How not to Train for Deuces Wild!

A few lessons learned from a senior individual. First, buy new bike (need to post that soon), don't ride bike until the week before the race. Ok, there were extenuating circumstances. I got a cold the week after AtomicMan, was sick for the SinkodeMile meet, had my Mother come in for Mother's Day followed immediately by my son. Lost another week to a business trip to Berlin. At least I got in 3 four mile runs there. So I found myself with six days to train, seriously jetlagged and desperate. The new bike is a Kestrel RT700 set up for triathlon. So it is a lot different from the roadbike. I rode it Tuesday and figured out it was definitely not as stable. Only fell once when the new pedals didn't release fast enough and the chain went on the inside of the cogset going uphill. No serious injuries. Deborah put me back together with a great massage on Tuesday and gave me some hints. The Thursday ride was better. Friday I dragged out the wetsuit and tried it out in the pool. Boy was it tight! I'm sure it shrunk over the winter..... Threw the gear in the car and drove to Show Low.

The race was interesting. I did the Olympic. We had Max Light and his son, Max, as well. The wetsuit went on a lot easier. Could have been all the oil I put on to warm up my muscles and sunscreen. The water was.....icy. Somewhere between 53 and maybe as high as 60 in parts of the lake. My feet fortunately went numb after 5 minutes or so of aching. I did warm up a little and stayed in the water. The men went first so we had about 130 swimmers going out of a narrow inlet to the lake. I had a hard time seeing the buoys, but managed to keep swimming. It was hard to get comfortable. You didn't see the next guy until you ran over him. My time was pretty good - under 31 minutes. But I was really woozy getting out and needed help. Hence, the bruise marks on my upper arm. Getting the wetsuit off set off cramps in both legs. So I spent 5 minutes on the sidewalk in recovery mode. The support people were extremely helpful, keeping an eye on me and helping rub my legs. I finally got to my feet and hobbled to the bike. The bike leg went surprisingly well. I had only one problem with the drink system. I'm working on that. I averaged 16.6 mph, which is good for me. The run was the usual - run/walk/run/walk/walk.... I was running with the younger Max most of the way. We would trade the lead. He finally left me and I finished about a minute behind him. But I did finish and the time was - acceptable. I got sunburned on my shoulders and the backs of my legs. I didn't take the time to add sunscreen during transition. My daughter has advised me to get a spray to speed it up. So, I ended up 4th in my age group out of 4. But I did OK. I accomplished my goals which were primarily getting ready for Buffalo Springs. The new uniforms worked great. I was dry in 10 minutes from exiting the water. I need to add sunscreen to my back where a small gap exists. So on to the next race!

Max was the only 70 year old and was not the last finisher. He did an outstanding job and I hope I'm still racing when I get to that age. Clay and Laurie Goddard did the Xterra. Clay took second overall. Laurie had a great time as well and was the only one in his age group. He would have beat me anyway. These are well run events and I really enjoyed going.