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.
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.
Being that I
am a big guy, and by ‘big’ I mean my body ratio is all wrong for climbing hills on a
bike. And by “body ratio” I mean fat. As I climb hills I often curse under my
breath through labored breath “Is there anyone in this race that doesn’t
climb hills faster than me?” My point is that it is usually a hilly bike course that
strikes more fear into me than any other part of a race. Sometimes knowing what
I am facing and talking myself through it, helps calm my fears. Here are my
efforts on the Ironman St. George bike course. Elevation start: 3,031Highest
point:4,111
Elevation should not be a major factor. We will be capping
off the toughest climb at the highest point of elevation, but I think the hurt
we will feel will be from true effort rather than elevation.
There are 5 major climbs for a total of 2,552 feet of
ascent during the course. I am going to think of them as the 5 days of a work
week. The first hill is called ‘Nemesis’. I haven’t been able to find out what
if anything the locals call any of the other 4 hills, but I am going to call them Monday Morning, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (or Hallelujah
Hill).
Monday Morning - Apparently this hill is called ‘Nemesis’
and starts shortly after T1 at mile 3.5. It is a 1.4 mile long Category 5 hill with
260 feet of elevation gain and an average grade of 3.6%. This hill will probably
hurt the most of the 4 Category 5 hills that the course throws at us for a
couple reasons. It is the first hill and the steepest of the 4 Cat 5’s. We will
encounter it with only 3.5 miles of riding and the legs may
need a little waking up. It might feel a bit like a Monday morning. The bright side is that it may be a welcomed opportunity to warm up after a cold swim.
Tuesday - After Monday Morning there are plenty
of good flat and descending miles to shake off any effects of climbing that
first hill. It is not until mile 20 that we will encounter Tuesday. Tuesday
should feel a lot better than Monday Morning. It is still a Category 5 hill
with a shorter 1 mile long climb with half the elevation gain of Monday Morning (134 feet) and more than a full percent less average grade coming
in at 2.4%.
Wednesday - About 5 easy miles after Tuesday we
will encounter Wednesday at about mile 26.5. Wednesday is basically the
identical twin in every way of Tuesday. If you have met Tuesday then you have
met Wednesday.
Thursday - About 6 miles after Wednesday, we
will encounter Thursday at about mile 32.5. Thursday is a little later in the
week and this hill reflects it. It is a Category 5 hill that is 1.5 miles
long with an elevation gain of 264 feet and an average grade of 3.3%. This hill's stats should sound familiar as it is almost
a carbon copy of Monday Morning.
Friday - We just have to get past Friday and
then it is the weekend. After Friday it is 11 miles of downhill to the bike finish.
We will not approach Friday with the ease that all the other days of the
week afforded. We will be 42 miles into the ride and instead of a flat or
downhill approach, at mile 37 we will begin a climb that will gradually
increase in grade for 5 miles until we reach mile 42 where the climb turns into
a category 3 hill that goes for up 3 miles. In those 3 miles we will climb approximately 800
feet with an average grade of 5%. At the risk of being sacrilegious, I am going
to call this Hallelujah Hill. After 4 category 5’s, 45 miles and 8 straight
climbing miles with the last 3 miles at a 5% average grade, when my fat butt hits
that top of that hill, a Hallelujah maybe entirely appropriate. By the time we
hit the top at mile 45 it all downhill for the last 11 miles.
Disclaimer:
This is simply
a paper analysis by an Arizona flat lander based on what little available
information I could find with my meager computer skills. I have never ridden or
even seen this course in person, but would welcome comments from those who
have.
Tempe, Arizona I
started today with three hours of hill climbing on my bike in the hills of
north mesa. I came home and rested up and then in the evening I went and did this
St. Patrick’s Day run. I like it when I can do a race in the evening for a
change. The run was 4 miles. It ended up being a pretty tough run however given
the status of my legs and the fact that the course was in Kiwanis Park which
actually has a few steep little bumps to burn my already burnt legs. Despite
the pain I pushed for an 8:10 pace and felt pretty good about my day. A fun run
with a cool shirt that I got in my wife’s size which she loved and wore the
next day to work for St. Patrick’s Day.
I
signed us up for this race for what may be considered by some to be a bizarre reason.
I don’t have a 17K on my race resume. It also benefitted prostate cancer and I
figured if I was going to do a long run this weekend, I might as well do it as
a race. It is always far easier for me to stay motivated for a long run if it
is an actual race. 17k is about 10 ½ miles. For some reason this race seemed
like a full half marathon to me. I ran it decent for me, but nothing
spectacular. My legs are still a bit torn up from dong Escape 6 days ago.
San Francisco, California On the 3rd
year of entering the lottery, on the 3rd day of the 3rd
month of 2013, I competed in the 33rd annual Escape from Alcatraz
Triathlon.Christian went with me on
this trip. We toured Alcatraz Friday morning before the race and heard about
all the failed escape attempts and those who had died trying to escape
Alcatraz. The morning
of the race started at 3:00 am for me. I stretched, ate, warmed up, dressed and
prayed. At 4:00 am, I headed out and rode my bike through Fisherman’s Warf and
over the hill at Fort Mason to arrive at Transition on the Marina Green. It was
a windy cold morning. I wouldn’t expect anything else from San Francisco. I set
up my transition with several cold weather options. I wasn’t sure how cold I
would be coming out of the swim and I was most worried about my hands. I had
purchased a pair of neoprene diving gloves to wear in the case that my hands
were cold. Having working hands is essential given that I need my fingers
working properly to operate the shifters and brakes. After double checking my
transition I boarded a shuttle to the Boat at about 5:00 am. Soon I was at the
dock looking at the famous San Francisco Belle.
One difficult
part of this race is waiting for over an hour on the cold windy dock to board
the boat. I could have got on the boat earlier but I wanted to stay close to
the port-a-potties for a while to complete my pre-race elimination ritual. Once
I was on the boat, I knew that what few restrooms they had would be over-run by
2,000 athletes. I boarded the boat a little before 6:30. When I entered the
boat it was wall to wall bodies lying or sitting on the floor. I was assigned to
go to the second floor because of my age group.I laid down and tried to relax for a while before it was time to warm
up. As the start approaches the boat becomes more and more agitated with
excitement. What originally looked like a morgue of wet suited bodies quickly becomes
a hornet’s nest of wet suited bodies. Everyone moves to one side of the boat in
anticipation of the jump and the boat actually starts to lean significantly. I
knew that the water would be colder than I have ever experienced. Over 50% of
the athletes were wearing booties on their feet. This was allowed for this race
given the cold conditions. I chose not to wear booties after researching and
reading on the subject. Once the all clear for the start occurs you push like a herd of cattle towards the open door for the jump. The closer you get to the door the wetter the carpet becomes. As a triathlete, there was no doubt in my mind where the wet was coming from. People were peeing in their wetsuits, either on purpose or out of fear. The official water temperature would be recorded as 51
degrees.
This You Tube Video will give you and idea of what the start is like.
It was cold.
I have completed the Alcatraz crossing twice before in other races. This time
was the coldest and most difficult. I also learned how spoiled I was on my
first two crossings. The other times I honestly didn’t see the big deal. This
time I jumped in and within a minute the conditions humbled me. Some people
claimed six foot swells and waves. I would say that is an exaggeration, but the
conditions where the worst I have personally ever faced I have to admit it was
a totally new experience to actually feel fear on a swim. Because I have a
swimming/water polo background I guess I have lacked a lot of empathy for other
athletes who have to overcome fear during these swims. I understand that better
now and will stop taking it for granted. Especially since a guy a lot like me
lost his life just moments after jumping into that water with me. He was a
trial lawyer like me and only about a year older than me.
This You Tube Video will give you an idea of the water conditions
The cold was
shocking and hurt my hands and feet. They call this first section the washing
machine for good reason, I felt like I was trying to swim in a washing machine.
It was wavy with white caps and the waves seemed to come in every direction. My
goggles got knocked loose by a wave that smacked me in the face, I stopped to
fix them and got hit by another wave and swallowed water. I have never
swallowed water in a race. I must have swallowed water 10 times in this one. I
couldn’t see the shore. I couldn’t see the other swimmers. I couldn’t see the
guide boats. I talked to many other athletes after the race and it felt like
you were alone out there tempest tossed in the waves. I would have to stop and
tread water and wait for a wave to lift me up so I could see where everything
was. I was constantly getting knocked off course by the waves. What had started
as a swim race for me quickly turned into a swim survival. Siting was difficult and when I got close to
shore the current was taking me towards the Golden Gate Bridge and I ended up
spending some major swim energy trying not to over shoot the beach. I was glad
to finally have my feet on the shore.
There is a
mini transition area where I took off my wet suit and threw on pair of shoes for
a half mile. The run seems longer than half a mile but it is good to get warmed
up and get your cold head straight before hitting the bike.
The bike
course seemed like one long 18 mile hill to me. Sure there were downhill
segments, but they were impossible to enjoy because they were steep and I was
on my brakes and I also knew they just meant I would have to go back up again.
I have got to lighten up to be anywhere near competitive or even enjoy a bike
course like this one. I felt like I was being passed by all every athlete in
the race. I think I only passed one old guy and that was because he had gotten
of his bike and was walking one of the steeper hills. I discovered after the
race that my back brake had been rubbing the whole race. So much so that when I
went to get my bike out of transition after the race the wheel was locked as I
drug it across the grass. So not only were those hills miserable, I climbed
them with a handicap.
The run was
just plain fun. Now that doesn’t mean it is easy, in fact it is probably one of
the most sadistic run courses you will ever find. But it was such an adventure.
You run stairs, switch backs, asphalt, cement, dirt trails, rocky mountain paths,
gravel, soft sand, packed sand, wet sand, beach, sand ladders, grass, gravel.
You climb, then you descend, you turn, you twist, you duck through a tunnel. You
dodge rocks and even tourists. It is windy and cool, and then it is hot. You
cannot get bored on this run, there is always a new challenge just ahead. The
run was difficult, but I loved it and it was over before I knew it. I came down
the last set of stairs and hit the last flat two miles and the realization that
there were not more hills this course had to throw at me, made me intoxicated with
the joy of knowing that I had done it. I was so happy, and with the wind at my
back I hit the gas for the last two miles and for the first time in the race I
was passing people.
At 240 pounds
I will never be very competitive on a course like this, but I loved this race.
While it is not as long as a 70.3 the amount of muscle output of this race
takes almost as much out of you.
