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.