Last year I had run in the Tour de PeeVee in September. It was a miserable event. It rained the entire time, never got to 60 degrees with an average wind of 8 mph. Miserable. The month after that was the ChaCha. Work and travel conspired against me so my fitness level wasn't the greatest, but still, you don't go from a half marathon to a couch potato in a month. Last year my results were:

 

PLACE   NO. NAME                    SEX AGE    TIME   PACE  CITY, ST 

=====  ==== =====================   === ===  ======= =====  ====================== 

  149   257 JOSHUA POWERS            M   35  1:21:33 11:39  CHANDLER, AZ   

My average heart rate for this was 180. That is high, even for me. I remember in the last mile or so standing on the side of the trail coughing so hard I was dry heaving. Never a pleasant experience. In spite of this, and the rain 15 minutes before the start, I immediately fell in love with this race. The sunrise is gorgeous and the desert landscape is sparse and beautiful. Seven miles of trails and people around you makes up for the fact that it almost an hour each way in driving for me.

This year I clearly have less running miles in. However, my fitness level is probably better simply due to all the triathlon training. So, how did I do this year?

 

Place   No.   Name                          Age Sex/Tot  S Chip    Pace  Gun     Hometown  

  158   297 Joshua Powers                    36  92/123  M 1:17:04 11:01 1:17:27 Chandler Az 

At first blush it looks like a mixed bag. I went from 149th place to 158th place. The fact of the matter is that it was an unqualified success. I felt fine the whole race and was a full 4 minutes faster. The race went from 202 participants (for the 7 miler) in 2006 to 237 this year. 35 more people and a 9 place drop is amazing for me. Even more impressive is that I was that much faster and my average heart rate was 165. (Even if the MotionBased report doesn't pick it up). Also take note of the huge speed spike (choose speed on the above MotionBase report).

Over the course of the last mile I had slowly started to pickup my pace. During this time I had reeled in a few people, with the last one being a guy a maybe 200 yards out. The end of this course is fairly straight, with a 180 degree right hand turn that is about 40 yards to the finish. I pass the guy in front of me about 50 yards before this turn and want to keep going and not have him chase me through the chute. As I approach the 180 I'm hearing footsteps. I figure he's decided to tail me so I take the turn pretty quick and try to keep accelerating. 20 yards out I'm going as fast as I can and I can still hear the footsteps. Nothing I can do now but run as fast as I can which I do. I cross the finish line ahead, but am pretty sure my competitor beats me to the chip line (which is about 5 meters after the finish). At this point I realize it's someone completely different who has chased me down. We record identical gun times.

 

Place  No.   Name                          Age Sex/Tot  S Chip    Pace  Gun     Hometown  

 159   368 Brent Shuster                    40  93/123  M 1:17:10 11:02 1:17:27 Phoenix Az 

I'm not sure how it is he ends up chasing me. He's 6 seconds slower than I am gun time, but I didn't pass him at all in the last 5 miles of the race. He was wearing all black (maybe he's a rugby fan) and I remember everyone when we're spread out, and certainly would have remembered him. So I must have passed him early and he had chased me down over 5 miles and then still had enough in the tank to keep up with me at the end. My hat's off to him, because in my experience there are very few people who can go anerobic like I can for short distances...especially after long distances. My max heart rate? 193. Tell that to the "220 - your age" formula.

The person I thought was chasing me? Probably:

 

Place No.   Name                          Age Sex/Tot  S Chip    Pace  Gun     Hometown  

160   303 Paul Makale                      38  94/123  M 1:17:21 11:03 1:17:45 Phoenix Az 

Almost 20 seconds back. I guess tunnel vision is a good thing.

Relax, and recharge with their carbo loading fun. Ice cream sandwiches, muffins, breakfast burritos and gatorade.


Did my tri weight lifting on Friday. I felt a little tightness in my hamstrings, but overall, not too much effect. I guess


I love this race. They got the races started late to make sure the people caught at the gates could make it in. Starting late because you're trying to make sure people get to race is far more palatable to me than because you're having organize problems.