Close but no cigar! Great White North 1/2 Ironman

I nearly won my second career half ironman at Great White North. I was within spitting distance of eventual winner Kyle Marcotte at the finish line. Hats off to Kyle for holding me off as I charged to a race best 1:16 half ironman; running three minutes faster than everyone! I can not complain, I finally had a great race! The year started with decent results, a dnf, and a little disappoint. The start of the year was a struggle, as I coped with a nagging back injury. I feel like I finally have the back figured out and feel fit, fast, and ready to race 100%. After a couple of tune up races I went to the Great White North half ironman with determination.
Great White North drew nearly 1,000 competitors to Edmonton, Alberta for the 20th version of the race. I love to do these non 70.3 races in Canada because they treat you awesome, offer prize money, and have great food & awesome volunteer support. Great White North did not disappoint! Hats off to Wade Church and his crew for putting on a great race. The drive up to Edmonton was long but Jen and I know how to take our time and break up a long drive. I was super excited for Jen to make her comeback after finally defeating a nagging injury. We hit up some good rest stops, restaurants, and of course Lululemon. I have become addicted to Lululemon clothing, the company makes awesome clothes that fit a skinny dude, finally one company! We struggled to find camping because to my surprise the 4th of July weekend is not only a holiday weekend for us but also for the Canadians. I’m pretty sure every Canadian in Alberta was camping over this weekend. After struggling to find an open campsite we finally found one that was very close to the race venue. Camp was set, the rigs were dialed and we were ready to race.

In between Philly triathlon and Great White North I did very little for training. I was unsure whether or not it was a good idea because the legs still did not feel to great on race morning. We woke up to light skies at 5 am (it gets light really early in Edmonton) and thought we missed the race start because of how light it was already. The swim was a two loop swim that featured some good mud. The mud made for some good laughs as folks who were warming up fell nearly waist deep into the sludge. The race announcer fired the gun and the race was off and I found myself towards the front after getting a little further out then some of the competitors. I had a great first loop and Jen had to sprint to catch onto our group as we headed back in for the second loop. I followed feet for the second loop and excited the water in under 30 minutes. I hit the bike and the legs felt great! I instantly passed a few folks and found myself in second place in only a couple of minutes back from the leader after only 30k. One cyclist blew by me and I knew I did not have the legs to go with him so I rode my race. I had a great ride with a sub 2:15 bike split. I hit the run and Steve King let me know that Kyle had 3:30 on me and I was in third place. I set out at a good clip and quickly settled into a good rhythm. About half way through the run I noticed that Kyle was coming back to me little by little. On the last out and back I had closed the cap to 30 seconds with 2k to go. I unloaded everything I had on that race course and made myself want to puke for the last 2k. Kyle had enough in the tank to hold me off and he hung on for the win and I finished second 14 seconds later. Regardless, I was stoked with my result and I finally felt like I had a great race! I set a new half ironman personal record of 4:01. Jen also had a great race finishing 5th in a stacked women’s race and setting a PR of 4:37.
The rest of the trip was awesome! We took our time getting back to Montana and stopped in Banff. It was a great trip and I’m already excited for the next race, which will be Boulder 70.3 on August 8th. I have a little break from racing to get in some good training and hit up two high school buddies weddings.

Boulder Peak Race Report by Evan Macfarlane

First off, I got married a few weeks ago, so that's my exciting news! Now onto the more normal stuff...

The Boulder Peak was my best olympic distance tri to date. I finished 3rd in my age group -- my fourth podium at an Ironman-owned event in a row. Typically I wouldn't be too satisfied with 3rd in my age group, but the Boulder Peak brings out a competitive field. Plus, as a relatively weak swimmer I always struggle to make up the time I lose in the water on the bike and run in olympic distance races.

(This is the picture I refer to below when describing the bike portion of the race. For some reason the blogging software won't let me move the image.)

Swim

The good: I completed the swim in 25:25, which I'm pretty sure is a new PR for me. My Zoot Zenith 2.0 wetsuit certainly helped. It's flexibility is fantastic and it slips off with ease in T1. Following the swim, I was only four minutes -- not the typical 7 or 8 minutes -- down on most of the tops guys in my AG. I also felt strong exiting the water, like the swim didn't take much out of me.

The bad: I am still coming out 4 minutes down on my competitors. That's a huge difference to make up in a 2 hour race. I finished as the 8th amateur overall, yet if I swam just 3 minutes faster I would have been 3rd amateur and would have beat some well-respected guys. Still, my swim was in the top 10% overall and I'm making progress.

Also in the "bad" category is my spotting. I breathe to my left, and fortunately for me most triathlon swims are counter-clockwise. I like that because I can spot while breathing and also because my tendency is to drift to the left, which isn't bad when the drifting just takes me closer to the buoys. At the Boulder Peak, however, the swim is clockwise and my drifting took me off course. Here is the route I believe I traveled:

(Okay, my artistic skills could use some work.)

I kept looking up and seeing that I wasn't where I wanted to be, and I'd make an effort to take an optimal line from my location back to the pack of swimmers. Yet the next time I'd look up I'd still be off course. I need to practice spotting more! I will try to get into the 2 mile swims at Cherry Creek reservoir tomorrow and next week. Anyhow, at least I'm aware of this and I will make sure not to make the same mistake in Louisville.

Bike
The Boulder Peak bike course is awesome. I really like the course's climb and descent. Since moving to Denver a few months ago, I've had a lot of practice climbing and descending on my fantastic handling Orbea Ordu. I'm now confident taking corners at 40 mph in the aerobars. Anyhow, my plan for the bike was to go nearly all-out on the first uphill section (designated by the first green line in the diagram above), then get some rest on the middle downhill section (designated by the red line) while still putting in some power where possible, and then to pick the effort back up for the flat section at the end (designated by the second green line).

This strategy worked well because knowing I'd get a little break in the middle allowed me to really push the effort at the beginning and end. Also, it's not so much that I tried to go easy in the middle -- I didn't, and my cadence was 110+ rpm on the downhills in my 53x12 so that I could put out some power -- but that the terrain makes it tough to put out 270 W at some points.

Anyhow, my bike split was a very respectable 1:04 for the >25 mile course, which was the 7th fastest amateur bike split. If you're into data, here's my info: 247 W avg (although a 60 minute average of 256 W -- I had to coast for a while at the end of the ride due to traffic), 266 W normalized, 20 minute max power of 282 W, and over 29 minutes of the rider were at 270+ watts. A solid ride for me.

Run
My bread and butter. I was aiming for a third straight IM-branded race with the fastest amateur run, though I knew it'd be a challenge with the race in Boulder (I make the IM-branded distinction just because IM-branded races usually bring out quality fields.) I felt good despite the hard effort on the bike, but was only able to run to the 3rd fastest amateur run at 5:48/mile. My turnover could be a bit quicker for a race this short, and that's what I'll focus on during my next race, the 5430 Half. Still, a solid run to cap off the day.

Other Notes

(1) One cool thing about the Boulder Peak is how great the race organizers handled the pro race. Instead of having pros start early so that they're never seen by the target audience -- i.e., other racers -- at Boulder Peak the pros started hours after the AGers. As a result, most AGers were done by the time the pros started their run. Then, the organizers altered the run course for the pros so that they did 3 spectator friendly loops. This was a great way to make the pro race add value for AG racers, as the format allowed viewers to actually watch the pros' run unfold. I'd highly recommend entering the Boulder Peak if you haven't done it before, and if you're a race direction this type of format is something to consider.

(2) Zoot's CompressRx Tri shorts are awesome! Before these shorts, I'd tried stuff from DeSoto, Oomph, Craft, and Pearl Izumi. While those brands make nice stuff, the CompressRx tri shorts are my new favorites. I'll be wearing them at Ironman Louisville in a few weeks, and the extra support the shorts provide for my quads will be nice for the 26 mile run. Next time you buy a pair of shorts, I recommend that you check these out.

Race reports for June by Becky Witinok-Huber

Hello all!
So my nutrition and race reports for 3 races in June are below but b/c it has been ages I'll give a brief update as well. June has flown by as I feel like I've been traveling non-stop. At the end of May I headed home to Iowa for a local sprint race. It was supposed to be a tune up for Buff Springs 3 weeks later. However, I was invited to race the Hy-Vee World Cup last minute. As I was already in Iowa, and staying about 10min from the race site with my family I decided that paying down to 50th place was worth staying and risking not a top performance at the 70.3. It was amazing to relax and spend time with the fam. The race was an amazing experience and although I was not exactly prepared for the quick pace of ITU which unlike any other racing, I loved it and loved the opportunity. Who knows what the future will bring in that department.
Lastly by fist 70.3 of the season. I was not where I should have been training wise due to the decisions I had made about Hy-Vee, as well, I had been sick for the last week and almost pulled out. Upon deciding to race I knew I'd just go out and give it my all without judgement and see how it turned out.
I was happy with my swim and although the bike course was very taxing, being hilly, windy and hot (I may not have taken in enough water because it kept splashing from my aero bottle) the bike went pretty according to plan as well. Coming off I knew it would be a challenge not have done a single long run the entire month with racing and recovery etc... It was mentally super difficult, I was having to surrender to my body which was moving at a shuffle. There were definitely points when I thought pulling out was actually an option. 2 girls passed me by mile 5 and when a 3rd came by putting me out of $ contention, although at that moment I could not respond, it was pretty devastating. I did however, keep after my pace. The plan was to be conservative the first 1/2 and then hope to have a bit to close with. With 4 miles to go there was a steep hill, I decided at that moment that if I could just let my body fall down the hill and move my legs as fast as they could go I could close the 20M gap. As I did, I didn't look back over the next 2 miles and tried to keep focused on "Out of site out of mind." The last 2 miles were pretty excruciating and the tap could not have come soon enough. I have never had to have an IV before but I gladly let the amazing volunteers drag me right into the tent. On this day I learned again how much of triathlon is mental and a heart game above and beyond the physical challenges.

NUTRITION for races in JUNE:
As always, especially in places like Iowa and Texas where I raced and it is super hot and sometimes very humid, I'm always trying to drink a lot of water and electrolytes in days leading to my race. As well as get in extra sodium and cut back on anything that is fibrous especially veggies.

Copper Creek Sprint
1 Espresso Love GU 15 minutes before race. Water bottle on the course with 1.5 scoops EFS 1 scoop Carbo-Pro. I figured on this short of a race (just over an hour), I didn't really need to take in many calories, as long as I didn't have any GI issues I'd be set to go.
All was good, I ended up drinking about 1/2 of my bottle, and taking in water at all of the running aid stations. I won and had a blast being home.

Hy-Vee World Cup (ITU Olympic distance)
In an Olympic especially an ITU race where the intensity and effort is quite a bit different from non-drafting races I wanted to make sure I was spot on. I was a bit nervous as I have not done an ITU in 2 years, and never done a World Cup. As well the race start is 12:30PM so we need to take this into consideration.

I tried even with the nerves to go to bed a bit later so that I would be able to sleep in. Mind you, I had been taking in good fluids and sodium and remaining very hydrated all week. I woke up around 8am and had my cup of gluten free oatmeal with honey, salt and 2 egg whites plus 1/2 a banana. I try to eat about 3 hours before the race so I have time to digest everything. Cup of coffee as well, always try to get that in, it helps me be regular and get everything out before the race.

In the time leading up to race start I had water 1-1/2 bottles and about 1/2 bottle of electrolyte drink. I had one water bottle for the race. I also as per usual had a caffeinated GU (Espresso Love) 30min out and 3 gulps of my race drink. It contained 2 scoops EFS, 2 scoops Carbo-Pro and 1 scoop PreRace. I wanted to get in all of my calories on the bike and then be down to water for the run. I also took 1 GU during the race but had 2 on my bike just in case. It was a bit hot and I have trouble digesting drinks (other than coke and water) or gels on the run, especially in shorter distances.


All went pretty much according to plan other than an issue that I've been dealing with and it is starting to frustrate me a bit. I got a stitch or cramp up under my right rib and then it went up into the shoulder. At one point around mile 4 I had to slow down for a bit and dig my fingers into it to try and release it. I started belly breathing a bit and it subsided. I've since been having the issue day to day and in some running sessions. It is really only bad during running. It occurred again this last weekend during the Buff Springs 1/2.

Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3
6:30 race start. Breakfast 3:30. Cup of gluten free oatmeal, honey, scoop of almond butter. 1/2 cliff bar, 1/2 banana. Lots of water and some electrolyte, cup of coffee. I was extremely hydrated coming into this race. Thank goodness.

GU 30min prior, water and EFS mixed drink.
During race I took in a GU every 45 minutes (Chocolate, Espresso Love and the new Tri Berry), an entire water bottle with 2 scoops of EFS 2.5 scoops of CarboPro and 1 scoop PreRace. Along with an aero bottle with water that I filled twice. On the run I had water at every aid station and coke at 3 aid stations. The run was really hot and brutal. Even with my nutrition plan I ended up not having a great run, and I got very dehydrated, for the first time ever I took an IV after the race. So I'll work on this prior to my next 1/2.

Thanks as always to my amazing sponsors who make this all possible! Zoot, Orbea, Zipp, Suunto, GU, Fuel Belt, ALCiS, First Endurance, Colorado Sports training and Somerset Farms!
Along with my other supporters and friends and coaches with Boulder Sports Training!

Cheers and all the best training and racing!
Until next time!
Becky

Injuries: They're Part of the Game

Pre-race

T1...licking my chops for the bike

Missing a pic. from the crash (someone actually got one)...too gut wrenching though. Btw-can someone tell me why my wife thought to take a pic. of me while on a stretcher?

Cleaning up the road rash...it never hurt so bad just to sit up

Back home resting and waiting for surgery

On the way to the hospital

Post surgery...maybe a bit drugged still:)

Kind of blurry...from a phone...this is me cheering people on 2 days later at Eagleman 70.3. I was so looking forward to smashing this race!

I have been writing a bit for Landice Fitness. My most recent article talks about injuries being a big part of sports and how one can overcome an injury and come out the other side ready to get back at it. You can find the article here or below.

Injuries: They're part of the game

Unfortunately, this is a topic I've become all too familiar with the past few weeks. I crashed on my bike during a recent triathlon and broke my collarbone. Injuries are a part of sports. This is probably even more so for endurance sports. Injuries are not fun at all. They are painful, they interrupt training plans, they alter the race schedule, they lower your fitness, they ruin competitive goals on the horizon, and they cause frustration, loss of confidence and possibly even a bit of depression.

Injuries are just another challenge that life throws at us. You get to choose how you want to deal with it. Are you going to embrace it and come out the other end a better person and athlete or are you going to give in to all of the negative things that an injury can bring? I hope you choose the first option.

Most injuries, if not all, are caused by some particular thing. In my incident, I will say, it was about as freak of an accident as there is. Most of the time you will know the cause of your injury, be it from an accident (slipping on ice while out for a run, getting hit on the bike by a car because you weren't wearing a light and it was dark, etc., etc.) or from overuse. Overuse injuries are the most common injures endurance athletes face. The key is figuring out the cause of your injury and taking the proper steps to learn from it so you can avoid a similar thing from happening again.

As you start back with rehabilitating your injury you may find that not only are you fixing your current injury, but you're likely preventing new injuries from occurring and maybe even strengthening other areas of your body that you might not have otherwise had the time to do so. Case in point, this winter Chrissie Wellington (Ironman World Champion) crashed on her bike while training and broke a few bones in her arm, wrist, and hand. Per a recent competitor radio interview, she was still able to do lower body work and spent a lot of time in the gym working on her leg strength, specifically some hamstring work. She said the accident was a blessing in disguise because she was able to work on things she otherwise wouldn't have had the time for. She said her running is as good if not better than it's been and she attributes most of it to that added gym work.

From an emotional view, an injury can be a very good opportunity to sit down and get your priorities straight again. Triathletes are often times letting other areas of their life go, sometimes even when it comes to family. I know for me it has allowed me to focus more on being a better husband. Seek out what areas you have let go and do something to improve it. The more in order you have your life, the better you'll always be able to train and race.

You can re-evaluate why you got into the sport in the first place. There's a good chance you'll go back to training and racing and enjoy it that much more. You'll appreciate just being out there after weeks of being couped up inside. Often times, endurance athletes get burned out from their sport. Motivation has a lot to do with this and an injury can rejuvenate you to want to get back at it more than ever.

Overcoming adversity is a huge part of endurance sports. How often does an event go exactly as planned? It is rare if ever. Dealing with an injury forces you to have to deal with a lot of adversity. Next time you're faced with a big challenge in a race, you'll be able to feed off a previous injury because of how you learned to cope during it. Injuries force you to cope. There is nothing you can do to change it. Eventually you realize that the only way you can successfully approach the injury is to put it in the past and focus on the now and what you can do today to get healthy again. We'd all be better athletes if we focused on the now more.

Bottom line is: injuries stink. I wouldn't wish an injury on any athlete, and I hope I don't have to deal with many more. I will say that I think I'll end up a better triathlete because of the injury I am currently dealing with. I have learned from it as not only an athlete, but a person. I hope you keep some of these things in mind the next time you are injured.

Dave Smith

It's June and My Season Finally Kicks Off...

With a 10K!! June 12th, the Bellin 10k. With over 18,000 starters, I was worried about getting a good start without having an elite number. I have run this race many times before and it has always been HOT. Today, a little humid, but overcast skies. The race started with a waves so everything went pretty smoothly. the first two miles are a steady incline and with 12:20 on my watch, I'm taking it out slower than previous years. I hit the 5k mark in 18:40. yikes. Unfornuately, I thought that this was too fast a pace and follow-up with a 6:20 mile. ugh.

I get my thoughts on speeding up if I want to acheive my goals. I become very aware of how young the woman (girls, actually) are around me. I try to stay with them, but that are really picking up speed in the closing mile. I can see the clock and I try to push to go under 38, but it isn't going to happen 38:02. Goal met, however. previous age group record 38:55. I guess I have a goal for 2011. Probably not a great idea to torture my legs too much anyway with a half ironman a week later.

Potato 70.3

I should've made my appearance on here like 2 weeks ago but I have a really good excuse, I promise...so this is going to be partially a double race report but only a quick on on the first of the season since I titled this post Potato 70.3.

Anywho...unlike everyone else it seems, my season got off to a bit of a later start. This is my first year on the Zoot Ultra Team and I've been super excited to get my season going. We may not have really had a winter up here in the PNW, but now we're not really having a summer either. The lakes are still around 60, and even though I'm a Tennessee girl at heart, I think I've acclimatized quite well considering my size. I don't mind it all that much, it just means that the race season generally starts around May instead of March/April...which is also a good thing when you're going to CLEARWATER! (more on that later).

On May 30th I did the Shawnigan Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon up in Victoria, BC...kinda like my home away from home. My grandparents live there, I have lots of old training partners there, and my coach is there too, so it was lots of fun getting to see familiar faces and bike on some roads that I know quite well...the weather on the other hand...the water temp was around 56 degrees and the air temp was about the same as well. I'm okay with going numb on the bike. It almost seems normal now, but this one definitely ranked in one of my top 3 most miserably cold triathlon moments (just about even with Short Course Worlds in Vancouver 2008 for those who heard about how cold that one was...actually, maybe worse...because at that race I was actually able to get my helmet off). To sum it up so I can't get into my Boise report, the swim was COLD. Getting my feet in my shoes on the bike didn't work so well either, but luckily I went back and forth for 44k (slightly long because we were going around the lake) with a friend of mine which was a life saver. It kept my mind off how miserable I was. I never warmed up. Couldn't eat, shift, or grip onto my water bottle either. T2 was painful and after a few tries (with no luck) of getting my helmet unbuckled, I said to my friend Lindsay across from me, "whatever. I give up. I'm running with it." ha. yeah. I was gonna run 10k with an aero helmet on and had totally mentally embraced the thought of my finishing photos being the best out of everyone's because of it. There was, however, an official at the end of my transition row, and since I'm already familiar with TriBC, I knew they were allowed to unclick the clasp in such awful conditions. Clasp unclicked, I was able to get it off the rest of the way by myself and run without a helmet on. From there on out I eventually thawed out by 6k and finished off the day with a OA win. OH yeah, this was my first race as 25-29 too.


The reason I didn't post after that was because I was studying for the LSAT on June 7th. I figured that was a good reason. We don't have to discuss that though. It was fairly traumatizing. haha...but the better part of that week was going to Boise a few days later for one of my favorite races of the year.

So Boise...yeah. I was super super pumped. Despite many nights of fewer hours of sleep than I should've had while in training because I was busy taking a Kaplan class, working, training, and studying in what other free time I had, workouts were going really well. I know this is a race report, but one of my standard week before a big race workouts is 3x1mile fast. Before Clearwater last year I went 5:35, 5:40, and 5:45. It's only the second race of the season and I knocked out a 5:21, 5:20, and 5:33. Yeah, so I faded quite a bit on the last one and had a good heart to heart talk with the infield after #3, but that was the best I've ever done a full out set like that. I was just aiming for 5:30.

The drive was long. It's 7 hours to Boise from Seattle and my trusy race sherpa Adam was meeting me there via a one way flight and helping me drive home post race. I'm sure everyone has heard that it was WINDY. At least it was sunny. Last year was not pleasant with a torrential downpour, hail, thunder, and lightening. I'm going to cut to the good stuff because I tend to talk a lot in person as it is so this blog may turn out the same if I'm not careful. I swam and swam and swam and then I got on the bike. A side note about myself. This is my very first year on a TT bike. For the past three years I've been on a road bike with some clip on bars and on my very 3rd ride out on my pretty red ordu at end of april I had quite a gnarly crash. I broke my helmet on the pavement (and probably had a minor concussion because I had a few symptoms but I never got it checked out), shattered my watch, and had a sore hip up until about Shawnigan at the end of May along with going to the chiropractor 2-3 times a week since. Needless to say, getting in the bars when its windy out still scares me. I road race in the offseason and feel a whole lot more comfortable on my other bike. For the most part I was okay though but word is the winds were around 30mph and they NEVER let up. Maybe for like one stretch of 5 miles and boy was it weird. Super quiet all of the sudden. At the beginning I just kept telling myself it would let up as soon as we turned to go up the big hill but it didn't. AND it was hot. I gave up hoping the wind would die and just ate, took my salt, drank, and stayed upright. A huge plus. I told my coach later that I felt like I was riding stronger this year even though the time doesn't show it. Onto the run, it was fairly apparent that everyone was feeling quite zapped from battling the winds. I knew it was most likely going to be a tough run when in the last 6 miles of the bike I found myself spinning a few revolutions and then coasting for a second of recovery...over and over. Yeah. Tough day for sure. I tried to eat around mile 3 but wasn't having it. I think that's when I got jello legs for the first time but some guy in a white top that had a big blue X across the back ended up encouraging me for all 13 miles. I only remember him from the blue X though. For the first time ever I also hiked up my jersey so I could keep ice in it. That was my second hint at survival mode. Around mile 7 I saw Adam. I knew where he was standing cheering for me and I really needed a word of encouragement too but this was jello legs round 2. Apparently they all thought I was going to face plant into a little wall I was running by, but after putting my hand down to stop myself, I stood up and kept on trucking along because I really wanted my Clearwater spot. Seeing as I still hadn't eaten, the plan of attack was to make it from station to station, trot through and get what I needed and keep on going. I remember seeing mile 12, looking up, and seeing a girl in front of me...a girl I recognized that passed me on the bike with a 28 on her leg. Here I was, running on empty, and I knew I'd be pissed if I watched her finish RIGHT in front of me...so I did it. I gritted my teeth and I did it. First place 25-29, 4th age grouper, and 13th overall...AND my Clearwater spot. Such a relief. I like getting that over with sooner rather than later. So all in all it was a not so good day with a good ending, but I'm definitely okay with it for now.

Apparently triathlon really is a summer sport. My feet weren't numb the WHOLE race and 60 feels balmy when you've raced in 56. On a FUNNY note (and I totally forgot I did this until my best friend from home asked), but I listed my occupation as a plumber. C'mon. Clerical/Administrative sounds kinda boring and I'm definitely not a boring person outside of work so I chose the best that the pull down menu on registration had to offer. I've got a good 3 weeks to decide what I want to "be" for Clearwater. hahahaha.

UP NEXT...I'm SPECTATING at CDA and I'm super pumped. My trusty sherpa, Adam is doing his first Ironman so we're switching roles as racer/race support and chauffeur home. I know LOTs of people racing and I'm throwing my road bike on the trunk of his car so I will be everywhere on the run course...after I get my training done while everyone is out on the bike. As for my next real race though, its the Vancouver Half Iron on the 4th of July. Another one of my favorites!

Deuces Wild Half Ironman Race Report

Jamie and I drove up to Show Low early Friday morning so that she could do the XTERRA bike course pre-ride. We stayed at the same cabin in Bison Ridge we rented last year and of course brought the dogs. :) We arrived at the race site at noon and Jamie left for her ride while I went to Safeway to stock up on food, beer, and wine, not in that order of priority. ;)

I went back for packet pick-up and to collect my very dusty wife. Jamie was a little freaked out by the bike course. Being so new to MTB, there were parts she was too scared to ride and she fell a few times and had a big bruise on her knee. She wasn't sure she could do the race. We went back to the cabin and made an early dinner. I was in bed by 7:30....and never fell asleep! I have no idea why, but I maybe slept 90min the entire night! The same thing happened last year before this race, but not nearly this bad. I have no idea why, but when I got up at 4:30am, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I felt ok and just started going through my pre-race motions.

Jamie drove me down to Transition and the usual activities and meet and greets kept my mind away from dwelling that I hadn't slept. The air was warm and comfortable, a bad omen this early in the morning at 6200 feet of elevation. It was going to be 94 as a high, a good 20 degrees hotter than last year. The upside was the lake water temp was awesome. I put on my wet suit and did some easy swimming, curious if I would feel the altitude like I did last year here and at Mountain Man.

Swim- 28:53
I was really hoping for a good swim to start this day off right. I also figured it would show me how not sleeping was going to effect me. Well, the answer was not so much, I felt great. All the Half men started together, so the race was all around me in real time which I loved. I get sick of wave starts and trying to figure out where I am.

I swam hard to the first turn buoy and was well up front. I drafted behind one swimmer a bit but they seemed to slow and I went around. I felt no adverse effects from the altitude either. I knew of at least two great swimmers in the group would be off the front. Once I rounded the first marker for the long down lake leg, a guy I passed jumped on my feet and stayed with me the whole way. He only tapped my feet once and I was cool with him being back there. At the second buoy, I could see the lead swimmers heading back in and I didn't seem to far behind. I picked up the pace, sighted well, and hit the boat ramp with a new PR at the Half swim distance. Good start to the day.

I ran over to the wet suit strippers and then the run up into Transition. My drafting partner ran along side me and thanked me for the pull. He said that was his best leg and wished me well. Nice guy.

Bike- 2:20:23
I had a fast, efficient T1. I had my shoe's clipped in and ran up a slight incline to the mount line. I stood on my shoes and got away quickly. There was ample time to slip into the shoes as I left the park area around the lake and did so quickly and efficiently.

Once into my shoe's, I could see two Tri Scottsdale riders ahead. One was Jon Poisson, one of the great swimmers I had mentioned. He was still trying to get his shoe's on as I went past. Here I am less than 1 mile into the race and I was ahead of a guy who it would normally take many miles to catch up to. I passed by them and left the park and headed out to the main highway. As I went past Bison Ridge, Jamie was out there with the dogs. As I went past she yelled first place was right in front of me. That would be my friend Sam Perry, the best swimmer in the field (he swam a 26:02). I passed him with mile 3 and now I was leading the race! They had a car leading the field which stayed up the road from me with it's flashers on. So cool! I had never lead a race like this before.

I was feeling terrific, targeting and comfortably holding a HR around 152. I had a gel flask and a bottle of water on the bike and grabbed a Gatorade at the first aid station. I began to consider my race plan since I was up front, I could dictate the term of the race somewhat. I knew I had a few weaker cyclists immediately behind me, so any attack was going to come from further back int he field. Any strong bike/run guys would be at least 2-3min back right now and I decided to pull a Lieto. I was going to use the bike to put in as much time as possible to give me more cushion and options for the run. So I stayed down on the bars and went to work. I stayed on top of my nutrition and hydration and kept my effort consistent.

The last 20 miles or so of this course has some pretty long, gradual hills which I attacked aggressively. I would stand and wok hard and then allow for a brief recovery. As I passed by the mile 50 marker, I began to think about the run and pulling back a little on the pace when.....PSSSSSSSSSSTTTT!

My front tire just gave up the ghost. Oh, no. I kept riding and reached back for my can of FastAir which was tapped to my HydroTail. I pulled it off and made the right turn into town. The first thing I noticed was that I seemed to be moving pretty quickly still. The wheel would make a clunk sound every revolution but my pace was still good. Could I make it? Stopping and using the FastAir might work but would take at least 1-2min. If it didn't work, I was just back to riding on it or changing it out entirely, which would take much more time. So I decided to press on as best I could. I knew the course and there were a few turns and one hill left, but I was SO close. The lead car came by me and I told them about my flat. They said the only rider coming up on me was the leader of the Olympic race, who turned out to be my buddy Cam Hill! He went by as we entered the park and we exchanged well wishes. He laughed as he saw me riding on my flat. I took the last turn slow and headed towards the dismount line, very happy with my decision.

Run- 1:39:03
As I ran down into Transition, I could hear the announcer taking about me and my flat! The lead car had radioed it in. I put on my ZOOT TT 3.0's, grabbed my visor, race belt, and another GU flask and I was off. A lead MTB came out to guide me so I still had company. He said I had about a 5:00 lead after the first mile. I thought it would be enough. I was almost wrong.

The run begins along a trail which goes around the lake. It's in good shape and you can run pretty fast on it. I went through he first mile or two feeling pretty good. I ran up through the camping area and out to the dreaded out and back section. It's a rolling, rocky, dirt road that just seems to go on forever and you have to do it twice. There's no shade and it's slow and tough running. It would also give me my first look at who was behind me. Cam and his lead bike guy were coming back the other way and I gave him a high five, he went on to win. I hit the turn which is around mile 3 and headed back. I asked my lead bike guy to find out who was Olympic and who was Half for me and he rode ahead. No need though as soon I saw Brian Folts, who I knew was in the Half running with another guy i didn't know. So there they were, 2nd and 3rd about 4min or so back.

I kept running well and descended back around the lake and then up towards a second out and back only done on the first loop. I was getting my gels in and and water at the aid stations, but it was starting to get hot. I made the turn and headed back towards Transition where I would begin the 2nd loop. Brian and the other guy were still a few min. back and I was hoping they were so preoccupied fighting each other I might slip away. The run on the trail this time was much slower and I knew I was beginning to fade. When I did the camp ground loop, I saw Brian had been dropped by the other runner who was now within 2min of me and I was slowing. I struggled to hold it together as I headed out for the out and back again. Now he was within 1 min. I was going to get caught, I was sure of it. I couldn't lift the pace, there was still over 2 miles to go. If he caught me, I wouldn't be able to respond. There was a hill about 1/2 mile from the finish and I got to it still in the lead. I pushed hard going up and was wasted at the top. I asked the MTB guy where was the 2nd place runner and he said about 25 yards behind. I looked down the road towards where the finish was and decided I was not going to loose this race, not toady, not after all I had done. I started to run harder and harder. My HR skyrocketed and I got a little tunnel vision as I pushed. Less than 200 yards from the finish the MTB guy said he couldn't see him anymore. I had made it and crossed the line.

This was not a very good run for me based on pace, but the conditions were very tough and even the 2nd place guy had the fastest run split of 1:35 so everyone was slow on the course. Once across the line, I stopped , bent over with my hands on my knees, and tried to recover as I waited for 2nd to come in and congratulate him. I found Jamie and the dogs and kept drinking as much water as I could.

This is a great weekend of racing which features a Half, and Olympic, and Aqua Bike, XTERRA, and even a kids race. Jamie woke up Sunday morning with a stomach flu but despite that and her concerns witht he bike course, she started the race and had a great swim. She went on to complete 95% of the bike course before having to stop. She rode all of it except one section and was so happy. For me, it was a great race, especially since I was very unhappy with my perfromance last year. I wanted revenge and I got it. :)