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 Swim
Comments: The good: PR for an Oly swim! The course layout made spotting easy for most of the swim. Whenever breathing on the right, if you saw transition, you were on course. The water was cool and refreshing if you had on a full wetsuit ;) I attribute the good time to the wetsuit as I had drafting issues and I had to clear my goggles twice. The melee was minimal in my general vicinity except for me whacking people's feet... The bad: Most agreed that the swim was the worst organized part of the race. A long trek on gravel in bare feet is generally a bad idea. Some waves were timed such that sprint and oly swimmers merged and got to the transition at the same time. The gravel was swept from the transition ramp, but a mat would have been helpful. And last but not least there wasn't a single visible kayak for emergency assistance out on the lake. The ugly: Water quality was so so. The lake bed near shore was pretty muddy, so running was ill advised. Rocks and gravel on the shore cut up a number of feet. What would you do differently?: Not much different. I tried to take it slow at first to avoid the altitude hyperventilation everyone told me to expect. Drafting is a luck of the draw thing, so all things considered, a PR ain't too bad.  Transition 1
Comments: I need to take my transitions more seriously. I walked gingerly up the ramp, and took a while to get my wetsuit off. I am getting better at getting that suit off myself, though strippers are always welcome in my T1 :) Sunscreen also slowed me down a bit. I should probably switch back to quickgel or a spray. Lastly, As I started off with the bike I tripped and dumped a portion of my aero bottle. I had to refill from my emergency bottle. What would you do differently?: Use a quickgel or spray on sunscreen. Run.  Bike
Comments: Loved the bike on this course. Smooth roads and a big shoulder made for some fun racing. The hills were a little long but not that steep. Scenery was nice, and the weather cooperated. What would you do differently?: Again, not much. I wasn't too zealous and kept my HR under control. Avg speed was pretty ok considering hills. Transition 2
Comments: This T2 was more avg to below avg. I wasn't in a big rush, and I took some time to wave to the wife on the sidelines. What would you do differently?: Hurry it up :)  Run
Comments: The rankings don't lie. I hate being Back of FOP in the swim, MOP on the bike, then DFL on the run. I did finish with some juice left in the tank, so I guess I wasn't pushing as hard as I could. I think I'm psyching myself out with the HR training. I would feel 10,000% more comfortable if I could just hold a running pace below my LT. I ran a more sensible HR interval this time compared to my performance at Tempe. I walked whenever I hit 160 until I got it back down to 120 or so. By doing this I didn't need to walk very far when I did. The first big event was seeing Chris RUNNING. I started chanting ESCKTC to cheer him on. Jerry wasn't too far behind. that definitely got my spirits up. The hill was a different story though. I think it was mostly a walk for me. Paulette wizzed past me in the first few hundred yards, and I fought to not be passsed by people twice my age. They all passed me. Once at the top, through the woods, and back to the downhill I started seeing the others. Josh wasn't far behind me. Tanya was almost to the top of the hill, and Jen was about halfway up the 2nd leg of the hill. I ran the whole downhill with no problems. I just concentrated on form to minimize the impact. The last mile and a half was pretty good. I started back into my run-walk routine and passed a few folks who ran out of juice. I tried to run a high tempo pace from the beginning of the parked cars till finish and had to walk a short stint near the end. I powered it to the finish, posing for a few pictures along the way. What would you do differently?: Don't let up from the halfway at the top of the hill through the finish. I walked twice in the final 1.5mi when I should have just pushed through. Post race
Warm down: Water, watermelon, massage. What limited your ability to perform faster: The run and all the physical and psychological things that surround it. I slow myself on the bike in expectation of the run, I slow myself on the run in expectation of the wall I will hit during the last miles, and by the end, I'm in the habit of being slow, so I stay slow. Also slowing me down was T1. There are a few things I will tweek for next time on there. Event comments: Despite my performance I rate this race as the #3 Oly I have done behind Great Lake Escape and Escape from Alcatraz. I love a challenging course, and with a little more organization and support on the swim this could be a great race. Profile Album Last updated: 2007-05-29 12:00 AM
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United States
Mountain Man Triathlon
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 179/238
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 25/30
There was nothing "routine" about this pre-race. Mountain Man was a sort-of destination race for our little group from the valley. 6 of us went together on a house rental for the weekend, and wackiness ensued. The reality show will be airing on Fox this Fall. :)
I started cooking for the BT-Palooza potluck on Wednesday. Friday morning everything was cooked and ready to go. I skipped out of work early, and the wife and I braved the weekender traffic up to Flagstaff. 3 hrs later I pulled into the Picazzo pizza parking lot bug-eyed and ready to start swinging if I ran into any of the other drivers from that trip. Desert Heat + Rain + Hills + Construction + Cars with Camper Trailers = Bad Drive. A couple of beers and some super tasty pizza remedied all that. We settled into the house and stayed up chatting until midnight.
Saturday there was a bunch of prep to do. 15-20 people were coming to the BT potluck, I planned to change my bike tires, and we had packet pickup and some short loostenup workouts planned. The early morning was going ok. Tanya (StandsWithFists) made some great pancakes for our carbo-loading pleasure. I had a heck of a time changing tires. I'll be the first to admit, I suck at changing tubes, let alone when there's a tight new tire involved. I managed to pinch the first 2 tubes in the process of getting the rear tire done. That was the important one since the equipment tracker has been nagging me about it for a few weeks now. We all needed to run into town anyway to pick up some MORE food for the potluck, so I added some tubes to the shopping list.
Before we got a chance to do our pre-pre-race-potluck shopping several deluges of water occured. The first was indoor. A kink in a washing machine drain hose on the 2nd floor of the house led to a fine simulation of Niagra Falls in our living room. Everyone scrambled to find the source of the water, ways to catch it, and house owners to clean up and fix it. Once things were mostly under control I recognized there were too many cooks working on the problem and got out of the kitchen. I took a test ride on my new back tire instead.
Crisis averted, we headed into town and into the 2nd deluge, this one from the sky. Thunder and hail ensued. SingleTrack bike shop had the tubes and supplies we needed, and Our Daily Bread supplied some great turkey pastrami sandwiches and fresh made potato chips. We got back to the house to find all the guests already arrived and the storm just starting to hit the house.
The potluck started the pre-race nutrition portion of the event. We had lasagna, mozzarela caprese salad, shrimp and tortellini pasta, my mexican roast pig with habanero salsa, the sandwiches, various fruits and desserts, and the list goes on. If there was a diet in the house it was blown. Everybody had a good time though, and most were conscious of the race in the morning.
After the party we all broke and headed for packet pickup. There was a bit of a line, but the good company made it go fast. We wandered around checking out the transition area and listened to the race briefing. They made it a special point to make sure nobody parked on the road in the morning since traffic would not be stopped. They needed the whole shoulder/bike lane for racers. We all gathered for a group picture, and headed back for final prep and sleep.
Back at the house with a reassuring 2 more spare tubes I changed my front tire. And wouldn't you know it, I got this one on the first try. We were all exhausted and trying our best to stop one another from taking afternoon naps. The cancelled Saturday workouts were a lucky break for Chris since I brought extra clothes and he forgot his. He wasn't thrilled with the spandex, but you take what you can get. It's function before fashion in this sport :)
Once the bags were packed and everyone satisfied with bike and equipment readiness we crashed. A 4AM wakeup awaited...
Morning was routine. A simple breakfast, bags and bikes in the cars, and off to the races. Parking was difficult due to the above-mentioned restrictions. We managed to find a spot accross the street near transition. I found a central, easily spotted, location for my transition area, and went through the rest of the standard motions. (i.e. RR & Body Marking) I gathered up my swim gear and headed for the ramp.
It was good walk to the starting boat ramp. I was lucky I had my wife along to take my sandals. The gravel was sharp, so walking that distance barefoot would have been bad. I got on my wetsuit, cap, and goggles at the picnic pavillion and waited for the race to begin.
None. A walk to the starting boat ramp and a short wrestling match with a wetsuit :)