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.