ChelanMan - Long Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Had a great swim. Shaved 2 mins off my Boise time. Water was 70 degrees and gorgeous. The only water that I've been in that was more blue and more clear was in Hawai'i. Chelanman also had an orange string connecting buoys under water that eliminated most of the need to sight. (Also showed me how crooked I can swim). Felt a bit sluggish out to the first turn. On the leg back in on the triangle, I started picking a bunch of people off. Passed maybe 15 to 20 people and had a top half swim finish again.

Stretched out better, warmed up in water. Took me a while to get my arms going.

Shaved another 3 mins off my T1 time from Boise. Good quick transition.

By the time I headed out on the bike, I could tell I was in need of some fuel. Drank gatorade and kept cruising. At the first two aid stations they were hollering out "Water! Gatorade!" So i just kept moving. In between aid 1 and 2 it started to rain. I was still cold from the bike and this didn't make it any better. Legs felt like lead. Just coldn't seem to get warmed up. And I was hungry. I got to the 3rd aid station about an hour into the bike and heard the "Water! Gatorade!" and just stopped. I asked one of the volunteers if they had any gel and he face lit up, "OH YEAH! I forgot about those" He ran and got me a gel and I said, "I need like 5!" "Awesome!" and then i headed out. The leg back into town felt much better. I noticed there were alot more rolling hills than I had expected and had to do some climbing even in the "flat part of the course". Heading back into town, we caught up with alot of the olympic distance riders and the runners doing just the half marathon had started on the course. Now, with Chelan being a local course, they did not close roads. This normally isn't an issue, but here the road was really congested. Hundreds of bikers and runners and these huge trucks coming through towing big boats. I've rode on plenty of congested roads, but some of the more novice bikers were a bit skittish. Also, there were some severe areas with minor potholes and lots of rocks. I saw probably 12-15 people with flats or bike issues. Great SAG support was getting everyone squared away, but I was extra careful. The rain abated after an hour and made for some slick roads. We headed up the first of the climbs and it was hard. I knew I was in for it. By the time I hit the first hill, I was freezing cold, but I'd felt fueled up and was keeping pace to have about a 3:05 bike split. The first hill was a tough climb. As i mentioned, the rolling hills on the "flat" portion caught me by surprise. Combined with the heavy legs from being chilly, I'd worked more than i wanted heading into these climbs. The 2 climbs were brutal. Wrecked my legs. On the 1st climb the rain came back. Yay. On the downhill of the 2nd climb there was a hairpin turn that someone had wrecked hard on. She didn't look good and I saw ambulances and other medic support. I hope she's ok, but this reinforced my feelings that this wasn't the safest of bike courses, especially in the rain. Muscled through and headed back into town only to have my Garmin regester the bike course as 58+ miles. With a 3:30 bike split, cold, and shot legs, I knew my goal of 6 hours was out the window. Just time to enjoy the run and finish.

Should have trained hills more. Since this wasn't my A race, i was underprepared for the hilliness of the course.

Good T2. Fortunately my compression socks i changed into were dry and I headed out feeling good about finishing.

Just told myself to go easy on the run. No need to try and crush it as I would have had to run about a 1:30 half mary to be close to 6 hours. My legs were feeling it. The climbs of the bike really took their toll. The run on this course was extremely boring. Very little crowd support because you just run 6.55 miles out on the freeway and then turn around and go back. Volunteers were great. Plenty of nutrition on the run, and the athletes on the course were encouraging everyone to keep it up. Had to take a couple of walk breaks through aid stations. Strong finish and happy to be done with my 2nd HIM in 5 weeks.

Nothing.

Ate some food. Hugged the wife.


Got a bit emotional at the end of the race. It was a tough day and I really felt mentally drained afte the bike. I felt like I was fighting my bike all day and never got comfortable. Being cold kept my muscles from really warming up and I was cranky. Nothing felt right. Saddle bugged me. Wether bugged me. Mragh.


Once I got into T2 and over the fact they had apparently mismeasured the bike course I was fine. happy to finish and to enjoy the event. I didn't have my A game today. Maybe a B-/C+, but I felt very good about my effort considering conditions and my bonehead mistake of leaving my nutrition in my car.

If the weather had been better it would have been a much more enjoyable experience. Also, the volunteers at the aid stations were a bit sparse. The ones that were there were tremendous, but they seemed understaffed and the "forgot we had gel" at the first couple aid stations was a bit puzzling. The bike course was hard. Very technical too. Not one you could get aero and just crank out your best speed. Lots of climbing and fast descents and lots of turns. The hairpin on the 2nd turn was downright dangerous. No signage, no volunteers that I saw. Maybe I missed them. If that poor woman hadn't wrecked, it would have been me or someone else. There also was not great SAG support or course patron on the climbing portion of the course where the HIM athletes were cycling. Great SAG support on the first part where all athtletes were, but the bike course could have been better patrolled.

Part of the letdown I had over this race was weather (no body's fault) but also was how I've heard people rave about it. I know its not an MDot race, but for $165 you just got the same medals as everyone else and a tshirt. Postrace food was bagels, cheese, fruit. I'd gladly pay the extra $60 for the extra swag, better post race food, post race massage, better on course patrolling and support, and better flagging/closure of roads for safety.

All that being said, you can take away positives from any effort. I was happy with my swim and my transition times (all better than boise by minutes). I had some down mental periods where I fought through and I had to adjust to forgetting nutrition. Even though I had some reservations about how the race was run and setup, I can see why people really like this race. The best part of the day was seeing friends Darin and Chelsea. Watching a friend finish her first time at the HIM distance was very special and I'm happy for her. Catching up with another friend was great and it was good to see him. Not sure I'll be back in the future, but it was worth it to get the experience in, to travel with my wife, and to see a truly beautiful part of the state that I'd never been too. Kudos to the Chelanman team as well. Its a nice local race that showcases a great community and beautiful scenery.