got a shirt, which instantly became her favorite. We saw tons of them this year.

Prior to the race start, I was talking to a very nervous guy who was doing the race in board shorts. I tried to calm his nerves and reassure him. I told him to just take it steady. Two days later I heard his voice behind me in the Outback in Kailua. He had made it and we exchanged hugs. Turns out he was the Mayor of Kailua-Kona and was having a meeting with the Board of Supervisors right there in Outback. He is the guy who fires the cannon every year at the World Championships.

I am not going to detail my race this year, but what I can say about the race this year, is that it was HOT! I was so hot on that run. One of the locals told me that we ended up racing in what turned out to be the hottest day since a record set back in the 1960’s. It was brutal. I managed to cut off two minutes from last year. Every year I seem to cut off two minutes. 

 

Alcatraz Challenge

 

San Francisco, California

I flew up to San Francisco with Mark Andersen and his wife Julie. Mark wanted to swim Alcatraz so I told him I would do it with him. I talked him into doing the aquathlon and running the bridge too. This was my 4^th crossing, 2^nd this year and my best navigation so far. There was a head wind and waves in our face the whole swim so my time wasn’t great but I had a much better run than last summer although I was cautious with Ironman 70.3 Hawaii only 4 days away. I beat my time from last year and had a good race. We went to see a game at Giants Stadium which was like the Celestial Kingdom of ball parks.

One funny aspect of this race, was that after the race was over I was looking at pictures that Julie took on her phone. There was Mark still in his wetsuit posing for a picture with a medal around his neck. I was puzzled. As it turns out Mark has let the volunteers take his chip of his leg after the race and then was guided to the medal people. He took a picture and then went out on the run. He ended up getting a medal for both the swim and the run and didn’t even know that is not how it works.