Tour de Los Alamos babysitting

Mike is racing and I hope to just get in a ride in the Citizens race during the Tour de Los Alamos. Our wonderful neighbor, who loves kids and offered to take care of Miss Maia when we needed it, is out of town. So, we are looking for a babysitter. Any suggestions? It would be on Sunday, June 20th from 8:30 AM until ~noon. I can drop off Maia anywhere with her stuff, if that is easier for someone. She is 6 months old and not mobile yet . . .

Mike finishing Sandia Crest

Proud of the hubby Mike Warren- he did a great job at Sandia Crest yesterday. Thought I'd share since he's kind of a quiet guy. He finished 2nd overall in the "A" race (Pro/1/2) in a pretty tough field and told me that he broke his 3 hour power record (and 2 hour). Awesome! Los Alamos was well-represented, taking 1st and 2nd. (Fortunato did fantastic- nabbing the top spot.) Hugh and Gretchen tamed the beast, too. Not sure who else was there . . .

XTERRA Double Header Weekend - Four Corners and Deuces Wild

The organizers of these two great XTERRA races probably didn't mean to put them both on the same weekend when they were planning their respective races, but somehow there was a goof-up and they ended up back-to-back. This is rare for XTERRA -- to have two races so geographically near each other, but somehow they made it work and even offered incentives for the top finishers who did both. Whatever...they need to fix the schedule. Really, it's the Deuces Wild that moved their race into June, so maybe they will need to assess making a change. It's a double bummer, as we're all forced to miss the Milkman, our best sprint tri in NM and generally considered the sprint triathlon state championship.

So, all of the opinion aside, it turned out to be a pretty cool off-road tri weekend, if not a little hard on the body. I think it was reported that no less than 29 or 30 participants opted to do both, including myself and Laury Goddard. Also at the Four Corners in Farmington was Kim Katko, who put in an awesome race to take 7th overall in the women's event. On the other side of the state line in Arizona, Dan Rees, Kim Meyer and Paul Graham did the Deuce (Amy Regan did the Deuceman 1/2 IM race too -- race report, Amy?).

Laury and I drove up to Farmington to pre-ride the bike course for the Four Corners XTERRA. It is on the Road Apple Rally trails, so if you've done that mtn bike race (the oldest in the world), then you know those trails. The rest of the race is virtually just like the Farmington Grady Williams tri, with some run course deviations. The swim is a two lap affair, making up an approximate 1,500 meter swim.

Did I mention that it got hot? Yep, it was roasty, toasty in Farmington, with just about 100 degrees for the day...probably not so much during the race, but it was definitely in the 90s.

With a lot of hard training from the Galisteo RR to Memorial Day, I was hoping for a good result at Four Corners, but I ended up timing my rest badly and felt VERY flat and generally off during the entire race. I swam OK, but it didn't feel very good and somehow it took everything out of me and I felt like an over-cooked spaghetti noodle on the run. That run is always a good one for me, except for that day. I actually got passed by XTERRA-guy runners, which bummed me out. I struggled the whole way, and even got lost a little bit on a sandstone rock with no markings in sight. I hoped for a better bike ride, but that was actually the worst leg of all.

I crashed not far out of T2 while trying to put on my bike glove, then had to endure a long line of guys just blazing by me during the first half of the race. I seemed to get some legs later in the race and re-caught a couple of them, but the damage was done and I lost a good 7 to 9 minutes overall with all of my mishaps and weaknesses. I did see some positive light during the final miles of the bike, when I began feeling my legs kick in and I left behind those guys who had caught me earlier, and I even caught a guy who had passed me on the run, so I had hopes for the next day's race at Show Low.

At the finish, Laury also lamented on how flat he felt and was equally bummed with his race in general. We philosophized it away, had a good post-race lunch at the Lions Wilderness Park, enjoyed our 4.5 hr drive in 100 degree heat to Arizona, and arrived at the race site packet pickup with renewed hope and vigor. We then headed over to the best local Mexican food restaurant in town (which also catered the race) and had a great dinner and a beer.

We got a little tired and sore by bedtime, but figured a good warmup would help clear the cobwebs, so we opted for the early wake-up and race arrival to leave plenty of time. It was a good strategy, as we both felt like we were ready to go when it was time. It was also really cool seeing the same faces we saw the day before, plus the fresh ones here for just this race. More NM people did this race than the Four Corners, I think...

The swim start at Deuces Wild is always a little crazy because it's a deep water start with an immediate curve to make, making it really tight and cramped right from the gun. It's so crazy how we take off hitting each other and swimming right into the beach and the little observation pier there. After that, it's finally open water and I had some ground to make up. I opted for a much more casual swim than the day before, as I felt that the hard swim at Four Corners set the rest of my race up for a sufferfest since I am way soft on my swim training. It was a good strategy and I felt better at the end of the swim than the beginning, and was much less worked-over once out of the water.

I also took a way-too-leisurely approach to my T-1 and lost about a minute to those guys I needed to stay on par with to be competitive. That's bad, but I don't know what I could do differently...I needed my Camelback with the pending heat, and I needed gloves because I'd get blisters on my hands, so I just don't know. Maybe it actually helps in the long run, but I need to find some speed in T-1 at the XTERRAs.

Once out on the bike, I just worked on finding my rhythm, which is never easy at XTERRA because you're all worked over from the swim. It takes some time to get your mountain biking skills working. I seemed to recover more quickly this year than the other two times I did this, and felt like I was having a decent bike. I rode hard, despite feeling my tired back and legs all the way up the long initial climb to the top of a dome-like mountain. Once at the top, I began to really turn it on and just hung with the two guys who I rode over the top with. They were very good bike handlers, so staying with them was a challenge and helped my overall speed. I even took some turns leading, but it was mostly them making the pace. I was really able to help once we hit a long dirt road section before the final single track sections coming into the finish.

By the end of the bike, I knew it had been a fast ride (my fastest by quite a bit) and I was feeling pretty good. But, with all of the competition at this year's race, my fast bike was only good for about 11th best -- wow! People near the finish were yelling: "ninth, tenth, eleventh" to us 3 guys coming in, so I kicked the last couple of sections to get a gap on those two guys.

Into T-2, I focused on having a faster transition. The guy who was with me (or just behind) blazed in and out so fast that I actually had a gap to make up once we were out on the run. Once again, I actually felt pretty good starting the run, despite achy back and legs. It took a little while to get going, but I was moving along pretty well. At first, I didn't make up any time on the 21 yr old dude in front of me and thought he was going to out-run me. But once we descended the steep hill down below the dam and then had to climb out, it became apparent that he was slowing significantly. I caught him at the top of the climb and suffered back into my run that went across another short dam. I felt alright, but I compared to the year before and just knew I was lacking the juice to have a great run.

And so it went for the rest of the race. I even struggled a little at one point, but as we got nearer to the finish, we had to go through two lake crossings (or marsh crossings). I whole-heartedly dove in right away and swam both without hesitation. The cool water felt good and I think it was actually faster than trying to run through them. With wet, squishy shoes, I ran as fast as my tired body could muster into the finish, with pretty good kick in the final 500m.

Overall, this was a fun weekend. I'd do it again, but realize I need more mtn bike miles and more race-specific training to be competitive with the new group of folks making the move over to XTERRA. I definitely want to go back to Four Corners and avenge my bad day on that very cool course!

Amy Regan got some pics of some of us during the race (see the Triatomics photos link), and the race organization had some good photos that can be purchased. Take a look at 'em if you're ever interested on going to this event. You can see just how pretty it is there and what a nice setting it is for a race.

Legendary Runner in Los Alamos for Jemez Mtn Run this weekend!

Jemez Mountain Trail Run is this weekend Sat May 22nd! The event always sells out early and often attracts top ultra runners and this year Micah True or "Caballo Blanco" will be participating. See the Los Alamos Monitor story. If you havent read Born to Run its highly recommended. Its a great story and extremely interesting for anyone who has done any running and avid runners in particular.

Micah is from Colorado but lives most of the time down in Batopilas, Chihuahua, in the copper canyon of Mexico with the Raramuri, or more widely known as the 'running people', the Tarahumara Indians. He has adopted their way of life and style of running. He puts on a 50mile ultra marathon in the rugged "Barrancas Del Cobre" each year that attracts the local running people and few legends from around the world. Everyone donates their race winnings back to the local communities.

Caballo Blanco will participate in the Sat race and will also give a talk on Sunday at 4pm at the Unitarian church in Los Alamos, donations requested for his charity Norawas de Raramuri. This should be very interesting so try to attend!

Jay Benson May 9th 2010 Race Report

This was my first Jay Benson and I thought it was a pretty good race. I decided to drive down that morning which meant a pretty early start but it did mean I could get a proper breakfast! The organizers recommended leaving an hour to get through the guard gates so we left at about 4.30am to get to the gate at 6.30ish, an hour through and a race start at 8am. The traffic was clear as expected, although heading out for a race while people were on their way home from a night out was quite amusing! Getting through the guard gates was quick (10 mins!?) so we were there well before the start. This was quite good though as it gave me plenty of time to set up and relax before the race (and gave Jaclyn time for a nap in the car while I fussed about at transition). I bumped into Laurie on the way to the transition area and we both managed to get bike slots by the bike exit meaning less running in bike shoes and Clay later joined us in the same rack so we had a nice little Triatomics line up. Getting the packets and number was really easy that morning and they were doing a bagless packet pick up so as to minimize the amount of junk handed out and the number of plastic bags going to waste and it was really good, just get your number and chip, pick out a water bottle and get your shirt and away you go, no sifting through 20odd flyers just to put them in the trash.
Andy before the race:

and giving thumbs up at the start line of Wave 2:

So onto the race. It started in several waves, the first to go were the teams and elites and then waves at 3 minute intervals sorted by age groups with males first, then females. I thought this worked pretty well, but I was in the second wave so things were relatively clear for me but I guess AG women may have a different tale to tell. The run went out onto pretty open roads and was pretty quick, it starts with a very gradual downhill and then heads around and then back to transition with a very gradual uphill. The run went pretty well, I managed to keep a reasonable and steady pace at a good effort with still leaving some in the tank and it was easily my best run in a Tri and only a little slower than my current best 5km time at sea level so I was really pleased with that – putting in the miles over winter for an early spring marathon seem to have paid off. The transition was pretty smooth for my first race of the year, but seeing as we’d managed to get a bike slot near the exit, the bikers for the relays we blocking my bike rack and exit and seemed a little oblivious to my presence until I “gently persuaded” them to clear a slight path for me to exit with the tact and diplomacy only an English man could muster……

The bike was a nice loop actually, the majority of the road seemed to be pretty freshly resurfaced apart from one section which had SR4 characteristics but we’re all used to that kind of surface right? The route is quite quick and it was possible to keep a pretty good pace up, the first half is relatively flat and then the second half has some gentle hills in it. I’ve not managed to spend as much time on the bike as I would have liked so far this year and my legs did begin to get a little heavy with about 4 miles to go so probably slacked off a little and would ideally have liked to be at least a minute or two quicker and should have just cranked it but I wanted to save something for the pool. The second transition was quite nice, racking the bike near the exit where there were now no relay people to get in the way - either they’d all gone or my diplomacy had worked better than I’d expected. It was a short run to the pool entrance and I forgot to unclip my race belt but left that poolside. The pool’s pretty nice and it was a standard snake style 400m pool swim. It was pretty clear, only two spots were congested and I managed to clear through those pretty easily and there were a few folks doing nice wide breast stroke to navigate. With hindsight, I’m glad I left a little in the tank on the bike leg as the last 50m I was gasping pretty hard for air, then it was out of the pool and over the line.

L-R: Laurie, Miguel, Bill B.

All in all it was a good race, I was happy with my performance (did I mention the chest infection for the 2 weeks prior?) and it was a good marker for the other races I’m planning on doing this year. All the other folks seemed to have good races too – Clay took 3^rd overall and Laurie, Dina and Amy all got 2^nd in their age groups. There were also a bunch of other Triatomics there (Mehdi, Bill, Scott, Randy and probably a few others – my apologies if I forgot anyone!) and everyone seemed to have a good race. It was well organized and there was plenty of course support.

Clay and Mehdi before the race:

Cochiti Tri and AR is just a tri :)

Ran into a few people last couple of days and it appears there is confusion as to what Cochiti Tri and Adventure Race actually entail. I'll pass that on to the race dirs for their marketing next year. Meanwhile, here is some info to hopefully clarify any confusion:
These are two events on two separate days. The race dirs from each are working together to advertize as joint event and there will be a prize for people who do both races but they are completely separate events with completely separate registration links - you dont have to worry about getting into one by doing the other.
So the Cochiti tri is all pavement and is Olympic distance, nothing unfamiliar to tri-only people esp those nervous about getting off the pavement.
If you want to try out an adventure race great, but you can also just do the tri. The reason for this post is that it appears having "Adventure Race" in the event name is scaring some triathletes off because it gives the impression that the event will not be a straightforward tri or may involve going off pavement (*GASP*). No off-road on this one - all pavement (even if some bumpy pavement on the dam). Tell your friends!

Cochiti Olympic Tri registration open - register this week!

Sport Systems has opened registration for the Cochiti Olympic Triathlon. They are not advertising it widely this week so that local NM clubs can get registered. That includes us. Registration will be capped at 250 entrants, so it'll sell out for sure. This event is on July 11th.

You can find registration at nmsportsonline (nmsportsonline doesn't charge any fees)
or on active.com which does charge extra fees.

Here is a brief course description from their flyer:
Swim 1500m
Beach, WAVE start. Triangle Swim.
Wetsuit legal. Cap supplied at packet pickup and must be worn during entire swim until you are in T1.

Bike 40k
Relatively Flat and Fast Loop course.
Out through the Rec Area and over the Dam. Dam road is rough pavement. Turn left off the Dam Road and out almost to I-25. Turn around and take NM-22 back into entrance to Rec Area.

Run 10k
Flat and Fast out and back.
Out through the Rec Area and out onto the Dam Road then back to finish.