Silverman - Half Ironman
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Silverman - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman
View Member's Race Log
![]() Swim
Comments: Rough. By the start of the half, you could see white caps beyond the marina. The first 2/3 of the swim out was fine, as the breakers sheltered the wind. I positioned myself near the front and towards the middle. There was some bumping in the first 200 yards, but nothing too bad. All hell broke loose after I found myself in open water. There were probably 2 foot swells in the open water. It sucked. At the first buoy, things got a little better as you were able to ride the swells. As I turned the last buoy, I knew I was in for trouble. I still haven't mastered breathing on my ride side, and I could have used it coming back in. I swallowed a ton of water and had to stop a few times to catch my breath. The waves were pushing me all over the place. By then, the swimmers were really spread out. With about 4-500 yards left, the waters calmed down as we were back behind the marina, but it was still fairly choppy. I was glad to see the finish and swam until my hands touched the bottom. I ran up the ramp, dropped for the wetsuit strippers, grabbed my bike bag from the volunteer and ran into the changing tent. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I was hoping for a little better time, but given the circumstances, I am glad to even finish that swim. And to think, the race organizers commented on the fact that the swim was 5 times worse than that last year. Wow! ![]() Transition 1
Comments: T1 went pretty smoothly. I put on socks and my bike shoes in the changing tent. I forgot to put my running number/belt in my T2 bag so I had to wear it on the bike, but it was no big deal. My bike was in the rack closest to the changing tent, so I had a little ways to run before the mount area. I decided not to have my shoes clipped in as there is a good mile climb leading out of transition. What would you do differently?: Nothing. ![]() Bike
Comments: Wow, what a course. I left transition and proceeded uphill for a mile just leading out of the marina. We then took a right on the main road around Lake Mead. At this point the wind was at our back, so I pushed it pretty hard for the first 10 or so miles. There was rolling hills and then a good climb up to the right turn on Northshore Drive (?). I was able to pass a number of people here. The 10-12 miles from the turn on Northshore to the half turnaround was a net elevation gain with several good sized hills. I did a good job of keeping a good pace on the uphills and holding on for dear life on the downhills. There was a cross wind for most of this part and the wind was blowing me around a bit at 35-40mph - fun stuff. I passed Julia just before mile 23, gave her a little pat on the back and she uttered some words of encouragement. :) More hills followed and I played cat on mouse with one guy for several miles. Then came mile 38-40, the now infamous Three Sisters. Given I had ridden this part of the course on Friday, I knew what to expect. But today, they were much harder. I finally dropped that one guy on the last Sister and never saw him again. I thought, now I am finished with the tough part of the course, whew! Boy was I wrong. What I thought was going to be relatively easy turned out to be just as tough as the hills. There is about 10 miles of a bike path to ride and it's a false flat. Combine that with a stiff headwind and you get spinning in your smallest gear trying to maintain 11-13mph. That was a little demoralizing. I was hoping to use this section to bring my avg speed up. That was not to be the case. Once off the bike path, you were a little more sheltered from the wind and I was able to pick up some time. The last 10 miles were OK with a big downhill section and a couple of small rollers right before T2. I passed a number of people on the bike course and didn't get passed by anyone. It was a little lonely out there at times. The one good thing about this race is the smaller field and the one bad thing about the race is the smaller field. There were times when you were all alone on the course and no other competitor in sight. I pushed the last 5 miles as much as possible as I wanted to be under 3 hrs. I made with not much to spare. Overall, a really tough course. I was happy to be off the bike. My nutrition was spot on. I had 3.5 servings of Clif Blocks and took in 4-5 bottles of Gatorade Endurance. I also had Enduralytes at mile 10 and mile 50. I had some very, very minor tweaks/cramps in my butt, but nothing too significant. What would you do differently?: I felt pretty good on the bike, but with this course, you can't do enough hill repeats in your training. ![]() Transition 2
Comments: The volunteers were great. I got off my bike, handed it to a volunteer, then another handed my run gear bag to me, and I headed into the tent to change. What would you do differently?: nothing ![]() Run
Comments: My legs felt good coming off the bike. The beginning section was downhill and at mile 1, I looked to see 7.10 on my watch. Not too bad. Then the hills came and so did some cramps in both quads. Fortunately the cramps went away quickly. I guess it was just the pounding on that downhill section. Mile 2-4 was a sustained climb and I could see two guys up ahead. I don't say this too often, but I was able to pick them off and never saw them again. There was a flat section as you came back to the T2 area on Green Valley Parkway and headed out on a bike path. It was there where I saw Macca coming in the finish area. We crossed each other, said good job, and gave each other a high five - pretty cool. As I left the bike path, Dave Scott came running past, but he had another 4-5 miles to go, while Macca crossed the finish line by now. Then came another long uphill climb until the turnaround. One guy caught up to me and we ran together for a long time. He would push ahead for a while and then I would catch back up to him. I was also counting the runners on the back portion as I could figure out where I was. I was pumped when I got to the turnaround and only counted what I thought was 10 or so people. Now that we were going back, we had downhill section. That was nice. I saw Julia at roughly mile 9 and let her know she was about 2 1/2 minutes behind the 1st place female. The last part of the run was pretty cool. The course ran through the middle of the Green Valley Ranch Station, a outdoor shopping/food court. It was awesome to have a big cheering section by then. I was finally able to drop the guy I was running with at mile 11-12. Mile 12 was tough. It was the last uphill section before turning back on the bike path. I still felt good and kicked it up a notch for the last half mile and into the long finishing chute. I thought there were a couple of mis-marked miles, but I kept a fairly consistent pace. My last 2 miles were 8.30s. What would you do differently?: nothing ![]() Post race
Warm down: Just walked around, grabbed some food and a space blanket to keep warm. Event comments: This race is top notch. I don't think it could have gone any smoother. The volunteers were great. Tons of stuff on the bike and run course. On the run, someone would meet you ahead of the station to ask what you wanted, then they would yell that out, so you wouldn't have to scramble to get what you needed. The schwag was awesome, a felt blanket, water bottles, nice transition bag, visor, t-shirt and other goodies. Age group winners also received a free round trip ticket on Allegiant Air to/from Vegas, along with a plaque and gift certificate to Tri-sports.com. I would highly, highly recommend this race to everyone. One last story. So if anyone was at the banquet, you know we were treated to a talk from Dave Scott on his race. He commented on how Macca couldn't pass the "Old Man" on the swim and just drafted instead up until the last possible second before racing out of the water to get the swim premium. So Dave Scott threw Macca his swim cap. He also talked about how he didn't know how he was given the number 451, as he always had number 1 or number 2 or so other low number. But not 451. It was a little joke that got the crowd laughing. So after the banquet, Macca comes over to our table to sign some stuff for Julia and to talk to AJ. Long story short, Macca wasn't too thrilled to have Dave Scott's swim cap, so he gave it to me. So if anyone is interested in putting a bid for it, I'll listen to offers..... Fantastic race Last updated: 2007-01-08 12:00 AM
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 8/174
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 1/20
I drove into Vegas on Thursday evening and relaxed at the hotel. On Friday morning, Jim (Crusvegas) was kind enough to give me a tour of the Three Sisters and the following bike path. The ride wasn't difficult, but I didn't know exactly what was in store for me leading up to that point. On Saturday, Julia, Chris, AJ and I went out to the lake to drop off our bikes, take in a swim and drive the bike course. We arrived at Lake Mead around 9am, checked out the swim start and T1, then headed down to Boulder Beach to swim. The weather was gorgeous - not a cloud in the sky and virtually no wind to speak of. Needless to say, I was pretty confident I would have a good swim. The water felt great and was crystal clear. After the swim, we dropped off our bikes. That was a good call as we got really good transition spots. I was a little worred about the fact that I couldn't take some of the air pressure out of my tires, and that would be an issue with sitting out in the sun all day. It wasn't. We then drove the first 2/3 of the bike course and all I can say is the hills never stopped. There is nothing too steep for the first 35 miles, but they just keep coming. We then checked out T2, got something to eat. Chris McCormick caravanned to Vegas with Julia, Chris, AJ and Courtney, so I got the chance to meet him in the parking lot. I got back to Caesars around 4pm and relaxed for the rest of the night. On race morning, I got everything together and headed out to Sunset Station to catch the bus. I sat right behind Dave Scott. I wondered if Macca was going to get picked up by limo service from the Wynn. There was a small breeze when I first got there, but the lake was relatively calm. But the wind just kept getting stronger, and by 20m into the full, it was pretty rough.
Not much, but loosening the arms for the swim. I tried to keep moving because it was pretty chilly before the start.