FINISHER: Ironman Arizona 11-21-10

My goal was to finish my first IM without hurting myself and I got that done. I got high value on my race registration investment coming in at over 16 hours, and I have to say that the accomplishment feels terrific. This was not really a race for me, but rather a test of endurance—and I passed.

I had done the practice swim the day before so knew that the water was 61 degrees and would require every one of my cold-water survival techniques (see previous post) to ensure that I could both breathe and swim for 2.4 miles. A positive mental attitude was also essential to get through this cold-water swim that could have been my undoing. I didn’t jump off the break wall into the water until about 3 minutes before the 7am race start. The entry point was about 150 yards before the official start. The gun had gone off about 2 minutes before I got to the start line in the water. By design, this allowed me to have open water for most of the race. I kept an even, steady pace and my breathing was good. At the half-way point I saw that my time was 54 minutes and I felt confident that at this easy pace I was going to finish the swim before the 2:20 cut-off time. My swim time was 1:58. When I got out of the water, I was so happy to have made the cut-off—just laughing and smiling ear to ear. They had warming tents and volunteers checking for hypothermia, but I didn’t need any warming tent and ran off to get ready for the ride.

They had angels volunteering in the changing tents, or so it seemed. These divinely inspired people dried my feet and put my socks on for me. Really. When I had the brilliant idea to put my aero helmet on right away, they helped me realized that it would likely be better to put my bike jersey on first. They were amazing. Other volunteers brought my bike to me in transition and I was feeling like a princess. It felt really good to be on my bike and my first of three laps of the course was good—the elevation is low, the pavement is smooth, and the terrain is flat. They say that the three loops of this 112 mile course is very spectator friendly, which is it, but the best part of this configuration for me was getting lapped by the pros—typically twice. I saw and cheered on Chrissie Wellington, Linsey Corbin, Heather Wurtele, Leanda Cave, Jordan Rapp, Chris Lieto, and Andy Potts, amongst others. I can now say that I rode bikes with all these people. Very cool. You could always tell when the front of the pack was going to lap you as all the motorcycles would buzz around. Unfortunately, the wind picked up on the second lap and it started to rain. There were two episodes of really gusty winds and hard rain, but I have been caught in conditions like this in training and really worked the positive mental attitude thing. The conditions were too much of a challenge for some and there were many that DNF’ed on the ride. Actually, about 20% of the field DNF’ed. I heard that about a dozen people literally got blown over on the ride; I saw two, one of which was taken away in an ambulance. I was hoping for a little more speed on the bike, but the wind didn’t allow—my time was 7:01.

It felt really good to get off the bike as I don’t think I have ever held an aero position for quite that long. Again, the angels in the changing tent helped me get on my way for the run. I felt pretty good on the first of three laps of the run course, as it had stopped raining, but then it got quite cold with nightfall. By the second lap I was feeling the effort of the day and the cold air, and I started walking more. I got one of those shiny thermal blankets on the second lap and started taking hot chicken broth at the aid stations. My run splits really show how I was loosing energy on the run, but I knew that even with walking I was going to finish 26.2 miles before the 17-hour cutoff (at midnight). I finished just after 11pm with a run time of 6:52. Just before the finish line, a spectator told me to start running (if I could) before the next turn as the finish line cameras would be able to pick me up. It was easier to do than I had anticipated since the crowd at the finish started screaming when they saw me enter the chute. I ran down the chute all smiles and giving high 5’s to every hand I saw. That finish line was incredible—I was in a state of extreme bliss at this point. To add to the intensity of the moment, the first person that congratulated me after the finish was Chrissie Wellington and next to her was Linsey Corbin. When I realized who they were, I screamed like a teenager meeting a rock star. It was so amazing that Chrissie and Linsey would be out there that late to congratulate age-group finishers like me. I then got my long-awaited finisher’s medal, got my picture taken, and thankfully, avoided the med tent.

My sister, Michele, was there at the finish for me as my support and she got my exhausted self, my bike, and all my gear from the finish to the car and back to the hotel. Thanks Michele. I also have to thank my coach, Jessica Kisiel for her guidance in my training, and my family for their tolerance of my training. Thanks also to Phil Coe and the “swimmin’ women” of PAC masters for their support; thanks to Scott Beguin, my excellent bike wrench who ensured that my bike was in great condition; and thanks to my friends and family for their support and for sending me energy and inspiration telepathically—I could feel it all day. It is very gratifying to set a goal as audacious as finishing an Ironman, then planning, training, sacrificing, and working towards it, then actually accomplishing it. My little neice, Amelia, gave me a card before the race that said. “I hope you cross the finish line, oh great and crazy Aunt of mine”. I did it. Thanks Amelia.

Cold Water Swim Survival Techniques

As some of you know, I have had a few challenges recently with swimming in cold water at triathlons. Last year, I discovered that 64-degree water induced asthma for me. Although more of a confident than fast swimmer, I was a bit weirded out by this. So, over the last year, I have spent a fair bit of time researching and testing techniques for surviving cold water swimming that I thought I would share in the event that cold water challenges others, too.

An inhaler with Ventolin: Use this right before cold water swims. You will need a prescription for it. It opens up the lungs when the cold water wants to shut them down.

Neoprene sleeves: If you have a sleeveless wetsuit, like I do, you can get neoprene sleeves from Quintana Roo so you don’t have to buy another wet suit.

Neoprene cap: This cap will give you an especially dorky look with the groovy chin strap, but it works really well. Just put the latex or silicone race cap right over top.

Ear plugs: Seems that if you keep the cold water out of your ears it keeps you warmer and prevents vertigo—another cold water induced affliction.

Rash guard shirt: These are worn by surfers and you can get thermal shirts that are made of a fleece-type fabric. If you wear them under your wet suit, it really helps keep body heat in--mine is made by Dakine.

Bengay: I have put this on all exposed skin and, unfortunately, it seems to wash off fairly quickly, but it helps keep you warm before the race if the air temperature is cold. It's a little strange, but I have even put this on my face and it actually works well for the initial stage of cold-water swimming when you just can’t seem to get your face in the water. Be sure to wash it all off either during or after the swim as any residual feels weird on your face during the bike.

Hand Warmers: I came up with this one on my own…take disposable, air activated, hand warmers that you would otherwise use in your gloves while skiing and put them in little zip lock bags (double bag, just in case). I put one in the back pocket of my tri suit and the other between the dorky neoprene cap and the race cap. This works amazingly well. Be sure to have a pocket of air in the zip lock bag or the exothermic oxidation reaction is quenched when all the oxygen in the baggie is used up. The hand warmer instructions say not to put them directly against your skin. This is well advised as they tend to get quite warm.

Drink lots of fluids before the swim: It takes about an hour or so before you will need to “release” any beverages you have consumed. This may be nasty, but it really warms you up. Just keep swimming.

I was out at Cochiti Lake this weekend for my last swim-bike-run brick of the season and the water temperature was 58 degrees. I used every one of my cold-water survival techniques and was able to swim adequately with no asthma. Success.

Hope this was helpful. If you know any other techniques for cold water swimming, please share.

Kona Ironman week

FordIronmanWorldChampionship – it's all one word you know – at least that’s the way it sounds whenever you hear it mentioned.

Dan and I were both racing together again this year. The plan was to actually enjoy the experience together (I was way too crabby during last year's race to make it fun for either of us). Our youngest, Ben, joined us for the trip, although the two older kids got to stay home with my visiting mom (what a terrific person she is).

We met some friends in Honolulu who are now on their third year of spectating on Tuesday, and all made it to Kona just in time for Ben to compete in the Keiki Dip n Dash. (I was going to try to put photos into this blog as well, but think I will go for the wordy version here and you can go to the Triatomics Photos link for commented pictures).

They do a nice job of keeping the kids organized and safe in the water, and Mike Reilly (the IM announcer) leads the runners on a Vespa. Medals were given to all kids – handed out by Paula Newby Fraser and Michellie Jones – the kids couldn't have cared less, but I thought it was cool.

Just like previous years, Dan and I would go out in the morning for a swim along part of the course. Gatorade was not a sponsor this year, and PowerBar Perform drink took its place, including at the gear drop for your morning swim. What a great service – being able to leave your stuff at the pier while you swim without having to worry about it. The scariest part is that the morning swims were simply out and backs, and there were so many people in the water, there was a decent chance of swimming into someone if you weren't careful.

We spent some time snorkeling every day. One day we rented kayaks and paddled the one mile over to Captain Cook's Monument for some excellent snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay. Where we also found Faris Al-Sultan (the 2005 IM champion) and some friends getting ready to SWIM back to our starting point. That's one way to avoid the morning swim crowd, I guess.

There's been a twist this year that a number of people were not ready for (even up until race morning) – WTC and USAT have different rules pertaining to swim skins. Acceptable USAT suits are not necessarily acceptable for WTC, which now requires ONLY fabric (my old speed skin has a slight neoprene portion to it). Luckily for me, suppliers of TriSports.com very generously provided its Kona athletes new helmets and new speed skins, so I was set with the new TYR Torque Pro. We thought Dan's would be OK, but when we checked in with Zoot, they said no, so Dan was faced with swimming in just his tri shorts, and then pulling on his jersey over his wet body afterwards (or buying a new skin – but it's tough to swallow that price tag for essentially a single race).

We also went for bike rides and runs every day, although they were rather short. My new Louis Garneau Superleggera helmet is really cool – literally. It's one of those dimpled aero bullets, but the styrofoam is only around your head, not filling the entire aero void (like our original LG from a number of years ago), and it has some great vent holes, which were terrific not only for the wind, but also for being able to dump water through to further cool my boiling head mid-race. I had just received this new stuff at Elephant Man, so although the smart advice is don't use anything new race day, I'm sure glad I did.

Thursday morning is the annual Underpants Run. It was started 13+ years ago as a way to spoof all of the Europeans who are quite comfortable walking around in their Speedos and nothing else all day. It has grown and grown each year. Multiple hundreds of people participated this year, and outlandish undies were everywhere. Ben chose to wear his conservative Bear Bum boxers although white briefs are the standard. They sell T-shorts to commemorate the event and all proceeds go to West Hawaii Special Olympics. It was a hoot.

Friday was gear drop day. You get multiple colored / labeled bags – one each for Bike Gear, Run Gear, Pre-Swim Gear (morning dry clothes), Run Special Needs, Bike Special Needs. We dropped stuff off, and saw Julie Dibens getting ready to drop off her gear. We did not have as much pro-spotting this year as we have seen in the past – don't know why (although Kate Major was on our flight back to the mainland). As you enter transition, there are a large number of people with clipboards lining the entrance chute – I am guessing they are company reps doing gear counts. You get a personal volunteer tour guide as you take all of your stuff into the transition area. They literally take you by the arm and walk you all the way through, going over the route you will take during the race. The day was now ours, so it was off to the City of Refuge for some more excellent snorkeling – this time while a pod of dolphins swam around us during their mid-day snooze.

Saturday 10/09/10 – Race Day.

Big news in the morning - Chrissie Wellington had dropped out due to illness. We had a bit more of a n understanding of that than we would have liked. A few days earlier, Ben had learned the term “praying to the porcelain god” as he hurled multiple times. And the following day Dan had been fairly under the weather with an upset stomach as well. I am guessing that I did not get sick less to my iron stomach, than to my lack of grazing at a local farm co-op earlier in the week. Ben seemed to be free and clear after 24 hours, but Dan was still not feeling great come Saturday.

We were up and out early, having dropped Ben with our friends well before the crack of dawn. Body marking is a serious endeavor there, with all of the block numbers and the India ink. You are not allowed access to your gear bags, but you can get to your bike to pump tires, add your nutrition holders, etc. We hung out together and then finally I needed one more critical bathroom stop so we parted ways and I went off to find the shortest line possible. Afterwards I still had time left over to wait but couldn't find Dan, so back to transition to quietly hang out when I ran into a TriSports.com teammate Karin Bivens, who we had spent part of race morning with last year. Her husband was a volunteer in the gear area, and told us how people were still wearing illegal swim skins, and were being told last minute to take them off or be DQ'd. (He had just taken one guy's suit to his gear bag). I'd love to know how that all played out in the end...

The pros go off half an hour earlier than the age groupers. I tried to postpone the inevitable and didn't get in the water till 5-10 minutes to go. I hung towards the back a bit, trying to strategically avoid the combat swimming I encountered last year. And who do I see treading water in front of me but Dan! Of course, we soon went our separate ways again but it was nice to see a friendly face before the cannon went off. I was pleased with my “don't get caught in the fray” idea, as the swim was much more pleasant, yet still strenuous, and there were still enough people around me the entire time that I did NOT have to worry about sighting, which I have had issues with in the past. And only one serious elbow to the forehead clobber (OK, I don't know how it could have been an elbow, but something really hard smacked me right in the middle above my goggles). I was pleased, that is, till I saw my time when I got out. I thought I should have been faster. Oh well. At least the speed skin worked out really well, and is truly a neat piece of swim gear – even if I will only use it once or twice a year.

Out on the bike, it was fun. I saw Dan and was able to yell to him after the turn around on Kuakini before we headed out of town, and got a big yell from Ben and our friends as I headed up Palani at the Sack n Save hill - always a welcome treat during a race. The wind and the heat really weren't too bad, until we went around a bend up the long hill toward Hawi. Then it was spectacular Hawai'i wind and I worried about getting blown off my bike. Lots of leaning sideways, and almost being blown into the center line simply because you couldn't keep it on a straight course – you know, all of the classic stuff. I felt pretty good till the last bit home – it just becomes a really long ride. 112 miles will do that to you.

Onto the run, thinking that perhaps I had conserved enough energy at least to not blowup on the run like I did last year. And where was Dan? I had seen him after the Hawi turnaround, but he was still behind me – a very unlikely position for him to be in. I saw Ben and friends at our condo on Ali'i Drive about 2-3 miles into the run, which was great. The whole run along Ali'i was actually going pretty well for me, and feeling pretty good, although I knew there were quite a few people in my age group already well ahead of me. With so many already in front of me, I figured it would be great to be able to run with Dan, enjoy the experience, and overall have a nice race. Then I saw him after the Ali'i turn around and he was not a happy camper and was encouraging me to go ahead rather than wait for him. Which I did. Still feeling good, I again pass Ben, but then I hit the little Palani hill. Three years ago, I remember this as a welcome break from the flat course and a nice way to stretch my legs. Not so this year. I felt like I slowed to a crawl, and could not get it back once I got up onto the Queen K Highway. The death run now took over and the world's longest 10k out to the Energy Lab ensued. Finally downhill into the Energy Lab and a grab at my Run Special Needs bag (some Gus and Enervitene) helped. Kept looking for Dan, having expected him to have come along and passed me miles ago. Finally found him heading down as I was heading back up and out. He did not want to run with me, and had been visiting all portajohns possible along the route. BUMMER. Ford sponsors an Inspiration Station around this point, where family members can leave their athlete a 25 character message that gets flashed up on a Jumbotron screen for you to read as you pass by. We always try to make each other laugh, or at least cheer up. Ben had submitted something from earlier in the trip that totally cracked me up, and with the B-52's “Love Shack” blaring in the background as I ran through, I have to admit that I was inspired and totally picked up my pace. And I had a very strong last 10k. Of course, that's what I felt like, and that's what the various people I passed said (“ooo, nice pace,” etc), but the 9:12s that I clocked out on my watch certainly told the real story. Well, at least I was back to being consistent and not feeling like I was dying and when will this thing ever end? As usual, sunset came way too early, and I was way too far out on the Queen K to be happy about it, but I once again dodged the glow-stick bullet, and did not need one before I got back into town. That last half mile up Ali'i truly is a cool one, but someday I'd like to feel good enough to really enjoy it – at that point I mostly just wanted to be done.

I waited for Dan at the finish, but he was much longer than expected, poor guy. Turns out his heart rate monitor stopped working on the bike so he could only go by perceived exertion; he had been unable to really eat anything on the bike; and was down to only taking on water by the run. Never do a Hawai'i Ironman without nutrition – it's really hard.

Elephant Man, Olympic distance, Elephant Butte, NM 09/26/10

Another great race weekend at Elephant Butte thanks to Kori, Scott, and the entire Elephant Man race crew. I love this race – in a town of 2500, they get 150 volunteers to help out. How cool is that? A new twist this year was the kids race (Elephant Kids) held Saturday evening at 5:00. Made it easy for you to get registered, get your kid registered, and then watch him race, AFTER a day of soccer in Bernalillo, or whatever. Lots of age groups, different distances for each. Very well run and a great experience for the kiddos. Free T-shirts, race number belts and chip bands (thanks to Dam It Man leftovers – a lot like our Splash n Dash (Atomic Man) swag this year), real timing chips, open water swim point to point parallel to shore, then into the Elephant Man transition area where their bikes and shoes were waiting. They had a nice way of identifying kid ages (straight from Kona Ironman last year) – not only were they body marked with their number and age, but each age group got a color-coded swim cap and wrist band – which made it very easy for the volunteers to identify the proper turn around spots on the bike and run for the different aged kids. There’s a hill immediately coming out of transition for the bike, but the littlest ones (6 and under) got to simply do flat laps around transition in the large parking lot before heading out onto the run. I love those training wheels speeding around the corners. The older ones headed up the hill and out into the state park a certain distance depending upon their ages (oldest: 13-15 age group), before returning for their run. And did I mention that Ben crushed the 9-10 year old competition?! (Just a little proud mom crowing here).

OK, Olympic distance report: weather is always nice down there this time of year; it doesn’t get real hot till the end of the race, however there was more wind than in the past – never a good feeling to watch the strongly flapping flag early in the morn. Four waves of athletes this year – all the women except the athenas went first. A huge group got off in the front; I certainly was not one of them. The wind caused a decent chop so one leg of the triangular course was tougher than the others. Out on the bike the wind made the ride more interesting than usual. We headed out into the wind, though the tough hill is situated such that the wind was actually helpful. It’s still a steep section, though, that separates the strong from the not-so-strong. I had passed a number of those good swimmers by this point but there were was still some unknown number ahead. Came into T2 and took my good ol’ sweet time, just as I had in T1. As Dan reminded me later, you can’t transition an Olympic distance the way you do an ironman. Oops, that sure cost me.

The run was its usual scenic self – sandy for almost the entire first mile makes it tough, but then it’s up onto the dams with nice views. I saw the first four women way ahead of me and had little hope of catching up. Then I saw Mary Uhl, always a very tough competitor, coming at me as I was coming up the hill to the turn around so she became my goal. Finally caught her around the 5 mile mark (lucky for me she hasn’t been able to train much this year!). There’s nothing like running downhill and along a sandy trail hoping someone’s not right on your tail. I ended up 5th OA, 1st AG. As usual, an early race start gave me plenty of opportunities to cheer for fellow Team TriSports.com people, as well as fellow Triatomics. Speaking of which – a great Los Alamos club showing this year: Bill Bearden, Frank Cherne, Chuck Farrar, Greg Geoffrion, Matt Heavner, Char Latham , Amy Lee, Max Light, Clay Moseley (overall winner – congrats!!), Dina Pesenson, Sanna Sevanto, Andy Sutton, Karen Young, were all there (sorry if I missed somebody). A decent number of cool bottle opener medals and a signature EM beer were awarded to our club members. For those of you who missed it – put it on your calendar for next year – the last Sunday in September. It’s a fun weekend and a great race.

Elephant Man 2010

This was my first attempt at Elephant Man and my last race of the season. We headed down to the lake on Friday to camp for a couple of nights and take advantage of free fishing day that Saturday (there's a reason we tend to only fish on free fishing day - we caught nothing!). Anyway, packet pick up was Saturday afternoon and I was really impressed with how professional the whole set up was. Its all centered down at the beach and there were a handful of tents up with the packet pick up underneath and it was operated with great efficiency. I got my stuff and numbers and headed back to the camp ground for a nap. Later in the afternoon we headed back to the lake for a quick swim and everything felt pretty good and me and Jaclyn bumped into Clay, Dina and Sanna enjoying the beach and Frank when we were on our way out.

The morning of the race we packed all the tent and stuff up and headed to the lake. I racked the bike next to Frank and picked up my chip and got everything set up in transition. Didn't really get chance for a warm up but saw a bunch of other Triatomics - Bill, Amy Regan, Chuck, Amy Lee, Karen and I've probably missed a few - as usual my apologies if I've not mentioned you! The swim started in 4 waves, women first, then men under 39, men over 40 and Clydes and Athenas. I was in the second wave and the swim started about 30 mins later than scheduled. The first leg of the triangle swim was OK, the wind had got stronger and there were some white caps throughout the whole swim, after the first buoy it was into the headwind and the water started to get pretty rough and I was bounced around while trying to make forward progress and probably swallowed more of the lake that would be ideal! I finally got to the second buoy and made the final turn to the shore - I think I tried to overcompensate for the wind and in trying to stay straight ended up heading too far right rather than staying to the left and had a couple of attempts to get back on track before finally getting to shore which probably added a little bit to my swim. I got my wetsuit off at the lake front while it was still wet and did the short run up to transition. The transition was set up really nice, they had these wooden racks on the floor which just had slots in for a wheel - the good thing about this is that it forced you to be a certain distance from your neighbor so everyone had a good amount of room, especially when alternating slots had bikes pointing in the opposite direction. T1 was pretty good, I didn't rush and just got everything done before heading out on to the bike.

The initial climb out of the lake area wasn't bad, it was definitely no Cochiti! The wind was still blowing pretty hard and it was full on into the face, kinda like early spring riding around here. And of course there was the hills, it was mainly rollers so it was easy to crank on the downhill and see how far you could get up the other side with the momentum which was a little tricky with the headwind. The hills went on for about 12 miles or so before the 17% grade climb I was warned about - thankfully it wasn't a long climb but there was another incline after it which was a gentle grade but seemed to go on for about 2 or 3 miles. At around mile 15 we crossed I-25 and the terrain seemed mainly flat or a slight downhill so it was easy to tuck into the aero position and try and get that average speed up. The last couple of miles were through town and back to the lake to T2. Every bump or uneven pavement was marked with green crosses so they were easy to avoid and there were arrows marked all the way on the bike course - couldn't fault a thing about it and if you're used to riding the Bandelier Loop there's nothing about this bike course to scare you.

This is where things got a little tough, transition was fine, no problems, but as soon as I started running I had terrible stomach pains (which I thought were cramps up until after the race) and it seemed like it was going to be when, not if, I launched. It was at this point it stopped being a race and turned into something I just wanted to complete. I was hoping that the pains would stop at some point but they kept with me throughout all 6 miles coming back in waves and slowing me to a slow jog and I had to stop every so often to let the pain subside. - at one point it crossed my mind that maybe my appendix had burst!!!! I have two theories on what caused this - the first year I did Splash'n'Dash I used to get stomach pains on the run from swallowing air on the swim - if I did the same on this swim and with the bike leg in there, that swallowed air would probably be lower in my GI tract and could be causing the pain I was having. I managed to fix this for SnD by paying more attention to not swallowing and swimming faster also helped as I was forced to take deeper breaths. The other possibility is that what I was drinking in my bottles was heavier than my usual stuff and I seemed to drink more of it that I possibly should have done - this could also have had an effect on my GI tract and maybe in conjunction with the amount of lake and air I swallowed may have added to the problem. I'd used the same fuel for a Brick the week before though doing the Loop and doing a hilly 6 mile run in White Rock with no problems but consuming less of it. Unfortunately every step I took hurt and the downhill, which was more physically jarring hurt even more so the run was a little disappointing for me. The run course itself was pretty nice - it starts off with a sandy section and a good climb for about a mile or so and then its out onto the dam and around the lake before a final slight climb to the turn around. There was a good crowd at the finish line and I dragged my butt over the line before heading to the lake to cool down and have a soak. Everyone seemed to do really well, there was plenty of silverware taken home, Clay won overall, Amy Regan got 5th woman and Dina, Amy Lee, Chuck, Frank, Sanna, Char, Greg all took home awards. The organization of this race I was outstanding, it was definitely the best Tri I've been to, its well organized, efficient and the course support was excellent, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Patriot Triathlon 2010

This was my first time doing a race down at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, they do a few races there throughout the year, the Spring Fling in April and the Jingle Bell in December there too. My race prep had not been the greatest, I’d only been back from a week in England for my brothers wedding about 2 weeks and had just about recovered from the over indulgence and excesses that brought with it. I decided to train right up to the Friday for this one and didn’t do a taper, I figured that I’d rather train a little harder with a focus on Elephant Man which is 2 weeks after this one. I even had a couple of beers the night before, something I never do before a race – some residual Englishness from the trip coming out I think! The venue is close enough to Los Alamos to do the 1h30m drive down that morning so we set off pretty early after grabbing a light breakfast and arrived there just after dawn. The parking was a little tricky with a full parking lot and no guidance on where else to park! Thankfully we still had some shreds of common sense and drove further down the road and asked someone at the race venue entrance who directed us to another lot 100m down the road which was about half full with plenty of space remaining.

After that it was a short walk to do the pick-up and get the chip, all of which was really well organized and ran pretty smoothly. Then it was racking the bike and having a look at the race. The racks seemed a little cramped and pretty tightly packed together, when I got my bike out for a quick warm up, I was knocking back wheels with the row behind me! The indoor pool swim was interesting, it’s a 25yd pool so its 16 lengths Splash’n’Dash style and the swim start is seeded time trial start. Thankfully you had the chance that morning to adjust your swim start position so I jumped up 30 or so spots as I’d given them my 50m pool time rather than 25yd time. This did lead to a bit of confusion and there was a little jostling for position in the line before the start as I wasn’t the only one trying to do this – the numbers were almost meaningless! The swim went pretty well for me, the lanes seemed a little narrow but thankfully I’d positioned myself well and didn’t have to pass or be passed during the swim.

T1 wasn’t the greatest, for some reason I spotted my bike and turned into the wrong side of the rack so I had to u-turn out of to get to my bike so I lost a little time there and then a photographer was capturing this magical moment at the end of the rack so I had him to navigate too! Anyway, I was soon ready and off onto the 15 mile bike which starts with a climb up and out towards the Santa Ana Star Center and through some mini-roundabouts which caused a little havoc when the traffic was slow moving. I confess that I did pass a car on the inside - hopefully I won’t get a barrage of emails for unsafe bicycle riding but I was in a race dammit! There were police or volunteers at most of these so it made things a little easier and finally it was onto quieter roads with much less directional assistance in a more industrial area. There were some spots where I had to search out cyclists ahead of me to see which way to turn. The gentle climb turned into a few rollers and a few more ascents upto about mile 8 or 9, then it flattened out into a residential area and it was downhill for a long stretch. The last mile was a pretty good climb up to the transition area and I had a horrible suspicion I’d be seeing this hill again on the run.

T2 went smooth and uneventful and I was onto the run. This started on the same stretch of road the bike did so it was a good sized climb before a left turn and more of a climb. Eventually the course diverted onto a dirt trail with a little more climbing and lots of sandy spots which led to pretty soft footing and seemed a little hard on the legs. Then there was finally a downhill section which I managed to get a bit of speed going for about ¾ mile or so. Then it was another left onto the same hill the bike finished on which I wasn’t looking forward to, I also seemed to get a bit of a headwind all the way to the finish so needless to say I didn’t really enjoy the run too much. It seemed like an Escher staircase where the downhill and the uphill didn’t really seem to add up.

Anyway, I got over the finish line in a reasonable time and was pretty beat by the whole race. It seemed pretty challenging for a sprint with a good number of climbs both on the bike and the run (the pool thankfully remained flat) and I kind of wish I’d tapered a little bit for it so I could crank a little more on the run, although I was really happy with my bike split. Afterwards there was a good amount of refreshments but the downside to starting near the front of the swim and it being a time-trial start was that there is a huge gap waiting for the results and the awards. Oh and it’s about exposed as it gets, not much shade and it was a pretty hot morning so we nipped off the Lowes and got a few things while waiting around but still didn’t escape the race site until about 1.30ish. Another thing - a few Triatomics got led the wrong direction on the bike, I don’t know the full details but I think it was a race official on the back of a motorbike who led them off. The official line is that it’s down to the athletes to know the course but to be honest with you, if I had a race official in front of me I would expect them to know where they were going and it would have been very difficult not to follow them. Anyway, a bunch of Triatomics were there and we seemed to do pretty well as a club bringing home some silverware and plenty of the new uniforms were on show too!

Socorro Chile Harvest Tri 2010

This was my second year doing the Socorro Tri, I had fun last year so was eager to do it again and it was one of the first on the calender and it was definitely on there as an A race. Its also the only race I did last year that I'm doing again so was really keen to see how my training has progressed over the past year and a good marker how things were going since getting off the couch two years ago. I had some specific goals this year, mainly to swim around 7mins, take 2 or 3 off last years bike and run sub 7.00m/mile pace on the run. Training had gone really well, I think I've refined my swimming a fair bit, my weekly bike mileage has increased and times have been improving in the Tuesday TTs and I've been trying out the Runners World Run Less Run Faster (it should probably just be called Run Faster....) program which really seems to have improved my run times considerably and I would definitely recommend having a look at it. Since Cochiti I was also concerned about my lack of run performance in that race so I've been getting some good Brick workouts in, doing the Little Boy bike course followed by a 5 mile tempo as part of the RLRF plan - again I think this has also helped out a lot too.

So onto the race - I ended up doing the pickup the morning of the race which was easy and followed by chip pickup and bike check into transition. The transition is a nice set up, racks labeled on the ground by letter which made locating it in T1 and T2 really easy. Managed to get a quick warm-up in and everything felt good and in good shape for the race. The swim is in their outdoor pool which was pretty much the perfect temperature and not heavily chlorinated. The start is time-trial with swimmers sent every 15 second so you have to be pretty much ready to go before you get into the water. I managed to pass a bunch of people in the first 3 or 4 lengths of the 8x50m swim and felt really good even upto the end - I've been concentrating on more arm, less leg which seems to send me much less anaerobic so I can go significantly quicker and save the legs for the rest of the race. I got out and into T1 pretty well, it was my first race having bike shoes clipped in to start with and that saved some time and made getting out to the bike much easier. The bike was pretty uneventful, I just kept it as aero as I could and cranked through it trying to keep as much form as I could. The bike course has a few hills but nothing too evil or too long and it finishes with a quick downhill which is nice although I did take my feet out my shoes about half a mile too soon but don't think it really hurt me in the long run. T2 was also good and went smoothly. I felt really good starting the run and could really feel the benefit of the Bricks paying off. The first mile or so is uphill and my pace seemed pretty good time-wise, then it transitions onto a section of double track before getting back onto the road and a mainly downhill final mile to the finish. The whole run felt solid and I could up the pace a little when I saw the tents and the finish line in sight.

Overall, I was really happy with the race, I managed to execute my plan pretty much as I wanted and hit all my pre-race goals which I was pleasantly surprised at and I came in at virtually the exact time I had hoped for in a very best case scenario. Positives were having my bike shoes clipped which seemed to help in transitions, and I think my Bricks were invaluable - knowing what intensity I could bike at in training and still set a good run pace afterwards definitely gave me more confidence and I didn't have those doubts on the bike that I wouldn't have anything left in the tank for the run. The only downside was a slightly slower bike than I'd hoped for but that's just something extra to work on for the next race! The other thing I need to do is to work out how to slow down everyone else in the 30-34 AG so I can pickup some 2010 silverware!

We had a good Triatomics representation there too - Peter, Nathan, Timbad (LBC reprazent reprazent!), Leland, Nick, Scott were all there and probably some others I missed (apologies!) and between us brought home some well earned awards!

2010 Chile Harvest Youth Race

Denisse and I took Ethan and Natalie down to Socorro to race in the Chile Harvest Youth Race on Friday, Aug 6. Denisse helped to avert a disaster! Just as we were to leave the hotel room for the race venue, I realized that I forgot the kids' bike helmets! Denisse suggested we find a Wal-Mart, and luckily, there was one only 1/2 mile from the hotel. A quick stop to pick up two helmets, and then on to the pool to sign in. The weather cooperated and it was a beautiful evening to race. Ethan raced in the 9-10 age group, and swam 100 yds, biked 2km and ran 1km. Natalie went next and swam 50yds, biked 1km and ran 1km in the 7-8 age group. Both said they were tired afterwards, but had fun and are looking forward to doing it again next year. Ethan's age group was very competitive with the top 5 finishing within a minute. Ethan missed the podium by 10 seconds! Overall, a great youth race, and well organized. Hope to see more Triatomic kids next year!

Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. June 27, 2010.

This is a really nice course and well suited for someone from Los Alamos. The bike has some decent hills on it, though none too tough, and the run is mostly flat, but with a decent little hill that you run up, then turn right around and run back down about ¾ into the loop (all three events are two loop). The lake is beautiful, and the bike course not only goes along the big Coeur d'Alene Lake, but also in the woods above Lake Hayden with nice views. The run is mostly along CdA Lake, with a brief part through a very nice section of the town and its beautiful homes.

CdA is easy to get to – fly into Spokane, WA, then rent a car for the half hour drive into CdA, ID. The lake was cool this year, ~61 degrees. This feels cold when you first get in, but once you get moving, you realize this is actually a great temperature to race in. I had borrowed Tina's goofy neoprene cap just in case, but was glad I decided against using it. A number of people had theirs on, though, so it's worth considering if you have trouble staying warm. It stays light out late into the evening and gets light very early, so no need for early morning flashlights, and only the very latecomers required glow sticks to finish. Race day was a bit windy, but at least the wind was blowing from the south which helped bring you back into shore on the swim, and push you up the longest hills on the bike.

The pros started at 6:25, the rest of us at 7:00. Which wasn't great for some of the slower pros, as they were just making the turn to start their second loop when the cannon went off for the age groupers. I had made a serious mistake and started in the middle of the middle of everyone for the mass beach start. This means that as we swam, everybody kept pinching and pinching till I really felt I was being squeezed to a point where I needed a break and could go no further on my own; but when I popped up to look for help, I realized there was no way I could get to the side of the swimming mass even if I tried, so I swam on. It didn't finally open for me until well after the turns at the far end of the first loop. Really scary. Given all that, I swam a 1:10 total and as always was grateful to be back on land – even more so for this race. This was clearly my fault, though, and could have easily been avoided by simply staying closer to one side, and more to the back at the very beginning.

The bike was beautiful. Decent surfaces for the most part, nice terrain to keep it interesting, and not too hot till the very end. Note that if you do this course – nearly every hill has a false summit, so just when you think you've gotten to the top, you really haven't. I averaged 20 mph for the first 80 miles, but there were still 32 to go! Ended up at 19.2mph – good enough for second fastest in my age group, though there were other women ahead of me to catch.

Into T2, I dropped my bike, grabbed my bag of stuff, and headed into the change tent. Looking up as I was entering it, I see Sister Madonna Buder standing at the entrance in a volunteer's shirt. So I said “Hi Sister,” and she followed me and another volunteer in and helped me get changed! (She's the 80 year old Ironman-competing nun who is routinely covered on the NBC Ironman shows for those of you who don't know). We chatted about her season, she wished me well, and I left her and the other volunteer with all of my sweaty bike gear to stuff back into the bag while I got slathered with more sunscreen and headed onto the run course. Yep, I left a legend to deal with my sweaty socks and helmet.

Out on the run course my legs felt great for the first few miles, plus I was happy to be off the bike. Of course, and unfortunately, that was a short-lived feeling, and I was soon plodding along. I was concerned about throwing up in a hot race again, so I really paid attention to the amount of Gatorade I was drinking and tried to focus on drinking for re-hydration only, not to just help me cool off (I think this is what I must have been guilty of at Deuces Wild, with such dire consequences). It was well over 80 degrees by this time, so it was a real issue. I saw Dan and the boys quite a few times during the run, as well as the TriSports.com crew who had come up to cheer a number of TS athletes (including the female co-owner of the company). Around mile 11 Dan told me the woman ahead of me was only 15 seconds in the lead, but in typical Amy fashion, my body decided that was right about the time I needed to find a Port-A-John, and it was time to further slow this silly pace anyway. Ah well.

Thus it was with great surprise that the next time I saw the guys, Dan said “she's right … there” and pointed to the woman I was about to pass. She must have been feeling even worse than me, as I ended up beating her by 17 minutes or something like that. Another 4+ hour marathon, 4:05 – ugh, even slower than Kona's 4:04 last October! Sure hope I can figure that out before Kona this year... Bottom line, I won my age group, though I was able to turn down the slot for Kona as I had already gotten one earlier in the year. I admit, it was nice to start the race without that extra pressure of needing to do well in order to race alongside Dan this year on the Big Island.

It was such a fun race, and great course, that while I stood in line the next morning with Dan who was signing up for next year's race, I thought what the heck, and signed up as well. And that is that ... my 2010 race season is now all caught up.

Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival, Show Low Arizona. June 5-6, 2010.

I'm not going to say too much about this one, as I wrote a race report last year and for the most part it is the same – the swim in the lake is fine, though seemingly long; the bike isn't bad – a few hills, especially a long uphill around mile 40 that is always a pain; and a run that you wish was shorter, and cooler (another puke-by-the-side-of-the-course experience for me. Needless to say, orange Gatorade never looks good coming back up). Awards are great for the first five finishers – decent sized gift certificates to TriSports.com. Too bad I was 6th overall. At least I got something for winning my age group.

The nice thing about the weekend is that there is essentially something for everyone: a long course, a long course aquathon (half iron distance without the run), Olympic distance, kids' race all on Saturday; followed by an XTERRA on Sunday. I tried to tell a lot of the story with captions of the photos on the Photos web page, so go have a look there if you're interested. The kids race is only for kids ages 6-12, so that population between 13 and ~15 is sort of out of luck, unless your kid is a real stud and can handle the Olympic distance race.

A lot of Los Alamos people raced this year: Chuck Farrar, Greg Geoffrion, Tina Behr-Andres, and I did the long course; Max Light and Joaquin Gutierrez did the Olympic; our son Ben - the speedster / overall winner – did the youth race; Dan Rees, Clay Moseley, Laurie Goddard, Kim Meyer, and Paul Graham all did the XTERRA. Did I leave anyone out? Probably – sorry about that. Kudos to Laurie and Clay for pulling off a two-fer this weekend, having competed in Farmington the day before. More kudos to Greg and Tina for finishing their first half iron distance races.

Another great raffle this year, although even with all of the extra tickets we bought, we got NOTHING. Greg picked up a nice commuter bike light and a wetsuit, though!

As Clay's blog indicated, the last part of the XTERRA run was actually a swim which was a real hoot to watch. You saw lots of people enter the water, thinking it's just a little high-stepping section they had to get through, only to realize it was too deep to walk, and they'd end up swimming. Right near the transition area, so we all had a great view.

Ironman New Orleans 70.3, April 18, 2010

Of note to those experienced with Ironman and 70.3 series races filling fast - registration for this race was open till about 3 weeks prior to race day.

This is an interesting one, as they also allow relay teams. I met my sister in New Orleans so that I could race the entire race, and she and two friends could compete as a team (of course, my goal was to beat them...). I was able to fly in Saturday morning, but post-race logistics make it tough to get out Sunday afternoon, so I caught an early morning flight back Monday morning, back into ABQ before noon. You might be able to do it Sunday afternoon / night, but it would take some good planning.

Packet pick up is at the downtown Hilton; it included a mandatory pre-race meeting (couldn't get the packet till you had a “I was in the meeting” stamp on your hand). Meetings occurred every half hour, so it was not as constrictive as it sounds. You need to drop bikes off Saturday afternoon at Univ of NO, which should be noted, is NOT near the Hilton (at least not near enough to drop your bike off, and then conveniently walk back).

The swim was in Lake Pontchartrain, thankfully not nearly as murky as I had expected – I could almost see my hand as it entered the water. I sure couldn't see any nearby competitors or feet to follow, though. They started in waves which was good and bad – seemed like the waves went on forever... My wave was 5th to go, and they were still heading out when I came back into T1. There was a decent wind from the East so the first half of the semi-U-shaped-course-parallel-to-shore wasn't bad but coming back in was a bit rougher. There were enough swells to make it kind of choppy. The worse was the last turn in towards shore, as the wind/water/current made you have to swim almost diagonally. The buoys weren't many so sighting was that much more difficult. It was funny that at the pre-race meeting they made such a big deal about the large number of police / emergency / safety boats that would be out there. With the conditions, though, it was nice to know they were there.

The bike ride is FLAT. The two bridges you cross are the only two hills on the course. The course follows along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain for quite a while, but there are levies built lakeside, so you don't really get the views I was hoping for. Some houses you pass are beautiful, others still Hurricane Katrina-damaged (this was prevalent throughout town – just intermittent trashed houses, interspersed with nice homes, or homes in a state of repair). The headwind was sort of from the side so I never got the help on the return that I had hoped for. Still managed to average ~20 mph, though. We rode through a bayou district, and a National Wildlife Refuge which were interesting. I thought it was pretty cool to see herons hunting in the swamp.

I came into T2 and felt good right off the bike so was pleased with that. Started the run feeling good, thinking I had finally run a smart race, as I slowly picked off women one per mile for the first four or so, though it was tough to tell who was in my age group, who was a relay member, ...who was I really racing. Then around mile 8, I just sort of lost my mental edge and was feeling tired and hot and sloooowed down. I finally got my act together again, but not till the very end of the race. The run goes through a large park (I think it's an abandoned golf course, post-Katrina), and then just down a boring road to the finish. However, the last bit was fun – like Kona, you run the last portion up a signature road lined with people to the finish line – this time it was in the French Quarter, complete with wrought iron balconies. Crossed in 5:08, good enough for second place in my age group (first place crushed me by 13 minutes!). Went to the awards ceremony and was pleased to find out the top two got slots to Clearwater so I took mine, and started planning another trip in November. There was a post-race party in the park which was kind of cool, as you watched GIANT ships moving up and down the Mississippi behind the band. More free beer flowed, which was nice as we waited and waited for the last friend to finish.

The finish line is at Jackson Square, nowhere near transition so you do need to plan ahead as to how to get back to your gear at the end of the day. One of my sister's friends did the race in its entirety and took an eternity to finish, for which we waited. It was nice to see that bikes were still being guarded when we finally got back to UNO (after friend's post-race IV).

The problem with being a relay is that it seemed that relay team members had to hang out in transition while waiting for their team mates – meaning the runner roasted... On the course they did a very good job of keeping the aid stations well-stocked with ice, drinks, etc. I had heard that they had run out the previous (inaugural) year. Supposedly lots of first-timers showed up with no / empty bottles, so there was a larger need for supplies than they had anticipated.

Lavaman, Waikoloa, Hawaii. March 28, 2010

OK, Andy, I'm sitting on a plane and have some time to write a few race reports. I am going to enter them into the blog separately just to make it easier to find should someone be contemplating the race and wants to search the blog for possible entries...

Lavaman, Waikoloa, Hawaii. March 28, 2010
This is a very nice Olympic distance race that often coincides (though not always) with the Los Alamos schools' spring break, so for all of you parents thinking about a Big Island vacation, I highly recommend this race. It is held on a Sunday, and there is a kids race the Saturday morning prior such that you can get the whole family involved. It's also nice for those of you intrigued by the Ironman World Championship videos of riding along the Queen K highway in the wind and lava – most of the Lavaman bike course is along a portion of that same course. One more important planning note: Bike Works Hawaii rents high-end tri bikes, so no need to lug yours over on the airplane. It's something like a 3-day minimum rental period around Lavaman, but training rides early in the morning before the rest of the family gets up is a great way to spend part of your vacation.

The race is put on by the WTC (you know, the Ironman guys), so they know what they're doing. Even down to the India ink block-number body marking in the morning, although that actually took a while so people who showed up last minute started to worry about actually getting to the starting line on time. Timing chip pickup is on race morning as well. Registration is Saturday afternoon at the Hilton Waikoloa. The race starts at a civilized 7:30, and there were 5 waves: elite, young guys, old guys, young girls, old girls. This is a huge Team in Training destination race, so never feel like you will be last one finishing – there are plenty of people to pass along the way. The swim is in the ocean so the visibility is quite nice, and the buoyancy from the saltwater compensates for the fact that it is typically not wetsuit legal (last year it was actually cool enough to be legal, though very few people wore one). And you get the bonus of seeing coral, colorful fish, and occasionally a turtle swimming by. I got lucky this year, and ended up following a woman wearing those goofy white compression socks who swam just about the same speed as me, and more importantly, in a straight line. My need to try to sight buoys was thereby greatly minimized which helped a lot. It's a decent little run from the beach to your bike, but not too bad. The bike course is well marked and straightforward. There are definitely some rollers, and the wind seems to be squirrelly, but that's part of racing in Hawaii, I think. The road surface is good, and it has a nice wide shoulder.

Back into transition for the run and here's where it gets a little more challenging. You run out on a brief rocky lava trail and then onto black top. Easy to follow but the footing on that first trail makes you pay attention. The run loops around the Waikoloa Beach Village area and then enters the Hilton property. Here you run by their golf course, lagoon, and swimming pools, and get cheered on by your luxuriating family, too busy having fun in the water to really come watch you race (at least, this is what Dan and the boys have done every year, but who can blame them?!). Then the really tough part, but much more fun – you run the last mile on a sandy, rocky trail right along the ocean side back to A' Bay and the finish line. It is a really nice little stretch, but loose footing at the end of a race is always a challenge.

I have done this race at least three times now, coming in second in my age group for the first two, and finally winning the AG this year. They have very nice lava-based ceramic awards for the top three in each age group, and an EXCELLENT post-race beach party for all. Kona Brewing Company is one of the title sponsors so free beer flows along with live music and a good buffet, all right at the beach park. Need I say more?

Cochiti Lake Olympic Triathlon Race Report

Cochiti was a number of firsts for me, first open water triathlon, first competitive swim in a wetsuit and first Olympic distance triathlon. My training had gone pretty well so I was really looking forward to it albeit a little nervous and concerned about pacing to make sure I had enough left in the tank for the run. Me and Jaclyn got up pretty early the morning of the race and drove down to Cochiti Lake for the race, with ominous clouds hanging over Albuquerque and it looked like the weather might be a little grim. A little rain fell as we got onto the south side of Santa Fe but thankfully the clouds cleared and the possibility of rain diminished as race time approached. Getting into the parking area was easy, it was nice to have people directing you into a parking spot rather than the free for all which usually ensues. The bikes racks were marked according to age group and after dumping my bike and stuff, I went off to get my packet and get marked up for the race. The transition area seemed to be officially closed quite early, about 30 mins before the race so I didn’t really get chance for a proper warm up but did get chance to see a bunch of other Triatomics there. As a club we had a really good number of athletes there, Clay, Dina, Frank, Jeri, Toma, Bill G., Russ, Char, Dr G., Pat H., Kim K., Joaquin, Nick, Fred W., Karen, Tina, Tom, Mark & Kim – so nearly 20 of us, and I’ve probably missed some people (sorry!) and some of those people I havn’t met yet so sorry for not saying hello.

I did get chance to get accustomed to the wetsuit again (only one previous open water swim a few weeks ago!) with a little warm-up and then it was onto the race start. The Elites went first and then it was split into age group male/female waves. I think I was the 3^rd wave to go and wasn’t really ready for the start – down by the shore it was tough to hear the countdown, especially with ear plugs in….So the swim started by the boat dock and was triangle course, clockwise around a couple of buoys. The first stretch I realized I was going a little too quick and eventually got into a decent rhythm, I wasn’t too bothered about keeping up with the faster swimmers, just concerned about keeping good technique and getting to the end without being too anaerobic. The only thing that made the first stretch a little tougher was some guy who couldn’t keep a straight line and swam in a zig-zag right in front of me, he’d have been well clear of me if he happened to swim straight! I eventually gave up slowing down to let him cut in front of me and I kinda swam over him – oops! - needless to say he didn’t cut in front of me again. As I said earlier, this was only my second open-water swim ever, my first was with Eric Lujan who ran an open water swim clinic at Cochiti a few weeks earlier and he really gave me some good tips on sighting, stroke and swimming in a group which definitely helped me out – especially with sighting and staying on course. At the first turn, I realized I’d been swimming into the wind so the second leg was much easier and I managed to get a good pace going. This had its downside as after the second buoy and the stretch back to shore, the wind had picked up a little and things got a little more choppy and a little more difficult but I kept my composure and got back to shore without much difficulty. So I took Pats advice and stripped down my wetsuit and took it off at the shore, I think people may have thought I was a little odd as everyone else was running past struggling with their suits but pretty soon I had mine off and over my shoulders on my way to T1. This did seem to help in the long run, in T1 all I had to do was worry about the usual stuff without the complication of the wetsuit and it gave me an extra little breather at the shore and of course if Pat says that’s the way to do it, who am I to argue!

T1 was pretty smooth, unrushed and probably a little slow, but not to worry. So the bike start isn’t the nicest, it’s a steep uphill for just under a mile before turning left onto the dam wall. The road surface here isn’t the greatest, it’s got a fair bit of gravel on it and these small stones were frequently pinged against the guard rails from the tires. This stretch was about 10 miles or so, and then it’s onto the road which heads out onto Highway 22 towards I-25 and after the dam wall, this was smooth and freshly resurfaces – it was a beautiful transition! I managed to keep my speed up on this stretch after being passed by quite a few people on the wall, it’s a gentle uphill to the turn around and there was a light breeze which turned into a headwind on the return leg which headed back along the road to the boat dock. This ended with a mile or so of uphill to the turn off and then that steep downhill back to the dock. My back was killing me from around mile 20 and no amount of stretching seemed to right it which hammered home the fact I really need to get a bike fit – it really wasn’t much fun! The bike was pretty much OK, as usual I’d like to have generated a bit more speed but I don’t think I’ll get a penalty for drafting Clay for quite some time.

T2 was smooth and quick, the one thing I should remember in future is not to hang the wetsuit on the rail directly above my running shoes and socks. Not that this is a major problem, but I’m convinced that extra couple of ounces of water slowed by run down by at least 6 minutes……. The run was pretty tough, it was that same exit out from the boat dock and onto the dam road, and at this stage, the sun was coming out and starting to bake us. The first mile was really tough and it was a bit of a hard slog up the hill but I kept telling myself, wait for the dam wall and you’ll get your running legs under you. It was great to see Clay powering away in the opposite direction with a great lead and high-fives were definitely in order. Of course, I didn’t quite get my running legs under me and upto the turn around was a gentle uphill which I’d convinced myself would help me get the hammer down on the return leg. At the turn around point, this didn’t happen either and I failed to get any kind of good running feeling at all but it definitely lifted my spirits to see all the Triatomics out there also having fun on the run. It progressively got hotter and before the final right turn back down the steep descent to the finish was another relatively steep climb which seemed wind free and the sun just baked me – this was probably the hardest part of the day, and I ended up walk/running up parts of it – I felt like I was burning up but nearly home and running uphill with Bill Geist ripping past me like it was a recovery run! Finally at the steep descent back to the dock I almost ran well – gravity can be kind sometimes – and dragged myself over the line for the finish.

I really enjoyed the race – I thought the organization was brilliant and the guys at Sport Systems did a really good job. The course was really well marked, with markers every km (mentally demanding on the run though!) on both the run and bike routes, the preliminary results were up really quickly with age group breakdowns too. The course was good, the bike was pretty quick and nice with a couple of hills thrown in and you might have gathered that I thought the run was tough – partly due to the weather – and another water station would have been appreciated on the run but I’m sure that’s volunteer limited. As a club we took home a bunch of silverware, Clay and Toma took the mens and womens Elite wins and plenty of others placed well in their age groups. All in all, an awesome turn out and an awesome race!

2010 Cochiti Tri and Pajarito Punishment race posts!

In view of the fact that I havent gotten around to posting my own race reports for the longest time, here are links to two really good ones by other people.
One is from the recent Pajarito Punishment Mountain bike race courtesy of our on-again, off-again Triatomics member and awesome blogger, Tarik. Check out Tarik's Pajarito Punishment blog here.
The second race report is by the Triatomics Ukrainian ironwoman friend, Tamara (Toma) Kozulina, who has been coming up to Los Alamos for training at least once a year since 2005. This one is actually a little story about training in Los Alamos (thanks to all the Triatomics who have hosted her!) as well as her experience at the Cochiti Triathlon a week ago. Check out Toma's blog here.

Age Group Nationals for XC Skiing -- January 2010

...I know, this is a summertime sport blog, but I figured I'd post something from our adventure to Vermont this past January for the age group nationals for xc skiing.

Read about it on the SWNSC blog:

http://swnordicski.blogspot.com/

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.