Dirt tri in Albuquerque was this Sunday! We were lucky to have Clay's godparents watching Mila which meant no crazy early wake up for her and plenty of time to ourselves pre-race. Happens so rarely now I didnt know what to do with it!
Another huge plus was that Clay is quite into off-road tris this summer and wanted to fit in at least 3 to get a USAT ranking in off-road. Sounds easy to us 'road tri' people, but off-road tris arent as easy to come by, which means more travel and consequently more stress scheduling each with the whole family. Plus, my mtn biking is in serious need of work so I cant really participate in most off -road tris with Clay which does take the family fun out of it. Hence the ideal dirt tri - near by and simple enough for even Dina's mtn bike skills AND a babysitter to allow us both to do it - WOHOO!
On to the race - it was on the grounds of the Albq Academy private school. I've never been at one and this one is nicer than most university grounds I've experienced - wow! Since this is all fenced off, its well protected from any traffic - great for any first timers and kids in particular!
The start was interesting, 100yard mass dash to bikes layed out near the mount line. Well, ok, for some of us, not so much a 'dash' as a limpy jog in your bike shoes through lumpy grass, slippery cement and sandy dirt. Dont think I care for this start, but definitely interesting to try. Once I got to the bikes I realized I wasnt sure exactly where I layed mine down- seemed to be the case for some others too as they were running from bike to bike looking! Thank goodness for the bright red sides on my bike seat!
Anyway, off on the bike which started with a few hundred yards of pavement - ech! hate pavement with mtn bike tires! Anyway, I started biking like I'm used to in a tri and wondering what the heck the others are doing dawdling. Not that I'm that fast at all, but the biking style and general feeling was nothing like a road tri. Guess those off-road people are different. No one was even trying to breathe hard - I slowed down to make sure I wasnt missing something. Then I figured that who cares and passed as many people as I could before we got on the 'dirt'.... and then my fear of sand and any other such unreliable surfaces to bike on kicked in nicely! After a few slippery moments and freak outs due to people all around me (!) it all got better. The first bit is mostly a gradual up which I'm perfectly happy with and I was still passing people.
Do note, this is the world's easiest off-road event. Any dramatization is due solely to the fact that I have a panic attack just thinking of any descent on even slightly sandy or gravely surface and it is further compounded with having people all around me with all the passing and avoiding! I can barely avoid bushes - moving people are a lot harder! :)
Anyway, biking uphill was nice and I realized that despite having mtn biked less than 10 times in the past 4 years and only 5 of them on this bike this is quite fun and the bike felt great! Thanks to Paul Graham Outfitters for my awesome Stumpjumper! Also, thanks to me for thinking to lock out the shocks - they were so not necessary and the bouncing was really annoying on the warm up. Anyway, the uphill ended as they all do and the downhill started (again, here is some Dina-dramatization: SANDY DOWNHILL! WITH TURNS AT BOTTOM! MASSIVE PANIC! PEOPLE COMING UP BEHIND ME AS I START BREAKING UNCONTROLLABLY! Wow, total fiasco! I all but let go of the steering assuming I'm about to seriously eat it in the bushes and I was trying to figure out which would be softer and then it all worked out - I guess 'letting the bike go" was the thing to do - YEAH! Amazingly I stayed up fine, although I was seriously hyperventilating and my hands were numb from the elbows down from squeezing so hard. Due to all this panic, the downhills were actually a lot more aerobically taxing for me than any uphills!
Then before the next downhill I calmed down enough to realize that these dirt bike wierdos really work the downhill! LIKE CRAZY! Good for them, but then it makes you wonder even more when they barely make it up the next hill, no matter how gentle and easy it may be - What The Heck?! Is it some unofficial off-road thing to not work at all on anything that's against gravity?! This strange difference in approach (and my breaking on the downhills which DID get better towards the end! :) resulted in HUGE yo-yoing between me about 25 people.
Once I got over the surprises the whole thing was a lot of fun! I didnt fall, but in a few really deep arroyos ended up having to dismount in the deeper sand pits. Not too bad. Finishign the bike was on the same pavement stretch and as I turned onto it Clay was already running on it (that means he is finishing his run!). He cheered for me (yay! :). Anyway, I biked into the transition wondering if I can do the run due to painfully strained muscle from the SnD earlier that week. I figured I was going to walk the run, so why rush - I waited for Clay to run into T2 and head into the pool with a ridiculous lead! WoHOO!
I started the run but letting everyone pass me and then realized that running isnt hurting as much as it was earlier! So I sped up and ended up passing some people back - not too bad when you were expecting to have to walk! :) Anyway, ran the rest of the run fine if very slowly, even tried to draft off a 9-year-old boy half the size of my right leg in a bad headwind. As you can imagine it was very helpful to me and gives you the idea of my overall speed and location in the race pack! :) Finally got to T2. Pretty fun so far!
Stripped down to the swimsuit - no small feat with being all sticky! and headed into the pool. Got to pass loads of people before I finished - with the swim last it's always a fun race for me! And Laury and Clay cheered for me - super YAY!
Great stuff. Called to check on Mila, she was all good, so we had to wait for awards (frikin Clay and his doing well! :) But then the total bummer part came. They decided to DQ Clay because he took a wrong turn on the course mainly due to the fact that he was so far ahead volunteers didnt make it to that intersection yet and so no one directed him. That bites. Really. Couldnt believe what a good sport Clay was about the whole thing. Said he understood and tried to make Patrick feel better about having to deliver bad news and then thanked him again for a great event. Didnt complain once even after we left and it was just me and him. Gotta love him! :))))) I was REALLY bummed but since he was being so cool and positive I figured I'd better hold my whining in. Plus, we dont have to stick around for awards now so we can go get Mila sooner. Gotta focus on the positive! :)
Now Clay doesnt have three off-road tris and the next one he can do overlaps with Socorro which is closer, we both can do and love to support! So he will likely stick to doing Socorro instead. ARGH!
In view of this I was thinking that things (events etc) are always aimed at the middle of the pack. You cant help that. So now I realize when someone is reviewing an event is important to know hwere they were in the race - front? middle? last? I'm usually middle and from that perspective this Dirt Tri was very racer friendly and well organized. However, I've been completely DFL before - xc ski race marathon. I was just starting the second half of it when they packed away all aid stations - every single one and later realized it and left a cup and a GU out for me in the snow at the last few - I was almost crying the whole last 3 miles. Then when I finished the finishline was already put away and the race dir was saying "that's all for the bbq and the raffle, thanks for coming, everyone!" You can imagine my race review wouldnt have been most positive even though I know I was crazy slow by all 'middle of pack' expectations.
I also got lucky to lead a race once - ok, not in real time, but it was a TT start with swim first and I was well by myself through most of the swim. Aside from the excitement it was also a royal pain - when I tried to turn the last bouy the kayaker volunteer grabbed on to my suit and wouldnt let me turn to shore thinking I have to do another lap because they didnt realize I was leading. That was a fun little fight. Then on the bike I had no one to follow and lets just say course marking shouldnt EVER be commented on by people who have a few dozen other racers to follow. I had to turn around twice because the volunteers (and more frighteningly: police and traffic control!) apparently dont get their stuff together until the first few racers get them ready by getting lost (hopefully just lost and not getting hit by cars!). Lovely! While I did enjoy the lead car (it was late, but did finally arrive and lead me in on the way back) I certainly had a whole lot more respect for anyone leading the race - its downright dangerous for them! This is another reason I'm such a controlling b*tch when it comes to directing/organizing lead car/police stuff on Atomic Man race day!
Anyway, based on that, it still really bums me out the Dirt Tri went with the DQ. Again, more kudos to my fantastic husband who complimented the race the whole time and still is - what a great sport and a great role model for Mila!
...And I do highly recommend the event, particularly as your first off-road - lots of fun both the course and afterwards (they had sub sandwiches and homemade cookies and a live band for awards!). And for those who get nervous about the crowds in the pool - this is your race - no crowds! They use two pools so people only have to do each lane once and this isnt a huge race, a combination which makes for clean easy passing/getting passed without much clustering or stress.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Swim/Cycle Series Episode #2
Despite a less than desirable forecast, the day started off alright. Air temps ~70, probably the same for the water, overcast. The water level dropped significantly from last week.
(L to R: Max Light, Ben Davis, Bill Bearden, Bill Geist, Kim Meyer, Liz Miller, Peter Song, Paul Graham)
After a 2700 meter swim (thanks to Taraka for the kayak chaperone), we mounted the bikes for a long ride. The inclement weather caught up to us, however, and we finished a ~30 mile ride nicely wet. Al round good time, judging from the smiles. Thanks for coming everyone! Tentative repeat on July 12th.
Thanks Jian for the pictures!
(L to R: Max Light, Ben Davis, Bill Bearden, Bill Geist, Kim Meyer, Liz Miller, Peter Song, Paul Graham)After a 2700 meter swim (thanks to Taraka for the kayak chaperone), we mounted the bikes for a long ride. The inclement weather caught up to us, however, and we finished a ~30 mile ride nicely wet. Al round good time, judging from the smiles. Thanks for coming everyone! Tentative repeat on July 12th.
Thanks Jian for the pictures!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Carpool to Mtn Man?
Looking for anyone that is going (or wants to go) to Mtn Man in Flagstaff. Would like to carpool. Please contact Ben @ 310-4835 or trimainiac@gmail.com
Swim/Cycle Series, episode #1
I think everyone had a good time last Sunday at Cochiti. The weather was excellent, the water quite nice (67-68 if I heard Tina correctly), and *I* missed the dogs.
Thanks to Bill for the use of his kayak and Taraka for chaperoning the swim.
For those of you not going to the Buff this weekend, we'll gather at Sullivan Field this Sunday @ 7 am for another round. This time a few of us will be swimming longer (~1 hr) and going for a longer ride. Hopefully the weather will hold.
Monday, June 22, 2009
XTERRA Buffalo Creek Race Report
Hi all,
Hope the season is going well for all of you. Word has it that Dan Rees nailed his IMCD and is a probable qualifier for Kona, again! Congratulations Dan. It was a PR for him on that course by quite a bit, so he's proving that sticking with this sport pays off over the long haul.
Speaking of long haul, Laury Goddard and I (and Kim Katko & family), made the long haul up to Bailey, Colorado for the Buffalo Creek XTERRA. Bailey is mostly a tourist trap hole in the road on US Hwy 285 between Denver and Fairplay (a.k.a. "South Park," for all of you fans out there). The venue is at Wellington Lake, a 45 minute drive on a dirt road off of US 285. It is a lovely setting for a race, as well as just hanging out and camping with the family, or whatever. Lots of great campsites can be found, and that's almost a prerequisite if you want to do this race. It's even included with the race entry fee if you choose to do so.
Dr. Goddard and I hauled up there Friday morning, because neither of us had ever seen the venue and with XTERRA, you want to check out the bike course. Unfortunately, the course was too long to go see the whole thing after driving all that way, so we just focused on the very sketchy 3 mile decent along Buffalo Creek itself, on a forest road that consisted of a hard-packed surface transversed by deep drainage trenches (mostly in the turns) and covered in ball-bearing-like eroded crushed granite. It sounds worse than it was, but a lot of care had to be taken on the descent to avoid skittering off the road into the mountainside, or off on the steep slope down to Buffalo Creek.
Friday was nice, but we woke up to a dark, grey day on Saturday morning. We had camped out, so we didn't really have to go far to the venue, which was very nice. We ate breakfast looking out over the lake and wondered what the weather held in store.
The lake is a mountain lake that had only "warmed up" in the last month or so. I loved all of the "ice fishing" signs all over the lakesides. I gathered that the lake temperature was somewhere in the 50s and there were some complaints, but I've done it before and it doesn't seem to bother me too much, although I did get an ice cream headache from it a little bit.
This is the biggest XTERRA race in the world, second only to the world championships at Maui. It was pretty big, that's for sure. I was in a huge wave of guys aged 25-39, plus relays. We watched the pros take off, and they had us all walk out to the edge of the lake in a cove, and I waited for the countdown. Well, there was no countdown or warning of any sort and the guy just sounded a horn and I soon found myself running into the lake with no goggles on. I had them in my hand and had to stop and put them on only after figuring out what had happened after having run and jumped in and actually swam with them in my hand for several strokes. Too much race-start horn response conditioning! What an IDIOT! I was treading water and getting run over and hit and etc., etc., by the whole wave of men 25-39, plus relays, while trying to put the goggles on straight and not be leaky. It was a panicked moment, and to say the least, I didn't do a very good job. I had goggles on crooked and they were half-full (is that pessimistic, or optimistic if used this way?) of water. That sucked. I was SO uncomfortable and distracted and now over-extending myself on the swim to just get going. I finally stopped a little later and dumped out the water and put them on straight, but the damage was done. I had some ground to make up.
I swam steady and tried to focus on getting it together, then I finally got into my rhythm and started to catch the "front group" a little. It was mostly stragglers coming off of it, but I felt like I was back into the race. Unfortunately, the screwed up start made my goggles get all fogged up and with the dark, grey conditions, it wasn't long before I couldn't see a darn thing...just grey darkness. I really had to pull my head out of the water to make out swimmers ahead of me or the buoy on shore. I just focused on swimming straight and smoothly and begged for the end to come quickly to that fiasco. I swam the one-mile swim in 24:40, which turned out to be not so bad, but was a good 2 minutes off of what I should have done, which would have been a very decent swim.
Once out, it was time for the mtn bike adventure. This course is pretty long at 20 miles. I only saw the early parts of the course and realized we were going to be in a lot of big terrain changes. I didn't want to overdo it, but was smarting from the rocky swim, so I sort of hit it pretty hard. My legs felt heavy and I had guys breathing down my neck on the previous-mentioned 3 mile decent. That always makes me nervous. I prefer to do stuff like that alone, but I would never have that luxury in this very popular and competitive race. The whole day was spent either catching guys, getting caught by guys, or trying to stay with those guys.
At the bottom of the climb, I found myself with a cluster of fast mtn bikers. I tried like hell to stay with them. I did OK at first, but when the climbing got technical, the heavy feeling was too much. My back started getting achy very early and it affected me all day. I did pretty well to ignore it mostly, but it was always there and I know it took a bit of the frosting off my cake all day. I was riding a dual suspension bike because I figured the course would be a tough one, but I think I would have rather had a much lighter hard-tail because I seemed to have more trouble on the climbs than the descents on this course, and everyone around me all had much lighter rigs. Mine is a hand-me-down from Paul Graham, who is now riding something lighter for that very reason. I admit I want to blame that quite a bit, but it was probably mostly my go-jo that seemed to be missing that day. It wasn't an awful day, but I'd say that I wasn't 100%, or even in the range of an "A" grade.
I also made quite a number of technical errors on that course. It had quite a bit of everything, and the single track had some particular challenges when racing at full speed. I was always behind some guys who were pushing me well past my comfort zone and I focused too hard on staying with them and not enough on what was coming up. At one point, we went into a stand of trees on a steep descent, where there was a stream crossing and a very steep ascent up the other side. I didn't shift in time and found myself WAY over-geared and had to dismount and run up a long hill, all the while getting passed by those who were breathing down my neck just moments ago. Plus, I must have pulled my wheel in the dropouts, because the disk brakes were rubbing badly and the shifting was all messed up. I rode like that for quite a distance while debating on whether I should pull over, lose more spots, and try to fix it. The annoyance got the best of me, so I pulled over and fixed it. It wasn't as bad as I had figured and I was soon off and riding much better. I was quickly getting disappointed in my race, however.
At times like that, you just have to suck it up and focus on improving your situation. I started focusing more on smoother transitions in and out of technical spots, climbing more smoothly, and having fun, dang it! Sure enough, I began to get my act together and felt like I was riding better and during one particularly cool long section of single track, I smiled at how much fun it all was. I got through the final long single track climb (where we met up with the short course racers), got back onto the dirt road and hit the 3 mile climb that we descended early in the race.
It was here that I felt like I was riding a heavy lead bike, but kept myself smooth and made it over in good shape. A guy who had passed me early in the race, but had suffered a pretty heinous crash (and scared the crap out of me because I nearly ran over his head) came flying by me over the top and I grabbed his wheel (drafted, cause it's legal in XTERRA =) and rode really hard into T2.
I was surprised by my T2 quickness. That's usually an indication of how into the race you are and how you might go on the run. But, it was too early to tell because the early part of this run was up a steep mountain trail. It just felt horrible and my upper body went numb. It took a lot out of me to get to the top and I had let two guys pass me early with no response. At the top, the trail started going down steep, off-camber hills, right back into steep uphills. This went on for some time before we hit a very steep downhill to the base of a nice waterfall. At the bottom, we zigged and zagged through thick forest and scrambled through creeks and over little log bridges, making direction changes every few feet. It was tough running, but I started feeling good again and was having fun.
The trail portion was a little less than half of the run. We exited the trail onto the forest road that circumnavigated the lake. It was here that I suddenly felt my run get under me, despite having some cramping in my quads and hamstrings. I used a little less range of motion and a higher turnover and started picking off guys left and right. I noticed a very tiny racer just ahead and realized it was a chick! I was confused but soon remembered that the pros started ahead and some of them were women. It turns out that this was Sara Tarkington, the woman who eventually won the overall. She was quite a runner and it took a second wind and some digging to catch up to her.
I tried to pass her, but she was having none of it and latched onto another guy who surged ahead. I couldn't respond and a gap formed. A storm was building ahead of us and the cool, moist wind was in our faces. Sarah and the other guy lost steam and I caught back up. I found my rhythm again with a couple of miles to go and just held it steady on their heels. Our little group of three (I rarely race in such close quarters with others like this) were picking off all of the fast mtn bikers who could no longer run fast. It was a LOT of fun and I was impressed with this tiny woman's running speed and toughness.
Nearing the end of the dirt road before we descended a short hill to the lakeshore and final stretch to the finish, we passed a guy with his age, 38, on his leg (I'm in the 35-39 AG). I didn't think anything of it, but he made a gasping stuttered, "Uh, uh...," noise, then said, "...that's not good." The guy had been holding 3rd in our age group until our little group, with me in tow, went flying past him. He tried for a few moments to hang onto us, but couldn't quite do it. We started picking up steam into the finish and he fell off a little bit more. I realized at the very end that I had worked my way back into the top-3 of my age group. I finished with the first place pro women and the other guy who had started off a little slow, but obviously picked it up the whole way to the finish, pretty much like I did.
Right when I finished, it started raining. Laury was still out there and had to contend with the worsening weather. He got done and went straight to the car to change and get warm. We waited around for the awards, where we found out that Kim Katko had picked up 2nd OVERALL in the women's short course race...way to go, Kim!
Laury and I hit the road in a pouring rain. It rained all the way back to the Arkansas valley. We stopped in Salida for dinner and were hit by a mob of people...it was the FibARK freak festival (river rafting and lots of other stuff) weekend. No parking, hard to get around, etc. We settled on an out of the way cafe, where the food was pretty good.
It was a great trip and a very fun, if not tough, race. Lots of racers in Colorado! It's just amazing how many of them there are and how many other events there are on any given weekend there.
If you're inclined to do an XTERRA, this one is cool, but be ready for a tough, longer course. They have the short course option too, so that would be a good start. I recommend the race for sure...
Hope the season is going well for all of you. Word has it that Dan Rees nailed his IMCD and is a probable qualifier for Kona, again! Congratulations Dan. It was a PR for him on that course by quite a bit, so he's proving that sticking with this sport pays off over the long haul.
Speaking of long haul, Laury Goddard and I (and Kim Katko & family), made the long haul up to Bailey, Colorado for the Buffalo Creek XTERRA. Bailey is mostly a tourist trap hole in the road on US Hwy 285 between Denver and Fairplay (a.k.a. "South Park," for all of you fans out there). The venue is at Wellington Lake, a 45 minute drive on a dirt road off of US 285. It is a lovely setting for a race, as well as just hanging out and camping with the family, or whatever. Lots of great campsites can be found, and that's almost a prerequisite if you want to do this race. It's even included with the race entry fee if you choose to do so.
Dr. Goddard and I hauled up there Friday morning, because neither of us had ever seen the venue and with XTERRA, you want to check out the bike course. Unfortunately, the course was too long to go see the whole thing after driving all that way, so we just focused on the very sketchy 3 mile decent along Buffalo Creek itself, on a forest road that consisted of a hard-packed surface transversed by deep drainage trenches (mostly in the turns) and covered in ball-bearing-like eroded crushed granite. It sounds worse than it was, but a lot of care had to be taken on the descent to avoid skittering off the road into the mountainside, or off on the steep slope down to Buffalo Creek.
Friday was nice, but we woke up to a dark, grey day on Saturday morning. We had camped out, so we didn't really have to go far to the venue, which was very nice. We ate breakfast looking out over the lake and wondered what the weather held in store.
The lake is a mountain lake that had only "warmed up" in the last month or so. I loved all of the "ice fishing" signs all over the lakesides. I gathered that the lake temperature was somewhere in the 50s and there were some complaints, but I've done it before and it doesn't seem to bother me too much, although I did get an ice cream headache from it a little bit.
This is the biggest XTERRA race in the world, second only to the world championships at Maui. It was pretty big, that's for sure. I was in a huge wave of guys aged 25-39, plus relays. We watched the pros take off, and they had us all walk out to the edge of the lake in a cove, and I waited for the countdown. Well, there was no countdown or warning of any sort and the guy just sounded a horn and I soon found myself running into the lake with no goggles on. I had them in my hand and had to stop and put them on only after figuring out what had happened after having run and jumped in and actually swam with them in my hand for several strokes. Too much race-start horn response conditioning! What an IDIOT! I was treading water and getting run over and hit and etc., etc., by the whole wave of men 25-39, plus relays, while trying to put the goggles on straight and not be leaky. It was a panicked moment, and to say the least, I didn't do a very good job. I had goggles on crooked and they were half-full (is that pessimistic, or optimistic if used this way?) of water. That sucked. I was SO uncomfortable and distracted and now over-extending myself on the swim to just get going. I finally stopped a little later and dumped out the water and put them on straight, but the damage was done. I had some ground to make up.
I swam steady and tried to focus on getting it together, then I finally got into my rhythm and started to catch the "front group" a little. It was mostly stragglers coming off of it, but I felt like I was back into the race. Unfortunately, the screwed up start made my goggles get all fogged up and with the dark, grey conditions, it wasn't long before I couldn't see a darn thing...just grey darkness. I really had to pull my head out of the water to make out swimmers ahead of me or the buoy on shore. I just focused on swimming straight and smoothly and begged for the end to come quickly to that fiasco. I swam the one-mile swim in 24:40, which turned out to be not so bad, but was a good 2 minutes off of what I should have done, which would have been a very decent swim.
Once out, it was time for the mtn bike adventure. This course is pretty long at 20 miles. I only saw the early parts of the course and realized we were going to be in a lot of big terrain changes. I didn't want to overdo it, but was smarting from the rocky swim, so I sort of hit it pretty hard. My legs felt heavy and I had guys breathing down my neck on the previous-mentioned 3 mile decent. That always makes me nervous. I prefer to do stuff like that alone, but I would never have that luxury in this very popular and competitive race. The whole day was spent either catching guys, getting caught by guys, or trying to stay with those guys.
At the bottom of the climb, I found myself with a cluster of fast mtn bikers. I tried like hell to stay with them. I did OK at first, but when the climbing got technical, the heavy feeling was too much. My back started getting achy very early and it affected me all day. I did pretty well to ignore it mostly, but it was always there and I know it took a bit of the frosting off my cake all day. I was riding a dual suspension bike because I figured the course would be a tough one, but I think I would have rather had a much lighter hard-tail because I seemed to have more trouble on the climbs than the descents on this course, and everyone around me all had much lighter rigs. Mine is a hand-me-down from Paul Graham, who is now riding something lighter for that very reason. I admit I want to blame that quite a bit, but it was probably mostly my go-jo that seemed to be missing that day. It wasn't an awful day, but I'd say that I wasn't 100%, or even in the range of an "A" grade.
I also made quite a number of technical errors on that course. It had quite a bit of everything, and the single track had some particular challenges when racing at full speed. I was always behind some guys who were pushing me well past my comfort zone and I focused too hard on staying with them and not enough on what was coming up. At one point, we went into a stand of trees on a steep descent, where there was a stream crossing and a very steep ascent up the other side. I didn't shift in time and found myself WAY over-geared and had to dismount and run up a long hill, all the while getting passed by those who were breathing down my neck just moments ago. Plus, I must have pulled my wheel in the dropouts, because the disk brakes were rubbing badly and the shifting was all messed up. I rode like that for quite a distance while debating on whether I should pull over, lose more spots, and try to fix it. The annoyance got the best of me, so I pulled over and fixed it. It wasn't as bad as I had figured and I was soon off and riding much better. I was quickly getting disappointed in my race, however.
At times like that, you just have to suck it up and focus on improving your situation. I started focusing more on smoother transitions in and out of technical spots, climbing more smoothly, and having fun, dang it! Sure enough, I began to get my act together and felt like I was riding better and during one particularly cool long section of single track, I smiled at how much fun it all was. I got through the final long single track climb (where we met up with the short course racers), got back onto the dirt road and hit the 3 mile climb that we descended early in the race.
It was here that I felt like I was riding a heavy lead bike, but kept myself smooth and made it over in good shape. A guy who had passed me early in the race, but had suffered a pretty heinous crash (and scared the crap out of me because I nearly ran over his head) came flying by me over the top and I grabbed his wheel (drafted, cause it's legal in XTERRA =) and rode really hard into T2.
I was surprised by my T2 quickness. That's usually an indication of how into the race you are and how you might go on the run. But, it was too early to tell because the early part of this run was up a steep mountain trail. It just felt horrible and my upper body went numb. It took a lot out of me to get to the top and I had let two guys pass me early with no response. At the top, the trail started going down steep, off-camber hills, right back into steep uphills. This went on for some time before we hit a very steep downhill to the base of a nice waterfall. At the bottom, we zigged and zagged through thick forest and scrambled through creeks and over little log bridges, making direction changes every few feet. It was tough running, but I started feeling good again and was having fun.
The trail portion was a little less than half of the run. We exited the trail onto the forest road that circumnavigated the lake. It was here that I suddenly felt my run get under me, despite having some cramping in my quads and hamstrings. I used a little less range of motion and a higher turnover and started picking off guys left and right. I noticed a very tiny racer just ahead and realized it was a chick! I was confused but soon remembered that the pros started ahead and some of them were women. It turns out that this was Sara Tarkington, the woman who eventually won the overall. She was quite a runner and it took a second wind and some digging to catch up to her.
I tried to pass her, but she was having none of it and latched onto another guy who surged ahead. I couldn't respond and a gap formed. A storm was building ahead of us and the cool, moist wind was in our faces. Sarah and the other guy lost steam and I caught back up. I found my rhythm again with a couple of miles to go and just held it steady on their heels. Our little group of three (I rarely race in such close quarters with others like this) were picking off all of the fast mtn bikers who could no longer run fast. It was a LOT of fun and I was impressed with this tiny woman's running speed and toughness.
Nearing the end of the dirt road before we descended a short hill to the lakeshore and final stretch to the finish, we passed a guy with his age, 38, on his leg (I'm in the 35-39 AG). I didn't think anything of it, but he made a gasping stuttered, "Uh, uh...," noise, then said, "...that's not good." The guy had been holding 3rd in our age group until our little group, with me in tow, went flying past him. He tried for a few moments to hang onto us, but couldn't quite do it. We started picking up steam into the finish and he fell off a little bit more. I realized at the very end that I had worked my way back into the top-3 of my age group. I finished with the first place pro women and the other guy who had started off a little slow, but obviously picked it up the whole way to the finish, pretty much like I did.
Right when I finished, it started raining. Laury was still out there and had to contend with the worsening weather. He got done and went straight to the car to change and get warm. We waited around for the awards, where we found out that Kim Katko had picked up 2nd OVERALL in the women's short course race...way to go, Kim!
Laury and I hit the road in a pouring rain. It rained all the way back to the Arkansas valley. We stopped in Salida for dinner and were hit by a mob of people...it was the FibARK freak festival (river rafting and lots of other stuff) weekend. No parking, hard to get around, etc. We settled on an out of the way cafe, where the food was pretty good.
It was a great trip and a very fun, if not tough, race. Lots of racers in Colorado! It's just amazing how many of them there are and how many other events there are on any given weekend there.
If you're inclined to do an XTERRA, this one is cool, but be ready for a tough, longer course. They have the short course option too, so that would be a good start. I recommend the race for sure...
Ironman CDA report from Dan Rees
I had a good day. The swim, as usual, was my weak point. A strong wind was blowing across the lake and churning up the water. It was also colder - but it turned out to be a perfect temperature for racing hard. The water temperature in lake CDA was 65 deg. which was warmer than the air temperature. The two times I saw a thermometer during the day had the air temperature in the 40's. This was in the morning and on the way back to the hotel around 7 pm. I'm sure it got a little warmer in the day. The rain held off until just about 5 pm so the last 8 minutes of the race I had a little rain, but nothing like what the people who were out there for the duration went through later that night.
It was a shore start which resulted in a slightly more civilized swim than usual. I didn't take the same kind of physical beating I suffered at IM Arizona in November. The wind had created strange currents in the lake. The course was a rectangular course and the turns at the buoys were worst. It was two loops and you ran through a timing gate in between loops. My 1/2 way time was around 36 minutes with my full swim at 1:16. Not my best, actually pretty close to my worst. I came out the water 103 in my age group. My age group had around 270 people in it, so I knew I had a little work to do if I wanted to race Kona with Amy.
The wind was blowing 10 - 15 mph from the Southwest. This wind actually suited me well. Normally, if the wind is blowing like this I can write off the day because I don't seem to do well in the wind. However, the direction of this wind pushed you out of town and assisted you on the uphill and was in your face as you were descending back into town. The bike is two loops. with a short out and back each loop along the lake. There are substantial rolling hills in the middle of the course and it reminded me a little bit of IM Wisconsin where you would work hard to get up a hill and when you started down the other side, not get a good descent because they would put a sharp turn right at the bottom of the hill. I had ridden the course on the computrainer, so I knew what type of average speeds to expect at different points of the course. Generally, on my computrainer rides I would end up coming out of the hills averaging around 18.6 to 19 mph (keeping my HR at my race pace). I came out of the hills the first loop with an average speed of around 21.8 mph and had been passing people consistently. The wind was completely manageable descending back to town. I didn't descend as fast as I climbed but I still boosted my average speed. When I hit town, my average speed had climbed up to 21.9 mph. I held this through town until I got back out to the hills. I was pretty tired by that point, but I knew the average last qualiying time for Kona in my age group from last year was 10:17. The swim plus transistion was 1:21 and I knew that a 3:30 run would be good which forced me into a bike plus T2 of around 5:24. I finished the bike in 5:20 and had moved to 15th position within my age group.
It was pretty empty in transition and I had my own private helper who was shoving my hat on my head and my nutrition in my jersey so I moved through transistion pretty quick. The first 1/4 mile of the run was a little shaky and I got passed by a couple of the people who were with me in transition but that didn't last long. My legs remembered how to run by the time I hit the 1/2 mile mark My first mile was under 7 minutes. I then settled down into around a 7:30 pace for a good bit of the first half of the marathon. The data on the web site is wrong. The timing mat for the 21.75 mi split on the web site was really before mile 21 so it is off by about a mi. The web site shows my pace at aroung 7:30 through mi 21.75. I had actually started running between 7:30 and 8 min milse by that point. It also shows my time falling apart the last 4 mi. This didn't really happen. I slowed down, but I was still running around an 8:15 min/mi pace the last 4 miles. I was able to keep my heart rate up throughout the run. The first half of the run, my heart rate was around 145 - 147 bpm. The second half of the run, it dropped to 140 - 143 bpm. I drank mostly gatorade at the aid stations, took 4 salt pills and 2 gu's during the run, and had a mint each mile and 3 packages of enervitine. I ended up setting a PR for the run of 3:25 and a PR for the entire race of 10:08. My old PR was at IM Lake Placid last year of 10:17. I was 4th in my age group. Numbers 2 and 3 were 4 minutes and 2 minutes in front of me. The first place person in my age group was 32 minutes in front of me. Last year the Kona slots went 7 places in my age group so I pretty sure I will get one. We go down to the race venue in about 2 hours to collect the slot. Amy's going to sign up for next years race at the same time. While I am having trouble moving around quickly today, I would say that I'm in better shape at this moment than usual after an IM.
It was a shore start which resulted in a slightly more civilized swim than usual. I didn't take the same kind of physical beating I suffered at IM Arizona in November. The wind had created strange currents in the lake. The course was a rectangular course and the turns at the buoys were worst. It was two loops and you ran through a timing gate in between loops. My 1/2 way time was around 36 minutes with my full swim at 1:16. Not my best, actually pretty close to my worst. I came out the water 103 in my age group. My age group had around 270 people in it, so I knew I had a little work to do if I wanted to race Kona with Amy.
The wind was blowing 10 - 15 mph from the Southwest. This wind actually suited me well. Normally, if the wind is blowing like this I can write off the day because I don't seem to do well in the wind. However, the direction of this wind pushed you out of town and assisted you on the uphill and was in your face as you were descending back into town. The bike is two loops. with a short out and back each loop along the lake. There are substantial rolling hills in the middle of the course and it reminded me a little bit of IM Wisconsin where you would work hard to get up a hill and when you started down the other side, not get a good descent because they would put a sharp turn right at the bottom of the hill. I had ridden the course on the computrainer, so I knew what type of average speeds to expect at different points of the course. Generally, on my computrainer rides I would end up coming out of the hills averaging around 18.6 to 19 mph (keeping my HR at my race pace). I came out of the hills the first loop with an average speed of around 21.8 mph and had been passing people consistently. The wind was completely manageable descending back to town. I didn't descend as fast as I climbed but I still boosted my average speed. When I hit town, my average speed had climbed up to 21.9 mph. I held this through town until I got back out to the hills. I was pretty tired by that point, but I knew the average last qualiying time for Kona in my age group from last year was 10:17. The swim plus transistion was 1:21 and I knew that a 3:30 run would be good which forced me into a bike plus T2 of around 5:24. I finished the bike in 5:20 and had moved to 15th position within my age group.
It was pretty empty in transition and I had my own private helper who was shoving my hat on my head and my nutrition in my jersey so I moved through transistion pretty quick. The first 1/4 mile of the run was a little shaky and I got passed by a couple of the people who were with me in transition but that didn't last long. My legs remembered how to run by the time I hit the 1/2 mile mark My first mile was under 7 minutes. I then settled down into around a 7:30 pace for a good bit of the first half of the marathon. The data on the web site is wrong. The timing mat for the 21.75 mi split on the web site was really before mile 21 so it is off by about a mi. The web site shows my pace at aroung 7:30 through mi 21.75. I had actually started running between 7:30 and 8 min milse by that point. It also shows my time falling apart the last 4 mi. This didn't really happen. I slowed down, but I was still running around an 8:15 min/mi pace the last 4 miles. I was able to keep my heart rate up throughout the run. The first half of the run, my heart rate was around 145 - 147 bpm. The second half of the run, it dropped to 140 - 143 bpm. I drank mostly gatorade at the aid stations, took 4 salt pills and 2 gu's during the run, and had a mint each mile and 3 packages of enervitine. I ended up setting a PR for the run of 3:25 and a PR for the entire race of 10:08. My old PR was at IM Lake Placid last year of 10:17. I was 4th in my age group. Numbers 2 and 3 were 4 minutes and 2 minutes in front of me. The first place person in my age group was 32 minutes in front of me. Last year the Kona slots went 7 places in my age group so I pretty sure I will get one. We go down to the race venue in about 2 hours to collect the slot. Amy's going to sign up for next years race at the same time. While I am having trouble moving around quickly today, I would say that I'm in better shape at this moment than usual after an IM.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Dirt Tri babysitting? Sunday June 28th
Anyone doing the Dirt Tri in Albuquerque on Sunday Jun 28th? If you have someone coming with you who might be able to watch an 11month old during the race (~1.5 hours) let Dina know (dinavolga@yahoo.com). We can return the favor at another event or pay for it.
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