Los Alamos Triathlon 2009

Our local triathlon was this last weekend in Los Alamos and as the longest continually running triathlon in the world for a novice such as myself it was an honor to be part of it.  For those of you who don’t know, it’s a different format to the majority of triathlons with the bike leg starting, followed by the 400m pool swim and the run leading us to the finish.

            The weather for this years race was great, especially compared to last years grey and dismal weather.  The bike started in three waves, the elites and the under 19s started at 7.00am followed by two more waves of age groupers spaced 10 minutes apart.  The bike has some hills to it and heads up from the aquatic center, through the guard gates and up past the ski hill road to the back gate where it heads left on 4 a little bit before retracing the route to the pool.  The ride went pretty well for me, it seemed a pretty smooth ride with me and about three others passing each other thoughout - I seemed to pass them on the downhill’s and they cranked past me on the climbs which was fine by me as it saved me some leg power!  I did find out later that my front brake had slipped a little, probably as a result of removing the wheel to get it on the roof rack and had been rubbing on my front rim possibly for the duration of the ride which comes down to inexperience on my part and something I will definitely learn from for my next race.  As I said, the bike seemed to go pretty well and the transition was also pretty smooth.  I had set up a good spot for my run stuff so managed to drop of my glasses before getting into the pool.  It was a longer T1 this year with the transition area being moved from the parking lot opposite the SnD start to the aquatic center parking lot, so to get the pool involved  a short run to the back door of the pool.             

            Then came the swim which, as last year I found really tough and I didn’t feel that I was going quick in the slightest (of course I wasn’t, but at least I did OK and got through it!), my arms felt really tired and I was blowing pretty hard for what seemed like little effort although I think my technique has improved a little over the last year.  My swim time wasn’t as bad as I thought it was and I thought my T2 was pretty fast – I was trying out a liquid skin/body glide approach to the blister areas on my feet so I could run sockless and save time but it didn’t look too good at this point so I opted for a one sock approach on the problem foot before heading out on the run. 

            To be honest, the run felt really slow, I’d been over the course a few times, which was the SnD run along canyon road, and I knew where the inclines were and where the downhill sections were where I could crank a little harder and I suppose that’s the beauty of  a home course.  In the end my time for the run was better than I thought it was going to be and I suppose that’s where taking advantage of a familiar terrain came into play.

            The organization of this years LA tri was great, the course was well marshaled and the results and subsequent awards ceremony were done in a timely manner with pint glassed given out as prized for AG winners.

            Overall, for me a tough format but a great race and unsurprisingly a great showing in the awards by Triatomics, I wont name, names but we should be proud of ourselves - well done to everyone who raced!!!!!

Performance video by MC SpandX

"God! I gotta get a carbon frame!"
After Show Low this year I was so shocked at how dorky and performace gear-oriented we triathletes have gotten (compression garments for every body part...scary!) that I forgot that there are always cyclists out there to make us feel better about ourselves. Too bad this guy didnt go with the traditional color coordinated top, bottom, helmet, socks, gloves and frame look... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4&eurl

2009 Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon

The 2009 Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon was on August 1st with the traditional 400m swim/20K Bike/5k run and a time trial start for the swim. After some drama on the Friday with our car working/not working and me running around trying to get the dogs, my bike and our stuff, while dropping the car back at the garage, we got on the road and hauled it down to Socorro to try and make the packet pick-up. It was my first time doing the Socorro Tri and their directions to the pick-up sent you down one of the only roads we found without a street sign! We drove around for a while and eventually found the site just after 8pm and managed to get my number and the swag – a decent tech-tee and a good quality water bottle - before finally being able to settle into the hotel, that is until the heavy footed insomniac in the room above us kept us up longer than we would have liked that evening – grumble, grumble.

The morning rolled round pretty quick and after checking over the bike we headed back to the race site where all the bikes were checked for plugs, helmets checked and body marking done before being allowed into the transition area. I set up my stuff and looked around for other Triatomics and saw Tina, seeded a little ahead of me in the swim, and who thankfully lent me a race belt to replace my recently improvised piece of string – I’d forgotten mine and really didn’t fancy risking safety pins with a snug trisuit. I went to have a look at the outdoor pool and the water temperature seemed pretty warm so I did a quick length or two and it didn’t seem too bad. So as I mentioned, the start was a seeded time trial swim start, I was 141st in, so had a little time to wait but the race organizers had everything really well controlled with the starting line-up being well marshaled and taken care of with people being sent every 15 or 20 seconds. I was in after about 15-20 mins of waiting and the sun was already feeling a little warm on the back of my neck. The swim went pretty smoothly (8 lengths 50m pool), there were a few people who tore past me in the first 2 or 3 lengths but I caught them up in the latter half of the swim and cleared them in the last length to give me a clear exit from the pool. I took it pretty steady and at a reasonably comfortable pace but some of the swimmers around me were going all out and kicking like crazy, something I definitely don’t have the legs for. Some of the turns were a little hairy and congested but I seemed to navigate them OK. T1 was nice and smooth, but a little slower than I would have liked, but I got out pretty quick and on to the bike. The bike course headed towards the hills so was a gentle gradual climb with a few out-and-backs parallel to the hills. On the bike, it was a little breezy and for the first half, which was predominantly up-hill I had the wind in my face which slowed things down slightly. I passed a bunch of people throughout the bike and was only passed by three, a spry looking 2o-something guy, some guy with a solid disk wheel who left me for dead on a down hill and a guy who I later re-passed towards the end. I did nearly eat it on a downhill curve, a pot-hole jumped out of nowhere and I had to react quick to avoid something nasty.

T2 was much better, with Jaclyn and the two dogs cheering me on from the sidelines and headed out for the run. The first mile and bit was a gentle uphill climb and the legs felt a little heavy and it was getting a little warmer but not too bad. Scott Valdez passed me at about the 1 mile marker and vanished speedily into the distance as we transitioned onto a dirt trail which after about half a mile transitioned back onto the road for a slight climb to a turn around point. The final section was down hill so I managed to speed up a little, even though the legs were feeling a little heavy at this point. I passed a quite a few folks on the run and of course a few passed me but when the finish line was in sight, probably about half a mile out, I managed to shift up a gear and got past a few more people before getting over the line. I felt I was going pretty slow on the run by my time wasn’t too bad and I probably could have put a bit more into it – I’ll know for next time!

The race was great – the organization was outstanding, the swag was top notch (they were giving left over tees and bottles from 2008 out after the race too), the course marshalling and support was awesome and it was a really fun race. There were quite a few other Triatomics there that I hadn’t already mentioned – Chuck won his age group with a really fast time, Scott came in 2nd in my age group, Peter Song won his by a good margin and Tina said she shaved off a few minutes from last years time. Leland looked to have a good race and Timbad came in 2nd in his AG. All in all a good turn out, a great race and I’ll hopefully be back there next year!