The KodaFit Blog

Folks, I’m afraid this will just be a real quick one, but I needed to get something out here!

The Buffalo 50k went really well.  In the face of a goal to finish in under 8, I ended up finishing the course in a little over 6 hours, and actually felt really good at the finish, and in the days following.  Look for my full report in the next week or so.

The Buffalo Doo - which was a surprise race for me, went really well too.  It was a little on the small side, and a tougher course than last year, but I posted my fastest 10k to date, and felt strong through out the bike and second runs.  I ended up in 7th place, but in looking at the competition and their times, I’m pretty happy with that too!  Look for a report on this race too.

And then following the duathlon, I finally came down with flu.  The family have been trying for a couple of months now to get me sick…  There were sinus infections, colds and even a bout of strep which they tried to pass on, none of which succeeded, but this time they got me.  If you’re going to get flu, this one wasn’t half bad.  I was probably out for about 48 hours with it, but not feeling to worse for wear now, and truth be told, the rest probably did me some good!

Finally, with less than 3 weeks to go until my Ironman attempt, I’m in full blown taper mode, and balancing nerves and excitement.  I’m just trying to enjoy these final days and soak it all in!

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Alternate Title - Wet, Wet, Wet

This has taken me a little while to write.  In addition to being swamped at work with a big project, swamped at home with another big project and then trying to be a husband and father, there hasn’t been much time for blogging.

The Buffalo Duathlon is an annual event, put on each year by the Hess Cancer Foundation.  I’ve been trying to find a specific cause that I would like to try and support in my racing, and this organization is definitely on my short list.  I would really recommend visiting their site here. The short version is this… They provide financial assistance to families who have lost children to cancer. Typically this involves helping to pay for the funeral. It’s a shining example of a family taking a personal tragedy and turning it into an opportunity to help others. I get a little teary eyed, and warm fuzzy-ish every time I visit their site.

I blogged about this race a couple of weeks ago, in a posting on Crappy Timing, since the race was initially scheduled to be on the same weekend as Rage, something which had me bummed out for a while. Fortunately for me it also conflicted with the Salt Lake Marathon, and there were some other scheduling problems too. First it was scheduled for a week later (A little too soon, for me to justify another race to my wife!), but then it was moved to last weekend. I do feel bad for the organizers, since I think they had a bunch of trouble getting it pulled together, but I for one am rather grateful - or at least I was until race morning…

Race morning arrived, and as the weather forecast predicted it was overcast and cold - Holy Cow - they actually got it right for once! I woke up a little earlier than I needed too, which let me relax as I got ready, and I think helped a little too. As I finished loading my bike, and headed out to the car to go, I felt the first few drops of rain.

It got worse as I got closer to Farmington. I was one of the first to arrive, and by the time I did, this is what it looked like….

I’d missed packet pickup the night before, but that wasn’t a huge problem. Got my timing chip (remembering how I almost forgot it at Rage!!), got my number and my shirt and got myself in prime position on the racks (Until I realized that the bike exit was at the other end - DOH!!)

The race started a little late, but I think they were hoping for a few more people. Transition looked pretty bare, and almost everyone I talked too was doing to Sprint distance. We had a quick flag ceremony, followed by the national anthem, sung beautifully by a cancer survivor. Travis - the Race Director made a comment about those of us that ran St. George last year - Yep, definitely some memories resurfaced from that wet race and we got ready to go.

The start was done individually with 5-10 seconds between each person. I hit my car to strip down to my tri-suit and ended up pretty much last - Good - that just means no-one is going to pass me!!

I started off feeling good. Looking down at my Garmin, I realized I was pushing 7 - 7:30 minute miles… This may sound kinda weird, but I’ve had trouble slowing down recently. I think it may be the speed training. My goal for this race was to average about 9 minutes a mile - maybe a little less. There is no way I could maintain 7 minute miles - at least not mentally. A slight hill a half mile in helped, and I hit the aid station at mile 1 in about 8 minutes. I figured I could push it a little, and settled into a steady pace of about 8:30 a mile. Still way to fast as far as I could tell, but I was going to see how it went…

We ran down the legacy trail from Farmington south to Centerville. Some very slight ups and downs, but generally nice and flat and on a new asphalt track. By the time I hit the turn around at 3.1 miles, I was gaining on the guy in front on me, and about 2 minutes behind the leader - Not bad at all Mike!!

Hit the turn around feeling good and started heading back. I passed the guy I’d been chasing within a half mile. He hung with me for a little, which pushed me faster, and then fell back. Hit the aid station again, still feeling good, and headed home. I managed to keep my mile times under 9 minutes for the whole run - definitely a huge deal for me, and finished the 10k in 51:31 - a new PR in and of itself. Transition went well, and it was out onto the bike course. 2 loops of about 8.5 miles each.

I haven’t been on my bike since Rage, so it took a little while to settle in. First loop, I tried to concentrate on rehydrating, controlling my breathing and focusing on the task ahead.  There’s not too much to report on the bike loop.  On the flats I think my average speed was between 22 and 24 mph - really good based on my history.  A couple of small hills, and stop and go around a couple of corners, through intersections and the turn arounds, but it felt good.

The interesting with the ride was that I discovered I had a magic water bottle.  I had HEED in my aero bottle, which tasted a little weak while I was heading out on the first loop, but on the second loop it was tasting really weak.  The little yellow mesh thing, which prevents splashing, somehow popped out during loop 2, and I realized that my bottle was still full.  Seems like in addition to preventing splashing, it was also funneling the rain water right into the bottle.

16.25 miles in 49:34 for an average speed of 19.7 mph - Kind of in-between distances for most of my races, but all the same, I think that’s the highest average speed I’ve ever had in a race, and that was while cycling into driving rain, and having to wait for cars at a couple of intersections.  I’m usually a little more daring in traffic when I’m racing, but given the weather conditions, and minimal number of participants, I was a little more cautious.

T2 went pretty well.  There is however no good which comes from looking down at your running shoes and seeing a half inch of water sitting in them.  To the amusement of some in the crowd - and quite frankly mine too, I ceremoniously poured the water out, slapped the shoes on and headed out for run #2 - a quick 2 mile out & back along the Lagoon Trail (For those non-Utahn’s - Lagoon is our local theme park).

I thought I had the course down - turn right at the fork by the sub-station, and then keep left when you hit the road.  I got to the end of the street and hit the trail.  Went down a steep hill, and then came to a ‘Trail Closed’ sign.  If you did this race, at this point you’re probably creasing your brow…  There was no big hill, and a ‘Trail Closed’ sign?!?  I starting thinking the same thing, and then I popped out at the main gates to the Park…  Uh oh!!

Turned around and headed back along the trail - not liking the big hill either.  As I got back to the beginning, I saw the sub-station - DOH!! and then saw the other path leading off to the right - DOUBLE DOH!!!

The trail was actually really pretty, and aside from my initial mistake, it was well marked and as described.  I got passed by one guy as I headed up a short incline to the turn around - Dang it!!  Hit the turn, grabbed some Gatorade and headed back.  There were a couple of big puddles on the trail, but it wasn’t like I was getting any wetter!

2nd run leg (2.6 miles - but it should only have been 2 without my little detour)  23:48 for an average mile pace of 9:11.  Not as good as the first, but I lost some time trying to figure out where the hell I was, and mentally I couldn’t get my focus back once I did.

1:15 for T1 and 0:57 for T2 - Had some trouble with my bike shoes in T1 (I need a bigger pair) and had to drain my shoes in T, but not bad times!

Overall I came in at 2:07:08 significantly better than last year (even with a different course, and doing a run/bike/run instead of a bike run.

Last years individual breakdown is here.

This years individual breakdown is here.

Now first the really good news…

I placed first in my division WOOOOT!!
I placed fourth overall amongst the men!!
And overall I came in fifth!!

Good news right!!!

Now, I think I had an excellent race, and with a new PR on the 10K and my fastest bike split ever. However with that said, and not wanting to diminish anything…

The bad news…

Placing first in my division wasn’t too hard, since… Well the division results look a lot like my individual results, meaning, I was only competing against myself.
As for the rest of it, when your field only consisted of 5 guys and a gal, you’re bound to finish well anyway.

All in all a good race. Turns out the guy that I was just behind on the second run must have been cooling down or something from the short race, because I was a good 15+ minutes behind the guy in front of me.

I would like to, but I don’t know if I’ll be doing it next year, due to IronMan, but who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky with dates again like I did this year. I thought it was well organized despite the scheduling problems and the limited participation.

My only concern during the race was just safety on the bike. Part of this was weather related, and the other part was just the lack of visibility of participants. No police officers, no signs warning of racers on the road - but in all reality, when you only have 6 guys racing the long course, and you’re trying to raise money for a really good cause, I can understand, and would probably have made the same decision, and with that aside, for a road course, the bike section was on pretty safe roads with minimal intersections, and needs to cross traffic.

Minutes after finishing I was packed up and ready to go, along with everyone else, and headed back home (Stopping en-route to grab the little yellow thingy from my aero bottle!!). My car seat took a day or two to dry out, and I think I stopped dripping after only a couple of hours.

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Talk about crappy timing…  I just got an email from the Hess Cancer Foundation.  They are a charity which helps families pay for funeral costs if they lose a child to Cancer.   It’s a prime example of an amazing family taking a personal tragedy and using it to develop something wonderful.

One of the ways they raise funds is to put on various races around Utah.  One I did last year was the Buffalo Duathlon out on Antelope Island.  It was well run, the scenery was beautiful, and I was really hoping to do this race again this year.

It’s on April 18th though, which is the same day as Rage down in Las Vegas… Nooooooooo!

If anyone is interested in a great race (Olympic and Sprint distance), this duathlon is one of the best I’ve been privileged to be involved with.  You can find out more at their website http://www.hesscancer.org/index.php.

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After a week where we had snow, rain and wind, Saturday dawned cool but with great potential.  Usually I need to drive an hour or 2 to get to a race, Saturday, it was only 10 minutes until I hit the causeway out to Antelope Island.  10 minutes after that I was setting up my bike, mixing drinks and getting my transition area set up.

First, let me cover the only not so good part of the day…  The race organizer looked like he was in the middle of a nightmare.  At 7:30, when the pre-race meeting was supposed to start, almost 100 competitors were still lined up trying to check in.  Meanwhile, the KBER 101 (The local hard rock station) van had managed to get itself locked, with the keys inside.  There was a problem with the motorcycles being used to marshall the race, and from the sounds of it there were other problems as well.  That aside though I think he did a remarkable job of pulling it together in spite of all of that.

 So as I mentioned before, I elected to tackle the International distance race.  Significantly longer than any race I have done before, but I’ve been wanting to get my distance up.

I started fairly close to the front, and realized seconds later that I neglected to start my watch and hit the bike computer.  In the pre-race meeting they mentioned the sand on the island - First of all this island is in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.  It’s a nature reserve for Buffalo and other animals.  There are beaches on the island, and the salt on the beaches is Euclidian sand or something like that.  I think it’s just a fancy way of saying it’s round, and really slick.  They did sweep the course prior to the race, be even so, I was pretty nervous on the bike.

 I passed a couple of people, got passed by significantly more.  Generally guys with time trial helmets and disc wheels, so I didn’t feel too bad.  I watched 2 girls in front of me take a hit for draughting (It was the most heavily marshalled USAT course I’ve been on) and I even saw a lone buffalo a couple of hundred feet from the road.  As I was on the bike I started thinking about the races I’ve done.  I probably should have been thinking about the race, but I was probably a little too relaxed.

8 seems to be a pretty significant number for me.  My first triathlon ever, I was assigned race number 8.  I finished that race in a hair over 32 minutes - a multiple of 8.  My first 5k was done in 32 minutes too.  I’m sure there is some tie into the first sprint triathlon I did, but I forget that one.   My number for the Sand Hollow Triathlon was 160.  It was my best time for the swim and bike sections.  For this race, I was number 16, averaged 16 mph on the bike - well actually it was 16.66, but some people (not me!!) get nervous about the 666 part!  I also finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes - 8 plays a role in there somewhere I think.  On top of all of it, I finished 8th in my age group, but let me return to the race itself.

There was a 10mph southern wind blowing, and the course was an out and back, heading south and then north.  It was fairly hilly, but nothing too steep.  Around mile 6, I started seeing riders coming back - this was almost as demoralizing as the 65 year old woman power walking past me at my last race, but then I realized that the sprint distance turn around was just over the next hill.

I started passing International distance riders about 2 miles north of the International turn around.  All neatly tucked in the aero position and spinning their disc wheels as fast as could be.  At the transition, I reached for the Gu Pack in my back pocket and realized that it was gone.  So instead I focussed on the Accelerade in my aero bottle.  It has a unique taste, but based on my performance and how I felt, I think it did a good job.  The ride back was much easier.  The tailwind really helped and for most of it I was averaging speeds up around 20mph.  About halfway back I realized that I was very well hydrated, and perhaps the urge to pee gave me an extra boost.

On the final couple of hills I blew by a bunch of cheering boy scouts - thanks Guys!  As well as a few stragglers from the sprint distance race.  The final hill went really well, and it wasn’t till I looked down and saw my speedometer in excess of 40mph that I got a little nervous - funny how that works.  I remembered the sand at this point too.  Somehow I survived, hit transition strong, changed my shoes, grabbed another Gu Pack, and sprinted over to the porta potties.  I’ll spare you the details of how good it felt.

 The run started well.  I got on a nice easy - OK, VERY EASY pace, and found my rhythm pretty quickly.  I usually run around 8:30 a mile, but ended up being somewhere around 10 minutes miles.   I bought a strap the day before for my leg (The old ITB is still acting up) and that seemed to make the world of a different.   My plan to run 10 walk 5, went out the window, and I made it down the whole course, only stopping to walk the aid stations - generally grabbing Gatorade and Water.  The other athletes were in pretty good spirits.  I got and gave a couple of high fives and much encouragement.  The run was along the causeway - flat, straight and a little stinky. 

I finished up in about an hour, when you factor in the pee break.  The last mile went pretty well, and I finished at a good clip. 

Overall, not a bad race at all.  I finished 69th out of 82 starters, which considering I am at a new distance and up against more serious racers, I didn’t think was bad at all.  Zazoosh was there and took some pics, so I may have to link to those later.  I was also very impressed with the shirt - instead of the usual cotton t, it was a long sleeved marathon shirt from Nordic Track - At some point this week, my wife may have to wrestle it away from me to wash it!

Edited to add:  Zazoosh has the photo’s uploaded.  I generally don’t like pictures of me running - I think it accentuates parts of my anatomy that could still stand to lose a pound or two.  For what it’s worth though,  here are some pics from the race. My stride is a little short, but that is largely due to the injury on my left leg.

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I’m doing it.  Not to see how fast I can, but more to enjoy it and for the experience.

 I was delighted to find that I got a discount from my USAT membership, so it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be.  My run last night was a little iffy.  I got about 2.5 miles in, and my knee didn’t feel good at the end, but I think I can still pull it off.  I’m not going to post goals, since I just want to finish, but I figure this would be a good place to write down my strategy.

 Here’s the strategy:

Gu Pack right before I start.

Accelerade in my aero bottle with another Gu pack at the turn around.

Accelerade at the transition, with another Gu pack, and so Ibuprofen.  I may also stretch some more to make sure my IT Band is flexible.

 For the run, I’m hoping they have aid stations, but I’m probably going to be OK without.   Unless my leg feels great and I can get into the rhythm quickly - which I highly doubt.  My plan is 10 minute runs with 5 minute walks in between.  I’m hoping to be done in 75 minutes.  I’m guessing the bike will take about 90.

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