Racing

Race Reports

On this page, you can read race reports from various TRIbe members. Send us your own race report for other members to see.

Ironman Canada Race Report – 8/29/10 – Anna Timbie

Ironman is a long race, and this is a long report.

The swim.

I’m not sure why I bother to practice swimming, because there is no
similarity between what I work on in the pool (long strokes, body balance,
etc) and the pure survival tactics I have to use in a 3000 person IM swim!
The swim course was actually very easy to sight and if anything, I kept
thinking I was following "too good" a line along the buoys. I wanted to get
farther away from the swarm of big men hitting me in the back of the head, but
it’s pretty much impossible to move laterally. I tried a new strategy and
wore my own cap, then put my goggles on and the race cap on top to help keep
my goggles on during the head smacking. It worked! Soon enough I was back on
the beach. I stood up, futzed with my caps, goggles and wetsuit, looked at my
watch and saw 8:03 AM. Not a bad start.
Official time: 1:04:03

T1

It was significantly warmer and less windy on race morning than it had been
the past 3 days so I decided to leave my arm warmers and toe warmers behind.
Foreshadowing: this was a bad move.

The bike.

There’s one short hill on the ride out to Osoyoos, but for the most part you
can roll along pretty well on the first 45 miles of the bike course.
Hammering the flats is not my greatest strength, and I think a lot of folks
ride the early miles too hard anyway, so it really felt like 2000 people
passed me in the first 2 hours! Many of them in huge draft packs! A race
official on a motorbike actually pulled up beside me riding safe and solo 20
meters behind a huge blob of bikes and gave me a smile and a thumb’s up.
Nice to know someone appreciated my efforts! Not long after that I saw two
riders go down in the middle of a big group – just another reason to avoid
the packs.

It’s nice to make the right hand turn in Osoyoos and know you have one
segment of the bike loop done as you start the climb up Ritcher Pass. Ritcher
is a long haul, but at least I can do some of the passing on the climbs☺.
I shamelessly used my triple and spun away. The tougher riding actually comes
after Ritcher in a series of ups and downs. It’s awkward to switch from big
gear descending to climbing steep grades again and again and again. We had a
modest headwind riding out to Keremeos and it was a bit of a relief to turn
out of the wind onto the out-and-back to the special needs station at mile 75,
even though you know it’s only temporary. I grabbed two bottles from my
special need bag and appreciated the fact that I didn’t have a flat tire to
change like in 2005☺.

We had an increasing head/cross wind on the ride back to main bike loop.
Turning right to begin the climb to Yellow Lake, I rode straight into a wall
of wind. The sky turned very black, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees
and it started to rain. Your typical mountain storm. People around me
started zipping up their jackets and pulling on their arm warmers and I longed
for my clothes back in Penticton. Riding in the mountains in the cold rain is
just not fun, but I tried not to dwell on that, or the fact that my speed had
dropped dramatically, because obviously everyone was slowed by the same
conditions. I just considered it extra motivation to get to the summit and
get down quickly. Amazingly, there were a TON of spectators up there and an
aid station full of volunteers at Yellow Lake and most looked as underdressed
as I was. But they were cheering us on in the freezing rain and I really
appreciated it. Descending in the rain with frozen hands is not my favorite
thing either, but my desire to get out of the mountains was overwhelming my
fear of wiping out. It was great to make it back to warmer (if no less windy)
temps in Penticton for the last few miles back to the lake.
Official time: 6:23:14 (11 seconds off my IM CDA bike time! Which is
encouraging because this was definitely a tougher course, but also kind of a
bummer because I was holding a better pace for ~100 of the 112 miles with a
VERY slow wind/rain/hail storm stretch to Yellow Lake.)

T2

Brrrr. It felt great to put on dry shorts, socks, and shoes.

The run.

My feet were frozen and my legs felt pretty heavy for the first few miles, but
I’ve felt that way on many long runs and bricks this summer and I always
feel better as the run goes on. That was the case again and by mile 5 I had
settled into a steady rhythm on the way out of town. I stuck to my minimal
run nutrition plan, just taking water and the occasional squirt of gel or a
salt tab. The run course has some ups and downs and the downhill stretch to
mile 13 turn-around at OK Falls is like “the Pit” at Wildflower, only
worse. You really can’t enjoy the downhill because everyone running uphill
the other way looks so miserable! After the turnaround I decided to try
drinking cola. It’s amazing! At each aid station I would grab a cup of
water and a cup of Pepsi. The sugar + caffeine combination is magical. I was
almost more excited to see the next aid station than the next mile marker.
Almost ☺. There’s more uphill running on the way back into town and a
vicious headwind along Skaha Lake, but I kept a steady pace and laughed when
big, heavy-breathing guys tried to tuck in behind me after I passed them. I
can’t believe I offer much draft. Soon enough, I was back in town with 5
miles to go. I vividly remember getting to 21 miles in 2005, hobbling on a
fractured foot, realizing I was actually going to finish and being SO
relieved. It was nice to be in a MUCH better place 5 years later. The crowds
near the finish are awesome and I saw my family on the torturous out-and-back
before the finish. As much as I wanted to be done, I really let myself enjoy
the final stretch down Lakeshore Drive. After all, that’s what I came for.

Official time: 4:06:38
Total time: 11:43:11 (a PR☺)

Thank you’s!

Thanks so much to my faithful crew, Jim and Clare (and Mom in spirit!), for
all your support before, during, and after the race. Thanks to my LAMVAC
lane-mates, Coach Jose, and especially honorary Coach Sheri for keeping us in
the pool in August and always choosing the shorter send-off. Thanks to all my
TRIbe friends and training partners! I thought of you whenever I heard a
“GO SUNPOWER” on the race course. Special thanks to Linda and Gordon
Graham who’ve been a big part of my 3 Ironman journeys. You’re an
inspiration to me and just a lot fun to train and travel with. Thanks for
reading if you’ve made it this far!

Vineman 70.3 Race Report – 7/18/10 – Dan Perkins

I love racing Vineman: So many memories. My first completed Ironman distance race

was on this course after rescheduling makeup races following the failed Ironman Utah

debacle in 2002. Counting back I've been over this course 6 times. It's beauty, energy and

location is hard to beat. Especially since I grew up in these neck of the woods and have

played here my entire adult life!

Last year I had my best half iron distance race on this course by taking 2nd in my AG.

Trying to follow last year's training and fitness preparation seemed right on target so I

was ready to give another attempt for a podium finish (knowing younger, faster dudes

were coming up).

Pre Race: I headed up the day prior early in the morning with the agreement I would

meet up with a friend and swim at the scheduled time of my wave start... friend text

messages me... "Not gonna make it." That's okay I wanted to do it anyway so when I

arrive at Johnston's beach I grab my wetsuit out of my transition bag but...wait. Where

are my goggles? Ugh! I forgot them on the dryer in my garage great. Now what am I

gonna do? Just then I look up to see friend and fellow desert colleague Cherrie Gruenfeld

walking up from the water... again just like last year. After a good chat and catching up

on the year and me congratulating her on the great Triathlon Magazine article on her

Great Expectations Program Cherrie produced a nice brand new pair of goggles for me

to use and I was off for a tranquil 15 minute swim, then a short bike ride to get a feel for

the road, bike, air temperature. then donned my shoes and ran a mile: All systems go!

Checking in at the race expo, it was pretty routine. now with race numbers, timing chip,

t-shirt, find friend who was supposed to swim with me, go place my run shoes in T2 and

get preferred spot, give Cherrie her goggles back, buy a pair of new ones for myself, I

run into David and Victoria, and give David a pep talk that his race is going to be just

fine. He was doubtful because a month and a half prior he had a pretty nasty crash on a

training ride that took him out of circulation for a while. But he has the base in him for a

good day.

The temps were great, the pace just right, I checked in at our accommodations (just

minutes from the race expo and finish) and just waited for the arrival of my wife, Joy. In

the mean time, I went to the Trader Joe's to pick up dinner, water, and the morning food

that would get me going... what is that? Blueberry breakfast bars, a soy protein shake,

bananas and water!

After Joy arrived it was dinner, chicken salad pita pockets, water, fresh peaches, water

and fruit bars. I showered, laid out all my gear, prepped my bike, double checked it all

and then mentally went through my entire race! I knew I was ready and all that was left

was to swim, bike, run.

RACE DAY

Alarm went off at 4:55. At 5:05 I was dressed, fed, coffee with lead and walking my bike

to the car. Joy followed and I was on target to arrive at 5:30 knowing it would take an

extra 10 minutes to get into Guerneville due to the extra traffic. which I'm always amazed

how many folks park way down road while there is always plenty of parking in town. We

found a perfect spot. But as always, down at Johnston's Beach it's crowded and confused.

We made our way through, I got body marked, had a decent chat on the wait for the

porta-potty. The FCA-E gang decided to meet at the swim arch to pray at 6:15... Joy and I

arrived at 6:18... But we didn't see anyone. Waited a few minutes. Still no one, decided to

say a quick prayer for everyone and walked back into Transition. Set on the end of a rack

my position was perfect and well land-marked. I walked it twice from the swim exit and

had it committed to memory. Now with multiple waves leaving, it was time for me to get

the wetsuit on, see my wife... kiss her goodbye and jump in the water behind the dam and

warm up a bit.

Swim: I was really relaxed and felt good about the water temps, overcast sky and size of

my wave. I lined up right at the front and when the horn went off I had clear water all the

way. Maybe this swim thing is getting easier or I've just been lucky this year. But going

out the water was already pretty stirred up and the color of the water was a distinctive

brown. Which isn't much of a concern because the swim in the Russian River is more

scenic above water than below. The river is narrow and you are ushered along by tall

redwoods and vacation homes. As you swim along the current is against you until you

reach the turn around half way and for my long arms each stroke produces handfuls of

gravel as I scraped the river bottom while swimming past others who were choosing to

walk it. Now heading back, little bit of bottom you can see is moving by a little faster as

the current is with you. Quickly I pass under the two bridges, sight the exit arch, keeping

my steady pace again find gravel and stand to attention grabbing my wetsuit zipper strap

and collar simultaneously a tug and pull and the top is already around my waist. Running

to my bike I actually pop out of one of my legs quite quickly (a first) and tug on the

other. After putting on my shoes, packing up my wetsuit in plastic bag I grab helmet,

glasses, race belt put them all in place and pull trusted companion off the metal rack and

run it to the mount line. Total Swim time: 32:42 T1 2:26

Bike: Every time I've done this race I know about the tricky mount and steep little 100

foot climb up onto the main road. It's important that you put your bike in it's smallest gear

ahead of time because realizing it too late won't work! Did I make the mistake? No but

for some reason I couldn't get my foot in the pedal so, half way up I find myself doing the

walk up of shame... frustrated and at the top of the hill, I'm on my bike and it's all systems

GO!

The ride out of Guerneville is cool although my sunglasses are slightly fogged with the

moisture of my sweat. I feel good, tempo is steady and I've a lot of experience riding

these roads. For me it's just passing one person after another and not going too hard. Now

after getting onto Westside Road the rollers begin and the biggest concern is watching out

for newbies or inexperienced racers who don't know or just refuse to ride on the right! At

one point some of the local automobile traffic got tangled up in the race and looking up I

noticed a large white truck completely stopped with athletes choosing to stop and wait

behind... I wasn't so patient... and knowing it is wrong, I make the decision to go around

hoping no car is coming which would mean certain pain, and broken bike if not bones!

Looking back it was a dumb thing to do even though I quickly was around the truck. Now

making a transition cross the valley over to Dry Creek Road I passed someone who I

could tell was in my age group (although they didn't mark age on our calves this year

numbers are a good give away). I passed him with steady but commanding presence.

Because I'm not the fastest swimmer out there I usually have a bunch I have to chase

down on the bike... I'm thinking there's another one down. But about 6 miles later I see

my friend Lori who went off in an earlier wave and pass her with a pat on the back and

words of encouragement... Now up to this point I've noticed a slight presence with me

since turning on Dry Creek Road but think little of it. But now it's becoming evident. A

couple of times the rider tries to pass but even before he comes into my field of vision

drops back. Hmph? Now going over Canyon Road a steady little climb which I choose to

do in the big chain ring, still feeling good, I notice him again, then ahead I see another

person in my AG... again another solid pass, over the crest and a fast descent into

Geyserville. Here the race turns back toward the start and the roads are flat with some 90

turns. There was a slight head wind but my pace was pretty much holding steady. Then, it

happened. The guy passed me! After letting him get the 20 meters ahead, I noticed his

pace slowed down and dropped below what I was holding. So after a minute just to see

what he was doing I got back into my rhythm and passed him again. Another 5 miles he

comes around me again. And again I mark him for a couple of miles. As we turned onto

Chalk Hill Road where there is a good section of technical up and down we made one

more exchange to the bottom of the short but steep Chalk Hill. Now kinda done with the

back and forth I just get out of the saddle and power up the hill... I look back: I don't see

anyone. So down I go at a fast pace where once on the straight flat toward the freeway, I

can see him about a quarter of a mile back. Here there are a few turns getting us back to

the freeway along the old Redwood Hwy to Airport Road. At one point I'm going along

and the bike number starts to come off. So, not wanting to litter I reach down to reapply

the flapping number. Next thing I know I'm looking ahead thinking, "Why isn't there

anyone in front of me?" Then I look around. "Hmmmm, this doesn't look familiar" but

there were orange cones up ahead so I pedal on... but something isn't right. So I sit up and

look behind me only to see way back in the distance people turning. Doh! I missed a turn.

First thing that runs through my head is that DUDE! "I bet he's in front now!" Sure

enough when I got back to the turn I could see him a little over a quarter mile away. Now

angry for my mistake and the lack of marking or volunteers at a key corner (all corners

had a volunteer or CHP officer directing athletes)I hammer to make up the time. Almost

catching him into the parking lot of the high school I'm guessing it's gonna be him and me

in transition together and who's got the legs? Coming around the corner of the parking lot,

I slip my feet out of my shoes and prepare to dismount but no one is telling where the

dismount is... so I stay on top of my bike around onto the path and realize I should be off

now... I've always been off here so I jump off and run... then I hear, "Your shoe!" Now

half way down the path I look down and one shoe is missing. Argh! I've done this before

and although I did get my shoe back in time, it was an ordeal so, I stop and go back for it.

How much time I lost doing that I don't know but it was just one more reason to

repeat, "stupid, stupid, stupid!" in my head. Total Bike time 2:31:01 T2 2:12

Run: Getting the bike to the rack was as I expected... Easy! "We" were the first ones in!

As I'm putting on my shoes I feel him breeze by me. Looking up as I start out he's just

making the turn out of transition. So, I start running! The best place to see where he is in

the parking lot where it is most open and straight. He's about 100 yards ahead. I lengthen

my stride and start to get comfortable... but oooh! Cramps in the quads! not a good sign

and not what I expected there. So I grab a packet of Endurolytes but I've nothing to drink

them down with. I think about asking spectators but that's illegal... So, I just try to

swallow them. Uh, that's not happening. So, I spit them back into my hand, realizing I'll

have to wait till mile one's aid station. I keep them in an open hand wanting them to dry

out because if they dissolve they're no good to use. Looking ahead I'm still about 100

yards back but the cramping is changing my stride. Now on the back road and at mile one

I get the capsules down and refuel. But my pace and heart rate is actually where I want it

so, I hold and watch my nemesis make ground. Now I'm just hoping he blows up later.

The run out to the winery is pretty and conditions were awesome! As I made the run

around the ponds I checked my pace (from mile 7-8) 6:48! Okay, I'm feeling really good

about my pace but coming out of the winery I'm not physically feeling so good. My

cramps are holding but my pace is dropping fast. Next mile: 8:25 What!! It was here FCA-

E teammate Steve Chavez passed me with a great pace and it was then I realized he was

the last Age Grouper I passed on Canyon Road on the bike. With a few words of

encouragement exchanged he was off as my hat was to him as well! Then next 4 miles it

was just hold on! My heart rate started to sky rocket. My pace was holding about 8:10

fairly slow and disappointing. The last mile was just everything I could do to hold on! and

coming into the finish shoot all I could think of was "Don't collapse!" Total Run time

1:42:40

I have to say I was spent... of all my races, I don't think I've felt as exhausted as I did

this day! I look back and think what was it? I was in equal condition as I was the year

before... it was a lot hotter the year before and my run was six minutes faster! Even with

my day being as it was, I was less than a minute from a PR on that course... not missing

the turn or keeping my shoe would most likely made the difference. Who knows?

Over all the day ended like this... 95 OA male, 3rd in my Age Group. Good enough

for another great podium finish and bottle of LaCrema Wine, a Clearwater slot which I

declined and memories that will last forever... Oh, and the turn I missed; I was told the

next day the reason I probably missed it was because a CHP officer was hit by a minivan

and was taken to the hospital... true story.

Metro Tri Race Report – 7/18/10 – Rick Burgess

I don’t often write a race report for an olympic tri but this was worthy for a few reasons.
First, I placed 2nd in my age group (60-64) which is great; validating my Kona strategy
of just keep racing, outlast people and one day I’ll win or place in my age group and
qualify. It may take until I reach the 75-79 age group but what the heck. I did Ironman Az
last year and I did OK (13:19) which would have won had I been in the 65-69 age group
so there is hope…
Second, A good TRIbe shout-out to Dr Gino DellaMaggiore. After the ironman my right
shoulder was bothering me a lot, so after trying to work thru it (and running Boston) we
decided it was time to bite the bullet and do arthroscopic surgery…clean the joint out and
repair a torn tendon. Now this was in early May (5/6 to be exact) so I couldn’t even swim
for 6 weeks afterwards. So it’s pretty amazing to not only be able to do any tri in that
time frame but to do one AND get a podium finish. It’s particularly appropriate that Gino
sponsored the race prizes so I owe him for the bottle of wine J
Now to the race. The swim was one of the warmest, most comfortable ones I’ve ever
done…77 degrees in a wetsuit is pretty comfortable. I had a decent swim with hardly
any shoulder discomfort (Thank you Gino) although reading the Mercury News article a
few days later about the algae bloom and closing Lake Almaden was slightly worrisome
(http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_15605812?source=rss). I always get
an allergic reaction the day after an Almaden swim (congested) and now I know why.
T1 was good and quick and the bike went well. I ride a pretty old school Softride and
I hadn’t had it serviced since the ironman last Nov so it was getting creaky – the beam
works it’s way loose and makes noises when your pedal stroke isn’t as smooth as it
should be – which is probably all the time for me. Another racer told me I was making
terrible noises as I passed her, but otherwise had a good bike split. I’ve had this bike for
7 years (I got it before I did IMFL in ’04) and I bought it used so this inspired me to get a
new bike (Look 576) so we’ll see how I do on the new bike in Santa Cruz Int’l Tri on 7/7.
I had a fast T2 and an OK 10K – 51’ish.
Because the race was smaller I thought I had a chance to podium and was very excited
when they announced I was 2nd. Plus I finished 2nd behind Tim Lavelle which is nothing
for anyone (regardless of age group) to feel very bad about. It also gave he and I chance
to talk afterwards. He graduated from West Point in ’70 and I graduated from Annapolis
in ’71 so we have a good Army/Navy rivalry.
So overall a great opening day for the Metro Tri and I was proud to be representing
TRIbe on the podium.

Wildflower - 5.1.2010 - Dan Perkins

As I've mentioned before Wildflower, an event that happens the first weekend in May, is a triathlon festival... er... party... let's see, uh, camp out with a work out! You can describe it many different ways but this long standing, triathlon institution which promotes three separate triathlons; a half Ironman distance race, a much shorter, off-road, MTB version and an Olympic distance race boasts of what is arguably the toughest course you'll ever race. What makes this race so difficult is often the combination of conditions and terrain. When it's hot, hot! Fuhgedbowdit! When it's nice out, you'll still bleed through the eyes! This year I was excited to have another friend and now FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes Endurance) teammate and now fellow TRIbe teammate join us for his first half iron distance race. David and I had been doing a few weekend, long rides together as well as a couple bricks (bike/run) and it was obvious that he was in shape while I had a few more gallons to yet put in the tank! But I was encouraging him that he was going to have a great day... I did however try to prepare him mentally for the difficulty of the race and where the sticky points in the day would come. However, all in all he was ready for the challenge and you could tell his excitement as he talked about it. Oh, those newbie days... days when you're just so clueless you didn't even think about how much it's gonna hurt. I miss them.
Our arrival on Friday at Lake San Antonio brought a nice new touch to the race. The Avia team were at the camp gates handing out gelato with fresh strawberries! Oh yeah, it was good! Then it was off to Redondo - M, our usual FCA-E camp spot. A couple of days prior Troy and Robin had arrived to set up our spot, all we had to do was put up our tent... much better with temps in the 70's and sun overhead than last years rain and wind! Once settled we headed down to the expo area where IronPrayer was about to begin. This year Iron Prayer was attended by about 30 or so folks. Troy led off praying, then invited me to speak... never an easy task for a preacher to only have 10 minutes to say something, after all we are professional "talkers" but encouraging those there to remember the purpose of racing wasn't to put the focus on ourselves (dig me!) but on the One who gave us the ability to race (dig Him!) it was then Brad Seng's opportunity to inspire us with his knowledge and faith... I prayed, "Father help me run like Brad." The dude is FAST (still holds one of the fastest recorded IM Kona marathons)! After that Ben Greenfield, age grouper extraordinaire, and I manned the FCA-E booth, I got to catch up with Patty from Wetsuitrentals.com who I hadn't seen since last summer and who asked for us to be next to her booth, doing a jam-up business, I might add. Then back up the hill, eat some Greek pasta and chicken I had previously prepared and finished off my 18th bottle of water for the day. At 8:30 I crawled into my comfy-cozy blow up mattress/bed... put my earplugs in (lesson learned from prior years) and drifted off to sleep. Until about 2am. Now normally I am awakened by restless, nervousness. But not this night... NO! I was FREEZING! Apparently the temps dropped into the mid 30's and my big o' bed wasn't able to retain what little bit of body heat I was generat'n... from then until sun up I was just a ball of shiverin mess!
RACE DAY: Pre-packed nuts, bananas, OJ and Oatmeal cookies were the breakfast of champions this day. However, the freeze of the night and smell of coffee wafting through the camp made me wanting some! Drat! After all the gear was packed and bike finally checked one last time I tucked my right sweat pant leg up around my thigh and David and I were off to transition. It's a mile and a half ride down toward the lake and it was still registering 41 degrees on my bike computer so, I knew the decent on Lynch was going to be c..cc....cooolddd! But once there I found my rack spot (sweet! right on the end!) and then headed of to do the body cleanse (This is no herbal/dietary necessity... it means #2 for those who don't know or those who don't realize that the nerves before a race have an abject affect on the digestive system)! However, instead of getting into the massive cattle lines, some of us who are in the "know" know a place where there are no lines and the porta-potty's are fresh smelling and clean, even on race morning! But I'm not telling where because this is a closely guarded secret and many peeps who read this blog race there!
Swim: As ALWAYS!!! I was in the last men's wave! One hour and five minutes after the race started! This would mean swimming through lots of slower swimmers and more sun in the sky. I was told the water was cold but it was 60 and that's better than some. My warm up seemed to be timed right but I felt pretty dizzy getting out. Hmmph, I wondered about that, plus a lot of late arrivers to the line from the water pushed me back into the second line of guys. But at the horn I was able to run out in front and get a good dive slicing me to the front, although there were faster swimmers going by me I had clear water all the way out to the first buoy and without a single point of contact! Now on the long stretch out I was able to get on the feet of someone who was just at my comfortable pace and I was able to hold on until we started running into the back of the wave before us. This is where I met the only truly congested part of the swim, lost that draft and then started dodging bodies. On the way back in again more and more swimmers with different color swim caps just seemed to be in the way. One time I looked up to see I had gone pretty far off course trying to avoid Huey the whale and had to dodge a canoe. Finally the turn toward the dock and I slugged my way home! Looking down, now running up the dock I saw :33 and wasn't disappointed normally seeing :32 but later heard many agreeing the swim felt long... don't know if that is true but I think it could have been. Total 33:28
T-1: Determined to not sit on my bum anymore to remove my wetsuit, I stood and did the dance... "You put your right foot out, you put your left foot on, you put your right knee up and you shake it all about!" Who hooo! It worked. First time ever! Didn't hurt having the end of the rack to hold onto. Total 3:17
Bike: Getting out of transition is easy... getting out of the campgrounds and on the main road... not so easy. First up, Beach Hill. You only get one mile to settle your legs before a punishing mile and half 8 percent grade climb up to the campgrounds. Then you've got some rollers out... of which I down shifted from the big chain ring into the smaller one and after nearly a year of this never happening since it happened at Vineman 70.3 last year, I threw my chain into the Q-Rings! Argh... after passing all these folks without much effort now I would have to exert a lot of effort just to dislodge my chain! Luckily, I now know how it's done. Once on the main road out to Lockwood it's up and down with a nice little descent onto the flats that take you to Joblon Rd. where you turn into the wind. Here I passed a guy riding a Scott and not thinking much about this looked back to see what if anything was coming my way because the wind was carrying sound behind me. But hey! there was Mr. Scott right on my wheel. I said something, and he passed me. This happened a couple of times and I've learned it's just not worth the energy spent trying to yell at someone or argue... let the marshals deal with it. Now in the canyon section Mr. Scott was up ahead slowly making a pass and a marshal rode right up to him and, I think unfairly or graciously paced the dude past the next rider but stayed with him for a while. I don't know if words were exchanged. Next Nasty Grade where I just steadily kept my heart rate steady and butt in the saddle at the top there's that right hand turn and just when you think it's over... Heartbreak! but here the pain last just a little bit longer and then a long sweeping downhill that is not for the timid. At the bottom where there was an ambulance attending the inevitable crash for someone I'm flying past riders going 53mph. Suddenly a guy in front of me thinks he'll save some time cutting the corner moving righ in my line! I just started screaming! I was just going so fast and all I could think of was "Jesus take the wheel! or that ambulance is for me!" But I managed to hold on hitting one of the center lane bumps which just gave me a shot of adrenaline which made me ultra aware of everything going on around me... like, Mr.Scott back again, this time three feet off my wheel and holding slightly to the left (the wind was crossing from the right) this time I just couldn't take it! "How long you going to do that?!" "What are you talking about?" he asked... I just shook my head as he passed by me. Not surprised nor did I say anything to see him three miles from T-2 with a flat tire! Now at the top of Lynch I popped my feet out of my shoes rode down stretching my back and neck and remembering my route back to my spot. I was there in... Total: 2:50:58
T-2 Nice and smooth, I was in my shoes and loaded to bear, visor on, I was off! Total: 1:16 - fastest AG (that's a 1st!)
Run: When I started the run I took inventory of how I felt and I was surprised at just how good I felt. No cramping, no awkward leg/back pressure, so in my mind I thought all was going to be great. But I knew this course is so hard and you can't cheat it with minimal training which is where I was. You definitely need a full tank for this run. The first couple of miles are rolling hills and a dry stretch on the far side of the lake before the course turns right and straight up hill. I was able to run most of this section until the top at mile 5 here the wheels came spinning off. I may have pushed it too hard but I was careful with my heart rate so what I imagined would happen started; the desire over the pain just began to wane. Next thing I knew I was walking the next hill section and then aid stations then for some reason almost all of mile 6 to 7 (don't ask me why... It's not that difficult compared to other spots) then I told myself I was a sissy and "man up" and started running again. At the top of the TNT camp I started feeling better and ran all the way down to mile 10 where you turn and head back up a punishing one mile accent, at first I walked and encouraged another walker but a third of the way up told myself this was all a mind game and to just keep going... which I did until the last little kicker which I just gave up on and told a few of the spectators who were cheering me on... "This is what you get when you don't train." They laughed; I was serious. When I made the quad pounding, descent down Lynch hill one last time. I was so glad it was going to be over. As I ran the finishing shoot, I was by myself and realized my time was still good for a course like that one and committed to not complaining. Total: 1:57:19 Overall: This is always a fun race to do. Hard, but a great time of hanging out with friends and seeing what you're made of. What particularly makes this a fun race is seeing the many TRIbe gang out there... hearing from so many on course, "Go TRIbe!" as I run by and appreciating the banter, all in fun; Like Kevin who refused to take a compliment so, you still suck and need to get better! I hope that still makes your day. BTW, thanks for the cold one. To all my FCA teammates: It's always and honor racing and sharing life together. Thanks Troy, Robin and Sierra for all you do! To the rest of "Team dig me" may the rest of your season be filled with joy, beauty and progress for the very reasons... Why you race! Total Race: 5:26:18 - 200 OA / 6 AG
Oceanside 70.3 - 3.27.2010 - Dan Perkins
The first race of the year is usually one of the more intimidating races of the year. This happens because you get out of sync with the swim/bike/run habit and have to reacquaint yourself to it. So, as we headed down to Oceanside I was surprised how relaxed I was. Bike, wetsuit, shoes, sunglasses and various items needed to hit the water prepared had all been placed in the back of Joy's Acura and a couple days change of clothing to make our stay at the World Mark Oceanside Harbor comfortable. The only thing uncomfortable about the journey down was the traffic through LA making our arrival much later than hoped but once there the sunset over the ocean let us know we were poised for a great weekend of fun. Day Before Race:Continuing my hyper hydration (water bottle always in hand) Friday began with a nice breakfast with Joy out by the pool overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean. It was a marvelous day beckoning for a run. So after we were done I put on my Asics and went for an easy run along the strand while Joy went for a walk on the beach. After returning it was time to head over to register at the Pier and walk the expo. At the expo I remembered from last year's race at Louisville that Ironman, as a corporation, has sold out to the "man." No, no... it's still a sport for women too. What I mean is they are like any other big business now and support ONLY their sponsors. Gone are the days when you could go to the expo and pick up the nutrition needs of your choice. Now all that's available are the products made by some "power" candy company. Also, couldn't find the kind of goggles I want (always buy a new pair before a big race). So, I told Joy, "We're outta here." 20 minutes later we were at Nytro, getting what I needed. Lunch was a quick In N Out then back to prep the bike, sticker the necessary items and load my transition bag for an early exit in the morning. Then it was off to represent FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes Endurance) at an IronPrayer service at 5. There I wasn't sure who to expect but I saw a bunch of guys gathered at the band shell wearing Multisport Ministries apparel. We gathered for a quick word of encouragement and Pastor Jim from Rose Ave. Friends Church prayed for us all. After a dinner of grilled chicken, ravioli w/ricotta and spinach and a salad of tossed greens, I grabbed a shower, shaved, downed one more bottle of water and set the alarm on my iPhone going to bed precisely at 9:05pm. With the exception of one urge to release the bottle from my body I slept through the night only to wake up wondering what idiotic time it was (usually something like 11:36pm... then again at 1:12... then 2:45... then 2:59... then; you get the idea) it was only seconds and the alarm went off exactly at 4:55am just as I set it.
Race Day: Getting a banana, a blueberry scone a small glass of OJ down was no problem. I remembered the first time I raced in Oceanside, back in the day it was called "Ralphs" because the title sponsor was the Grocery chain of the same name, I was so nervous I couldn't even get down a half a banana! but at 5:25am I was walking bike in one hand, cup of extra caffeinated coffee in the other toward the harbor. At the entrance to Transition I kissed my wife goodbye, got in and racked my bike. I'm always amused where I find myself and try to make a game out of it. I do this so I can easily remember where I am amid the sea of bikes. This day, I scored! right at the end of an open area that could not be missed! After setting everything down, I got body marked and headed for the porta-potty. Wow! the longest line I had ever seen. Somehow a self organized flow of a single line into two awaited the 32 individual (yes, I had time to count them... many times over) plastic stalls. But the line moved quickly and soon I was able to relieve my nervousness and head back to transition where I saw Lori, and chatted a bit. Once back to my spot I discovered a few new bikes had crowded into my space but I still had a great position. One of the guys next to me said, "Dan... Dan Perkins?" I looked up and saw it was old friend Chad who I hadn't seen in years. We caught up, then Gill came over. There were a few others I didn't get to see but soon I had to crawl into my wetsuit and enter the sea of bodies that would become a near 300 person wave start at 7:18am.
SWIM: When I hit the water I expected a frigid welcome. Water temps were rumored about the mid 50's but it seemed warmer... maybe 60ish. All I know, is when I put my face in the water it didn't take my breath away. Right before the horn blew I made my way up to the second line of swimmers, checked my watch and 3, 2, 1, we were off! The water felt calm and for such a large wave, I had pretty much open water and a few good feet to follow behind. The sun was mostly at our backs going out so sighting was easy and straight lines manageable. Once out at the turn where the water tends to swell just inside the breakers it still remained fairly flat although the surf had been raging. Now headed back the sun was directly in line with thebouys and I used the silhouette of the tall apartment building in the distance as my line. Soon I was hugging the rocky shore for the final 500 meters and exited without incident. Very comfortable, pretty refreshed. Surprising since I've only been back in pool for a few weeks and very surprising to see 33 minutes on my watch running to my bike. TOTAL SWIM: 33:23
BIKE: T-1 here is not too far or difficult It's a matter of getting around folks, wetsuit off, shoes and helmet on and getting to the mount line. Done in 4:02. Now on the bike it's a matter of getting the heart rate down and pedals ticking comfortably without straining the legs by pushing too hard yet pushing hard enough to gain ground on the faster swimmers. Again, due to the weather in NorCal this year there hasn't been a lot of quality time on the bike but today it was feeling pretty good. Quickly we settled in on pace riding north along the coast through Camp Pendleton Marine Base. There were about 4 guys who, LEGALLY, stayed in close contact for the first 15 miles... then I began to push a little more as my heart rate settled. Now those guys were behind me... well at least for a bit. At mile 20 or so just at the San Onofre Power Plant I noticed my left foot sliding on the pedal; NOT a good thing! I realized after putting cleats on these new Garneau shoes, two weeks ago, I hadn't re-tightend them; a rookie mistake. I knew I was going to have to stop and fix this problem soon or I would loose all the screws from that cleat and I would not be able to pedal with my left foot. But I couldn't just stop. I didn't have any tools. So I gingerly rode my way to the next aid station about six mile later, stopped got off the bike pulled off the shoe to find one screw out of three missing and began begging the marines there if they had a dime? At first no one had anything. One marine handed me his dog tags hoping that could help but couldn't leverage the screw, then a marine from the other end came over handing me a dime... it was just enough to tighten the screws and get me on my way... overall time loss from bike computer to race timing... 3 minutes 49 seconds. Now back on the road I needed that left foot! This is where the coarse gets tough! On the inland section of the bike course there are a few challenging hills the first is a bear! But it was here I was able to regain ground on all those I had already passed only to have them fly by me fixing my shoe. At the top I was "pegged" because I have an 11-23 cassette on the back but descending was a breeze with my 54 Q-Ring on the front giving me that extra push others didn't have. But then everything became a breeze...literally, as the wind began to kick up pretty strong. I knew there would be about ten miles of this coming as a good cross-head wind until the final ten miles when we turn toward the coast and head back downhill. Here it was easy to average in the low 40mph range allowing me to pass many more along the way. But there is a single section where you are not allowed to pass anyone due to a fatal crash many years ago and it was here I found myself behind one of the most timid riders EVER! I didn't feel the need to pass him right before the "Do Not Pass" start because he was riding a brand new Trek Equinox TT bike but nooooo! this guy sat right up, rode his brakes all the way down the hill at a FREAKIN' 15 miles an hour... I kept saying, "You're killing me Smalls!" But he didn't care... nor do I think he heard me! Back at harbor there was a little jostling for position which always cracks me up... at this stage seconds on the bike don't matter as much as seconds in T2.TOTAL BIKE: 2:38:40
RUN: T-2 was fast and comfortable... 1:38. Gone this year was the section on the sand... yay! There is a new bridge over the lagoon heading south to the strand and made for a better start. Just before the fisrt mile marker you hit the strand along the beach. It's flat and full of spectators. Saw TRIbe coach Muddy Waters at about mile 2 and kept checking my heart rate wanting to stay in the high 140's for the first loop. After the push up the little road to street level I began to cramp just a little but the prepared packets of Endurolytes were also kicking in. The temps were perfect while the sun was shining there was a noticeable breezecoming back from the turn around keeping things cool. I saw Lori a couple times and shouted her name a couple times but she didn't hear me. Loop two the HR was now in low 150's where I expected it to be but pace kept right around the 8min mile mark. Which is what I expected and now with the final three plus miles to go after the final turn around I realized I would be close to breaking the 5 hour mark, something I hadn't thought of or counted on knowing I was fairly under-trained going into the race. If fact the race was my first brick (bike/run) workout of the year. The half marathon was the first time I had run over 13 miles this year. So, I was pretty jazzed about that knowing my best time on this course was a couple of years ago at 5:07 and change. At the eleven mile mark I saw my old coach Mitch who had encouraging words then just before mile twelve I saw Multisport Ministries team member, Sean (who I ironically met on Facebook over a year ago), stopped and cramped on the side of the road. I gave him encouraging words who returned them only seconds later running alongside me. He was cramping severely so I reached down handed him my last pack of electrolytes. I knew I was good to go, so he downed those and then off he went... oh, it's good to be young. But I wasn't far behind at the finish! TOTAL RUN: 1:44:52
The goal of this race was to go, compete and gain an entry slot to Ironman Wisconsin. Due to my year I wasn't able to decide where to race Ironman this year until now... So, we waited till 5pm for the slot rolldowns before heading back to the bay area... this gave us a chance to hang out with our daughter Aubrey and her boyfriend who both attend Point Loma Nazarene University in downtown Oceanside, eating lunch again overlooking the Pacific on an absolutely beautiful day... A day that brought friends and family together, got me registered for Wisconsin and when I think about it... I kinda did break 5 hours on that course because my TOTAL RACE: 5:02:33 could have been 4:59 something (sans some T1,T2 running with the bike) if not for a silly shoe issue that should have been avoided by this proven veteran.Next Race - Wildflower, May 1
Recap:
05:02:33 Perkins Dan M50-54 14/161 33:23 4:02 2:38:40 1:38 1:44:52

Ironman Wisconsin - Linda Nollette
Ironman Wisconsin
2009-09-13
Madison, Wisconsin
United States
Ironman North America
88F / 31C
Sunny

Triathlon - Full Ironman
Total Time = 14h 12m 21s
Overall Rank = 1513/2397
Age Group = w45-49
Age Group Rank = 25/52

Pre-race routine:
What an ending for 11 months of couch-to-Ironman-training.

We flew into WI Thursday afternoon - 8 hours of travel time. Glad we didn't check bags, they wouldn't have made the transfer in the twin cities! Darn heavy carry-ons, though. Friday, we drove the bike course - WOW. Hills. We'd planned on biking the run course, but Jeff needed a new tire, and they recommended he wait 8 hours for the glue to dry...so we took turns with shorts spins on my bike! Saturday we did a mini-tri - including a dip in the murky lake. yum. Veggies for the day. However, it was truly an amazing warm-up in so many ways....
I drove Jeff bonkers with my constant comments....this will be the last time I do (fill in whatever blank) before I'm an Ironman! He's probably happier even than I am that I made it. Although, now I've started with the 'Now that I'm an Ironman.....'

Event warm-up:
Hoping that sleep is overrated. I stared at the ceiling until 2 am. Jeff was awake at 2:45. We were both up and eating weird food by 4:30. I even sent a facebook update! I've decided that just hauling our stuff down at 5 am qualified as a warm-up. 3/4 mile, mostly downhill. Made all of our drops, took pics, filled the bikes with air and food. We mosied on down the helix, stuffed our bodies into our suits (I do believe mine shrank!), and very slowly moved our way past and through the crowds to the blue/green/murky water. Yum. Just as the pro cannon went off, we were maneuvering pretty far out - looking for some relatively clear water. A quick kiss and a fast good luck, and our cannon went off.

Swim:
Never saw Jeff again in the lake, but was well trampled, grabbed, kicked, pulled, hit and pulled under by quite many of the 2400 swimmers. I think they going to need to either cut the number of entrants, change the venue, or go to wave starts. It was unreal. Loved the new prescription goggles - I could SEE the buoys! And all of the fans cheering! Thinking about the dead body, the algae and the algae-eating snakes wasn't great for morale, but it kept my mind off the mauling! On a good note, I negative split the race! On a bad note, it means I checked my watch at the mid point. Bad girl, I know.

What would you do differently?:
Started farther outside or inside - kicked back harder!!

T1:
Volunteers were amazing! Once you made it up the pickin' helix they took over. Loved the wetsuit strippers.

What would you do differently?:
Move faster, but I'm not sure how. Did make a pit stop, and struggled a bit with the wet shorts, but I can't imagine that cost me much.

Bike:
Wow, what a course. Relentless hills. Just enough flats that there wasn't too much momentum for the next one. Less than 2 miles in, in the no-pass zone, some guy tried to pass the guy behind me, and went down. Scary way to start the day. I can't get over how much fun I was having. Passing more than I got passed. The fan support was amazing....with names on our bibs, they were shouting out like we were rock stars. Much easier to hammer up a hill when they are chanting your name from both sides! Hit a rut at about mile 50, lost some of my food and meds – not fun. Learned at mile 57 that I am not coordinated enough to eat a PB&J sandwich AND climb a hill at the same time. Gave up the sandwich – guy behind me yelled that he would have eaten it! At mile 60 I lost my chain for the first of four (yes, 4!) times. LBS will be hearing from me! Fixed it, but I need to work on speeding that skill up! The last time it happened, tech support finally stopped. I was done, and he offered to 'check my work' and wipe the grease off my face. Lovely. He's lucky I didn't hurt him! I obviously lost some speed in the second half – more than allows for the chain, but I still felt strong. Probably could have pushed it harder. Wind picked up at about mile 60. Not fair, never got the tail wind! Finishing up the helix was tough, but training on our driveway helped! Warm and sunny on the course, and I did get a sunburn despite the wonderful volunteers who slathered me. By the end I was putting my chapstick/sunscreen on my nose, too! Picked up water at every aid station, I need to be more coordinated so that I can get food, too. Can't say enough about the volunteers and spectators - the energy was amazing. Even the cops were cheering at the intersections! I think I grinned for the entire ride, hills and all. Well, maybe not during the chain fixes.

What would you do differently?:
I'd push a bit harder, I think. Zip my bento box so I didn't lose food and meds. Double and triple check nutrition at home before the flight - we didn't pack enough, and didn't realize that in time to get more.

T2:
Another shout-out to the volunteers. Helped me off the bike, took off my Garmin...steered me to the bag room, darn near carried me into the woman's change room. Got me out of my bike shorts, into my run shorts...snapped on my run belt, and stopped me before I left with my gloves still on. "uh, miss, it's 90 out there, want to leave your gloves here?!?" Sun screeners, 3 of them, got my legs, arms and face, and I was
off.....like a snail.

What would you do differently?:
Nothing.

Run:
Well, the wheels fell off the bus. I went into the race with right leg issues - IT band, hamstring, piriformis - that I was hoping I'd be able to just push through and deal with afterward. I did to a certain extent, but really not to the point I was hoping for. Walked way more than I'd hoped to - but did a fair amount of running, too. I figured my 3:59 mary would set me up for a 4:30 or so. Not so much!

Walked through every aid station, and then a bit. Ice in the hat, sponges all over, grapes, chips, water, chicken broth. They even had ice cream sandwiches out near the end!

Loved the trail part of the run, along the lake, the first time. It was really tough in the dark. Lights would have helped. I missed the cut-off for the glowsticks - yea!! But a headlight may have been nice. A nice surprise was the fact that I never tripped or fell - a vast improvement over my last few training runs. No IM skinned knees!

Loved the inspiration board - although Jeff's whole message didn't make it, they bleeped out one of his words. Surprise! Saw Jeff on the course 3 times - that was great. Kissed him twice - probably cost us both a minute, but it was a great boost! Guy behind me asked if I knew him, or if he could be next. I laughed about that for a while.

Followed Art/Bob's advice, and kept smiling.

It was HOT and MUGGY. Used sponges and ice at every aid station. Started on chicken soup at about station 20. Met some fun people, had some good chats. I'm wondering if I actually talked to some BTers - with 70+ there, odds are good. I did hear 'velcromom' - once on the bike, once on the run, so....maybe! Most was solo, and I just soaked it all up. Running up and down State Street with the capitol building in the background, and the crowds cheering - so cool. My Garmin beeped low battery at me 2 hours into it, but held up for the whole run. Nice! I was hoping to finish strong, but that didn't happen - not for lack of trying. Bummer. Did make the last turn at a trot, and ran in. Heard them announce my age, name, first time status and 'You are an Ironman'! Song playing when I finished was 'I would walk 500 miles' which was very appropriate!! Three people had me at the finish line - I was shaking quite a bit. Got the pic, got the food, got my gear, and called Jeff. He was looking for me in the medical tent. He of little faith....

Waited a long time for the massage - but it was great. Called the hotel shuttle, we didn't even want to try to walk back!! Washed off the lake, the blood, the sweat, tears (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but it sounds good) and collapsed. What a day. 9 months to Coeur D'Alene.

What would you do differently?:
Heal my leg before I ran. Somehow pick up 12 minutes to finish with a 13 first. I think I could have done that, and not doing so really did bum me out.

Post race
Warm down:
8 hours home....in the back of the plane where the seats don't recline.

Final event comments:
I'm a 45 year old woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin and a friend. Now, I'm also an Ironman. Wow.

I had so much fun doing this amazing event with Jeff - can't imagine doing it any other way. Coach Kevorkian came through, in a big way.
Thanks, Honey!!

Ironman Wisconsin - Jeff Nollette

Jeff's babble:
Total Time = 11h 40m 45s
Overall Rank = 406/2397
Age Group = w45-49
Age Group Rank = 40/249

Linda has covered many of the details (and such a nice professional format too ;>), so I'll just chime in with a few comments:

I woke up 2:45am after a great dream and knew I was up for good. I was warm and felt good so took a friend's advice and started pouring in the calories (Good advice Cristina - thanks). I over-ate as usual and felt bloated, but knew I'd be fueled up and ready when the sun came up.

Swim:
The start was crazy. It was packed! It's funny how nobody thinks about all of us packed-in vertical bodies going horizontal at the same time - it's a space problem as we all need an extra 4-5 feet when the cannon goes off. I'll bet 90% of the people who are not in the back row end up kicking the hell out of somebody! But it was awesome looking back on
shore to see thousands of people crowding the lakefront (10,000 fans estimated throughout the course), up the helix and onto the parking garage rooftop. And they were loud!! It's a college town (Univ. of Wisconsin Badgers) so I'm sure half the crowd was buzzed or still hammered from Saturday night. Very cool though...

I swam my typical 2.6 miles...drafting on better swimmers saved my sightlines at IMC but in Lake Monona it was zero visibility.   It's hard to draft when you can't even see your hand enter the water 12" from your face. The lake was green and 75 degrees....and had a dead body in it somewhere. A man drowned 3 days before the race, and they still haven't
found him! I kept wondering how much upward draft 2400 people thrashing in the lake would create...then thought about the Jaws scene where the dead guy shot out through the hole in the boat hull at the scuba diver....then about the nasty Castaway scene when the pilot floated ashore. What would this guy look like? It kept my mind occupied for
awhile. Then bonk. NFW! - I found the dead dude! I'd bumped into a yellow buoy.

The next few thousand yards went by pretty fast, laughing at myself for being such a dork. I felt pretty good and tried to go easy to keep from hyper-ventilating. It worked, but I still had to stop 3 times: I swam through an elbow to the jaw and another one to my goggles, but had to pull up twice in gridlock traffic around the first 2 buoys, and once
again after some guy swam across me (in front of me). He was veering left and I didn't see him, so I swam over his legs and caught a heel in the cojones. Thank God for the wetsuit, but it still rocked me...took a few seconds to situate the boys and straighten out my legs.

T1:
T1 was insane!!! About 250 yards from the lake and up the helix to the changing room, then another 150+ out and around another parking level to my bike. The distance added to my typically shitty T1 time - it took me 8+ minutes to get going on the bike. But 30 seconds of that was kissing babies and signing autographs. Being in 668h place at that point, I was in high demand.

Bike:
Bob - thanks again for the ZIPP loaners!! You da man and I appreciate your generosity. I owe you some good alcohol.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. The lake was so warm I knew I had to drink up. 75 degree water and a little 98.6 degree pee and it got toasty out there. But before leaving T1 I had to embarrass myself again by dropping my bike.   I guess it's too much for me to put my watch on, hold my half of PB&J and keep my bike upright at the same time. A volunteer helped me out and retrieved my Sustained Energy bottle and put it back in my bottle cage. I should've checked it before I took off.....1 mile into the ride I reach back for my first nutrition intake of the race and - gone. My primary food source for the 112 miles is
fricken gone!   %^&$!*! No biggie, I still have my Cytomax and 1 Gu, plus the PowerBar stuff at the aid stations. At mile 2 the road is horrible, and littered with at least a dozen bottles that had flown out of people's cages. My Cytomax flew out, and 4 of us were stopped and scrambling between the riders to get our bottles back. I figured my bad
luck quota had been met by then, so I thanked the good Lord for getting it over with and cranked it back up to start racing. I love the bike - it's my favorite part of any tri race. But for some dumb-ass reason I always have the most issues on the bike. Not to be outdone by my faulty seat-post situation last year at IMC, I lost my Cytomax around mile 40, then flatted at mile 75. On Friday before the race I changed out a slow-leak back tire - had the pros at the bike shop install my new top-end Continental racing clincher. "We'll do it right. We use a triple glue process for maximum adhesion. It takes 2 hours". I thought this was awesome - no way would that sucker roll on those steep downhill
turns. Then I got the flat. I couldn't get the damned tire off! That triple glue process was some good shit. I pushed and pulled and wrestled it and was sweating far more than I had while I was on the bike. 12 minutes later I was rolling again....but paranoid and a little conservative because of the glue-less spare I was now riding on.

What an awesome bike course though. Beautiful countryside. And some kick-ass down-hills that swerved left and right and ran through shaded canyons. Some good flat straight-aways but plenty of challenging rollers throughout the 6800' of climbing (according to Linda's Garmin). I hooked up with a small group and we were pushing each other pretty well. Some dude in a man-kini kept creeping into the group - bad look. I couldn't ride behind that so kept pushing to stay in front of him. The aid station food was getting to me around mile 80. I hadn't trained with anything but Sustained Energy so the solids were making me nauseous. That combined with the man-kini dude and I'm lucky I didn't heave. I was thankful that I stuffed some of Linda's Tums in my bento box at the last minute. They kept the churning in check.

T2:
T2 was non eventful. The balls of my feet were sorer (is that a real word?) than usual so that was weird coming off the bike. But I had the familiar ass pain to distract me from my feet. I changed out, got slathered up with sunscreen again and blazed out onto the run course at a speed that would make Marvin proud. (Marvin is our neighborhood tortoise)

Run:
The run course was pretty easy, but it was muggy so the heat index of 95 degrees was taking its toll (real temp was 88). It was a downhill start, then flattened out until the stadium. We ran on the grass and around the inside of the 80,000 seat Badger football stadium. Very cool! Then out to Lake Mendota. Observatory Hill sucked...I could not
manage to "Make this Hill your Bitch!" like the sign said. My quads started screaming around mile 15 despite walking through every aid station. I got an adrenaline jolt at mile 25 and hammered the last mile in....then wondered why I didn't pick it up at mile 22 or 23. I felt better at mile 26 than at mile 13. Bizarre. The rest Linda has covered.

Thanks again to everybody for your well wishes and support, not only leading up to the race itself but throughout the grinding training regimen that most of us - in a perverse and demented sort of way - actually enjoy. Madison is a great town with a fantastic collection of beer, brats and cheese. Looking forward to 6/27/10 - Coeur d'Alene!

IM MOO stats:
- Yards from the lake to T1 and then to my bike: 400+
- Number of people seen peeing on the side of the road: zero....unbelievably
- # seen puking: 6 (Linda saw another dozen or more, 2 while on the bike, Hardcore!)
- # seen puking in the athlete food tent: 1 (no bucket available, huge mess)
- # of snot rockets blown - dozens
- # of snot rockets blown my way - 2 (Cass, what goes around comes around)
- # of submerged prostate exams - 1 (Linda's friend swore someone had punctured his wetsuit...and possibly gained unlawful entry)
- # of times I shifted gears - 1,757,983 (felt like it anyway)
- # of bees the size of small birds that bounced off my helmet: 4 (1 guy got stung 3 times)
- # of Wildflower-type coed aid stations: zero (therefore the boobs & buns sightings remained at what you might expect - 1 nice pair of each!) - Linda had to read this 3x before she got it.
- # of people seen who'd shit themselves: zero! (Cristina was not so lucky at CDA. To see it, not do it)
- # of people shouting your name: hundreds, if not 1000 or more. They printed your first name on your run #, and made it mandatory to wear it on the bike too.
- 2397 started the race, 2176 finished, 221 DNF'd, 6 pros DNF'd.
Hurts So Good: Vineman 70.3 Race Report - Dan Perkins
As I mentioned in my previous post the Vineman 70.3 was to be a "tune up" or test for the upcoming Ironman Louisville at the end of August. A tune up race gives you a chance to check fitness, sharpen focus and tweak limiters or reveal blind spots. I did want to go with a hope of doing well and certainly breaking the 5 hour mark but the purpose was to gage training to racing conditions.
Since Vineman 70.3 is held in Santa Rosa, California it is now an easy, less than 2 hour drive to the race start. As instructed by coach Brian, I arrived the day before the race at race time start to swim and check water, sighting and depth. After chatting with Lee and Cherie Gruenfeld, I jumped in the water and swam out past the two bridges and back. It definitely was warm in the wetsuit as water temps were reported to be 76 degrees. After getting out it was time to go check in at the race, chat with some vendors and connect with a few friends from the desert. Then it was off to lunch, check in at the hotel and then back to join in at the IronPrayer service near the race venue.
When I arrived back at Windsor High School I walked over to where Troy had set up the FCA-E tent. Robin was there and soon came Susy and together it was an intimate time of encouragement. When it was over the temperature was still close to 100. I had been on my feet a lot throughout the day and needed to get off my feet and continue to put more water in my body. So opting to have a quiet evening of race prep and fueling I headed back to the hotel, stopped by Trader Joe's, picked up dinner (an antipasto salad and chicken salad to stuff into pita bread) and breakfast (a soy protein smoothie, blueberry bars, bananas and Clif bars to munch on pre-race) and plenty of water!
After getting the bike prepped with Hammer Gels, Endurolyte packets and a spare tube and CO2 cartridge, everything was packed and ready for a 5:30 departure in the morning. Since the wifi that I paid extra for wasn't working, I watched a little women's softball on ESPN (no Versus and TdF at this lovely Establishment) and went to bed at 9:30.
RACE DAY:
Alarms off at scheduled 5am. I easily woke up put on all my gear: timing chip, heart rate monitor, shorts, jersey... warm clothes. walked my bike back out to the car, ate and drank my breakfast, packed up the room and pulled out of the parking lot at precisely 5:30 am. Hit the Starbucks for a grande Americano and found myself rolling into Guerneville at 6am. I found (legal) parking easily in town and decided since there was still over an hour and a half before I would start my day, I put my seat back and napped for about 15 min.
This race brings out a lot of people and it was definitely crowded at Johnson's Beach. After laying out my transition gear and getting body marked the last formality is porta-potty duty and then wait it out.
Swim:
Since I've been in the 50-54 age group this year, several races have had a swim wave titled 50+ making them very big, if not the largest wave start of the day. Vineman lived up to that. Lining up nearer the right hand side of the group I was able to get a pretty smooth lead out and a bit more shade from the sun. sighting was eventually pretty difficult going out because the sun reflection on the water made it nearly impossible to see distant buoys but the river is narrow and it's pretty hard to get too far off track. Going out, you're swimming against the current and the further up river you go, the shallower the water becomes. Although swimming relaxed, I could still tell something isn't jiving with my open water swim. Why I can swim so well in the pool and flail in the open water is a mystery to me and something I'll be working on in the next several weeks.
At the turn around, as I breathed to my right, I notice a body upright (walking) and then felt the gravel of the river bottom on the next stroke. I was swimming in about three feet of water but stayed horizontal and swam past the walker. Now heading back with the sun behind me everything became clear and quickly found myself coming out of the water feeling pretty refreshed. I was amazed however at the amount of people from the previous wave with an eight minute advantage that I had swam past. Kind of makes you think you're a pretty fast swimmer yourself... not so; watch said something like 32:??.
T-1:
Here it's gravel and old carpet squares; not the best for your feet but you get the job done. finding my bike (one rack over) I slid under a open space, yank off my wetsuit, put on my glasses, helmet, shoes... SHOES! where are my socks? I forgot to put them in my Transition bag. Crud... this means I'll be fine on the bike but having to run over 13 miles without socks is a sure-fire recipe for blisters and pain but nothing I can do about it now. So, I pack everything in my swim bag (you have to pack up all your stuff because it is later transported to the race finish since this is a two transition race or a point to point race, meaning it doesn't start and finish in the same location) and off I go.
Bike: The start is at the bottom of a little hill and many people were just running or walking their bikes to the top to mount, I on the other hand, know this about the race so my gears were in the lowest gearing allowing me to just pop on and dance up the hill. At the top I check all my gear; HR monitor, computer, all looks good and hit the main road out of town. For about 7 miles it's an easy flat pretty run out among the river, redwoods and vines. Then you cross underneath the road you were just on and hit a steep little climb to get you on the other side. Approaching the hill I change out of my big ring into the easier small but all my chain does is rattle around doing nothing... this is called "throwing a chain." For newbies this is always a problem but never for a pro like me... right? I just allow the momentum of my travel to take me half way up the hill while I gently try to peddle the chain back on using my front derailleur... BUT... Not this time! No sirree, with my new oval shaped Rotorings, the chain gets lodged inside the chain rings and wrapped around the bottom bracket. Now stuck in the middle of the road, I'm forced to hope off the bike and pull to the side to discover that I'm literally in a jam! Chain jam that is. I try to pull the chain out with no luck and not the big ring is fused against the chain. I try working it out from several angles and multiple tries. Trying not to get flustered I just keep trying but what seemed like an eternity I thought to myself... Oh well, I guess my race is over! People that I had just past were whizzing by me now and I just stood there. Then I thought to look for the specific area that was jammed and realized if I tug on the ring and chain at the same time it might break loose and that is exactly what happened. It was a gamble because I wasn't sure I would bend the chain ring but it was fine. But my troubles weren't over yet. Now on this steep incline I've got to get clipped in. This is much different than mountain biking, my peddles are one sided... after several at temps trying to move sideways on the hill I finally coasted downhill to a driveway and finally got going again.
Once on Westside road, I'm in familiar territory. The road is beautiful passing vineyard after vineyard and underneath tall redwood and stately oak trees... with the exception of one, oak tree, I mean. Just minutes prior a long heavy branch broke away from the tree taking down a power line with it and a couple of riders. I showed up on scene just as the emergency vehicles were getting the power line up off the ground and securing the tree limb to the side of the road. The ambulance had already left but you could see this really hurt someone.
For the rest of the bike I just plugged along at an average 128 heart rate. My speed was good enough to keep me from getting passed by anyone from behind while I was passing dozens per mile. However again on a short steady climb, at the bottom of Canyon Road, I threw that chain again, this time I just hopped off the bike and manually put it back on. Taking three Endurolytes per 40 minutes on the bike, nutrition was good and water intake was steady at a bottle and a half per hour (30 ounces). At the 45 mile mark comes a short little climb called Chalk Hill. It can seem steep to most but felt pretty routine to me now that I train up here in the Santa Cruz mountains.
On the run it to T-2 with about 3-4 miles to go, I passed a guy in my AG. For some reason he decided it was time for him to race and pushed ahead of me but didn't hold the pace so, I passed him again... 15 seconds later he passed me and said something I couldn't hear. I just let him stay 15 meters up as we now were on the final approach in. I slipped out of my shoes, hit the ground running right by my new friend into transition... I never saw him again!
T-2:
It's a long run from the dismount to where you rack your bike... knowing all I had to do was collect and stuff my run nutrition in my pockets, place visor and put on my sock-less running shoes, I was out in a flash!
Run:
Coming off the bike I felt great. No back problems, no quad fatigue... I just felt fresh. The temperature was warm but not like Hawaii... Not even CLOSE! So when I ran out onto the road many of the female pros were coming in at a nice clip. At the one mile mark I starting checking pace... and boy was I surprised! Mile 1-2 was a fast 7:17, mile 2-3 where there are some good hills, 7:38, then back to 7:20 then 7:32 and it went like that while I was holding a 146-148 HR -- perfect! just like in training.
While taking a GU Roctane every third aid station and 3 Endurolytes every other, I was surprised how poorly staffed the aid stations were. They had little water and often you either slowed down to get something or even had to pick something off the table yourself. This didn't deter me from what was shaping up to be a great run and I wasn't going to let anything to get me thinking otherwise!
At the run turnaround, La Crema Winery, I saw Susy going in and out with great words of encouragement and it was here I could see and feel the heat beginning to take it's toll on the field. Many were walking and I could see now my HR was in the low to mid 150's. But I knew I was on my way back with only 5 miles to go I would do everything to keep the pace high. Doing the math in my head I knew, not only was I on pace to break 5 hours (even with the two thrown chains and no socks) I was looking at breaking 4:50.
With less than three miles to go to the finish I could hear the first pitter-patter of feet coming from behind. It was a tall, blond, leggy type who was tapping out a steady rhythm. We encouraged each other and that was the extent of any come from behind pass! I could still see her as we went into the High School and I could tell I was going to be close to the 4:50 mark... really close, so I picked up the pace a bit and sooner than I was ready, came across the line in 4:49:54.
Afterward, it was good to connect with friends, teammates, Troy and Robin, Alan and Debbie Woodruff from la Quinta joined us for some post race food and we got a chance to catch up. Thanks to Troy for driving me back to Guerneville to pick up my car and Susy for letting me take a shower at her place prior to the awards ceremony. Up until then I was just happy to have done a good race but the third place finish was even sweeter, knowing the trophy is a bottle of La Crema Wine in a wooden box. But when they called up the order of Men 50-54 for their awards, there was a bit of confusion. Then the announcement. "We have a change in the standings... 5th place is now... so and so, forth place is ... third goes to... Second is Dan Perkins and first is ... WHAT? Apparently the first place guy cut the run course and logged a 50 minute 1/2 marathon. He was DQ'd on the spot (he wasn't there). So not only a bottle of wine but a nice brand new TYR transition bag as well... Just like the one I bought a year ago.
Over all I couldn't have been more pleased. I headed home after chatting with Lee and Cherie again, saying the next time we see each other will be back in Kona. First I need to go through Louisville, which I'm feeling a lot better about now!
Stats:
Swim with transition - 35:26
Bike - 2:35:20 (21.6 mph avg.)
T-2 - 2:11
Run - 1:36:56 (7:24 per mile pace)
Time 4:49:54
2nd out of 109 in AG
115 overall out of 2286
Oh, and by the way... only one blister, on the side of my right foot. It really was a good day!

A Biggest Loser Day at SF Triathlon - Dan Perkins
I’m a long course triathlete. However lately I’ve given a few attempts back at the Olympic distance race due to racing for Fellowship of Christian Athletes and my new Tri-club here in the bay area TRIbe Triathlon. FCA gets great exposure at TRI California events and the TRIbe is a fun group who tend to congregate at the local races. So, when the opportunity for another easy (relative term) Saturday race came along I took the chance.
San Francisco Triathlon, formerly known as Treasure Island has typically been one of the last races of the year held in November but this year it was moved to a more temperate month for the bay area, July. However it was a week before Vineman 70.3 a race I was more focused on in training and preparation. But Coach Brian gave me the go ahead for a tune up to the tune up... So I signed up!
This year one of the features of the SFTri was the inclusion of several veterans of the TV show, The Biggest Loser. I had seen Blaine and Dane at Wildflower earlier this year and now would get a chance to see many more. Also, noted during the day prior to the race was what appeared to be a pretty small field. I figured that most of the bay area folks had been focused on Vineman and chose not to sign up. But it is unfortunate as Terry Davis and the entire TriCal team put on such great races in interesting venues.
Pre Race: One of the neat things about this race was getting the chance to race with one of the people in the church where I pastor. David had just done Silicon Valley and now had the bug and I convinced him he was ready for another Oly distance race! He bit! So early Saturday morning David showed up at my house where we piled bike up on bike and grazed a Starbucks speeding up the peninsula. As stated before the venue seemed calm compared to most races simply because there were only a few hundred people in the race. After quickly setting up transition there is a good amount of wait as the earlier waves get underway in the water with 15 minutes separation between. As usual I’m an older guy and that means in the back of the line for wave start. The Biggest Losers had their own wave... I thought that at least was pretty cool and was surprised to see over 15 of them. About half were competing in relay and the other half as individuals.
SWIM: Let’s face it the waters of the SF bay are cold! Last year I got in too early and nearly froze, this year I waited to the end and still froze. After the horn the two loop, counter clockwise swim is pretty calm in the protected harbor underneath the Bay Bridge. And though contact was nearly nonexistent, and arm turnover felt good I exited the water in 28 minutes; over a minute slower than last year! I somehow have to get this swim thing down...
T1 and BIKE: It’s a fairly short distance to the rack and having everything laid out well with plenty of room. Quickly I was on my way out for 6 laps around the flat abandoned Naval Base. The road conditions are not the best and there are something to the tune of 30 ninety degree turns per lap! It is not a race where you’re going to set a bike PR... Add to that the congestion of newbies who don’t understand drafting and blocking rules and it’s a recipe for frustration. You just need to be patient and keep steady. Oh, and not forget what lap you’re on. I held off on the first lap with the intention of negative splitting each lap, which I was able to do until lap six where I backed off just a bit to ready my run legs. I had been running well of the bike during brick workouts and felt this would be a good day for a run!
T2 and RUN: coming in there was a guy apologizing for drafting off me... Wha! That’s a first! But he promised he wasn’t going to give me a run for my money. He actually said that. And he was right, well, once I was able to get my brand new AVIA Bolt race flats on. The night before I had pre-laced them with Yanks which allow you to use your shoes like slippers, where they fit snuggly using elastic strings. But mine were too tight. Oh, well; lesson learned. After muscling on those shoes (which are the MOST comfortable race flat I’ve ever worn) I was off... And I felt off. You know one of those days where the wheels just don’t seem to turn right. I wanted to run the 10K at a 145 heart rate which I was able to do but it didn’t feel like it was hitting right. But then I reminded myself I came to “Tune Up” not win the race and that I had been doing big volume for Ironman and to just let the run feel natural. So, I eased up and relaxed and started to cheer on my fellow racers. Especially fun were the Biggest Losers out there! Colleen, Heba, Ed, Blaine, Pete, Matt, Dane... I used to watch all of them run on television and now I’m seeing it live... And it looks the same. Running no matter how you look at it just looks painful. Which I reminded myself as I started the third and final lap of one mile out and one mile back. Doing the math in my head I could tell my race was going to be slower than the year before but how slow was the question. Coming into the finish I could see I was off by a few minutes... Yet good enough to take 2nd place in my age group. When I came over to a friend who came by to watch his first triathlon he said, “Dude, you just finished a triathlon and you’re not even breathing hard!” I told him that wasn’t a complement when you see all those coming across the line spent, having given it their all. That’s what racing is all about.
Yet for some of us racing can be just another training day!
Stats

Swim - 28:22
T1 - 1:49
Bike - 1:08:53
T2 - 1:15
Run - 45:58
Total - 2:26:17 2nd AG/32 OA

Challenge Roth - Kris Reynolds
I completed the Challenge Roth (formerly Ironman Europe) 1 week ago today on July, 12th. Challenge Roth is an amazing race and I had an amazing day. Here is my race day re-cap:
Before the race:
I woke up at 4:15am (after about only 2 hours of sleep) to an overcast - but dry - morning. It had been raining every day since I arrived so I was worried it would rain on race day. We grabbed a quick breakfast at our Gastehaus and then Thomas (Helmut's brother) drove us to the swim start in Hipolstein. We had dropped off our bikes and T2 bags the day before so I just had to get my T1 stuff arranged and then get in my wetsuit. They gave us individual plastic bike cover bags to protect out bikes over night (see attached photo). They were really cool! I was remarkably calm for that hour leading up the race. I was in the first wave going off at 6:20, so once I was in my wetsuit, I dropped off my T2 bag and my "after-race" clothes bag and headed to the canal.

The Swim
The swim is in a shipping channel. It is fairly narrow so they do wave starts. There are so few women (300 of 2500) that the women start in the first wave along with the pros and the men over 65. Many of you know that the swim is the part that I fret over the most. I am not a strong swimmer and 2.4 miles is a long way to go. I got in the water and lined up along the rights side of the canal about 1/2 way back (I'd rather be passed than have to pass swimmers). The course is a double out and back - the first out and back much longer than the second. It went incredibly smooth and I got out in 1hr 23min (about 1.5 minutes faster than I projected).

T1
After the swim, you grab your T1 bag and head in to the changing tent. Yes, I said the changing tent - there was only 1 so it was co-ed! Hey - it's Europe afterall. Anyway, it didn't even phase me that there were men in the tent. I dropped my swim bottoms, put on my cushy bike shorts, lathered up with sunscreen in case the sun decided to come out, put on a bike jersey and arm warmers (very difficult with wet arms) and was off to my bike.

The Bike
The bike course is 2 loops through lots of little neighboring villages and ending closer to the finish (yes, the swim start, T2, and the finish were 3 different locations - but it works well). The course was exceptionally beautiful (Germany is VERY green in the summer with all the rain they get). I thought the spectators in Penticton at Ironman Canada were great. Well, the spectators in Roth blew them away! They estimated the crowds to total over 100,000! There were a few climbs on each lap that had people lining either side of the road screaming for you and DJ's at the top encouraging you. The famous climb "Solarer Berg" is a scene you've only seen when watching Tour de France. You honestly are climing this hill and wondering how the heck you are going to get through the narrow gap the crowds have left (see photo). It is amazing! I really fed off their energy (both times). During my second loop of the bike it rained a little and towards the end of that loop, the wind picked up as well. I don't think either really affected me too much though. My goal was to do the bike in 6hrs. 30min. - I nailed that with a 6:30:19!

T2
Like in Ironman races, the volunteers at Roth take your bike for you and rack it so all you have to do is grab your T2 bag and run in to the co-ed changing tent. I changed out of my bike shorts and in to tri shorts, took my bike jersey off (had my triathlon singlet on underneath), slathered on some more sun block, threw on my hat and running shoes and after a brief potty stop was off on the run.

The Run
The run - so although the run is my strength, I was a bit worried how this one would go since this training season, I did not do a single "brick" run off any of my long rides. I did one short triathlon in May, and did a couple of runs after my 23 mile Thursday bike rides in to work, but did not do any brick sessions off my long rides. It didn't matter. My legs felt fine when I started running. I immediately set in to a 9 minute pace that felt good but proved to be a little too fast for me in an Ironman. My plan was to run to each aid station and take walk breaks through them. There were 20 aid stations on the run - about every 2km or 1.5 miles - so that seemed like a good plan. Unfortunately, starting around 10k, near the first turn-around, I started getting side cramps and had to take additional walk breaks. Helmut's mom, dad, and brother were all near this turn around which was actually a clover leaf pattern so that we ran by them 4 times. After leaving this turn around, I spotted Helmut. He started exactly an hour after me and based on our indiviual goals, we thought we would finish around the same time. I was already ahead of my goal time (12hrs. 45min) so I was shocked to see him already. He was 10 minutes behind. The run course was along a different portion of the same canal and was a great mix of asphalt and crushed rock. Very nice on the knees! Anyway, my cramps eventually went away at a slightly slower running pace and I got back in to a good rhythm. By the 2nd turnaround (around 30km) Helmut had closed the gap to less than 7 minutes. I had 12km to hold him off (no, I am not competitive!) but unfortunately my cramps returned. Not sure what happened since I didn't eat the liverwurst sandwiches, pickles, or other random offerings at the aid stations. Whatever it was, I had to take more walk breaks than I would have liked. Anyway, to end the suspense for those of you that don't already know, Helmut never caught me :) I crossed the finish line with a run split of 4:20:34 and a total time of 12:24:46. Helmut finished 90 seconds later. We both PR'd! We couldn't have been happier. It was great that we finished so close to one another so that I was still at the finish area when he crossed the finish line (photo attached).

Overall
Overall - I am very pleased with this race. I trained less than I did for IM Canada in 2005 but in a way, I think I trained smarter. I went in to the race not being burnt out on the training and not being over-trained in general. I improved on each of the legs - 1 min off the swim, 24min. off the bike (although I had a flat in Canada which probably accounted for 10-15min.) and 23 minutes off the run. All this with less training and a more "balanced" life overall. I liked this race so much that I was tempted to sign up for next year's Roth Challenge (which was not the case at IM Canada) but I didn't - and it's already sold out :( Anyway, for those of you who are still reading, yes, I know this is extremely long, there is a great U Tube re-cap video. It's only 5 minutes long and gives you a great sense of the course, the crowds, the Solarer Berg climb, and the overall race. It's only 5 minutes long. Take a look if you want: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNosgaTbe94
Thanks again for all of your kind words. Til next time...
Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2009 - Anna Timbie
The swim.
Yikes. This was the hardest open water swim I’ve ever done! It was already very windy by 7am and the water was very choppy. Swimming away from the shore, into the wind, was really tough and since the swim is a two loop course, we had to do it twice. The first loop was the worst because I was swimming with 2500 other people, 2000 of whom are big guys hitting me in the head. The course makes two quick 90 deg turns before heading back to shore and both were brutal! I intentionally stayed far to the outside on the first turn, but ended up taking a much more direct line into the second turn and got stuck inside the Ironman washing machine. My goggles were knocked off but thankfully they landed right in my hand so I could pop them back on and keep going. Riding the waves back to shore was actually kind of fun. The crowd had thinned out for the second loop, but waves were still there. Gordon and I finished the swim together, just like at IM Canada four years ago!

T1
After some help out of my wetsuit, I grabbed my gear and saw Linda standing in transition, fully dressed. I was so surprised/distracted to see her, that I just followed the group I was running with into the men’s changing tent! The volunteers shooed me away into the women’s tent, where I threw on my bike shorts and arm warmers and was off.

The bike.
The bike was windy and chilly, but I think I did a good job of riding steady and staying positive the whole way. I passed people on the hills and when people passed me on the flats I just told myself that I was “right where I needed to be”. I set my watch to beep every 15 minutes to remind myself to eat a little piece of Clif Bar and think the steady drip of fuel helped prevent the highs and lows and crankiness the follow blood sugar. One of my salt tablets broke open, covering my cut-up bits of Clif Bar with a salt coating like a pretzel. Delicious! I saw my family as I rode out of transition and again at the end of the first bike loop and that was a huge boost! I think the two loop course format is really tough. It’s very mentally challenging to go back out and “do it all over again”.

T2
No excitement. I found the correct tent, changed shoes and headed off to run a marathon.

The run.
The wind kept blowing all day, even when it started raining on my second run loop. The run out of town has a downhill trend, but you had to run into the headwind. The run back into town is more uphill, but you get the tailwind “push”. So both directions are hard My legs felt pretty bad for the first two miles, but then I warmed up, found a good rhythm and held a steady pace the whole way, despite what the results say. Their split times are screwed up. One of the highlights of my day was passing Steven Aurousseau as I was headed out on my second run loop and he was at mile 23 headed home. He looked great and I knew he would cruise to the finish. Congratulations Steven! Again, it was great to see my Dad on both run loops. He was smiling and snapping photos, so figured I must not look too bad. I didn’t really have any time goals for myself and I never looked at my splits or total time all day, but I was pretty pleased to break 12 hours.

Thank you’s.
Thanks to coach Jose and my lane mates for all the early morning swim sets. If only we had a wave machine at Foothill I’ve have been even better prepared for race day. Thank you coach Becky for all the hard run workouts, advice and support this year. And most importantly, thank you Cristina for signing up for this adventure one year ago and training with me every step of the way! I don’t know if I could have done it without you and it certainly wouldn’t have been as fun. And thank you to our long-ride buddies Tom and Jim for the entertainment and encouragement over many miles. It’s hard to write a short Ironman summary!


Silicon Valley Olympic Distance Triathlon - John Madden
This was my first olympic distance triathlon since 2008. I had previously competed in Wildflower mountain bike triathlon for fun. After getting used to the idea of swimming through a duck latrine, the swim went better than expected. I quickly set out toward the front of my wave and by the first buoy was swimming on my own. I knew there was at least 1 person in front of me, but I couldn't get a good look. After rounding the first buoy I came upon the mass of swimmers from the previous wave. I felt like I was dodging people in the water for the rest of the swim. I came out of the water in 3rd place in my age group and quickly set off on the bike. It took several miles to get my legs into a groove on the bike. After rounding the turnaround on Santa Teresa, I started to feel really good and began to pick up some speed. After Bailey hill, I was glad to have a 11 tooth chainring to push most of the way back to Lake Almaden. I came off the bike still in 3rd place in my age group. Again, it took a couple of miles to get my running legs. By mile 3 of the run, 4th place in the age group caught me. We traded leads all the way through the extended course (7.3 miles), but I had just enough extra kick to pass him in the chute to take 3rd place in the age group. I was actually happy that the course was 1 mile longer, becuase I think my running endurance allowed me to outrun 4th place.

Race Reimbursements

Each competitive season TRIbe Triathlon offers a race reimbursement program for age group athletes. This document outlines the race reimbursement program for 2010.
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Race Roster