Iron girl Las Vegas

We were back in Vegas a few weeks ago for Annie's Iron Girl Triathlon. She and a few friends had put this one on the calander late last year and she'd been working hard to get ready for the last few months - yet another practice from the school of Annie that I should pick up on, assuming the getting ready part had something to do with how well she did....

We dropped the kids with Grandma and Grandpa on the way down... big thanks to them for taking them for the weekend. Also saw a certain rider that hangs out in Utah on occasion from team Radioshack with his motorpacing crew out in a place I would never expect to see an elite pro riding - he was way, way out in the middle of nowhere, we spent a while trying to guess where he must have started from, didn't come up with any obvious options.

Some observations from the husband.... and right out of the gate - I must conceed, there are things that suck worse than having to watch a womens only triathlon....

• There is a fashion show element at a womens triathlon, can't say for sure, but got the impression that race attire may have been a little higher on the priority list than at a men's race.


• Funniest thing we saw was the girl struggling to get her wetsuit on.... backwards. Her guy was there helping her, so we didn't want to interfere and say anything, just watched. Saw her just prior to the swim, still on backwards, fidgeting with it as if it weren't comfortable.


• They started the race like a time trial, swimmers going in one at a time in quick succession. Helps the anxiety associated with the mosh pit pack start, but negates the head to head racing in the latter legs where one had no way of knowing who was leading the race or had any idea where they stood. There wasn't a winner at the finish line, it was an unknown until times were posted. Pro's a con's, but most of the girls seemed to like it.


• Chicks are every bit as competitive as bro's - saw some serious race within the race battles both at the beginning of the bike leg and the finishing sprints on the run.

This Iron Girl organization is over the top with the body marking. Counted 5 marks in 5 different areas - I volunteered to do fake or real markings....

In case you didn't notice it's dark in the photo above, the day started early, too early. We drove out that morning around 5:00 - race was scheduled to start at 7:00, and they were hustling people almost to the point of being beligerent, to have them lined up ready to go off on the swim at 7 sharp, which was great. But then proceeded to have them stand in said line for about 35 minutes past 7 while they got the course ready. You may also have noticed we had Annie in a down coat that morning - it was cold, especially for the 800 girls standing around waiting. So what do girls do while standing around waiting...? I know what guys would do... we would start bitching, a lot. The girls, they start dancing... and they had choreographed dances for each song that they all seemed to know... it was an amazing sight - like a flash mob, that lasted 6 or 7 songs. And then they were off, one by one, into the water that was starting to churn decent sized waves once out of the little bay they started in.

I love this girl...

Here she is just after finishing.

The swim was a tough one - it was windy, and despite the TT style start, congested. The hardest transition from swimming, to swimming in an open water triathlon, is learning to get your stroke into a rythym with all the variables going on immediately around you. I've never been able to put a complete swim together. Annie wasn't able to either on this day - she had a hard time breathing between waves hitting her in the face, and got a little uncomfortable in a few spots where it bottlenecked. Turned into a survival swim vs. a race swim, and she grinded her way through it. Once out of the water, she turned it on. Her bike split was solid and she ran a top 50 5k. I was a proud husband and foresee more coed duo events in our future. She's diggin the racing, have to thank cyclocross for igniting that spark, and I'm diggin that she's diggin it - it's pretty darn good to be the guy married to her.

Vikingman half distance triathlon race report

Me and the little guy finishing up the day.

His kick was a helluva lot stronger than mine was - he coulda beat me in a foot race at the moment, but he stayed back with me like any good son would.

A little gallery interaction during transition - dexterity was non existent from the cold and getting socks on was no small task - which provided some humor for the spectators.

Race breakdown:

Swim: Cold, really cold. 38* out of the water - warmer in where it was around 62* - still not warm, but ok while in it. Once out running on the cold grass to transition, it got real cold real fast. Spent 35 minutes in the water.

Bike: it was a four lapper. Detailed lap by lap account:

Lap 1 - finding lines on the chip sealed section which felt great on a rigid cold body that wouldn't warm up until lap 3.

Lap 2 - -mind numbing

Lap 3 - mind numbing

Lap 4 - mind numbing to the point of getting stupider, exit the loop, make a wrong turn where a course marshall is standing in the opening of the barricaded road picking his nose, and log a 5 minute, mile and a half (de)tour snaking through an old neighborhood along the river. Motorcycles come and get me back to the course.

Run: Ok for the first 5 miles, then stuff starts breaking down. Walking helps the stuff breaking down. It had gotten painful by mile 8/9, so more walking. The rest of the way in it was probably more walking than running, knew it wasn't the case, but got to the point where it felt like injury pain vs. fatigue pain. Walking felt great. Painful, slow, painfully slow, it was all of the above. Highlighted by the loop taking us out around the water treatment facility, where the flies would sniff out the Gel residue on your dry lips which made the run all the more pleasant.

Takeaways:

1 - Happy enough with my time given the lack of swim/run prep. Mostly happy it was over though.

2 - Got a good idea what my TT pacing should be on a 2+ hour effort, have a little room to go a little harder here.

3 - Can't fake your way around a half marathon. The days running mileage exceeded the previous months, and I was paying for it big time starting around mile 8. As a matter of fact, I'm still paying for it a bit 2 days later.

Xterra Nevada race report

http://www.xterraplanet.com/uploadedfiles/races/ncs/results/nevada08.pdf Am happy to report that after the doom and gloom weather report in the last post, we actually got a pretty decent day for the race. The one exception was the wind, which had the lake rolling into shore with 4-5 ft swells = a little too rough for the spotters in kayak's to feel like they can stay on top of the nearly 300 racers that would have been in the water flailing to get through the swim. So the Xterra folks cancelled the swim. Have to admit it alleviated some nervousness on my end. Ocean swimming is not in my arsenal, and I've body surfed on smaller waves than what we would have been swimming through in Tahoe. It would have been really tough.

So in lieu of the swim, we did a 1 mile run previous to the normal bike and run legs of the race. I hemmorage some time to the field in both the swim and run disciplines so it was a wash in regards to any advantage/disadvantage the change to the race created for me personally. The strong swimmers would have gained an unusually large gap on the field had they sent us out in the water, but there were limited grumblings about the swim being cancelled, no one argued that there was legitimate danger in sending a large group out in those conditions.

After lining up the field for the run start, briefing us on a few of the names to watch out for (including Shayna Powless, a 14 year old girl whom we were informed would smoke most of us on the race course, turned out to be an understatement) the Big Kahuna shot off the little canon and we were off. I settled into my pace fairly quickly and made sure I didn't give chase to the droves of people who had settled into faster paces, story of my run every race, smile. Only hiccup on the run came when I pulled my beanie off midway through and my Oakley's which were sitting on top of my head came off with it. Luckily I heard them hit the ground and stopped and ran back to get them, minimal effect on run time as I accelerated to get back into the same position I'd been in before the backtrack. I came into transition 1 in what I estimate to be about mid pack. Took a little time to put on an extra layer in anticipation of the winds and temperature on top of the mountain, grabbed the bike and was off on what would be a more difficult bike leg than I was prepared for.

There's about a mile or so of paved road before we start the climb up Tunnel Creek, a double track dirt road that took us up to the well know Flume trail. Lee introduced me to the Tunnel Creek section of the course on Thursday. It was loose and sandy. It was much better on Saturday due to a steady rain all Friday night. Still loose in sections, but dramatically better than it had been. It's a grunt of a climb that forced me into the small ring in some sections despite trying to stay in the middle ring as much as possible to force a little extra speed - a tactic I've had to embrace to keep up with my single speed friends. A strategy I question for this race in hindsight.

I managed to get around some people and went into the Flume section with a pretty wide open trail in front of me, the few riders I did pull in were gracious and made room to pass quickly - and I did the same for a few who came up on me. Couple of pile ups when the course headed back up hill before we came out at the lake, some technical rocky sections that caused people to stall out or fall off. I jumped off the bike and carried it up and around these lines of folks. It was here, as we exited the Flume trail and started to circle around Marlette lake, that I started to think I may have a tough go the rest of the way. The road around the lake is fairly flat, usually something I'd look forward to as a good place to push it hard and still feel like I'm enjoying a break from climbing. I tried to do that, but the push I had in me wasn't a hard one, the the break from climbing feeling was somewhere far away. A lot of the position I'd gained on the climb was given back as several riders came by me and dropped me fairly quickly. The effort to stay in the middle ring earlier became really noticable in my lower back on this flat section, it was getting really, really tight. I yo yo'd with a few riders for the remainder of the ascent to the top of the course, giving up position on the flats, getting it back on the climbs. I began asking where the top was about 2 miles before reaching it, trying to gauge whether I could afford to continue pushing the pace or if I needed to back off. The fatigue I was feeling was the type that makes you scared to back off - felt like I'd tighten up immediately if I did that, so I kept working. After a couple of false summits that almost cracked by body and came even closer to cracking my brain, I rode by a race staff dude who said "enjoy your descent" when I went by. I yelled back that I was pretty sure I would - he laughed.

Not the case. I'm a decent descender, partly cause I carry a few pounds more than necessary, and partly because I'm comfortable in quick reaction situations and don't mind carrying speed into rough sections of a trail. I really enjoy the rush and the mental sharpness that descending speeds and risks force on you. That sharpness wasn't there, and it became pretty clear in the technical rocky sections and switchbacks that the ascent had beat me up and the fatigue would have me a little delirious instead of sharp. I kept the wheels rolling, but it wasn't fast. I opened it up a little once I got back onto Tunnel Creek Rd., but still had to take it more cautiously than I'm capable of when my body is working well. High probability of a good crash/early end to the race if I had pushed it in the state I was in going down the mountain.

I tried to stretch a little on the bike once I got back to the pavement, and came back into transition pretty stiff and having had a few twinges of a cramp brewing in my right leg. You can't tell in the video, but when I bent over to change out my shoes, I wasn't sure I had enough left to stand back up straight. Did a repeat of running backwards for the Oakley's in the first leg by having to go back for my number belt coming out of the transition area, was thrilled to have to bend over again but it gave me the chance to get the spare tube out of my pocket, carrying it on the run may have blown me up, smile. I had only two thoughts for the next 30 minutes - keep turning the legs over, and - please don't cramp. Although borderline the entire run, with a few false flashes, the cramp never developed and I successfully got over the last hurdle of making it across the big log without falling into the creek in front of the crowd.

Annie and the kids were at the finish line cheering, I slowed down to see if the girls wanted to finish with me, they didn't, and finished the race in 3 hours and some seconds. I felt absolutely hammered, but pretty happy with how I'd managed myself while in the pain cave, I've crumbled at less intense fatigue in earlier races so this was a bit of an inner battle win for me. Finished 85th overall and 12 of 47 or so in my age group.

Video highlights include a prancing Xterra racer about 5 seconds in, a classic snot blow, and AnneMarie's no less classic "you got beat by a 14 year old girl" welcome at the finish line. Also, check out Lee's facial expression when he sees me at the finish line - also a classic. While only mentioned on the video, no actual footage - the highlight of the day had to be Nick's winning his age group in the Xterra 10k and Garrison finishing his first ever triathlon, not an easy one to take on the first time out - tough hombres!

Sidenotes - Conrad Stoltz had his new Specialized Epic on display Saturday, looked like a sweet piece of equipment, especially with those oval shaped chain rings.

My bike split was 2:18, roughly 45 minutes slower than Christoph Sauser who's a world class mountain biker. It's a testament to the quality of the pro field that Sauser's time would have been 4th fastest in the pro race, with the pro's going out after swimming a mile and Sauser going out fresh as part of a relay team.

Well, that's it for the year in regards to race schedule, will probably do a few cyclocross races through the rest of the fall/winter months, but have some specific ideas for winter training that I'm looking forward to working on. It's been a fun year.

Xterra North Pole - Tahoe

Here's the hourly forcast for the next 12 hours here at Incline Village, NV:

10:00 pm (now at the hotel) - 47 degrees, feels like 41 degrees, raining. Not bad race conditions actually, low 40's can be pretty comfortable and this rain will make the sandy climb up Tunnel Creek dramatically better - so long as it stays moderate.

9:00 am (race start) - 40 degrees, feels like 32 degrees, with cloud cover.

11:00 am (should be around the top of the bike course, 8,700 ft altitude) - 38 degrees, feels like 29 degrees, raining.

12:00 pm (back down at Incline Village for the run/finish) - 38 degrees, fells like 28 degrees, rain/snow showers.

There's going to be a problem area of this race that I'm not sure how to approach, and it's probably different than your initial idea of why this triathlon may be a little nuts. I say that because it's a different than my initial idea on why this race may pose some unique challenges.

My initial concern as I saw the weather forcast detriorating all week to downright cold for the race tomorrow was the swim. We pulled into Incline Village yesterday and walked down to the beach and there were good 3-4 foot swells rolling onto the beach. The water was chilly, but it's going to be just fine. The swim isn't going to be the cold part of this race. In fact, it may be the warmest.

Those temps I listed are for Incline Village, which sits about 6,200 ft elevation (almost identical to my home in Draper, Utah). This bike course is going to take us up to just below 9,000 ft elevation, via the highly exposed and windy Flume trail and along some trail along the crest of the mountain. So, here's the problem. That "feels like 29 degrees" we get at 11:00 am is actually going to be pretty darn balmy relative to what it's going to feel like at 9,000 ft where I'm pretty sure we're going to be in the mid - low teens while working through the top of the bike course. And the winds - 17 mph down here in the valley - no idea what they'll be up top, but I rode up Tunnel Creek Road to the Flume trail with Lee yesterday and we went from minimal wind, to a whole bunch of it once we got out on the Flume which is pretty exposed. Suspect it will be even worse up on the crest section. And that rain. I'm not a meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure that if it's 10 degrees cooler and "feels like 15-20 degrees" up on the mountain, that rain ain't gonna be rain. So, low-mid teen temps, high winds, and probably snow - should make for a real adventurous race.

Putting the taper to the test

This week we'll load up and head to Tahoe/Incline Village for the last triathlon of the year. In any kind of endurance racing, there is a portion of training leading up to an event called a taper. The purpose of the taper is to back your body off of the latter stages, the most intense portions of a training cycle/plan and have it ready to "peak" at the specific event.

I haven't employed a rigid or structured training plan this year, but I have been working on this taper technique for about 4 weeks now (a typical taper period usually consists of no more than a week leading up to a race). The results of this 4 week taper are as follows:

• I'll be going into this race the heaviest I've been for a race this year - the extra weight may be useful if economic conditions continue to get worse, but it won't be great for this race.
• Good workouts have consisted of riding my bike at the 12 hours of Sundance race and on the trip to Moab last weekend. I actually felt pretty good on both occasions.
• I'm hoping I haven't forgotten how to swim since the Xterra race in Ogden 6 weeks ago, hard to say... still seem to be comfortable in the bathtub so will take that as a positive into the race. Also, should float slightly better with the extra weight.
• I've eaten lot's of crap, and found that I actually don't enjoy eating crap any more than I enjoy eating the decent food I eat when I'm paying attention to food intake. This new awareness is actually one of the better byproducts of this years training.
• The intense discipline I've demonstrated with my diet has carried over to my run training. Those of you who have followed this blog for a bit have read a few comments on how I intended to focus my training on the run. I have logged approximately 1 mile a week for the last 6 weeks - yeah, I know, the intensity is beyond me as well... the run should be consistent with previous races this year, although I intend to push it pretty hard.

Looking forward to the getaway with the family and seeing some friends.

Xterra race report

After putting in a half day at work Friday morning, we loaded up and arrived in Ogden around 3:00 Friday afternoon. We got me checked in and body marked, divied out the swag (Annie takes the t-shirt if she likes it, kiddies take stickers/tatoos/energy food, etc...), and got the girls registered for their race. Here they are in their racings digs..And they're off.... Bringing it home....You may notice that Kylie is having the time of her life. I don't have a picture of Chesney, but she came across the finish in the same condition - sobbing. I guess they don't respond well to Mom running behind them yelling "if you don't win, no dinner for you tonight!"all the way around the course. I mean, they're only 3 and 5.

That was a joke.

We coddled them when they came across the finish line and asked why they were crying - Chesney, still sobbing, says "the big kids passed me and I couldn't keep up" - how cute is that.

The medal ceremony made everything better..
Xterra does a great a great job involving the kids, Nori has been a favorite playmate for our girls the last two years, thanks to her for the special attention she gives them.

Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening letting the kids do the activities they had for them, watching the k9 challenge, taking in some race tips from a few of the pros, big spaghetti dinner with Erik, Jess, and their kids, and then an early night to bed for the kids. We stayed at the Hampton and had the traditional bed jumping contest before making them settle down. Not sure what it is about kids and hotel rooms, but it's 100% instinct to launch themselves from one bed to the other and back - even the 1 year old wanted in on the action. No question that this would have gone on for 17 hours straight if Mom and Dad hadn't intervened.

Saturday morning started at 6:00 am for me. Jumped up, grabbed a banana, some french toast sticks, and some eggs from the breakfast bar, and headed up the canyon to set up my transition areas.

The swim - I got in a little early and got maybe a 150M warm up before running my wedding ring over to Annie who was watching with the kids from nearby, no question the ring would be on the bottom of Pine View resevoir if I'd swam with it on. Wildly congested start this year, two primary goals for the first 200 yards; 1 - try to get positioned in the front 3rd of the pack & 2 - try to avoid getting your goggles kicked off while trying to establish goal 1. I was succesful with both, and got to the first buoy in what felt to be a pretty quick pace - a little too quick. Think I got a little anaerobic as I struggled between the 1st and 2nd buoy trying to recover and get back into a sustainable rythm. This became a quick problem for me, no matter how much I backed off the gas. Not sure if it has to do with the wetsuit, which was pretty darn uncomfortable during this period - felt like I was fighting it to get good, deep breaths. Rolled onto my back - that didn't work. Even slowed the pace to barely moving, which also didn't work. Ended up just sucking it up and facing reality that I was on the verge of blowing up the rest of the way in and settling into a crawl stroke that wasn't fast, but got me back to shore. You'll notice by my exit in the video that my first order of business coming out of the water was to try and recover - I was not in a hurry at that point. Lesson - I haven't learned to recover efficiently in the water - so don't go out with an effort that necessitates needing to recover in the swim leg, slower will be faster for me here. I exited T1 at 20 minutes, 8 seconds - a middle of the pack level swim, but 10 minutes faster than last year.

The bike - Had just one hiccup in the transition/beginning of the bike leg, left transition holding onto my gloves intending to put them on in the first few hundred yards. Between my wetsuit dripping on them a little and my hands being wet, the gloves got real tacky and were a serious hassle to get on while riding - ended up taking about a mile and cost me some seconds on a section where it's important to ride hard rather than fumble with trying to get gloves on. For those unfamiliar, the bike course goes from Pine View Resevoir and climbs up to SnowBasin ski resort - a solid 12 mile climb. You've got about two miles of double track after turning onto the dirt in which to get position going into the single track for the remaining 10 miles, This is critical, especially coming out of the swim in the position I was in with a lot of people in front of me. A hard effort here will net you a lot more than a hard effort once on the single track where it requires going off track into the brush to get by people. I went ahead and attacked hard right away knowing there were a lot of people to get by due to my mediocre swim. A small group of three of us formed early and we made really good progress in picking racers off in these first two miles. We crossed the road to where the single track starts, and it immediately jammed up to a pretty slow pace. This worked out well for me for the first few minutes as I needed to back off to a recovery pace. Then the process of getting around packs of riders, gapping up to the next pack, repeat, repeat, repeat began. It went at a moderate pace for the next couple of miles, and then we started the last climb prior to the downhill section where the course get's a little steeper. I began to get aggressive here, pushing the pace hard up the hill and taking aggressive lines on switchbacks, through the brush, anywhere a small hole would open to pick up a few spots in the long line of people climbing towards the midcourse descent. I felt remarkably good by the top of the hill and wasn't in desperate need of recovering on the downhill like I'd expected - this gave me some confidence going into the 2nd half of the course. The top half of the course got a little congested again, but I was able to remain aggressive the rest of the way up the mountain and spent good amount of time riding in the brush working to get by as many people as I could, and then ride as far away from them as possible. It took a while to get by the congestion, but by the last two miles, the traffic thinned out some, allowing for a good pace without having to go off trail nearly as often as the previous 8 miles to work around people. If it's your first time doing this race, it will set you up for a false sense of finish near the top. You begin to hear the microphones and music from the T2/finish line area and feel like your riding right up to it before the course, in a cruel way, turns you back uphill, only to put another mile in front of you before letting you drop down to T2 to exit the bike and begin the run. I had a close call getting off the bike, came in kind of fast and got my left foot caught in the pedal when trying to dismount - was within just a second or two from going down when it finally unclipped. Exited T2 in 1:43 having ridden a 1:23 bike split. 30 minutes faster than last year. The easiest way to knock another 5-10 minutes off my bike split will be to improve my swim split by 4-5 minutes.

The run - All the hard work on the bike was 100% defensive, purely an effort to limit the inevitable damage on the run. I came out of T2 feeling good. Melanie McQuaid, who went on to win the women's title, came by me about a quarter mile into the run, she had 2nd place about 90 seconds behind her and was putting the hammer down. Within the first 1/3rd of a mile I was cooked on the run had to slow to a fast walk, and at times even a slow walk, to avoid a blow up that would stall my race real quick. I maintained a walk to the top of the hill (brutal climb) and felt good going into the section that flattens out, winding through the trees - was able to return to a decent run pace here - but had given up a lot time and finishing places while walking. Was happy to see one, Erik Riessen, who came by at the bottom of the hill and kept a good pace all the way up it - stud. This next section through the trees flows well and you can almost pump the small rollers during your run, similar the way you'd pump a bicycle through these sections. You come out of the trees and the course turns back uphill, which put me back on the verge of another blow up and slowed me to a walk. At the top, the course turns sharply downhill, to the point where rather than trying to pick up the pace, you let gravity do it's thing and try to keep the brakes on just enough to stay in control. Rolling an ankle on this stuff would cause a serious injury due to the force your planting your feet with. I stumbled down the hill to the finish and crossed the line in 2:12 - another brutal run performance, but again, faster than last year.

All in all it was a great race for me - still see places I think I can go faster, so will continue to work, but it confirmed a lot of progress since this time last year, more than I had anticipated.

What a difference a year makes

It's over, and it went a lot faster than last year!
Jason's times:
Xterra Sport 2007 - 3:05
Xterra Sport 2008 - 2:12

Several factors led to cutting nearly an hour off my race.

• Coming into the race at 178 lbs instead of 195 lbs and in much better condition overall.
• Went into last years race with minimal time having been spent on the Mtn Bike. Decided I liked it - to be brutally honest, thought I'd ridden well by nailing a 1:55 bike split, pure naivety! So, bought a good bike and spent a heck of a lot more time on it this past year, including some races. Was able to attack the bike portion of the race this year.
• Think I swam a little better (not good, just better than last year), haven't seen the splits yet for this years race.
• Think the run course was shorter this year? My run is still really poor, walked the same sections I walked last year, but the route seemed to be over a lot faster?

Several factors still costing me a lot of time...

• Still have 10 lbs of extra weight I'm lugging around - possibly more, but gauging it every 5 lbs and know right now that there's at least 10 extra around my midsection. Am thinking I should be close to where I want/need to be at the 165-168 lb range. Cutting 17 lbs bought me 53 minutes, think the next 10 lbs will be worth no less than an additional 10-15 minutes. Want to be clear that I'm not a weight junkie. I don't count calorie intake or expenditure, exercise any restraint when something tastes good, or even refrain from my hardcore night time binges. I'm just talking about getting in good shape, a process in which my weight is maybe the 3rd or 4th indicator I look to in regards to progress. What I'm saying is that when the first 2 or 3 indicators are in line, I think I'll be about 10 lbs less than where I'm at today.
• The run - not much I can say here - mine is sloooooooooooow. No good excuses just going to take a lot of hard work. Actually I just thought of a good excuse - I was a solid sprinter in HS (50.93 400M), it just became obvious to me that my body was conditioned in my early years to blow up at 401M regardless of the intensity of the effort for the first 400M which is precisely where I blow up on these damn runs! Translation for those not familiar with the metric distances - I'm cooked after the first quarter mile. Seriously, I've got a lot of suffering to inflict on myself to get these runs up to speed.
• The swim - won't know until I see the split times. This in and of itself is a problem - I feel a little exposed having written above that I think I was faster this year, because in reality, I have no clue - I'm still just happy when they're over. I just know I'm yet to maintain a solid stroke for an entire race. But am getting closer - I think.
• The bike - will continue to get faster here just because of the fun factor that comes with training on it.

More detailed race reports later - yes, the girls ran again....

Random notes from Spudman

Jason's notes

• Need to spot my line on the swim more often, hit a tree overhanging the bank with about 300 yards left to go. As a general rule, you don't want to wash ashore that early.
• This was the first time I've ridden a distance exceeding a few miles in the aero position. I noticed I had an immediate 1 MPH pace gain when moving down into the aero bars on my bike. I experimented with this numerous times on the bike leg and it held true every time.
• Finding the gear that was comfortable, then grabbing one more provided my most efficient pedaling. The additional speed outweighed the additional effort required, and seemed to be sustainable. May try adding one more gear (two from comfortable) next race to keep testing this.
• I attacked (don't know if there is such thing as an attack in a triathlon bike leg or if this term is reserved for roadies?) on the few small hills we had. In general, the riders I would pass and gap during these efforts generally caught me within 2 miles. Not sure if these efforts had any benefit as the group of 4-5 of us that finished together yo yo'd back and forth like this beginning about 8 miles into the 25 mile ride.
• I need to adjust my seat. The front was tilted a little up, which was starting to get a little frisky by about mile 10. Funny how things go unnoticed when you wait for a race to see if your aero set up is where you want it, and then how noticable it becomes when it's too late to change it.
• If a transition area is on grass, find out if sprinklers will be coming on overnight before setting your run shoes out the night before.
• Nipple chafing - hadn't experienced this since High School football days when jerseys would shred the nips on no pad practice days. The poor little guy on the right fell victim and took a few days to recover - it hurt.
• My run is brutal bad and Spudman was no exception- all the people I'd picked off on the bike (there were a lot) were back by me within the first two miles of the run. Come to think of it, I don't remember passing a single racer on the run, and there were floods that came by me. I need to spend most of my training time here, and prior to that, need to figure out a way to trick myself into liking to spend training time here.
• My wife is a serious hottie in numerous respects, hot triathlete has been added to the list. And no Annie, I'm not just saying that because you swam faster than me - again! Seriously, you're either sandbagging big time at the pool, or, well, sheesh, I have no other explanation - completely baffled on this one, smile!

Next up - Xterra in Ogden 8/16.

Spudman Recap

We had a great time at the Spudman Triathlon today - saw lots of friends and the race went great. Results as follows:

AnneMarie
Swim - 19.08
T1 - 3.36
Bike - 1:14.34
T2 - 1.45
Run - 1:03.51
Finish Time - 2:42.55
Place - 30th of 85 racers, 30.24 off winning age group time.

Jason
Swim - 19.34
T1 - 3.31
Bike - 1:04.04
T2 - 1.57
Run - 1:02.12
Finish Time - 2:31.20
Place - 98th of 202 racers, 34.57 off winning age group time.

We were hearing that there had been a fatality in one of the swim waves. It casts a pretty sober tone over the entire event when something like that happens.

More later....

BAM X off road duathlon

I raced the BAM-X off road duathlon this past weekend. It's the first year they've held this event, which runs in conjuntion with the BAM Triathlon. The race consisted of a 5k trail run leg, an 11 mile mtb leg, then another lap around the 5k run course to the finish. I thought it would be a good early season primer for the Xterra race in August. The race is held at the Soldier Hollow Olympic Park which is a fantastic venue.

We rented a condo in Midway for Friday and Saturday night. We really like Midway so had looked forward to a little getaway up there. Some friends joined us Friday night, we grabbed some grub at the Dairy Keen, played a little tennis, and hung out playing cards at the condo until calling it a night around 1:00 am (kids hung on till about midnight). Brandon and I went for a mtb ride the next morning around 9:30 and rode the dutch trail system for about an hour and a half or so. Relatively mellow 7 mile ride with a few short climbs that required a good effort. Just about perfect for a day before the race ride in which I was coming off a week of only one ride day and one run day.

Spent the afternoon/evening with the family relaxing, watching Tiger continue adding to his legend on the golf course, and going to my mission president's ranch for his son's wedding reception where we saw a lot of friends.

The race started at 7:00 Sunday morning. I had Annie drop me off around 6:30, checked the bike into the transition area, then took a light jog for a warm up. I wasn't sure what to expect in regards to hills/climbing so was pleased to find it reasonable, with some short, steep sections, but nothing so severe that it threatened to blow me up early in the race. Ran an ok run for me, I need to get a lot faster (gave up 4 minutes on the first leg), but this was ok for me at my current fitness level. I rode as aggressive as I dared not knowing the course, we started climbing right away, and while I had an idea where we'd turn back downhill, I was cautious to make sure I didn't blow up prior to getting to the top. The downhill was fast, down a dirt road towards the resevoir. I'd picked off a few people on the climb and managed to get a couple more down this section. The course was marked somewhat weak in a few areas and I went off course twice, but was lucky to catch it early and limit the damage. There was one guy who added several miles to his race. Once at the bottom it leveled off on another dirt road that ran along side the lake back towards the olympic park. I gave up one spot to a guy that came by at a really strong pace, I let him go, more concerned at this point about how my legs would hold up to run another 3 miles than jockeying for position.

I exited transition in 3rd, but was run down by one of the guys I'd passed on the bike leg. Mentally maybe I should have pushed a little harder and gave chase, but at the moment I gave myself no chance of keeping up with or running him back down. I finished in 4th, stopping near the end to grab Chesney who finished the race with me. 2:00 hours 29 seconds. I am sore today.

Salem Spring Soaker

The excitement for the years first triathlon wore off quickly when we woke up Saturday morning. It was raining lightly here at home when we pulled out of the driveway. We left around 6:30, thinking we'd have about 50 minutes to unload the bikes, set up T1 and get checked in by the 8:00 deadline. Timing became an issue when half way there Annie asked me if I'd remembered my license, I had the wrong answer. I turned around and flew back to the house, grabbed the license, and then had to stop for gas before getting back on the freeway. Nothing annoys me more than being rushed on the morning of a race - especially when it's my fault. The rain got heavier the further south we got, and by the time we arrived at the race it was ugly. We made it to the check in line in time and it wasn't long before we got word that the bike leg would be cancelled due to the wet roads. By the time the race started it had been whittled down to a 500 meter swim and the 5k. I felt good and thought I could fly through the race.

This picture is a pretty revealing look at my swim leg. I came into this more prepared for the swim than I've been in previous races, or so I thought. Within the first hundred or so yards, I had managed to take in enough water/air that I was desperately trying to release the biggest burp I've ever packed. I remember thinking in elementary school that the kids who could manufacture burps had picked up on a pretty cool skill - one I was seriously trying to figure out until the last 100 yards of my swim when I finally unloaded. Here was my dilema: I could not exhale with my face in the water - which completely sabatoged any rythym I was trying to settle into. Not sure if that can be attributed to the burp, but after flailing my way around Salem pond, I finally got into a good crawl stroke after unloading all that air that had caused such misery most of the swim. Chalk it up to experience - although I'm not positive I know how I got into the mess. You'll notice I'm walking out of the water in the photo, I wanted to make sure they got a good photo, and I felt like I'd just held my breath for 450 meters of the 500 meter swim.

Compare with the rookie:

Yep - she's coming out of the water running, and after the realization of how brutal the first open water swim is and surviving the panick attack that came with it, she flipped over on her back and put in a faster swim than I did (12+ minutes vs. my 14+ minutes), and still had the juice to come out running. Way to go Annie! Also important is the fact that she still has her timing chip at this point in the race, it would remain with her for approximately 2 more minutes from the time the above photo was taken - more on that later. This is my arrival at the finish line, somewhere between 39 and 43 minutes from the start. It's a guess as a large number of the timing chips malfunctioned - my watch showed 39 minutes and some change, the guy behind me in this phot had a time of 43 minutes and some change. I ran well, meaning I didn't stop to walk as I'd planned and explained in the pre race post. The run is where I've probably got the room to shave the most time, so will spend some time working on it this summer.
Back to the saga of the rookie's timing chip:

See it? If your looking for it on her ankle where you find most timing chips, your mistaken. It's not in her right hand? That hand is busy holding her number belt, and in case your wondering, yes, that item is usually worn around the waist. You've no doubt noticed by now that the timing chip is in her left hand, here are two possible scenarios:

1 - I didn't make it clear to Annie how the number belt worked and she ran the whole way waving her number like a flag, pretending to be in a parade. She thought the timing chip was a meal ticket, to be exchanged for a gel and water at the support station half way through the run.

2 - While you can't tell in her swim exit photo - her extremely strong first race swim pace did manage to get a little water in her brain. And for a short period it the transition area, it made sense to take off her timing chip and leave it in transition with her race number.

After finishing, I went back out on the course to cheer her on and run the end of her race with her. This photo was taken just previous to the revelation of the missing timing chip and an inpromptu strategy pow wow to best remedy the situation. So, just before heading up the grassy knoll to the finish, we split up. I stepped off the course, and Annie rerouted her run to make another visit to T1 where she could retrieve her race number and timing chip prior to finishing the race - she found it napping quietly, ran back to the course, and hoped to pull a fast one on the computer by finishing with a chip that never checked out of T1.

So, at the end of the day, neither of us had an official time due to two different misadventures with the timing chips. While we were disappointed in the race itself with no bike leg, weather, etc... we did have a strong reason to celebrate with Annie's strong showing in her first race - I think I'm at risk of being beat down by my wife throughout this summers races.

Gear pile

Here's my gear for tomorrow's race along with a few clues and conclusions that can be drawn from this photo:

• Socks tucked into my right running shoe = dead giveaway that this guys not a hardcore triathlete and is willing to spot the hardcore guys at least 10-15 seconds in T1 while he puts his comfy foot cushions on prior to his next T1 (transition 1 aka swim to bike transition) sin.
• Road bike shoes = T1 sin #2. The fast guys will have their shoes already attached to their pedals when they arrive at their transition area, stop long enough to throw on their helmet and sunglasses, wipe their feet on a towel and off they'll go. You can't get on your bike inside the transition area, so they'll be running barefoot at a pretty good pace and jump on the bike midstride once they've exited T1, then pedal with their feet on top of their premounted shoes until they're at a reasonable speed, then reach down and get their feet inside their shoes and velcro up/buckle in. My T1 will include the following features not found in the process just described: 1 - Those comfy socks mentioned in the last bullet need to be put on my feet (my road shoes were made for feet with socks, I think) 2 - Good chance I'll be putting my bike shoes on in T1 vs. the running start method. This will be somewhat dependent on what kind of location I can land to set up my T1. I'll get as close to the exit which will limit the distance I have to run in the road bike clogs. If I don't get a good spot, there will be some spectators in for a treat watching some clown trying run his bike out of transition with half inch risers on the bottom of his stiff shoes - maybe even a T1 crash. Can always try the running steed mount but have bad dreams about snagging stuff on the seat and not being able to get my feet in my shoes for the entire bike leg - listed in order of concern/fear factor.
• T2 should be fast as I've already put the socks on in T1. Swap hats, shoes and take off. Hope to get a good mile in here before stopping to 1 - thank the neighborhood kids cooling us down with hoses and 2 - recover from the first mile of running. Will walk as long as needed to make sure I have a strong kick when I come around the last turn and head to the finish line - that's where the most people are so it's important to look real fast there. Not a lot of triathletes coming into the finish line in a full out sprint kick, so am thinking that the chicks might dig it and think I ran the full run leg like that.

Will post a full report on the race sometime this weekend unless Annie beats me on her first attempt, in which case there will be no mention of it.