The KodaFit Blog

Runners World had some rules for running without a shirt a month or two back.  According to the article, you can run without your shirt on, if…

1.  You have the body to pull it off.

2.  If you have doubts about number 1, it’s best to assume you don’t

3.  If you can avoid being within an arms length to other runners for the duration of your run.

One of my tri clubs - The Northern Utah Triathletes, put on a mini triathlon a few weeks back.  I ended up running a little late, and so my packing was left a little lacking.  It didn’t turn out to be completely bad, since I have been curious about what it would be like to do an Open Water Tri without a wetsuit.

So there I was wearing my somewhat thin and transparent 2XU tri shorts, and for the benefit of everyone else…  My Speedo underneath - and don’t worry, it’s the Endurance model, not a pair of the really tiny ones!

The swim actually went really well.  The water was perfect and although it felt a little weird to not have the usual neoprene barrier to the water - I think I liked it though.

In T1, I thought about grabbing a shirt, but all I had was my cotton club t-shirt, and so I threw caution to the wind and decided to go topless.

I should add here, that the thought that perhaps I could be running afoul of rule #2 did cross my mind at this point.

Out onto the bike we went, and for the first 2 miles, I didn’t feel too hot.  My legs were still sore from a 70 mile ride 2 days before and I couldn’t get into a rhythm.

After the turn around however, I decided to try and chase down everyone who passed me.

I passed the last person with just a couple of hundred yards to go, and hit T2 in first place.

My transitions weren’t as smooth as I would have hoped, helped along by the fact that my Garmin kept popping out of it’s clip, both on my bike, and on my running wrist strap.

But there I was in T2, getting my running shoes on, and another athlete next to me decided to inform me about triathlon rules…

“Just so you know…  You have to wear a shirt at most triathlons!”

Clearly she doesn’t know how many tri’s I’ve done, but I think her comments may have had other motivations…

First, when I passed her on the bike (After she passed me), I was probably closer than an arms length, thereby breaking rule #3.

And I think her comments confirm my doubts about rule #2, thus indicating that I was in violation of rule #1 as well.

I had a good run to finish it off though, and came in 2nd overall.

The biggest lesson of the day though I think, was that I probably shouldn’t do the topless thing, until I can get my six pack back.

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I won again folks, and my good fortune could result in good fortune for you!

Here’s what happened…  The folks at Wasatch Racing do a twitter contest twice a month, and so far this year, I’ve lucked out twice and got my answer in first.  I won a gift pack from TriSwim first, which came with some TriSlide as well - Just awesome products, and then in the second contest, I got a whole bunch of stuff from Chamois Butt’r.  My wife proudly wears the shirt to work out now!

The last contest was for a 50% off coupon for the Battle at Midway triathlon in August, and I won it as well!!!!

 YAY ME!!!

The problem is, the Battle at Midway Tri is such an awesome race, that when registration opened last year, I signed up within a week.  Actually I’m doing the Bad-Ass challenge, which should be fun, and gets my little kids in trouble with my wife when it comes up in conversation too!

 ”Dad, are you really going to be a Bad Ass?”

Anyway, so since I already have an entry into the race, I asked the kind folks over at WARP if I could pass it onto a friend, and they were OK with that…

But, since I have sooo many great friends who might enjoy this race, I thought I’d make it a little fun.

If you would like 50% off an entry into the 2010 Battle At Midway Triathlon (Full or Lite division), all you have to do is ask!  Simply leave a comment here on my blog, or write something on my Facebook wall or shoot me an email, and on the evening of July 5th, I’ll have one of my kids pick a name from a hat.

BAM is truly an incredible race.  It’s put on by triathletes who been there and done it themselves, and they know how to do it well.

Not only is the race well organized, but the venue is incredibly beautiful, and as an improvement this year, you don’t have to climb the mega hill out of T2 to appreciate the beauty either!  They’ve made the run course a little easier this year, which I for one, am very appreciative of.

You can check out this very long and boring report I did after last years race if you want to read more about it, or check out their website here.

BAM was also featured in Triathlete Magazine last month as one of the best lesser known races in the US.  Guys it was the swimsuit edition too, so if you got in trouble for looking at it, this may be a way to prove to your wife that you were actually reading the articles!

So, leave a comment here, put one on facebook, and tell your friends as well.  You have until 7:30pm MDT on Monday July 5th to get your requests in.

And if you want to try and beat me out of their next challenge, you can follow the WARP team on Twitter

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So last night was speed work again…  The goal was to do 9 400M sprints at 1:45 or better.   I was curious to see how this workout went after trying the NO-Explode before a similar workout last week.

The workout itself went well.  I started with a mile warm up, and then got into the sprints.  I was actually able to hold a pace of about 1:35 for most of them.  A couple quicker, and a couple slower.  #7 was the worst, but I think it was more a mental struggle, although the delicious Chicken Fajita’s of an hour or two previous featured prominently as well.

It turns out that in addition to Nitric Oxide, NO-Explode also contains loads of various members of the Vitamin B family as well as caffeine.  This would explain the fact that following the last workout, I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight, and was wide awake again at 2am.  Did having NO-Explode prior make a difference to the work out?  I would have to say yes, but I suspect it was more related to the B vitamins and caffeine than anything else.  I could probably get the same effect by downing a 5 hour energy, which I frequently do in longer races.

But all that aside, this post wasn’t about last nights workout…

I’ve been looking at ways to drop my times, especially in the shorter races.  One definite area of improvement is with my transition times, which actually seem to have slumped of late.  I have friends who don’t use socks, and so I wanted to try this out.  Socks probably added 2-3 minutes to my IronMan transition times, but they were probably necessary there, whereas on a sprint, I could probably go without.

I tried it out last Saturday.

At first it felt a little weird.  I could feel a contact point on my left big toe and was worried it would blister.  I also took the liberty of Body Gliding the tongue and the fabric at the top of the shoe which would sit around my upper foot/lower ankle.

Did it work?  I think so.  It’ll speed up my transition times, and I didn’t notice any major adverse effects during the run.  The one downside though, was that I could feel the moisture building up in my shoe towards the end of the run.  Now it’s decision time.  I’ve got a sprint race next weekend, that I think I can do fairly well in.  I’m not 100% convinced I can place, but if I don’t, I’ll at least be close.  The key for this race is going to be the run.  If I lose the socks, I suspect I’ll be able to drop 20-30 seconds in my transition times, however I’m concerned that not being 100% comfortable during the 5k might lose about that same amount of time…  Could be that the decision is going to come down to seconds…  Perhaps I need to run a mile at the tracks sans socks, and then see if it affects my times at all.

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Ben Greenfield is the guy I purchased my IronMan training plan from. So far so good, although if I blow it in St. George, I need to state that…

• I started on the plan late, since I already needed to be on week 15 of the plan when I purchased it.
• I haven’t been the most diligent follower of the plan because… Well, simply because life get’s in the way sometimes.

But that aside it’s appears to be an excellent plan, and I’ll likely plan on using it for my next Iron Distance race, assuming I survive this one. Perhaps Silverman in 2012!

I bring this up because, yesterday, Ben sent out a link to an article he wrote, entitled - 6 Things They Don’t Tell You About IronMan. You can read the article here, and I’ve posted a summary below. Most of the points need explaining though!

1) The Volunteers Don’t Have Built-In Auto-Banana Releasing Switches.

2) For The First 5 Miles of the Bike, Drafting Rules Don’t Really Count.  out.

3) All Your Pacing Rules Get Broken In Transition.

4) Your Special Needs Bag Isn’t Always At The HalfWay Point.

5) Wetsuit Strippers Aren’t Necessarily The Fastest Way to Go.

6) Don’t Plan on Seeing Your Expensive Tubular Again.

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The Clearfield Aquatic center has hosted a mini indoor tri for the last 3 years.  I had a conflict 2 years ago, and last year it was so popular, it was sold out by the time I heard about it.  This year as I left the pool one friday morning, I saw the sign and was signed up an hour later.

I took the extra hour, because I wanted to see if my sweet wife wanted to do it with me, knowing that she would likely laugh in my face, and then using a combination of hand gestures and descriptive language, might inform me as to the best place to put such a crazy idea….

But she said yes, “I’m sorry….  WHAT?!?!”

So off we went to register.

We ended up in the last heat, just a few minutes after our neighbors - who were doing the team thing as well.

I did a couple of laps warm-up in a spare lane and then got ready to go.  We were in the final heat, and there were three of us racing.  The other two guys were in board shorts, and arguing about who would finish last - so much for the added adrenaline from some friendly competition!

BEEP!!!

And I was off.  First lap went well.  I flipped, came home, flipped again, and got to glance back at my lap time.  42 seconds.  Since I’ve been averaging 50s a lap in practice, that may be a little fast, but I got to rest after the swim so I tried to push it.  Each lap got a little slower, until around lap 8, my time finally popped over 50s.

The last lap about killed me.  I had absolutely nothing left…  I could see my wife running along the side of the pool to meet me at the other end.  I hit the wall, reached up to slap her hand (twice, since the first attempt was pretty pathetic), checked my time 7:55 and then collapsed on the side.

I’m not sure how long I was there, but I finally dragged myself out, and check on the kids.  Huge thanks to our other friends who came to watch the little guys.

The nice thing about the team thing was that I got to get changed nice and slow.  I stretched a little, made sure my laces were tights and headed back out to check on Ann.

She was doing well.  The bike portion was on the spinning bikes, and she was already about half-way through, spinning at a nice steady cadence.

We took photo’s, joked around, and before I knew it she was done, and staggering to the door to tag me…

I shot out the pool area, up the steps two at a time, and began my laps.  27 laps around a track about 200 yds long.  With a track that small it’s like step, step, step turn, step, step step turn…  You get the idea.

First lap I came up on a guy in a camel bak.  He heard me come up behind, and sped up.  Finally some competition!!!

Suddenly he came up on another lady, pulled up along side and slowed to her speed…

DUDE!!!!  WTF!!!

It’s a real narrow track, and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid piling into the back of them.  Right then we hit the corner and I saw a gap…  I broke into a sprint, passed them both, and kept going so Mr. camelbak wouldn’t feel tempted to follow and box me in again.  No worries though as he started walking shortly thereafter.

I tried to keep the pace going and did so fairly well.  My only regret was not taking my lap timer in with me, so I could count my laps and check my time.

It may have been my quickest 5k to date, but it’s hard to tell just how fast it was.  Finally I hit the final lap, zipped around, mostly by myself and then headed out the door and down the stairs.

Just so you all know, if I can be a warning to anyone here…  Running a blistering 5k (at least for me, and then hitting the stairs at full gallop - NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!

I made it down the first flight without incident, only by the grace of God though I think, grabbed Ann’s hand before hitting the last flight and crossing the line.

Our time ended up being a hair over an hour.  Good enough for 5th overall in the Novice couple division.

Swim: 7:55

Bike: 28:35

Run: 25ish?!

Not sure on the transition times of any of that, but we had a great time together and that’s what really counts!!

Thanks Hon!  We’ll have to do it again next year, only let’s plan on kicking some serious butt!

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Folks, I’ve finally been ranked on the USAT lists!!!  Now the 2009 results are still preliminary, but if they’re right then I ended up as #3162 in my age group.

Just to put that in perspective:

There were  5970 people in that age group, and it included the likes of Andy Potts, Matt Reed and Andreas Raelert.

It also puts me in the top 53% of the age group.

I’m hoping to improve in 2010, but since I’m racing some interesting races next year, that improvement may have to wait until 2011.

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I’ve realized a couple of things in the last week or so…

First, if I wait until I’m in the right frame of mind to write a report, it probably won’t happen - hence today, I’m not in a writing frame of mind, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Second, my race reports are far too long.  I read a friend’s report of IronMan Florida, which he began with an apology about the length of it, and it was significantly shorter than any report I’ve done.

So…  Silverman 2009, a report on the half Iron Distance!

This was to be my “A” race for the year.  I signed up last November and had my leave and  hotel accommodations booked by mid year.  Training could probably have been more intense prior to the race, and I developed some IT Band problems in my right left the week before.  I’ve been racing since February and done entirely far too many races this year.  That’s not to say I haven’t loved every minute of it, but I do think there are improvements to be gained by focusing on fewer races in a shorter season.

Lesson 1: Shorter, more focused race season.

We arrived Friday and I got checked in minutes before packet pick up closed.   The expo looked great, but sadly it was closed to, and I never got back there the next day to check it out fully.  Silverman has a reputation for having the greatest swag of any race, as well as being the toughest race in the world.  They didn’t disappoint with the swag, and I’m pretty sure the degree of difficulty was dead on as well.

Saturday morning I attended the mandatory pre-race meeting, which was fun and informative and then headed off to Lake Mead with the fam to check my bike and transition bags in.

Lesson 2: I need to develop my own personal checklists for races.  Saturday night as I was going to be, I realized that I’d left half my run stuff out of my bag - nothing essential, but nerve racking none-the less.

Saturday we had In N’ Out burger for lunch, and by dinner I wasn’t feeling hungry.  We grabbed some quick meals from Walmart, and I grabbed a little sushi kit.   It was OK, but without Wasabi, or any meat or veges in the rice, it was a little bland.  It was hard to tell if it was nerves, or if something was up with my stomach.

Sunday morning came way too soon, although I was grateful for about 6 hours of solid sleep.

I walked from our hotel to the Carls Jr. at Sunset Station and join a few other nervous athletes.  I was really early, but some of the guys were doing the iron distance, and were getting really nervous.  Especially when 45 minutes later the bus hadn’t shown up yet.  Fortunately someone ran over to the hotel and found out that the buses were arriving on the other side.

I snagged one of the last seats on a bus and off we went.  I’d skipped breakfast, since I wasn’t feeling to good, attributing it to nerves, but riding out on the bus, I got the distinct feeling that I was going to puke.  I didn’t and we arrived at the start with about 2 hours to go before our race.  I got setup and started drinking a mix of HEED and Hornet Juice.  Not the best taste in the world, but I got it down.

The full start was really cool.  If you look in the picture, just on this side of the barriers is a guy in jeans and a black jacket, next to a lady in khaki capris.  That gentleman is none other than Dave Scott - IronMan legend!!!

After that, I got my wetsuit on, finished up clearing my transition area, and I was good to go. With 45 minutes to go, I hopped in and began my warm-up. The water was perfect! A little cool when you got in, but after a 100 yrds or so, I got used to it.

The lead iron distance swimmers started coming in at 46 minutes - did I mention the weather was absolutely perfect as well?

I swam around, mingled and broke one personal rule I promised I never would, but I’ll spare you the details.

8:30am and the horn blared! I positioned myself in the midst of the pack, hopefully to get a good draft from the group like I’d had at the Utah Half. I think I got a draft, but it was the most violent swim I’ve been in. Generally people swam straight, but every 30 seconds or so, someone would cut across and push me under to get to where ever they were going. Not only that, but guys kept getting on my feet - which I’m fine with - but they’d get up on my calves and start pushing down on my knees and my butt. I don’t usually kick much when I swim, and if I feel someone behind me, I’ll try and avoid hitting them, but after a couple of punches to the upper legs, I would start kicking and I landed a few nice shots.

The first leg out was brutal. We then had a short across swim, before beginning the trip back to the finish. I got a side stitch at this point, and also swam wide to recover a little. I got my breathing under control and the cramp subsided.

The final stretch wasn’t bad at all. It’s the longest competitive swim I’ve ever done (Utah half been cut short due to weather), but it went OK. With a couple of hundred yards to go, I had someone get on my legs again, and try and crawl up my butt, but I dispatched him with a couple of good kicks. Seriously… You have the whole lake, and you choose to climb on me… Jerk!

Ok - so it looks like this report is going long, and I should warn you that language may deteriorate a little as well.

Lesson 3: I need to get a lot faster in the water. I have the ability, I just need to work on the stamina. This way I don’t have to worry about fighting the masses!

My goal for the swim was 40 minutes and I was out in 39 and some change. I had my first experience with a wetsuit stripper, which could have gone better, but I was inexperienced in the process, so next time I’ll nail it.

T1 went OK, although not as quick as I had hoped. My goal was to hustle through both transitions, since I’d lost valuable time in these at Utah.

4 minutes or so later I was running up the hill with my bike. HUGE THANKS to the volunteer who offered to stuff my wetsuit in the bag for me. It really helped, although it’s not a job I think I’d want to do.

My goal for the bike was to conserve energy. I would bomb on the downhills where I could, but change down and take it easy on the hills. With 6000 ft of climbing ahead I would need everything I could get.

The only problem was that as I sat on my seat, I felt what seemed to be saddle pains. I think it might have been just cramping in my glutes, but it did worry me a little.

At mile 8 things were going well and I was feeling better on my seat.

At around mile 15 we had a nice long downhill. Midway down, as I came up on 4 or 5 athletes, a minivan started a mix of slowing down to cheer an athlete on, and indicating to try and pull over. Their athlete wasn’t very fast either and as traffic backed behind them, and an ominous hill loomed in front I made a snap decision. I pulled out behind the van, and in front of an absolutely SWEET new Dodge Viper. Crossing into the opposing lane, I pedaled for all I could, passed the van and then pulled back over.

I suspect a move like that could have been cause for a penalty or a DQ, but at the same time… Just because you want to say hi to your athlete, doesn’t give you a right to block the rest of us from doing our race, especially on a nice downhill!

Lesson 4: I need to get faster on the bike, so that these types of athletes and their supporters are behind me on the course.

By mile 30, I was beginning to feel it. I’d grabbed some water and refilled my aero bottle. I dropped a Cola Nuun in, and that mixed with the remaining HEED and Hornet Juice. Uggggh!!! I also wasn’t doing so well with my perpetuem, and I was starting to feel chaffing on my neck from the wetsuit. It also seemed like I’d been climbing for way too long, and ahead were “THE 3 SISTERS.

The 3 Sisters are 3 hills on a bike path. They have a grade of between 15% and 18% and I was relieved to find that they are only about 100 meters long each. I geared down and I was psyched and ready for them. Going up them wasn’t actually too bad. Plenty of people cheering on the sides and while they were tough, you could tell the end was in sight.

Having crested all three sisters, I realized something… It was only mile 37, and those 3 bitches had taken all of my energy! What Sadistic Bastard came up with those?!?  Now in all seriousness, Mr. Frank Lowery puts on a heck of a race, but at that point of the race, with all my energy gone….  Freakin’ Frank!!

I’m kinda smiling in this pic from mile 40, only because I was feeling accomplished at having put the 3 sisters behind me.

The remainder of the bike wasn’t too bad. Lot’s more climbing, but a couple of Oh-So-Sweet downhills, which were far too short.

HUGE shout out to some rather hot young lasses on the side of the path with “We love triathletes” and “Nice Legs”. You guys really helped me out!

The last mile or so was a gentle uphill, and I was hating my bike. Usually I dread starting the run, but this time I was more than ready. Perhaps longer races are my thing…

I handed off my bike to a volunteer and then had to grab it back to take my Garmin, Phone, IT strap and a 5 hours energy off the bike.

T2 I really tried to hustle. Back at the Utah half I took it far too easily. I sat down and tried to change everything over. I switched out my shirt to avoid chaffing, downed the 5 hour energy and was good to go. It felt pretty quick, but looking back it was over 4 minutes. I wonder if I didn’t hit the button until after I saw my sweet wife and kids.

The fam were waiting for me right as I exited the tent. High fives to all the kids and a somewhat sweaty and disgusting kiss for the wife.

Big smile on, cup of water down the hatch and off I went.

My legs felt great and I was soon passing people, some in my age group. Stopped by the porta potty at mile 1 and took off still feeling great.

The next couple of miles felt really good. They were uphill, but I was feeling strong, and while I wasn’t flying, I was passing people steadily. A nice quick downhill back to the start and then a brief stint on a bike path.

And then came the hill. I ran some, and walked some, but it was relentless.

Mile 7 and I could hear the beep of the timing mat - that sweet, sweet sound. I was still feeling good and looking forward to hitting the downhill.

Miles 8 through 10, I ran nice and strong. I passed a guy from my age group, and I was looking forward to being done. Around mile 10 the wheels fell off, as my right IT Band tightened up and started affecting my knee. I’d had some Endurolytes around mile 8 as well, and things weren’t feeling too kosher down south - if you know what I mean.

10 thru 12 was interesting. The fellow age grouper I passed on the hill and I started to play leap frog. We also ran through the district which was cool. It started with an aid station where the first 2 guys had names and numbers printed out. “Come on Michael!! You can do it!” The only down side was… I only get called Michael by telemarketers, or when I’m in trouble. I need to investigation the logistics of whether I can register for races as Mike - just for these reasons!!

That aid station rocked!! Grabbed some Coke and some Gatorade and headed off down the main section of the district to the tune of U2’s Magnificent. As I turned right and out of The District, I got some paralyzing cramps. My apologies if this is TMI, but they were the kind were you have to stop and clench. All those breathing techniques from the pre-birthing classes came into play as well. Hee hee hooooo,hee hee hooooo

My leap frog buddy passed me, and said, “Hey, let’s keep this up to the finished!”. I couldn’t!

I walked and ran, stopping occasionally to let the contractions pass…

The last 200 yds were great though. That light at the end of the tunnel makes finishing a race so much easier. In the final mile I got passed by another couple of guys in my age group, but as I entered the chute, I noticed no-one around, so I stopped and said hi to the fam again, and then continued on to break the tape and get my picture, medal and all of that.

The medal looks awesome, the finishers shirt is one I’ll get a lot of usage from and all in all I was glad to be done.

I think I may have had a wee stomach bug as well during the race, although I don’t think it affected my performance if I did. Usually I can eat a ton after a race, but after a quarter of a burrito at Del Taco that night, the nausea returned.

I woke up the next day, feeling like I’d run a marathon. Silverman truly kicked my butt.

I toyed with the idea of doing the full distance next year, but I think I’m going to have a go at the half again. My time this year was 7 hours and 17 minutes. I realized I have a lot of improvement to make, so perhaps when I can break 6 hours on this unforgiving course, I’ll look at bumping up to the next distance.

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Sorry folks!  I’ve been a bad blogger of late.  Seems that when you have a nice full life going on that would provide plenty of blog fodder, you lose the time to blog about said life…

More blog posts will be coming, but to tide you over (because I know you’re all itching for some Koda news…)

Finished the Layton Tri - the Swim, Bike, Run, Repeat one, which was unique to say the least!!

Finished my first Half Iron Distance Tri in 5:50 - It had a shortened swim and plenty of wind, rain and hail

I’ve also installed new flooring in the Koda household, been swimming in the 3rd saltiest body of water on the planet and in the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to be competing as part of a team for the inaugural Red Rock Relay in Southern Utah.

All very exciting, and hopefully will include plenty of pictures as well!

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Saturday July 11th I did the Echo Triathlon Olympic distance. This was my Fathers Day present this year. Fathers Day arrived, and after saying all week that I didn’t want anything, it turns out no-one got me anything, so I asked if I could register for a race. SCORE!!

I wasn’t considering this an A race by any means, since I only had a couple of weeks to prepare, and with my first half iron distance race looming next month, I’m more focused on that. However after riding the course and as the day got closer, I was looking forward to a fairly good showing.

A few days prior I also read some feedback from a coach about his coachee’s experience with Coure D’Alene a few weeks ago. Two things stood out in the feedback.

1. He talked about how fructose doesn’t play real nice with other sugars.

2. Almost everytime a world record has been broken, the runner has negative split the course.

The fructose thing was new to me. Usually in a race I use Gu, and then either Gatorade, or more recently Hammer HEED. At BAM a month or so ago, my stomach felt funky on the bike. Not bad, but just like things weren’t mixing well. I checked out a Gu pack, and discovered that it uses fructose. Hmmmm!

I’m thinking about switching over entirely to Hammer nutrition as I switch to training for IronMan later this year, so I figured now was as good a time as any. I picked up some Hammer Gel at Striders, and fortunately found 2 sample packets of Melon flavored Heed at home, since Striders don’t appear to carry it any more. In the past I haven’t liked HammerGel, but I went with the Raspberry and the Fruit Punch, and both were actually quite palatable!

On the negative split thing… In the past a lot of my mid-week running has been done on my lunch break. I’ve been busy implementing a new web application for a local law firm on my lunches for the past month or so, and my running has really suffered. The last 2 tri’s I’ve done, I’ve ended up walking a little on the run. I didn’t want to do that again. I started running on lunches again last week, and have been feeling stronger. I figured a negative split might be a good way to go.

OK, but onto the race! Echo Reservoir is just a little under an hour up the canyon from where I live. It was an interesting race, in that the venue has no parking, and so you get to bike in to the start. I left home a little late, but not too late, and was shocked by how many people were already there. The ride down to the start was uneventful and check-in was quick and easy. I think they were expecting 800 athletes, and they had the organization to handle that.

Transition was pretty cool. They had assigned racks, and each label featured the comments entered at registration about why the athelete tri’d. The only downside was that transition was in the dirt.

Pre-race prep went well. I got my nutrition in, had my ibuprofen in good time, and the pre-race porta potty visit was successful as well.

I got into the water with just a couple of minutes to go. Met up with a couple of other Sharks and tried to work out whether we were swimming clockwise or counter-clockwise. Everyone was lining up facing counter-clockwise, so we figured that was it, and after a couple of quick warm up swims, I positioned my self on the outside edge of the heat.

The horn went off, and it was on. The water was about perfect. A little chilly to begin with, but once we got moving it was great. The course was a triangular shape, and Olympic distance did 2 laps. The swim to the first buoy was really long, but I tried to stay calm and smooth. A couple of collisions, but I held my ground and it went well. Between the back two buoys, I started to get a side stitch, and a cramp which moved up to my shoulder. I’ve been getting these a fair bit lately. I think it may have to do with my breathing, and increased intensity. I tried to stay slow and fluid, and breathe easily.

As I turned to complete my first loop, it was right into the sun. It was a good thing, since I forgot about the cramping and focussed on try to stay straight and see where I was going. By the time I started lap #2, I was feeling much better, and I started to find my groove. I sped up a little and felt like I was headed for a strong finish.

Hopping out the water was tricky. With a couple of waves starting after mine, the mud on the edge had gotten very soft and squishy. I swan in as far as I could and then squished and slid out of the water. The run to transition was carpeted, but they had a shoe zone, since the transition itself had a lot of small rocks and stones in it.

The shoe thing didn’t go well. Next year I’m taking flip flops instead of water shoes. I had my wetsuit down to my waist by the time I hit transition, leaving my goggles and cap in the sleeve as I pulled my hand through - coolest trick ever!!!

By the time my suit was completely off, my feet were covered in mud. I tried to scrape it off as best as I could, and slipped the shoes on. I was going to try biking without socks for the first time in a race. It was easier not having to put socks on, but with the mud my transition was over 3 minutes. To make matters worse, someone asked a family member for the time, and it seems like my swim had taken almost 35 minutes - NOT GOOD!

Perhaps now would be a good time to mention my goals…

My plan was for a strong swim in the 30 minute range, which would be a PR by 2 minutes, but I felt was possible.

T1 was supposed to be a minute, since I wasn’t going to be messing with socks.

The bike course is an out and back with a big hill going out and then down coming back. I went conservative and figured a 1:20 would be a good time to go for.

T2 was supposed to be another minute or so.

The run, I was going to start slow, and try and hold 9:30 per mile for the whole run.

With those plans, and factoring some cushioning in, my goal was 2:55, although I would have been stoked with anything under 3.

Got on the bike and tried to get into a rhythm. I didn’t feel bad, and I was moving quickly, but it just wasn’t perfect. 3 miles of flat and downhill, and then we began the climb up the canyon. I got passed a bit, did my own passing, but by 6 miles in, I was starting to feel the groove again.

I hit the top of the canyon with an average speed of 17.5 mph. Which considering that I’d been hovering around 15 most of the way up, was pretty good.

I turned and headed down… Free speed Baby!! I took the speed up to about 30mph. It felt great. It took some concentration, since the road wasn’t the best, but I managed to hold it to the bottom of the canyon. Average speed was now up above 20mph, and I began the final 3 miles up to transition. At this point the road was really busy, with all the Sprint Athletes out on the course as well. It made it fun though.

Transition was interesting. There was a looooong run in the dirt between the dismount and the entrance. As we approached the entrace there were about 3 or 4 sprint gals walking slowly through. I’m grateful for the girl beside me, who started yelling for them to move, thus clearing the way for her and I. There were a number of dirty looks given, but if you’re going to walk slowly next to your buddy and stop in the entrance you deserve it.

Mud and dirt were still an issue in T2, although there was a little less mud now. I grabbed a 5 hour energy as well, and drained my gel flask. Grabbed the Garmin and back out onto the course in just under 3 minutes. Not great, but I was feeling good, so perhaps I could make it up on the run.

My last couple of races, I’ve left transition and held a 7:30 to 8:00 pace for the first half mile or so. That may have been my downfall at those races, so this time, I opted to try and stay around 9:00. It was tough, and it hurt but I managed to hold it.

The run was a trail alongside the dam. Pretty flat, but there was a definitely decline heading out, and incline heading back. I stayed fairly consistent and managed to run solidly all the way out. At the turn around I started feeling really good and figured I could pick it up a bit. It also helped that I was starting to run by other Sharks and plenty of high 5’s and encouragement were shared.

With 2 miles to go, I came upon #123. He had an O and a 33 on his legs, just like me. That meant same age group - and he was looking tired. I figured I’d hold it behind him for a while, and then opt for a final kick over the last 250 yards or so to pass him. It’s the first time, I’ve ever worried about strategy in a race, and it was both fun, and it took my mind off my legs.

It was going well, until the 5 mile mark where he stopped for a drink… I blew by him and tried to up the tempo a bit, but I’m guessing he say my leg markings and got an adrenaline charge. He came flying by me seconds later. I figured he’d burn out a little way down the trail and I’d catch him then, but he kept going to the end. DOH!! I sped it up a little with half a mile to go, and came into the finish feeling strong, but spent.

All in all, it was an excellent race. I felt good in all three legs, and felt like my nutrition and pacing were dead on. The only thing I wasn’t ecstatic about was the swim, but it seemed everyone’s swim times were off, leading us to suspect that the swim course may have been long. So that’s my excuse for that.

Finals Times

Swim: 34:02
T1: 3:21
Bike: 1:14:42 (Average Speed 19.9 mph)
T2: 2:50
Run: 53:15 (Average Pace 8:35 per mile WOW!!)

Overall in my division, I was 15th in the swim, 13th on the bike and 15th on the run, giving me a final placing of 14/24. Still plenty of room for improvement, and I do have a really tough division.

Final Time: 2:48:11

Now my previous Olympic PR was at BAM last month in a time of 2:41 and some change, but this course was 3 miles longer on the bike, and a quarter mile longer on the run, and if you factor that in, with my average speeds at the two events, I think this one comes out as a new PR.

My final results are here.

And there are photo’s located here. I particularly like some of the bike pics, and the run ones where I’m going from right to left. The left to right ones were on the way out, and I was hurting.

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I’ve had a few people ask me about some of the terms I use…  So

Triathlon - it’s a multisport race, as swim, a bike and a run, usually in that order, but it can be reversed on occasion.

OWS - Open Water Swim.  Shorter triathlons are some times  done in pools, but the longer ones take place in a lake or the ocean (or even rivers at times!).

T1 - Transition 1.  This is the switch from swimming to biking.  You have to exit the water, pull off your wetsuit (if you wear one), goggles, swim cap and all of that.  Put your bike helmet and shoes on, and anything else you wear, and then run out of the transition are before jumping on your bike.

T2 - Transition 2.   This is the switch from biking to running.  You have to get off your bike, push it into the transition area, remove helmet (Important to do, coz you look like an idiot running in a bike helmet, and I would know!!), remove bike shoes and then get ready to run - running shoes, running hat etc.  And then run out of the area and do the run.

PR - Personal Record.  Most runners and triathletes track their best times in a particular event - especially those of us that don’t place normally.  Triathlon is about beating yourself and self improvement.  For me it’s all about chasing a new PR!

Placing - Finishing in the top 3 in a race, or even in your division.  I race as an Age-grouper in the 30-34 division - which is why I don’t place, since guys in that age group are really good.  I’m looking forward to my 70th birthday, perhaps then I’ll not only place, but I can qualify for the big one in Kona!

Kona - The first IronMan triathlon was done in Kona, a swimmer, cyclist and a runner were arguing about who was fittest, so they did a long swim, a long bike run and a long run (I think it may have included the marathon held in Kona, Hawaii every year.  Now Kona hosts the World Championship IronMan every year in October.  To race you have to qualify at another Full or Half IronMan event.  It takes serious talent and dedication to do this.

Super Sprint, or beginner triathlon - These vary, but usually 200m swim, 4-10 mile bike ride and 1 - 2 mile run.

Sprint Triathlon - Usually a 300m to 750m swim.  Typically in a pool, but it case be in a lake.  10-15 mile bike ride, and a 5k run.

Olympic Triathlon - 1500m swim, 26 mile bike and 10k (6.2 mile) run

Half-Ironman Triathlon - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run (half marathon)

IronMan Triathlon - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run (full marathon).  This has to be done in 17 hours too, just to make it interesting.

There is also an Ultraman in Hawaii everyyear - a double ironman distance race over 3 days.  And triple Ironman somewhere on the east coast of the US, which usually takes a week, and then I believe some nut-jobs in Mexico, do a deca-ironman (10x iron distance race) over a two week period.

I’ve never claimed to be sane, and some have suggested I seek professional help (But that’s a whole other story - and yes they were serious, but no it wasn’t about triathlon!). But I think I’ll top out with the IronMan, and then perhaps try out XTerra or something

XTerra - and off-road triathlon serious, usually consisting of a swim - in 2 parts with a short beach run in between, a mountain bike course and a trail run.

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