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.

 

 

Training in the Heat - How to Avoid Internal Bleeding

 

FYI Lessons Learned -Training in the Heat

A word of caution . . . and things to consider to avoid internal bleeding.

I went on a long hard run on yesterday in the heat of the day and was a bit alarmed afterwards to find out I was bleeding internally. After talking with several people and some research, here is what I believed happened. While this may be TMI for some, I thought it was worth sharing with my triathlon and running friends.

For the past several years I have participated in the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii triathlon. One of the biggest challenges of this race is the heat. This is especially true for a heavy sweater like me. Each year, for a month or two prior to the race I purposely subject myself to long intense training sessions in the heat to prepare for this race. This year I did something a little different and learned a valuable lesson that I will not soon forget.

In years past I have done long runs in the heat, but I have talked my son into setting up a little aid station with cold water and Perform along the 1 mile loop around our house so I could hydrate every mile. This year I thought I was tough enough to go out and face 10 miles of heat armed only with my Fuel Belt. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.

Prior to going running I completed two hours of cycling on a trainer in the hot garage. Although I drank a lot of water my personal sweat rate is definitely towards the high end. I have weighed myself before and after an hour of running in hot conditions, and I am cable of losing 5-6 pounds in an hour (and that does not take into account the small amount of water I am able to drink while running).  After I finished cycling, I quickly swallowed some salt pills in an effort to ward off cramping, voided my bladder and then went out to run. I purposely timed my run to take place at the hottest part of the day. It was in the 90’s, but I have certainly run in hotter weather. I took my Fuel Belt with two bottles of water and two bottles of Perform. I also carried one disposable bottle of water in my hand. I also ate three high sodium Cliff Shot Blocks while I was running. My goal was to stay on pace despite the heat. Every year the Hawaiian heat has cut into my pace during the run segment of the triathlon. I told myself I was going to suffer whatever it required to stay on pace for 10 miles. That became quite painful for the last three miles and with two miles to go my body was beginning to resist my constant command. My running form was deteriorating on a muscular level towards the end of the run, but I was able to stay on pace. I finished on pace, but immediately felt a bit off and I became wobbly walking.

I drank a bottle of water and took a shower to cool down. Don’t tell my wife this, but I always take a cold shower after a hot run and something about the cold water usually induces me to want to urinate. When I looked down, I was a bit alarmed. I was peeing what looked like pure blood. Even the water from the shower was doing very little to dilute the blood on the floor of the shower. Needless to say this prompted a few telephone calls and some research. I am not a doctor, and I am not giving medical advice, but this is what I think happened:

The medical term for this is called exercise-induced hematuria. While there are several theories on what happens, and no one is exactly sure, this tends to occur in individuals during particularly long and intense runs where dehydration and heat are factors. Basically what happens is that when your body becomes severely dehydrated, the bladder can collapse in on itself. During the jarring repetitive motion created by running the walls of the bladder begin to rub and hemorrhage at the points of friction filling the bladder with blood. The trauma to the bladder walls might intensify and have an earlier onset if you start dehydrated and with and empty bladder. Dehydration will cause a greater degree of blood being shunted from the kidney as well.

In my case I am convinced I started by dehydrating myself while cycling for two hours in the hot garage. To make matters worse and then voided my bladder before I went out to run. (which I never do) The amount of water I was able to take with me, was a very small percentage of the water I lost during the near hour and half it took me to run the 10 miles. Looking back at what I know now, I set myself up for type of internal bleeding.
I just wanted to share this, because it is the first time in over three years of triathlon training that this has happened and it can be a bit alarming. So if you are going on a long hot run, you might want to consider starting well hydrated, don’t void your bladder completely and make sure you are able to get your hands on some water out there.

From a psychological perspective, Is there something wrong with the fact that I am a little bit proud of the fact that I now possess the discipline to push myself to stay on pace in the heat until I am literally bleeding internally?

Splash + Dash

Tempe, Arizona

 It was time for some more Thursday night fun. I learned a lesson doing this race. I personally need to skip the wetsuit when the water reaches 77 degrees. I took off and was feeling great. I was drafting behind a pro comfortably holding 3^rd place for almost the entire first lap. Towards the end of the first lap I started to burn up. All I wanted to do is peel that wet suit off. My second lap suffered and I felt horrible. I let the pro go and and focused on swimming as fast as I could without burning up. I could not wait for that second lap to be over. I was happy to be able to get out of that suit. Unfortunately for me it is pretty hard to cool down running when the air temperature was just under 100 degrees. I felt way too hot the entire run and suffered accordingly. I felt like I was running horribly. I just told myself that if nothing else, it was good training for the heat in Hawaii. I was surprised to learn afterwards that I ended up 2^nd over-all in the swim and managed to complete this distance in my fastest time to date. It just goes to show that perception is not always a good gage.

Arizona Open Water Swimming

Canyon Lake, Arizona

My son, two friends and I all headed up to Canyon Lake this morning to compete in some open water swimming. We did two races. One race was a 2000 meter race and the other one was a 1000 meter race. It was a nice day of open water swimming. I did pretty well, but not as well as I had hoped. Christian placed third in the junior divisions in both races. Canyon Lake is a beautiful venue.

IRONMAN 70.3 St. George

 

St. George, Utah

Getting to the start line has been a challenge for this race. I have struggled with the injured calf issue and I have been sleeping on the couch for a week because Lori has been horribly sick. I didn’t want to risk getting sick. Sleeping on the couch contributed to poor sleep and my back going out two days before the race. I had a foot scare too. My right foot became painful to walk on a week before the race at the same time the my friend Bill Hagan called me and told me that after 8 months of training for this race his St. George dream was over because he stress fractured his foot on his final training run.

St. George is the race I feared more than any other this year other than Ironman Arizona which I will do at the end of the year. Every time someone would mention it, I would get a pit in my stomach. I seriously questioned whether I would be able to finish this race in the 8 hour time limit.

 It was a great trip. We got up successfully at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday and headed out of Phoenix. We missed all early morning Phoenix traffic and were playing around in Las Vegas by 10 a.m. We went to the awesome Buffet that Lori picked out at Caesar’s Palace. It was the best buffet ever.

After some time in Las Vegas, we headed up to St. George. I still love driving through the Virgin River Gorge. You know what? St. George is a very pretty place. I have always just driven through it. We loved this trip. The town square where the expo and T2 were located was small town picturesque. Access was easy and Vayden loved playing in the water features they had. The kids loved climbing around in Pioneer Park up on the bluff where the run would take place. Everyone liked the trip and my brother Erik drove down with his family and stayed in the same hotel so that was nice too. It was a great trip. I think the calm of the place and being surrounded by family helped me.

As in Oceanside we spent some time enjoying parts of the course prior to the race. We went to Pioneer Park and hiked around. We also went and had smoothies at a local shop along the course. Later during the race I would find peace and calm when I encountered these portions of the race. I can’t explain it, but it really works.

The swim course is the only swim course where you get to swim by beautiful rock formations jutting out of the water. It is actually a scenic swim.

 

There was one interesting aspect of the bike course that has never happened to me before. At one point, the bike course and the run course share the same road up on the bluff on Red hills Parkway. At same time I was hitting that portion of the bike course the pros were running it. As I struggled to pedal up this hill, to my right the pros had hit the run turn around and were running up the hill. Let me tell you something . . .  it does not make you feel particularly good about yourself to have runners passing you while you are on your bike, pros or not. On a more positive note, it did feel good to catch and leave the pros in the dust once I hit the downhill. It was a clever bike course. Snow Canyon was very difficult. It is a long, Long, Long climb, but I made it. I did have a few moments of doubt, but I did it.

 

 

The run was tough. I knew going in that I was going to have to protect my calf. I knew that I would have to walk any sharp or lengthy inclines. I just decided to take them one at a time and run strong in between. I was running through Pioneer Park when I was surprised to hear my name being called. It was Erik! That really picked me up. I have now heard his voice cheering me on in two of the most difficult races this year. I am really starting to love having Erik at my races. I thought heat would be an issue, but I was able to keep my temperature under control with ice and I felt like the heat was not a limiting factor for me. It would have been another story without the ice, but I have learned to use ice well, and the aid stations were well run.

Towards the end of the run it starts about two miles of slight downhill which is very welcome given the day of elevation gains we have suffered. The down-hill and wanting to finish increased my pace and I was actually running down my average pace. I looked at my watch and decided I could run it under an 11 minute mile. Normally an 11 minute mile would be a complete embarrassment, but not for this course, especially with my calf issue. But I did want my average to say 10 – something to save face a bit. I started running down my average and figured I could get it under 11 minutes by the end. Then, I must not have looked at the course very well because suddenly the course took a left down this roadway and I immediately saw a nasty little hill. Everyone who turned with me let out groans and a few cursed. I was deciding in my mind whether or not I should push this last hill when a guy 20 yards ahead of me suddenly screamed out in pain and went down with a horrible cramp or something in his calf as he has had begun the assent of the hill. He was screaming bloody murder as I ran by and people were already helping him. I took it as a sign and said screw the 11 minute mile average . . . let’s finish this thing in one piece! 

I ran down the shoot high fiving lots of kids and managed to finish a lot faster than I had thought possible. My time was 6:38, which was not as bad as I had feared. I was pretty tired though. I was glad to have Christian and his cousins to help me with my gear. Lori, Erik and Alicia were all at the finish line. That was nice too.

After resting up a bit Erik, Alicia, Lori and I went to the Tuacahn amphitheater to listen to a really good comedian by the name of Brian Regan. It was a lot of fun and we laughed and laughed.

4th Annual Mesa Olympic Triathlon

 

Mesa, Arizona

 

I swam hard and biked hard and then made a conscious effort not to push too hard on the run. I prayed constantly that my calf would hold and it did. It was good enough for two minutes faster than last year and fourth over-all. This is the second year in a row that I have placed in the over-all in this race. It seems to be a good course for me.

ITU San Diego

San Diego, California

This race is always fun because of the pro element. The host hotel is really nice too.  I ran into Alistair Brownlee the fastest guy in the world just outside the elevator at the hotel. I can’t really explain why, but I had a great swim and I knew it getting out of the water. I followed it up with a great bike ride. I loved flying around Fiesta Island. This is a great bike course for me and my strengths. When I hit T2 I knew that I was on record breaking pace. I threw on my running shoes and flew out of transition and to my delight, my running legs showed up. My legs felt great. The run course is two loops on a 5k course. I flew through the first 5K and I kept thinking about how I was going to shatter my Olympic personal best record. I mean shatter. On the second lap I could feel that I may have run the first lap too fast. I wasn’t wearing a watch so I just picked a guy slightly ahead of me and told myself I would do whatever it took to stay with him. I began to hurt and I was pushing hard to stay with him. Then at less than a mile away from the finish it happened. My right calf just seized. I almost tripped. I had to stop and release it. I tried to keep going. Walking was more painful than running with a limp so I chose running with a limp. My last mile was pathetic. Later when I looked up my time, my 10K was still a 50 which means I was probably on target to run a 45 before the calf gave out. I learned not to run out of your ability or you may risk injury. With the new bike course, this has become a must do race in the future. Christian loved this trip last year and I got him in to do the sprint this year. I signed him up under a slightly different name and said he was 16 so he could. He wants to do this race next year also. Maybe we can get the girls to go in 2014. They would love this hotel.

Leadman 125

 

Tempe, Arizona

When I originally signed for this race it, the venue was Las Vegas. Since that time a lot happened. The venue was changed to Tempe. Lifetime bought Red Rock. Leadman was combined with one of our favorite races – Marquee. The race was moved to Sunday because of a conflict with the collegiate national triathlon championship. One of the reasons we have always liked the bike course for Marquee is because it went up the Bee Line Highway and mirrored the Ironman Arizona Course. It is a great fairly flat straight course that both Christian and I love to hammer. It is a good bike course for my strengths. Apparently, the Salt River Indian Community strung Lifetime a long for nearly a year and then ultimately told Lifetime they could not use the course two weeks before the race. The course changed to the convoluted U-turn heavy course that we have done in other Red Rock races that both Christian and I hate. Only now it would have 4 additional U-turns and I would have to do it 4 times for a total of 69 miles. The race’s bright hope would be the challenging trial run through Papago Park.

The swim went fine and seemed a bit long to me but the water temperature was great. The bike did suck. There were too many people and it was too monotonous. I really wanted off my bike by the end. I also drank too much Gatorade. I usually limit myself to a bottle or two because I know it does not do well in my stomach. But it was a warm day and my stuff got so hot that those ice cold Gatorade bottles looked so inviting. I grabbed three bottles and at about three hours into the bike ride I thought I might throw up. I stopped drinking Gatorade and my stomach resolved itself. I even ate a banana before I headed out to the run.

The run was awesome. It was so different and I never lost interest. It was challenging, and I had to think about almost every step once we hit Papago Park. It went by so fast. I did not wear a watch so I had no idea how long I was running or where I was on the run. In fact I only ate a couple block shots and I saw this aid station coming up so I downed a gel thinking I was about half an hour into the run. I asked at the aid station if they knew what mile we were at and they answered mile 7 and told me I only had a mile to go. I was amazed. I could not believe how fast it had gone by. I love this run. I turned on the gas and passed a few people and headed towards the finish line. I got a free massage from this guy who worked me so hard I almost passed out from the pain.

The run was the highlight of the race. I couldn’t have planned a more interesting course. It was all new and a surprise to me. Since there were no mile markers and I was running without a watch, I had very little idea at any point where I was on the course. It had so many different surfaces and I was glad I bought my new Newton multi-surface shoes for this race. The run course combined cement bike path, flat dirt river trail, hills on the road, and lots of hills on rocky single track trail, and a few places I don’t know how to describe. It was non-stop fun.

Kiwanis Sprint in the Park

Litchfield Park, Arizona

This is a fun little race that I did once before 3 years ago. I treated it as a nice little warm up for Leadman tomorrow. I do like this race and I will try to do it in the future if schedules permit. The reason I like this race is that it is small and it has the sweetest bike course. This bike course is perfect for me. I had the fastest over-all swim and shockingly, Christian had the 3^rd fastest over-all swim. He was only 10 seconds behind me. Christian won first in his age group and I managed to pull off third. This race is on my repeat list because it is a low key fun race with a great bike course.

 

Splash + Dash

Tempe, Arizona

 

I have back to back races this weekend and didn’t really need to race or aggravate Lori with excessive racing, but I wanted to help a couple friends get some open water experience. It was fun. I always enjoy these evening races.

South West Valley YMCA Olympic Triathlon

Goodyear, Arizona

I started out feeling like I could put in a good swim. It wasn’t too crowded either so I felt like I had the opportunity. There is a problem, that always affects me in this pool however and today it seemed particularly problematic. I can swim faster than I did today and I would like to have, but they just keep that damn pool too hot. All my life I have struggled in pools that are too warm. About 10 minutes into the swim I just started to overheat. I found a guy to draft off for a while. He was swimming a little slower than I wanted to but I needed to reduce effort and attempt to cool down a bit. It is an Olympic pool, not a play pool. That pool is built for real swimming. I don’t know why they keep it so hot. In the end, my swim split was one second slower than last year.

I started out on the bike and held a 23 mph average for the first two laps and then I started to slowly loose power finishing with a 21 mph average. I worked the bike and ended up a full minute faster than last year.

I got off my bike and experienced something I have never encountered in over 50 triathlons. My hamstrings were so tight I could barely walk. I hobbled out of transition and started my run taking little steps and slowly trying to extend my stride and stretch out those hamstrings. I prayed my hamstrings would loosen up and slowly they did. Most of this course takes place on uneven dirt and I have struggled a bit on it before. I chose to wear my new trial running shoes and was glad I did. I really think they help. Somehow my legs loosened up and I ran a 47 minute 10K which is faster than I have ever run a 10K. I was shocked to see that given how much I struggled to even run in the beginning.  I didn’t feel like I was running fast, but I was putting some distance between myself and some regulars who I normally encounter out there with me on these races and normally catch me. During the race, I thought they were having a bad day, not that I was having a good day. 

I ended up with not only my fastest 10k, but also my fastest Olympic finish. My body let me know the whole rest of the day that I had pushed hard. I meant to take a half hour nap and ended up struggling to regain consciousness after 2 hours. I am old.
 

IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside

 

Oceanside, California
We went down to the Oceanside Pier at night this year. It is a really different place at night. We also spent some time on the Strand this year. We rented one of those pedal cars and pedaled a big chunk of the run course. It was nice to enjoy these places that I have associated only with pain and suffering in the past. It helped me on the run this year and seemed to make the run shorter.

  

 

Swim
I had my best swim ever at Oceanside. I shaved off almost 4 ½ minutes from last year. I just felt good and swam hard. The conditions were better too. It was flatter and the water was 8 degrees warmer. Instead of 55 it was 63 degrees. I can’t really explain why I swam that much faster though.

Bike
It was a nice day and not raining this year. I enjoyed the bike ride a lot more. That first hill never gets any easier. I always think that I am better trained and it will not seem as menacing, but it is what it is . . . which is . . . one mean hill! Although the rain was gone, there was some wind. It wasn’t terrible, but over the space of 3 hours I think it cut into my time. I probably road a lot better this year than last, but the wind carved into my time and I ended up with a bike split 2 minutes longer than last year.

Run

My old Garmin watch recently died, and I bought a new one. I hadn’t used it yet and I spent way too much time in transition trying to get my watch on and get it to work. I finally gave up on getting it to work. Luckily I know the course and would always be able to figure out approximately what mile I was at. I did have the time of day working and used it for nutrition every half hour. For some reason the run was difficult from the first step to the last. My legs just did not want to run. I have several theories: 1) my bike training is not where it should be; 2) I toasted my legs too much in that wind in Havasu a week ago; 3) I ran too hard the other night racing the boys. 4) I am 10 pounds heavier than last year; 5) a combination of all the above.

Whatever the reason, I struggled to run. It was a continual battle. I did not surrender to the pain and continued to push however. Mile after mile I waited for my running legs to show up. They never did. My left Achilles tightened and threatened me and I prayed. It went away. My right foot began to hurt with every step and I prayed and it went numb. In the end, I ran the half marathon about a minute slower than last year. So the 4 minutes I gained in the swim this year the bike, run and poor transitions took back and I ended up finishing the race 16 seconds faster than last year.

Havasu Triathlon

 

Havasu City, Arizona

 

I have never been to Havasu City, so it was fun to check it out. The drive up from Parker to Havasu City is really beautiful. We were actually there during Spring Break, and so my over-all impression of the place is that it is inhabited by two groups. College age kids there to party, and the elderly. It is a cool place. The hotel I selected was not the host hotel, but it was perfectly located. We could easily walk down to the race site. In fact on race morning I walked back from transition to use the bathroom.

 

 

The day we arrived it was beautiful. Race morning it was still beautiful, just very windy. They issued and extreme wind advisory. The wind was blowing towards shore and creating little white caps. Christian was going to get his first taste of rough water. All of his Sprint swim would take place in the lake. While I would swim the same portion of the lake, most of my Olympic swim would take place in the channel.

The wind got worse and my wave was last. Somehow in the confusion I missed the channel and I ended up having to swim back a ways and lost time on my swim. Below is a map of the swim course. The buoys are orange and the yellow line is the course I swam. How I messed that up I still don’t know.

 

 

Once I got in the channel headed towards the bridge I swam really fast, I realized why when I turned around and headed the other way. There was a current and heading back we were now swimming into the wind. That is actually good for me however

The bike course was miserable for me. One of the hardest I have ever faced. Even though this was an Olympic distance, I felt it was harder in some ways than a 56 mile half iron ride. For the first 15 miles we had a fierce headwind. The wind just seemed to get stronger and stronger. My legs however went the opposite direction. I remember climbing to top of a hill and looking forward to coasting down a bit, but I actually had to pedal down the hill the wind was so strong. The first 15 miles were not fun at all and took a lot of time. With about 10 miles to go, the course turns around and heads the other direction. Hell quickly became heaven as I hammered this10 miles straight with the wind to my back. Reports have the wind about 30 mph which in retrospect makes sense to me. As I headed back, I was averaging 30-35 mph. What was weird about it was that there was no wind in my face and it was dead silent. All I could hear was the hum of my wheels. It is strange to be going 35 miles mph with no wind or sound of wind.

With or without the wind this course would have been difficult for me given the number of hills. I am usually not negative, but my biggest problem with this course is safety. As I mentioned earlier, Havasu City seemed to be populated by two groups this weekend: College age kids who are there to party and the elderly. Both groups scare a guy on a bike going 35 mph. The course goes through multiple residential neighborhoods with hundreds of driveways leading on to the course. There are hills in these neighborhoods where you are flying past driveways that anyone could back out of. Other parts of the course go by hotels (including ours) and many, many other places were cars can suddenly enter the course. Having suffered two serious crashes and one near miss in the recent past, this was heavy on my mind. This course has literally hundreds and hundreds of opportunities for someone to kill a cyclist.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet about this race that is unique, is that it is the Mountain Collegiate Triathlon Conference Championships. This became very evident to me as I started the run and realized that 75% of the athletes were college team athletes. It was a bit bizarre to see so many young triathletes out there. It was interesting to see all the schools and how the kids approached the run. There were a lot of athletes who faded in the second half of the run. The run starts in sand which is always a great start off the bike. Shortly after that you get to climb up some stairs to the London Bridge before you cross it and then it is a nice flat rolling run. I felt pretty good and enjoyed the run. The wind was still blowing and I almost lost my visor a couple times, but at least now it pretty much just kept me cool without causing too much slowing. It is a good race. I will have to think about the bike safety issue before signing up again however.