The KodaFit Blog

Daybreak was an interesting race.  It’s was the final race in a series put on by the newly formed US TriSports Race Management Company, and if the opportunity arises, I would gladly compete in one of their races again.

In the Utah, specifically along the Wasatch Front, this race is perhaps better known as the Triathlon that got canceled because of a Round Worm infestation.  Just days before the race, the Salt Lake Health Department found an alarmingly high infection of the Roundworm Parasite in the water at Oquirrh Lake.

Actually local Fox News Channel aired the following story, which featured two fellow Desert Sharks - Kelly and Amy towards the end.

With just days to find a new swim venue, I thought they did a fantastic job of making alternate arrangements.

Daybreak was another impulse race for me.  I signed up on a whim just a couple of weeks before, and my race experience started the night before after a long drive down to Daybreak from my home, perhaps 80 minutes north of the location.   I arrived just minutes before packet pickup closed, courtesy of road construction in the area, and not being able to find the right building, and then returned home with 2 very tired and sleepy kids in the back seat.

Race morning started well.  I got to the venue in good time, got my bike racked up, and then found a very nice and apparently unused porta-potty to take care of the pre-race ritual.  While I’m hesitant to share this…  If you do the race next year, I’d recommend looking for the porta potties east of the building to the east of the main parking structure.

It ended up that I’d racked my bike in a bad spot as far as transition went, meaning I would have to run the length of transition in my cleats, but it would also make my bike easy to find, and ended up being right next to fellow Red Rocker and Desert Shark, Chuck.

To make up for the swim, triathletes were transported to one of the community pools by bus.  It was only a 25 yard pool, and the plan was 3 lengths for 75 yards, and then a little over a mile run to the transition area, before we could head out on the bikes.

I hung out with Kris, another shark who was doing the Olympic Distance, listened to the instructions and the National Anthem.  The start turned out to be a time trial start too, and while I would usually be a little put out to have to run instead of swim, I’d just finished a week long swim clinic and my shoulders were trashed, so it turned out for the best.

The biggest shock of the day was diving under the water at my start and realizing that it was a salt water pool!  My swim went well.  First two lengths were solid, turns were tight, and then I let it fly on the last length, passing Kris en-route.  It was kinda nice to sprint in a tri for a change, and since I can pull off a 26 second 50m sprint, the 75m swim was perfect.

We exited the pool, pulled on our shoes and headed off for transition.  We passed a couple of relay runners who looked like they were in the swim leg for a reason.  Heavier athletes and some with braced up legs, who I felt bad for, but with only a mile to run, I felt I could push it, and left them nicely behind.

My pace for the run ended up being about 8 minutes a mile - I think (Something to be said for timely race reporting!!).

Had a good solid transition and it was out on the bike.  I really enjoyed this bike course, although in hind sight, more hill training would have been good.  You start off  riding through the DayBreak city center, and then head out towards the copper mine.  It gets steeper as the road heads out, but I was able to maintain a solid cadence, and the area’s finest did a fantastic job of controlling traffic and keeping the course safe.

After reaching the high point of the course, you then turn south, down a quick hill and then up a really steep one, before bearing east and heading into the city of Herriman.  The road is tight, winding, and you can get some wicked speed heading down.  Several miles of your wheels singing, and you take a sharp right before doing a quick and back into the neighborhoods.  There’s a really steep hill at the turn around, which sucks going up, but is a real nice reward coming back.

After that, you head back up the gnarly hill - which was a lot nice coming down, up around the top and then begin a really nice descent back into Daybreak.  The final section was well patrolled by police, the only downside being that you start coming up on the slower riders in the Sprint distance race, and I had a couple of nerve-wracking high speed passes.

Coming back into transition reminded me a little of some of the scenes from the Tour de France.  Spectators line both sides of the road yelling and screaming, and the din from the cowbells is intense.  It was a huge rush racing through the crown, but I believe volunteers had a nightmare trying to keep the spectators off the road and out of the way of the cyclists.

T2 went well, and it was out onto the run course.  By this point of the day it was getting pretty hot, and the water, while loaded with funky intestinal parasites looked very inviting.  The Olympic course circles the lake twice before finishing.  I felt strong and tried to maintain a good pace and for the most part I managed.  I did stop to walk at one aid station, before a couple of girls behind gave me some encouragement.  The last two miles, I ended up behind 2 guys, who were both in my age group, and who both had iPods going.  I know it’s not a big deal, but something about guys who race with music, when it’s explicitly forbidden in the race rules just bugs me.   I was tired, my legs were burning, but I vowed I would pass them.

We played leap from for a while, but with a mile to go I kicked it into high gear and gave everything my body had left.  It would appear from the results, that both gentleman likely started walking at that point, since I beat them both by over 5 minutes.

The finish line was crowded, a little unorganized and noisy.  I did enjoy hearing my name as I crossed the line, and then things got a little blurry.  I grabbed a bottle of iced water and tried to find something I could grab onto.  I ended up holding the upright pole in one of the sponsors tents, and stood there hyperventilating for likely 10 minutes.   I’ve had a couple of races where I would get done and then beat myself up mentally, knowing that I could have done better, had I only pushed harder at the end, since I finished with plenty of energy.  I can say with absolute certainty that I had nothing left at the end of this race.

I really enjoyed Daybreak.  They gave each finished a free photo, which was nice, although a wee bit small, and the finish line festival seemed great.  Once I got my breathe back, I grabbed my stuff, loaded the car, and then got to have a well deserved lunch at a local Mexican grill (Chameleon Grill or some kind of lizard like reptile - I think) with a couple of other sharks.

read comments (0)

Saturday June 20th, was the Shark Attack Triathlon - a sprint tri, put on by the Desert Sharks Triathlon Club.  It’s my first year as a Shark, so I figured I should probably do it.

I wasn’t really considering this an “A” race for me, but went into it looking to have some fun.

I probably should have posted my goals before hand, so I was accountable to my readership, but I should have done a lot of things before this race!!

Should have driven the course, should have shaved my legs, shaved my head and practiced more speed on each discipline, rather than just endurance.  But no point crying over that now!

Anyway, so the goals were:

300m swim - 5 minutes

T1 - 1 minute

Bike - 30 minutes (Average of about 23 mph, which was waay ambitious)

T2 - 1 minute

Run - 25 minutes

Total Time 1:02 - Fastest Sprint Tri to date!

Day before I loaded up with Crown Burger, and Lucky Charms cereal (I used to try the healthy thing the day before, but this particular approach seems to be yielding better results!)

Night before went to bed about 11 - not good, but on the plus side, my car was packed and ready to go, and I was able to fall asleep quickly, secure in the knowledge that I was good to go.

3:10am - Alarm went off.  Hopped in the shower, dressed in my race kit, drank my Instant Breakfast and was out the door by 4am

5am - Arrived at the venue, amid some hefty winds and ominous looking clouds.

By 5:30, my transition area was setup, I was checked in and marked up, and had met a couple new sharks as well

Over the next hour or so, I helped get stuff ready for the aid stations, carried a bunch of stuff around and blew up a couple of inflatable sharks to help decorate the pool area.

7am - Start time.  I seeded myself right near the front.  I think I was 5th or 6th in the water.  I felt good about my swim, although I did get held up a little on the last lap of the pool.  Felt like a solid swim, exited cleanly and ran up to transition.

As I entered, I was told that only 2 bikes had left already.

Helmet, glasses, shoes, grabbed the bike and sprinted for the exit behind another shark.  That young shark was a young 13 year old girl.  If I may take a wee side trip here…  Her 18 year old brother ultimately won the race.  She came in 4th out of the woman - out of all the woman!!!  They have a younger brother who did well in the kids race as well.  These kids are talented, but perhaps more importantly, they have incredibly supportive parents.  Not the kind who push their kids into everything, but the kind who are involved, help their kids as best they can, and make sure they’re not being overwhelmed.  I hope I can be a parent like that as my kids get older.

Anyway, got out of transition in 5th position (Bear in mind this race had a time trial start, so it’s kind of hard to judge positioning relative to the other athletes.  Almost immediately I passed the person in 4th - the afforementioned 13 year old girl - and I only mention this, because I suspect in a year or 2, she’ll be cleaning the floor with me as well as all the other competitors.

The first part of the course was mostly downhill and into a headwind.  I was having a hard time holding 18mph, and was struggling for breath.  It wasn’t a bad course, but there were spots where the road was in need of repair.

The final mile towards the turn around was pretty rough.  With a half mile to go, the first 2 bikes came back, pushing hard, followed closely by #3, wearing a Shark jersey.  The turn around was dicey, due to some wet roads - It had started raining, and then it was back to the pool…  A couple of dicey places on the way back.  First an intersection where I wasn’t sure if the officer had seen me coming - he had, just waited till the last second to stop traffic.  Then a one way bridge which had been open when I first went under it, but was now on a downhill and had traffic backed up on both sides, as well as oncoming cyclists.

Exiting the bridge I had a downhill and a tail wind.  I topped out around 38mph, while flirting with the bumper of a Mazda 6.   Not sure if I got much of a draft from him, but it was fun to be racing a car!!  Back towards the start, and I managed to catch #3.  I passed quickly and then began a short nasty uphill.  Unfortunately I also caught a Sherrif’s deputy who was patrolling the course, causing me to brake as I hit the hill and cautiously pass.  Right at that point #3 caught me and passed me solidly.  The hill was really slick, and as I crested, I felt my back wheel spin out a little - Uh Oh!!  Kept it in control, and then started to sprint for the finish.

I caught #3 about a mile from the finish - said hi as I passed - Not in a condescending way, but he was a fellow shark - exactly who, I’m not sure, but he had the jersey on!  At this point I was on a small uphill, but with the tail wind was holding 28mph - Nice!!

Hit transition and hopped off the bike, albeit a little awkwardly - Need to learn how to exit my shoes while on the bike I think!!  T2 went well, until I slipped on my left shoe and felt something in the end - Did I forget to remove a Gu?  Pulled it off, and out fell my Garmin Strap…  Doh!!  Shoes on, grabbed the hat, the garmin and sprinted for the run exit.

Within the first half mile I got the Garmin strapped on, and then realized I’d forgotten my number (Shh!  I think it’s against the rules to do so - DOH!!!).  The first half mile was down hill as well, and was the perfect way to start the run, other than the knowledge that I would have to climb back up the hill to finish.  First mile got done in 7:57!!!  I don’t run under 8’s ever!!  Just gotta keep the momentum going and keep my brain from quitting.  The next half mile was rough.  My legs felt great, but I got passed by the fellow Shark again, who was flying on the run, and then came the bugs…  I caught a few in my face, and then got a few in my mouth.  Most I spat out, but one got into my throat, and made it his dying wish to move around as much as possible.

Hit the turn around and grabbed a cup - Dang it!! It was water, and I could really have used some HEED…  Oh well.  I walked a little to drink it down, along with my buggy friend and then started running again.  My time was now around 9 minute miles.  More normal for me, but I was bummed I could hold to the 8 minute pace.  My legs were still feeling good at this point, but my side was aching, and then I ran through another swarm of bugs and got another couple of the buggers in my throat.

Got passed by two more runners as I neared the finish, and walked about 50 ft going up the hill.  Managed to kick my butt though, and got running again for the last half of the hill.  Crossed the finish line feeling strong, and got my foam shark key ring!!

At this point, it was also pointed out to me that my face was covered in bugs.  I wiped ‘em off and headed for the massage tent - one of the bonuses of finishing up front.  Waited a few minutes, and then got a massage.  It wasn’t bad, but I can see the benefit of have a man massage you rather than a woman.  Men (and I’m generalizing here) just have more strength and can dig deeper.

There were a bunch of timing snafu’s after the race, and I felt really bad for a couple of the officials who were trying to straighten it out.  I helped out with the raffles and handing out prizes, which was fun, although with the wind and the rain, few people stayed.

Due to the timing problems, I’m not sure of my exact times.  I’ve been able to make some good guesses, which are below, but it’s hard to say how acurate they are.  I suspect the swim, T1 and the bike may be close, but my bike may have been linked with T2?!?

Anyway without further ado…  My final results:

Swim: 5:45 - good for fastest in my age group.

T1: 1:08 - 3rd fastest in my age group

Bike: 35:52 - 3rd fasted in my age group with an average of 19.1 - Not bad, the weightlifting session 2 nights before factored into it, as well as the wind, the rain and some slick roads, but still not too bad.

T2: 0:54 - Could have been quicker had I cleard out my shoes before the race.

Run: 25:50 - My second fastest 5k to date and fasted 5k after a tri

Final time: 1:09:29

Good enough for 5th in my age group, 12th Overall out of the men and 13th overall for the race!!

Overall, not a bad race, and I left knowing that my run definitely needs some work, but other that, I think the training is going well.

read comments (2)

BAM is an Olympic Distance Triathlon, hosted by WARP - Wasatch Area Race Production - at Soldier Hollow, in Midway, UT.  It was the venue for many of the cross country type events at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and is an incredible venue for both winter and summer events.

The week before had some pretty crappy weather in Northern Utah, and weather predictions for Race Weekend were not looking good at all.

My personal race predictions were looking good though…  Here they are:

Swim: 32:00

T1: 5:00

Bike: 1:05

T2: 2:00

Run: 50:00

We decided to camp out at the venue, which was going to make logistics a lot easier, and  the kids have all be begging to go camping for a while now.

Lesson #1:  Camping out at the venue absolutely rocks, even when it rains, which it did, and hard too.

Lesson #2:  Camping out with 5 kids, aged 10 months to 9 years, not such a hot idea.

When all was said and done, it wasn’t too bad. At about 10pm however, a certain kid, who shall remain nameless, chucked my big, solid MagLight at another kids leg, which kid then proceeded to scream bloody murder, to the point that he then threw up all over himself, a couple of sleeping bags and a pillow or two.

But when you factor out little incidents like that, it wasn’t a bad weekend.  We arrived about 4:20 on Friday afternoon, and by 4:45, had the tent up, most of out stuff unloaded, and I was sprinting like a mad fool, to grab the race packets for 3 of the kids.  5:00 we had the kids race (See previous posting), and following that we dropped my bike off at Deer Creek, and headed into town for dinner.

The night was actually fairly warm.  A couple of big thunderstorms rolled through, but they stopped around midnight, and it was quite peaceful after that.  I heard from one of the race directors that they had done “The Dance”, naked, at midnight in T2.  I can’t say for sure if they did, but whatever it was, it worked.

Just a heads up… This race report, as with all of my reports is waaaaaay looooong. I get kind of wordy, and I like to include details, so I can go through what worked and what didn’t. There are photo’s however, so if you want to see those, and my final results, just scroll down to the end.

I woke up at about 3:30 and kind of lay around until 4:30.  I hit the restrooms, got my race kit on and then walked my run stuff up to T2.

BAM is a point to point race, so you drop your bike off at the swim venue the day before, setup your run equipment at the 2nd transition area on race morning, and then catch a bus to T1 to check your bike and setup your bike equipment.

I was the one of the first people set up my run stuff, meaning I got the pick of positions, and then headed down for a quick shot of carnation instant breakfast, grabbed my bags, and got on the bus.

While I enjoy meeting new people, I was grateful to find some fellow sharks to sit with. Sandi, Sue and Steve were all at the back of the bus, and I got to meet Polly as well!

Got to my bike at around 6, set up my aero bottle, checked the tired, set up the Garmin and then wondered around nervously. Got to meet a couple of other sharks, and then tried to focus on getting ready for the race.

7am I grabbed Gu #1 - vanilla (mmmmm!!), and then noticed that Stef had arrived as well. Stef is a blogging buddy from Las Vegas. I got to meet her in person at Rage earlier this year, and it was really great to see her again. They say that Facebook and other social networking type things (like blogging) can limit your social interactions, but I think they can really enhance them as well. I’ve met a couple of new people in those endeavors, who’ve turned out to be great friends, and it’s always good to be able to share a race with people you know.

7:30 grabbed the second Gu, and wondered off to get the wetsuit on.

7:40 Wondered over to the water with Stef and hopped in to warm up - which is interesting, because I’m sure my core temperature dropped significantly as the barely liguid water slipped through my zipper and through my neck. Brrrrr! It wasn’t as cold as it had been a couple of weeks before, but it was still chilly!!

7:50 Staggered out of the water - Does anyone else have trouble walking normally when they exit a lake?

National Anthem, suck down Gu #3 (Mint Chocolate - best flavor ever!!), luck wishing to Stef, Steve and Josh and then into the water for the start. I positioned myself towards the back, but on the inside path of the course. Glad I warmed up too, because the water felt much better the second time around. There was a count down, and then the ROTC from BYU (I think) shot off the canon. I expected it to be louder, but I also had ear plugs in! First time plugging the ears in a race, and I think I shall be doing it from now on - definitely helped me stay focused.

Collided with a couple of bodies en route to turn one, but I kept going - Score that a win!! First turn wasn’t too bad. I got grabbed on the butt a couple of times, but it’s a sporting event, so that’s OK - right?!? I may have done some inadvertent groping as well.

The course was a triangular shape, and doing the full distance meant two laps. 2nd turn went very well, as did number 3. Back to the start for round 2. I was starting to get a stomach cramp at this point - don’t think it was the Gu’s since it’s happened the last couple of times I swam open water as well. I think it has to do with continuous swimming, which can only be practiced in open water, so I’m hoping to do more of that this year.

I started chanting to myself “There is no spoon, it’s all in my head, there is not spoon” This in reference to a part of The Matrix, referenced by blogger buddy xt4 here and which words he’d wished me well just prior to signing off for the weekend. Thanks xt4! It really helped!!

By the middle of lap 2, I was feeling really good again, and I was only just starting to be passed by athletes from the second wave which started 5 minutes later. Things were looking good for a PR swim!!

Final stretch felt really good, although my shoulder were feeling tired, but you don’t need shoulders on the bike now - do you!!

Exited well, unzipped the suit (QR Breakaway zipper - you ROCK!!), grabbed the caps, goggles in one swipe, pulled out the plugs, into the cap and then I pulled them through my sleeve, dropped them halfway - Excellent race tactic - thanks to the person who recommended that!!

Exited right behind another Shark - turned out to be Club President Di, who had beaten me in the swim at Rage by almost a minute, despite starting 7 minutes later - doing some quick math… That means I could be 3 minutes faster than Rage, and I suspect she has improved as well.

Wetsuit came off well, transition felt quick and it was off on the bike. I was able to check the time about a minute into the ride and it said 8:40. Wave was supposed to start at 8:00, which means with the minute or so on the bike, Swim and T1 were about 37:00 minutes. Perfectly in line with goals!! Nice

The first section of the bike is along a highway. There was not supposed to be any passing, but with some short course athletes already on the course, that was tricky. I tried to be safe and picked my passing spots carefully, but I did blow by a couple of mountain bikes, and the odd tri bike as well.

3 miles into it, I passed Di back again, and was holding an average speed just above 20mph - so far so good.

The BAM course is really fast, but there are some hills, and they hit after the first 5 or 6 miles. Nothing too steep though, and I stayed in my big ring for all of it. I had a shot of gu as well, as drank a fair amount of HEED too. My nutrition seemed to be going well, although my stomach was feeling a little full. The 3 before trick I tried at my first marathon and it worked well, but I realized that I didn’t take on anything else for the first half of that race, so I opted not to take any more Gu on.

After the climbing came the downhill. LOVED IT!! Nothing too steep, but I got some good speed! Topped out at a little over 33mph at one point, but generally tried to keep it between 22 and 26mph for the second half. At one point I was down in the aero position, cranking away, and holding a 28mph average for a couple of miles - it felt really really good!!

A little climbing in the last couple of miles, before a few miles a perfect downhill, and then one final big hill up to T2.

It looked like I was heading for about a 1:05 time on the bike, and I’d forgotten what my goal was 1:03, 1:05?!? Either way, I was close. Hopped off the bike without incident, just to see to other sharks come flying in right behind me. SHARK ATTACK IN TRANSITION!!!

Opted to skip the 5 hour energy, grabbed the hat instead of the bandanna, and I was off!

T2 time - 1:30 or so. Nice job Mike, just keep it together. There is no spoon!! There is no spoon!!

The first 2 miles of the run were rough. I started well, but my toes were all numb. I think I need to invest in some bigger bike shoes. Kind of held it together until the first big hill into Soldier Hollow itself. I think it was all mental, and I was trying to get back control. Sweat was also starting to run down my neck, and it turns out, I had some wicked chaffing from my wetsuit. Owwwwww!!!

Hit the top of the hollow, and decided I need to run down - averaged around 7:30/mile coming down - BACK IN THE GAME BABY!!

There’s a nasty short hill at the bottom, and I put my head down and went for it. Doing well, grabbed some Heed at the aid station, and threw water on the neck. Doing well. The next two mile went OK. Walked one or two steep hills, but generally kept running and was feeling strong.

At mile 4 I bumped into my friend Mike from work. He was doing the Lite course and was about a mile into his run. He was looking good, and it was nice to chat for a while. Another downhill came, and I used gravity to my advantage again, taking off for lower elevations. The final two miles went pretty well. Passed Di at one of the switch backs and exchanged 5’s and then headed up for the finish. Walked one last beastly hill with a half mile to go, and then picked a couple of guys to chase into the finish. I caught them both just prior to the final turn and heard my name announced. “Mike Mackrory, looking for a strong finish”

Yes I will! Thank you very much.

The kids were waiting in the finish shoot, I yelled “High Fives Guys!” and got all but 2, even the wife I think! That is the reason my daughters photo looks like this….

Got to break the tape - first time ever, and then staggered into the finishers tent for some water and a rest.

Rested for a while. Got to see Mike and Di finish right behind me, and then figured it best to go and rescue my wife from the kids.

That about sums it up for the race. Official finish times haven’t been posted online yet, but from what I saw on the final list outside the timing trailer…

My swim time was 32:09 (9 seconds shy of my goal, but my previous PR was 34:23. That’s HUGE. Beat myself 2:12 - WOOHOO!!)

T1 was something crazy like 2:17 or something ridiculous. Goal was 5, although I really wanted to hit 3. Hell yeah! I’ll take that!!

Bike Time according to Garmin - 1:04:29 with avg of 20.2. Goal was 1:05, so I beat that, and PR’d something fierce! This wasn’t a full Olympic distance race, so it’s hard to compare, but I have never gotten an average over 20 in a race before, and my previous Olympic PR avg was 19.5 in Provo last year - and that course could not have been flatter - we’re talking 40 ft difference between the highest and lowest points!!

T2 - Garmin again - 1:31 - well under my 2 minute goal. Way to skip the dilly dallying!!

Run - 1:00:36 - That’s off my goal by over 10 minutes and without a doubt my slowest Olympic distance run of all time (This was my third race though!). I don’t feel too bad about it, because I did well on the swim, and I pushed really hard on the bike. My run training, has been slack of late too, and this course is BRUTAL. But all that aside I still have much to improve on - A little too much spoon on this section if you ask me.

Final time was 2:41 and some change. 6 minutes off my goal, but I’m still stoked about it. Even if you factor in the additional 4 miles on the bike for a full Olympic event, that’s still a PR against my best ever Oly Tri by over 10 minutes!!

Nice job to Stef who I believed PR’d by 29 minutes over last year or something close (Her coach says 29, she says 28… I think Stef may be playing it down, so let’s go with the Coach’s numbers!!)

I believe my friend Mike won his division - I was breaking down a tent at the time, surrounded by kids, but I think that’s what I heard, and I thought he did really well!!

And the father of the family that camped next to us won his division as well - on his first triathlon as well!!

I think the family on the other side of us cleaned up as well - but I expect that from them Their two kids are extremely talented and my goal is to be a parent as supportive as theirs. So while I don’t have the official results… Ian and Mia - well done too!

I thought the event was really well run, although there were some weather issues, and I believe the off-road duathlon got canceled on Saturday night due to thunderstorms, which sucks for those who planned on doing it. But overall, it was a great weekend.

Where to from here:

Short term - Shark Attack Sprint Triathlon is next week. Need to do some speed training on my run and my swim early this week to be ready. The plan is to push the swim, really push the bike, and hopefully have enough in the tank to go sub 25 minutes on the 5k. I can do it!!

Middle term - My run needs work, and I could do with some longer distance swim training. I feel capable though, just need to the time.

Long term - I’m definitely coming back to BAM next year. It’ll be weeks after IronMan, so assuming I’m prepared for that, I should be back in shape again. I going to attempt the BadAss next year though. 9k trail run on Friday night, full BAM triathlon on Saturday morning and off road Duathlon on Saturday night. Should be a blast!!

read comments (7)

OK - so I had a big ride planned today, supposed to be practicing my nutrition plan and all of that.  I was up early, which is unusual for a non-work day, had the tri-suit on, BodyGlide in strategic places and all of that.  Gosh Darnit, I was freakin’ excited too.  It was at that point that I took my bike upstairs (She sleeps in my basement office), and that was when I both saw and heard it.  The picture below doesn’t do it justice (Even if you click on it and bring up the full-size version).  The heavens had opened, and left no doubt in my mind that they hated me.  It wasn’t just raining, it was bucketing down!

So with that said, I now have a couple of hours to catch up on some things, including a number of blog posts promised in recent months. First up on my “To Blog” list. Additional pictures from Rage. See the original race report here.

First of all, huge hats off again to my super wife, who handled 5 kids while I was out having fun on the race course. I had previously told her that there was a nice big beach, and I’m sure the kids would pretty much take care of themselves. The night before the race she’d spent some time at the dollar store getting a bunch of fun stuff for them as well - in hind sight, an excellent idea.

With all the photo’s below, as with most other photo’s on this site, you can click them for a larger version of the photo. Also if you want the original photo’s (2MB+) You’re welcome to shoot me a message… Perhaps you have a shrine set up for me, and want a focal point at which to focus your worship… Ha ha ha ha ha! Just kidding!! If you have a shrine set up to me, might I suggest professional help - I’ll even try and raise some money here and this site to get you that help!

Oh, and all these photo’s courtesy of my sweet wife Ann. She has learned my trick, that being photographer means you don’t have to be in any pictures!!

OK, so first up… The beach! This photo is looking towards the finish for the swim. Note the “nice” beach…

Next, a couple of my biggest fans. Here’s Bronwyn (front) and Kynan (back) playing beach. That strange look on Bron’s face is her staring at the delicious rocks - which she started trying to ingest seconds later. You would think we didn’t feed the kid!

And now, my Lily! I think of all the kids, she may have the best tri-athlete potential, but time will tell. A couple of the others are showing promise too!

Brody and Lily, getting water from Lake Mead (Freakin’ cold Lake Mead), to be used in moats etc.

And finally, my Ella - who may possibly be doing her first tri in 2 weeks! If you look at my original race report and link to the Zazoosh photo’s. In the picture of me coming out of the swim, the kid in the background, wading in the lake is Ella as well.

Alright, now some race pics! All my swim pics are on the original race report and these start with T2. I’m thinking at some point, I need to put a glossary together of various Triathlon terms, but for now… T1 and T2 are the two transition periods in a race. T1, is the switch from swimming to biking and T2, is the switch from biking to running. Back in the early days, there used to be full nudity in the transition area’s as athletes changed clothes between disciplines. Fortunately, at least in the case of people who would rather not see me naked, this practice was rendered obsolete by the invention of clothing which could be worn through out a race.

Alright, so here is how you do a really slow T2 - my excuse was that my family were right there, so there was a fair amount of chatting, so high fives, hugs and all of that. The benefit was that I have a photo sequence of how I did it to show you!

Here I am arriving it my rack - grateful my family waved me in, since they all look the same!

Check out my funky grip tape on my aero-bars too! Makes my bike easier to find as I’m staggering around after the swim portion of a race!

Step 1 - Helmet removed! I forgot this in a race exactly 1 year prior to this one, and went running out on the run leg, with helmet securely attached. It was only after Brody asked my wife, which I was running with a helmet on that she realized the problem, and hastily communicated it to me, where after I sheepishly removed said helmet and left it at an aid station. So… HELMET OFF!

Running hat on (helps keep the sweat out the eyes, and the shaved head from burning.

Shoes on (gotta love elastic laces!!) and trying out a 5 hour energy. Worked great at a shorter race last year, worked great at this race. Killed me at the Ogden marathon!

Down the hatch! Let’s get running already!

The family, now knowing they won’t see me for about an hour, retire to the van. The sun was pretty hot, and even after 7 hours (actually 8 since we got lost, maybe 9 after we reviewed the course) they still think it’s a fun place to hang out!

Spot the person not having a fun time!

An hour or so later, they headed back over to the finish line, just in time to spot me cruising in.

And there I go under the arch. Just for the record, I got done in 3:11… The timer was for the half iron distance race which began about an hour before mine.

Mission Accomplished!!!

Nothing feels better than finished a race with nothing left. I even tried a final sprint for this one, but the tank was completely drained!

read comments (2)

I did the “I Can Tri” triathlon in Sandy, Utah this morning.  It was my first Sprint distance race when I started triathlon last year, and based on recent results I was pretty excited about doing it again.  I haven’t been on my bike much of late which was a little concerning, but I have been working on my running and swimming speed, so figured I could make it up there.

My goals were and 8 minute swim, 27 minute bike (20 mph avg) and 25 minutes run, with 2 minutes for transitions - a time of 1 hour and 2 minutes - enough to get me a 2nd place finish in my age group last year.  To help enhance my luck - I followed the lead of the legendary “Steve in a Speedo” or Speedo Steve as the fam knows him, and requested a smiley face when they numbered my leg - I think it may have worked.

Out on interest, if you aren’t familiar with Steve’s blog, I’d highly recommend a visit.  Tomorrow he will be participating (I’m not sure he’s planning on competing…) in a half ironman race.  The run portion of which he will do dressed as the Grim Reaper.  Just imagine some poor dehydrated, demotivated soul turning around and seeing Steve, complete with sickle, closing quickly…

The results:

The swim went well.  A number of people where in the 8 minute start that shouldn’t have been - perhaps next year, I’ll try and be fast enough to get into the 6 or 7 minute groups.    Not a bad time.   Last year I was a little over 9 minutes, and the timing wire had been moved further from the pool this year.  In reviewing photographic evidence taken by the wife…  It would appear that I walked on air as I exited the pool - perhaps next year if I can just walk on water, the swim may be even easier.

Swim time - 8′37″, good enough for 2nd fastest in my age group.

T1 - went like a breeze…  The whole drive down I was going through it in my head and the whole time I was swimming.  I was on my bike less that a minute after exiting the pool. 56 seconds - Fastest in my age group.

Seconds after getting on the bike I could tell I hadn’t been training.  No need to yell “On yer Right” when you sound like a steam locomotive huffing and puffing up a hill.  Struggled to get the accelerade down, struggled to get a groove, but I did OK.  Average speed was 18.4  mph (According to my Garmin).  Passed a lot of people - didn’t get passed though!!

Bike time - 28′14″ - Hey that’s closer to 19 mph avg, and good enough for 4th fastest in my age group!!

T2 - I didn’t practice this one…  Did remember to take the helmet off, but then I paused, grabbed a 5 hour energy - 57 seconds.  Not bad, but it could have been a lot faster - 9th fastest in my age group.

I struggled after pushing it on the bike, but held my own…  I did get passed by a couple of guys - I think they were all in my age group too - grrrrr….   Finished with my tank pretty much on empty, which is something I’m still learning to do right - gone are the days of holding back till I get to the end, and sprinting to the line…  Today took some effort, which I liked.

Run time -  25′47″ - Now I know that’s not fast, but it’s slightly slower than my 5k PR (I’m not a fast runner, but I am getting faster)  Good enough for 6th fastest in my age group.

Final time - 1 hour 5 minutes and 25 seconds.

For comparison…  That’s 12 minutes faster than last year.  I was 30 seconds faster on the swim, 3 minutes faster on the run, and 8 minutes faster on the bike - having a nice carbon fiber road bike in place of a mountain bike, definitely made a difference.  Finished 5th in my age group, 16 in the overall male standings and 19th overall from a field of well over 200 - Not too shabby at all.

That said though - I intend to place next year - even if it kills me!

read comments (2)

Or how breaking my rules helped me break down some barriers…

August 9th was the second Magnathon Triathlon for the year. They do 2 - one in June, one in August - My June report is here. In that race I finished in 1:14:00 - my quickest Sprint distance to date.

Perhaps let me share some of my “unofficial rules” for my races…

I have pasta for the 2 dinners prior to race day.
On the day before I spend the day hydrating and doing little else.
Before I go to be, my bike rack is on the car, my bag is packed, and my bike has been cleaned, checked and is waiting right by the front door.
Finally I generally have my nutrition written down, my goal times figured out and then I can get on with a good solid sleep.

I don’t remember what I had for dinner on Thursday… It may have been spaghetti, but I wasn’t even thinking about the race, and I think I had half a loaf of garlic bread as well.
Friday, rather than rest and rehydrate, I took the family to the zoo. Nothing like chasing kids around all day in 100 degree heat to deplete your energy and fluid levels.
Getting home, I raced to the running store, when I realized I was out of Gu, and then we finally ate dinner at about 8pm - Breakfast muffins with egg, cheese and Canadian bacon. Mmmmm! Great food, but probably not the best for loading of carbs.

Then on a whim, I went to the track with my night time gym buddy. He usually does a mile or mile and a half while I do speed drills. I figured I’d stay back and take it easy with him. We ended up doing 2 miles at a nice easy pace, but it didn’t do much for my already depleted fluid levels.

You may recall Friday night… It was the opening ceremonies for Beijing 2008!! I’m glad I watched it - that was absolutely amazing, but then I ended up not getting to sleep till well after midnight. I spent the rest of the night having crazy dreams, getting up a couple of times with kids, and dealing with the side effects of trying to hydrate before I went to bed.

The alarm went off at 4:30, and by 5:30 I was almost all ready to go - and then I started remembering things. Skipped breakfast, which I usually have before I raced, and grabbed some instance breakfast thing in the cupboard - It wasn’t half bad. Then I tore around the rest of the house like a mad thing trying to find the strap for my Garmin. After a few other mad crisis I got on the road, remembered my Ibuprofen, got it, and then set off again.

I made good time getting there, got a nice spot for transition and then got my number… 13. Not the multiple of 8 that I usually have good luck with, but 13 has quite a bit of significance for me, so that seemed to be OK. I had a buddy from work join me as well. He did the Spudman a few weeks back, and due to the fatality in that race, he was excited to do a full race that included a swim (His swim heat at Spudman was cancelled following the accident).

My actual race report will be short and sweet….

Ended up sharing a lane with Mike - the guy from work. Had a solid swim - not too fast, but not too slow (400M in 8 minutes). I can do it in a little over 7, but I suspect that my tri top may be slowing me a little.

T1 got done in a little over a minute and with that, I was out on the bike. I haven’t ridden my bike in almost 3 weeks. I did well, but I could tell I was rusty. Lap 1 went well. Lap 2 was good till I got to the big hill. Usually I can get up to about 40 mph on the hill, but as I started a large dump truck pulled out in front of me. It was a little hairy, but I got behind him, pulled up next to him, and then flew by… Speed 43.5 mph… Fastest ever on my bike!!! Got to the bottom and had a lady pull out in front of me, on a long flat through downtown Magna - its like 4 blocks!! Managed to get around her as well, which always makes you feel good.

Final lap went well. I was feeling comfortable, but still like I was pushing as hard as I could - you know that nice balance. Ended up getting caught behind the support van that was waiting for another cyclist, but kept a cool head (kind of) and then was able to get by both of them.

T2 was not my best work. I got through in under a minute, but I caught myself getting a little too relaxed. Headed out after giving up 1 position to number 14… My plan for the run was to run the first part really fast, walk the mega hill, and then run the last part really fast as well. I ran the entire thing last time, but the hill was really tough, and I think overall, it slowed me down.

Set off running, looked down at my watch so I could see how much more I needed to push, and I was already at a 7:30 mile. Just a little perspective here… I’m not fast by any stretch of the imagination… My fastest 5k to date, I average a little over 8 minutes a mile. Longer races I drop to 9 minute miles, and in my marathon training, it been between 9 and 10 - generally closer to 10. Back to the story though… I was moving, and it felt good. I kept it up for the first mile, and then I hit the hill - or at least I thought it was the hill… I pushed until my speed dropped into the 8 minute range and then walked the rest. Getting to the top I realized that the big hill was the next one, and so I ended up walking 2 hills (DOH!!!) Crested the hill, or rather got to the top of the steep part and started running again… 8 minute miles, everything still feeling good. Got within a mile of the finish and I sped it up a little. I even started gaining on the guy who passed me. Turned the final corner with 400 meters to go. My speed was perfect, and I pushed it with everything I had. Didn’t pass the guy in front, but I got close!!

Overall time 1:12:07 - fastest sprint to date. 5th place overall, 4th place in my age group.

I think the speed training I’ve been doing at night is actually paying off. I have 2 more races this year. A sprint triathlon in September and my first marathon in October. I’m thinking I’m going to stick with my current training program for the marathon, including a speed workout on Wednesday nights, and then I’m going to work on speed workouts for swimming and cycling - hopefully doing really well in the Sprint in September.

read comments (2)

This is my official B-Fit B-Day Challenge Report. If you already know what this challenge entails, you can skip over to the next paragraph, but for those who don’t….

The Race Athlete B-Fit B-Day Challenge is to Swim, Bike and Run your age. For a fitness nut like myself, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate another year on the calendar. This year I turned 32. My challenge was to complete a 3 mile swim, 32 mile bike and then a 2 mile run. I opted to give the Gold challenge a shot this year, which meant I had to complete all three within 24 hours. There are other levels for those that might find that intimidating, or that I might opt to do, once I get up into my 80’s and 90’s!! If you would like more information you can either click on the graphic on the top left of this page, or click here. Alternatively if you think you’d like to celebrate your next birthday this way, you can click here and you can join - with the added bonus of having me as a friend!!

OK, so onto the actual report… I’ve included some photo’s in here as well. I’ve shrunk them quite significantly to make this page quicker to download, but you can click on any of them for the larger versions.

Let me start off with two photo’s and then I’ll get going with the report. The first appears to be the official photo that all good BFit BDay reports contain… Sure I got some weird looks from the life guards and some ladies sunbathing, but you have to do what you have to do…

Next is the photo that kind of sums up my experience. I was joined in my challenge by my wife and kids. They played the role of support and had a blast doing it. My wife put together a poster that I didn’t see until right when I got to the finish. Below is my three year old Lily holding it up. “Our Dad Didn’t Want a Birthday Cake. He Wanted to B-FIT!!”

OK, now onto the challenge itself. I’ve been pushing pretty hard on a couple of projects at work and at home over the past few weeks. Add to that some severe lack of sleep and a few other stresses, and I figured I could lay in a little on my day off. I opted to take the challenge 2 days prior to my birthday - My birthday was Saturday the 5th, but I did this on the third.

My reasons for doing it this way were:

1. Have access to the pool without getting swamped by thousands of kids and
2. My son was celebrating something on my birthday that was a pretty big deal for him, and I didn’t want to detract from that.

I started swimming right before 9:30 - way later than I had planned, even with a sleep in, but feeling well prepared. I set my Garmin up so that I could time each of the three miles, and then the remainder of the challenge. I started with a pack of Gu energy gel, and took 24 oz of Accelerade to drink while I was swimming.

I have never swum further than 2 miles, so I wasn’t sure what pace to start out at, but I think I got it about right.

The first mile took 34 minutes and 53 seconds. Just over 2 minutes for every 100 yards. I took a break for about a minute and started on lap 2. That one was done in 35 minutes and 22 seconds - not bad!!! Took a few seconds to drink and breathe and then started on number 3. 35 minutes and 26 seconds. Not at all bad!!

Over all I think the swim went well. I have a hard time stomaching the taste of Accelerade, but in all honesty I think that it had a lot to do with how well I felt at the end of the swim.

As I got out the pool, I realized that my wife had not yet arrived back with the support mobile, and so I began a rather leisurely transition. Took a shower, got dry clothes on. 17 minutes later, they had arrived, I was ready and everything was set on my bike. With temperatures expected to top out around 100 degrees during my ride, I was carrying 72oz of Gatorade as well as 4 packs of Gu Gel and some peanuts. I mounted my noble steed, and had one of those “Do I really want to be doing this?” moments.

I did want to to this and off I went. There is a nice downhill from Layton to Syracuse, which let me get up to speed nicely and break my legs in as well. I had planned on reaching Jensen Park (Where I was ultimately going to finish) after 6 miles, but due to some unexpected detours I had already done 8 by the time I got there. Probably a good thing, because my Wife had just barely gotten to the side of the road with the camera.

Here I come	and there I go!!

My bike route took my out to Antelope Island, and then back along the 7 mile cause way to the Park. The first half went really well. I was averaging well over 20 mph, and felt on top of the world. Coming back however was not as easy. There was a slight head wind, and it was getting really hot. My arms were feeling chafed, my neck was feeling chafed and my legs were feeling very weak. I finished all of the Gu, most of the Gatorade, and still didn’t feel like I had everything I needed. 3 miles out from the park I called my wife, who was enjoying the air conditioning at the local Walmart, and then hunkered down to finish as strong as I could.

Overall the bike section took me 1 hour, 42 minutes and 49 seconds and the Garmin clicked over to 32 miles right as I entered the park. My average speed was 18.7 mph, and I topped out at just over 27 mph. I had beaten my wife there, so had a minute or two to remove my shoes and shirt, and try to regroup. It felt a lot longer, but shortly thereafter they arrived, I leaned the bike up against the car, got the shoes on and took off.

I despise people who run topless. Especially guys like me, who don’t quite have a six pack of abs to show off. Never-the-less, it was hot, and my neck was feeling very raw. Please accept my apologies for the photo’s which follow!

Here I am setting off on my two mile loop.

I did well for the first half mile, averaging under 8 minute miles, but it took it’s toll quickly. I don’t know if it was a mixture of mental and physical fatigue and the heat, or most likely a combination, but I found it really hard to stay in the game. I stopped and walked a few times, tried setting small goals, and then finally as could see the finish point, I was able to get a rhythem going and kind of finish strong.

Here was the finish line, complete with tape and screaming supporters.

I blew through the tape, hands held high, and then realized I hadn’t quite hit 2 miles. Yelling apologies, I ran down the trail, turned and ran back. Either I was really slow, or they were really quick, but by the time I got back, the tape was back up and they were yelling again.

My run took me 19 minutes and 44 seconds - Yuck!! But I was done.

I spent the rest of the day trying to cool down, rehydrate and do whatever I could to ward off the effects of the sun on my pasty white skin.

Total time for the challenge including transitions was:

4 hours, 13 minutes and 9 seconds.

Excluding transitions:

3 hours, 48 minutes and 14 seconds.

I’m definitely planning on doing this again next year and finally a huge thanks to my local supporters.

My wife Ann,

Finishing tape holder and official screamers - Brody and Ella

Sign holder, screamer and the “Let’s drive by Dad screaming again” girl - Lily

and last by not least, Screamer and Duck chaser - Kynan

And to everyone else at work and online who wished me luck…. THANKS!!

read comments (15)

Yesterday was my first Olympic Distance Triathlon. The short story is that it went well and I arrived home feeling pretty good about things. What follows are the details, the lessons and plans for the future.

I’ll start with a joke that kind of applies to my experience. I heard it first, many years ago, while sitting in a Sunday Service for a very conservative church in South Africa. It was hot, and I doubt more than half those in attendance were awake, the rest of us were quickly loosing our own personal fights with fatique.

My best friends dad stands up and begins his remarks with:

“You know things are often times not what they seem. Take the canary islands for example; They’re called the Canary Islands, but they don’t have any canaries there. It’s the same thing with the Virgin Islands….”

At this point I think everyone sat up and took notice - remember it’s a very conservative church…

“They don’t have any canaries there either!”

My race was kind of like that I felt good about parts of it, and not so good about others. Once the results were in though, things kind of got mixed around.

I’ll start with the night before. I was a little nervous, which is to be expected. I finally checked on my hydration levels around 11pm and was pleased to find them up around 60%. Typically I’m around 58 or 59% and that morning I had been between 56 and 57. That gave me a good start. I then proceeded to remove a little excess body hair from my legs and arms. In the past I have only shaved my legs a couple of times, both before biggish racers. This time, in light of the fact that I would be needing to squeeze my arms into a tight wetsuit, the arms got it as well.

My bike was ready, my transition bag packs and my drink concoctions all mixed and ready in the fridge. I set two alarms and then tried to sleep. I think I finally dozed off around midnight. A couple of kid interruptions later, and some lying there thinking… “Am I ready for this?” and then I heard the radio alarm click on. It was 3am.

I hit the bathroom and had some success with the morning dump - Not as much as usual, but I departed from my usual plan of using fiber capsules the day before to clean everything out. I had a quick shower and the outfit I had laid out the night before. I opted for a quick breakfast of yoghurt, downed some L-Carnitine and Ibuprofen and headed out just before 4am.

About 10 miles into my 70 mile drive down to Provo, I ran into a closed freeway - rather than take my own way round, I opted to follow the suggested detour and took far longer than I would have liked to get back onto the freeway. I was a little nervous about this, since I had opted not to check in the night before and was worried about being late to registration. I tried to push my speed a little, but not too much that it would invite a traffic stop and more lost time.

I hit Utah Lake State Park about 15 minutes after it opened and was pleased to find that my Annual Utah Park pass covered the entrance fee - score another win for that investment. I was the second or third participant arriving. I wondered around looking for restroom, and after taking care of that commenced a half hour long battle with swarms of mosquitoes - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many in one spot. I remarked to another guy that it was nice of them to aid us with the pre-race warm up, as we both stood there hopping and swatting.

The organizers have obviously been here and done this before and arrived shortly thereafter with plenty of bug spray. I got my bike set up right at the exit for the bike - not wanting to run in cleats too long, and then went to check in. Some time between the night before and the morning, they had lost a box of packets - for numbers 108 to 257 or something. I checked the list and discovered I was #108. I did a post a few weeks back about my lucky number - 8 or multiples thereof and so this boded well. However my packet was lost. While we waited, I got numbered, got my chip and paced around nervously, dashing off to the rest room every so often as well. Gotta love the jitter-pees!

Finally at about 7 the packets arrived. I got mine, got my shirt and went to go and put my wetsuit on. The shirt was sweet, the remainder of the swag bag fairly minimal, but they more than made up for that later. Around 7:15 I downed 12oz of gatorade which I had mixed with Hornet Juice, filled my aero-bottle with Accelerade, loaded the Gatorade bottle and my bike and downed a pack of Gu. I then struggled for a few seconds to zip up my suit, before a passer-by offered to help me zip it up. Thank-you kind sir!!

I should add at this point that I was solo in my adventure on this race. My wife and kids opted to stay home, influenced mostly by the fact that my youngest has turned into a demon and can easily outrun my wife who is currently 8 months pregnant. It’s nice not to have to worry about her or them during the race, but at the same time, nothing beats the rush of seeing loved ones cheer you on around the course.

Race meeting was at about 7:30, I think and then we all headed down to the dock. The water wasn’t half bad, at least temperature wise. It was however very murky, which is partially due to huge numbers of carp which infest the lake. I was very grateful for the extra buoyancy offered by the wetsuit, as we ended up treading water for a while. Eventually the race director appeared on the dock and told us it was time to go. He said we would have two shotgun blasts and we were to go on the second. I was about half way back in a pack of about 80 people - I think at least!

The first shot came and I readied my watch, and then from the director - Go! Go! Go! Oooops!! I hit the start button on my watch and leaned forward to swim. I have never raced in open water. I have never had a start like this either, so I was a little nervous, but it went well. I was kicked, prodded and groped a little, but nothing too bad and I’m pretty sure I got my own shared of pokes and prods in!

The course was an out and back course and we were to do 2 loops before headed to the boat ramp and climbing out. I struggled with sighting for most of the course, but judging by the number of swimmers I collided with and the direction they were swimming I wasn’t the only one. I believe the end buoy was a quarter mile out, and as I got there and breastroked around I checked my watch and saw it was well over 9 minutes - yikes - not good when I was hoping for a 30 minutes swim. I headed back, colliding with a couple of sprint athletes who were way off course and rounded the start buoy at about 18 minutes - at least I wasn’t losing time.

On the second loop I tried to relax a little and focus on my form. I could feel my neck getting tired from lifting further out of the water than normal, and I was beginning to chafe on the back of my neck as well - Next time, far more BodyGlide!!

I didn’t check my time on the second turn around, but just struck out for home feeling excited to be done and psyching myself up for T1 and the bike. I hit the start buoy, checked the watch and Holy Crap!! 28 minutes - I must have really stepped it up on that second loop!! WOW!!! I headed for the boat ramp, realizing that I could indeed make my goal of 30′ ish minutes. It took a while to get there, including me almost colliding with another small dock, but I arrived, slipped and slid up the ramp and shot a big smile to everyone waiting. I was joined by a number of the sprint athletes, who had started 5 or 6 minutes after me and only done 1 loop - not too bad at all. I unzipped the wetsuit, and as I ran to transition, checked my watch. 28 minutes and 13 seconds…. Man!!! I didn’t collide with too many people on the final lap, but one must have hit my watch just right.

Now clueless about my time, I headed into T1 and finished stripping the wetsuit. It went fairly well, and excluding the couple of hundred yards from the boat ramp to the tranisition area, my transition time seemed to be about 2:07 - Not too bad at all, considering it included removing the wetsuit!!

I had looked at the bike course online the night before, since I wasn’t going to get the luxury of riding it prior to the race. It started with a brief trip though the camp grounds, then a short trip on a road base trail - we were told to take this slow. The next section was compared to the cobblestone streets on some sections of the Tour de France. I must agree with that comparison, very bumpy asphalt. After that the course entered a residential neighborhood, before connected to a main road with brand new, and very smooth asphalt, and then back onto the main road back to the park. According to the mapping tool on the USATF website, each loop was a hair over 6 miles, and the total elevation gain was 59 feet - I can definitely handle that!! Olypmic distance had 4 laps to do.

My plan for the first lap was to get into the groove. Get my heart rate right and find a rhythm. Second and Third laps were hydration laps and then the final lap I wanted to push a little and prepare for the run. All 4 laps went beautifully. Acoording to my Garmin, I was averaging just under 20mph, cadence was about 80rpm and my heart rate was just slightly above 140. I couldn’t have asked for better conditions either. A slight tail wind on the uphill and a slight headwind on the downhill - if you could even call them hills.

I was able to stay in aero position longer than ever before, my drinking went well, and I finished was a very respectable time on the bike of 1 hour 21 minutes. The second transition went very well - Just a minute, 24 seconds, no doubt helped by the fact that I needed to pee like nothing else!! That also explains the sudden surge of speed on the last couple of miles on the bike too!!

I skipped the water stop right out of transition and worked on getting my pace right. I generally start off way to fast and have trouble maintaining it. I looked down and saw I was at a 7:30 pace. I can’t keep that up even over a 5k, and so worked on slowing it down as smoothly as I good. A quarter mile in, I had settled down just under 9 minutes a mile, and then I saw the restroom - YES!!!!!

With that out the way I focussed on my running and keeping my pace around the 9 minutes mark. I was tired, but nothing worse than I had expected. My IT Band problems stayed away, and even my sweat stayed clear of my eyes. I walked most of the aid stations, opting for sports drink instead of water, but making sure I got something in. It was a 2 miles loop that I had to complete 3 of before I could finish. As I started loop #2, a young lady handed my a cup of sports drink, and another offered a cup of water and asked “Splash?” Thinking she was offering it to me to dump over my head, I gratefully accepted it. Temperatures were climbing into the mid 90’s and some cool water on my face would feel great. I was quickly awakened from this thought as the young lass then dumped ice cold water on my back. I think the entire crowd around that spot heard me gasp. But man, did it feel good!! A little way into that loop, I started to feel my nipples chaffing. I could have been the water, or just the shirt I had on or just nature saying my body had enough. Either way it wasn’t going to start feeling any better. I ran for another mile or so, before overcoming my pride and exposing my here to for pearly white flesh to the sun and all around. To make matters worse I had just passed a young lady who was obviously a very regular patron at the local tanning salon. I don’t think my move made either of us look any better. Lap three began with me running through the aid station again and when asked “Splash?” again, I responded with a loud, “YES PLEASE!!!” All three girls dumped ice water on me and it felt great - I even managed to control the gasp this time.

The final lap went well, as I felt my body start to ease into the running, and aside from the loose gravel on one spot that made running hard, I felt like I sped up a little. I tried to drain my tank on the last leg and finished in something a little shy of a full sprint. I am pleased to report that while I hit the end button on my watch, I didn’t even notice my time.

According to my watch the final time for my run was 54:29. Not bad for a 10k, but the bad news was that I had apparently only run 5.66 miles. Oh well - the extra mileage on the bike probably covered it. I dug into a plate full of watermelon, oranges, bananas and grapes before putting my shirt back on and strolling off to call my wife.

Awards followed and I didn’t get anything, but then they began the drawings and other random prizes. The sponsors really stepped up for this, and they gave away a ton of stuff. I ended up being offered a bento box which someone had caught, but didn’t want and felt like my day was about perfect.

I’ll end with my impressions on the race and then give you the official results. This has run a little longer than expected, and so I’ll save the lessons and what not for another day.

I felt the swim went OK, but I didn’t feel like I had done a very good job. I was guessing based on looking at the clock and working backwards that I had probably spent almost 45 minutes in the water and then another 10 getting from there and out on the bike. I felt like I killed on the bike course, and even though a couple of very serious guys in TT Helmets and very expensive bikes blew by me, I felt like I held my own. The run was hard to tell. I know I hadn’t killed on it, but I felt like I did an OK job.

Now the official results and where the opening Joke comes in!!

Swim: 40:59

T1: 2:44

Bike: 1: 22:24 (18.2 mph avg)

T2: 00:03.6 (?!?!)

Run: 55:47 (8:59 per mile)

Total Time: 3:03:08

On the Swim I was 7/10 in my class and 55/87 overall.

On the Bike I was 9/10 for my class and 53/87 overall.

On the Run I was 6/10 for my class and 57/87 overall.

I guess overall I was fairly consistent. The swim was apparently better than I thought it was and I definitely need to work on my biking skills. I do have to question the distances and some of the splits (I know I was in T2 longer than 4 seconds!!) but at the end of the day it’s the fact that I finished that matters and how I felt when I did.

I finished and I feel great!!!

I’ll share more of my plans for the future tomorrow.

read comments (2)

I’ve been a little slack in getting this done, but here you go…

Magna is a small city out on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. It’s not exactly a thriving metropolis, but I like it. The Magnathon is significant for me, in that it was my first ever triathlon. I did the novice distance in August of 2007, and took first in my age group - rather than bask in the glow of that, it’s probably best to also state that there were only 2 of us in the age group, that I can 5th overall out of less than 15 people, and I was beaten by several ladies - not that I have anything against the fairer sex mind you!!

Anyway, so when I found out the Magnathon was happening on a weekend I had free, I jumped at the chance to give it a go. Rather than drag the wife and kids, I went by myself and was there nice and early to get my pick of transition spots and psych up for the race. I didn’t get as much psyching as I wanted to, but it wasn’t too bad. I blame an increase of fibre in my diet, but thats another post for another day.

Since the Magnathon is rather small, there were no timing chips or bibs. I got a big #6 on my leg, and after a brief pool side meeting and a Gu pack, I found myself in the pool, waiting for the start. I was sharing a lane with 3 ladies. 1 on my side and 2 on the other. I offered to let the lady on my side go first, but she declined. They counted down from 10, and on one I went under, coiled my legs and pushed off, as I hit the start button on my watch.

I’ve been focussing on swimming more efficiently and more aerodynamically. Alas all of that went out the window, and I returned to my high school racing style, which is effective over 50 meters, but not so much for longer distances. Within a few strokes as well, I felt hands slapping at my feet. Flipped on the far side and tried to speed it up a little on the return trip (It was a 4 lap deal in the 50 meter pool). Again, hands slapping my heels the whole way, I didn’t flip on the starting end, and ended up with the lady who was chasing me, performing a very nice flip turn against my side. A little shocked and winded, it did however take some pressure off, and I tried to relax for the next 3 laps. Over the last 20 meters I finally found my groove, and could feel my body relaxing and my speed actually increase right as I hit the end.

I climbed out and ran to transition. Looking down at my watch, I realized that the button had not taken and my swim time was just a series of zero’s. This was the first race I had used my Garmin, and having started it on Multisport mode prior to the swim, I hit lap, so I could time my transition. Got the socks and shoes on (I need to learn to race sockless!), pushed the bike out of transition, hopped on and hit lap again. T1 in 1:26. Not my best time ever, but my bike wasn’t racked, and I took some time to remove my watch as well…

The bike route is a 3 loop deal for the sprint distance. It starts with an uphill, then a short rolling hill section and then a huge downhill. Then theres a nice flat section through downtown Magna and then it’s uphill to end the lap.

Lap 1 went well, I tried to use it to settle down, but realized that my heart rate was way above where is should have been. I’m not sure if it was the adrenaline, the rough swim or the Espresso Gu (Haven’t tried that one before) but it was at least 30 bpm higher than it usually is when I’m training on my bike. I finished the lap averaging about 18mph, and as I climbed the hill I was passed by the lady I’d shared the swim lane with. Ignoring the article I read the night before about not letting your pride get the better of you, I increased my cadence, passed her back and tried to push it in lap 2.

I was averaging about 13 mph on the hill section, 16 mph on the rolling hill section, 40mph on the sweet hill and then once I got in a nice aero tuck in the downtown area I was able to get that at about 24 mph. Faster than I’ve been training, but the adrenaline was flowing nicely. Grabbed a shot of Gu on lap 2, and finished out the final lap strongly. Dumped the bike, checked my times - 37:50 on the bike and then 1:08 on T2. A little slow on the transition, but not too bad.

The run started OK. My legs were a little wobbly, but it began with a downhill, and I had 2 guys right with me who were pushing a little as well. We were around an 8 min/mile pace. I’ve been averaging 8:15 on the last couple of 5k’s, so knew I would likely slow down. A mile into it, I’d dropped to 9 min miles and then I hit the hill. 1.5 miles straight up, and it got steeper the further I got. I’ve done some hill training, but obviously not enough. I was able to pass the one guy and kind of keep up with the other. I ran the whole way, although not very fast, and crested the hill with nothing in the tank. My legs were shredded. The last half mile was all flat and downhill. I got it back up around the 9 minutes pace, but it wasn’t comfortable. My goal was to give my all, and I felt like I did. I finished the 5k in just under 25 minutes, and would have felt really good about it, except the Garmin showed I’d only run 2.8 miles. Oh well!!

My total time was 1:14:00 about, and I calculated that my swim was around 8 minutes, slower than I’d trained, but faster than previous races.

Had I run that kind of time last year I would have won the whole thing, the other athletes have however been training and the winner ended up getting done in 57 minutes.

I didn’t place, but I had a great time, and got a new PR for the sprint distance.

For added measure I did another 45 minutes on the bike that night, and averaged well over 19mph. Hopefully that bodes well for my first Olympic distance this weekend!

read comments (2)

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.

read comments (0)