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 Swim
Comments: All the male HIM racers went off at once, making for a crowded start. We all started about chest deep, spread over a 100 yards or so, it wasn't too bad. It was immediately apparent that the goggle clearing technique I was going to use was not going to work, but I followed the crowd to the first buoy. We turned right, right into the rising sun. Between my goggles and the sun,. I had about a millimeter opening I could see in my right goggle. In other words, nothing really. I saw a line of guys in this little slit opening, and decided just to follow them. It was brilliant, I had the best navigation of any race I've done. Or as my wife said, they did. When they went straight, I did. When they turned, I did. At no point in this swim did I exert myself, and just before the third turn, I decided to phone it in from there on out and just cruise to the finish. Hit the last buoy and came out of the water. I had a watch on but wasn't timing the race. No idea where I was in the race, no idea of my time. Turned out to be my best half swim ever. What would you do differently?: nothing - oh... buy new goggles  Transition 1
Comments: Lonnnnnnnggggggg run to the top rack. Yeah, that's my excuse. Doesn't matter that everyone else had to run it, or that I was barefooted and others down closer to the water were in cycling shoes. I was not racing the transitions. Clearly  Bike
Comments: I hit the bike and my HR was 135. Perfect. Rant to the mount line, and just settled in. It was at this point that the first HIM female passed me. Holy cow..... I had heard that the climb from the lake to Lakeshore Drive was bad, so I just spun it out. And waited for the climb. And waited. It never came. I decided to hold backas much as I could. I didn't care about people passing me, this was my B race for IMAZ. It is definitely a challenging course, there are a few fairly easy climbs along Lakeshore, about 10 miles in you turn onto Northshore, go out another 15 miles to the turnaround. There was one flat secion going each way, less than a mile long, the rest was all ups or downs. Downs in aero. Ups on the pads spinning happily. The rollers were MUCH easier on the bike than they looked. I suppose if someone were trying to win the race, it would be VERY tough. Since it was a qualifier race, lots of people camefrom out of town, where they didn't have hills. The course is absolutely beautiful. Too bad IMAZ isn't this desert pretty. I made sure to look up and around to enjoy the view. At some point, on the way back in, a girl in an orange bathing suit came by in aero. On the back her suit said "I rock." Yes, you do. Somehow, I managed to keep her in sight along Lakeshore. Weird (saw her later on the run, the front of her suit said "Who rocks?") Since I was using it to nail nutrition, I had my watch beeping every 12 minutes, sip of 3X concentrate Infinit and some water. Picked up some extra water at 2 aid stations. The advertised worst part of this course, from the toll booth to Boulder City, scared me, so I had been holding back for that. I caught up to some of the Olympic racers in the park, so I started passing people rather than being passed. I started the climb at the toll booth. From there to US 93..... SUCKED. It was getting hot. Large trucks with trailers andboats were leaving the park. It was steep. Turned onto 93, and I expected the worst. It was not bad at all. Up 93 about 1/2 mile, then onto the bike path for the same distance, then the last steep mile. Surprisingly, I just spun easy up all of it. Much much easier than expected. I had been riding lots of hills lately, and adding climbs to the end of my rides. I had seen much worse than this, so I was happy that it wasn't bad at all. I've read reports that it was the toughest course ever, etc. Felt good that I wasn't trashed by it. Best HIM bike time by 4 seconds :), but I think the course was a mile or so short. What would you do differently?: Nothing Transition 2
Comments: WTF?????????? Here's what I did - Ran long T area - Racked bike - Re racked bike by seat - Emptied bag - and... jeez, a ton of other stuff. Slowest. Transition. Ever What would you do differently?: no comment  Run
Comments: Goal was to hit 2:10, but didn't have the garmin, only the watch for splits, which I promptly screwed up. All I knew throughout the run was that we started sometime after 7, so I until sometime after 1 to beat 6. But no idea how much after. Was shocked to come to the finish line and see 6:00:XX on the clock, and regretted getting a manicure in T2. Set off and felt good on the run. Had my infinit run mix, but ended up using gatorade, water and infinit on the course. Pretty boring course, not much to look at. We did have two stunt planes practicing over us at miles 5-7, which took my mind off it a bit. Mostly flat except for two extremely painful "climbs," mile plus long sections of 2% grade or so, at miles 5-7 and 8-9, then more climbs 10-12. The run was TOUGH. I slowed a bit, but didn't get bit by the mile 8 curse, as I have before. Warm but not hot. A little bit of a breeze. At one point the run follows a curving bike path. I was running the curves, and a guy came up behind me and said "try not to run all the curves, apex it, you'll end up running less. It adds up over 13 miles." good advice Walked all aid stations spaced about every mile, ended up with a 2:11. Last 3 miles were pretty rough. Completed simply on will. Previous HIM best run was 2:37, so I am happy with this run, painful as it was. What would you do differently?: not sure..... Post race
Warm down: They had huge tubs filled with blocks of ice. Yummy!!!! Although could only take about 30 seconds being submerged. Lots of water, resting, massage. What limited your ability to perform faster: As always, weight, but I'll take a 25 minute PR anyday Event comments: Beauttiful swim and bike, blah run, but a race I would do again. Just enough of a challenge. Last updated: 2008-07-03 12:00 AM
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United States
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 164/314
Age Group = M Clydes
Age Group Rank = 5/8
I was a bit worried going into this since people had qualified for (i.e., they were fast), but there were also general entry slots (i.e., for us slow people). Neeing a late season HIM as an IMAZ tuneup, I signed up.
My goals were to use it as IMAZ training primarily, and use it as a qualifier for SOS next November (needed a 7:00 finish and a 2:10 run). But primary was to practice IM Pacing and nutrition. I wasn't going to hammer any of it.
I became more worried when, after picking up our race packets, we drove down "The Hill" to Lake Mead and our hotel at the Hacienda. It's about 1300 feet in the last 5 miles or so, with an 8% grade for the last mile. We drove a bit of the course inside Lake Mead, and that was all rollers. Up, down, nothing flat. I was getting depressed. Decided to check the course cutoff times, just in case........
This was also the club championships, which LA Tri had lost last year, and were very anxious about not losing again. So we had lots of club members out there.
Woke up race morning at 5 a.m. and was at the race site by 5:30 to rack my bike, plenty of time to spare before the 7 am mass wave start. The transition area was one loooooong chute, and all the HIM racers were up near the top of it.
Nothing really. Took a few strokes in the water and realized that I brought my old goggles, the ones that don't clear up, no matter what I do. I spit on them, lugeed on them, rubbed lake rock on them... nothing. They'd fog within a few seconds of putting them on. I decided to use an old diving trick, keep a little bit of water inside so that when I dropped my head, they'd clear... or not.