Happy training for the week of 7/23.

Wake Up Chico: CTC Board Member Laura Van Dervoort was featured on Wake Up Chico this morning talking about the Chico Tri Club.  You can see the video clip here.  Thanks, Laura for representing CTC.

Sacramento International Triathlon: Greg and Tammie Watkins raced the inaugural Sacramento International Triathlon on 7/22.  Results have been posted to the Results page of the website.

Vineman 70.3:  Seven CTC athletes stepped up to the Half Iron distance and raced Vineman 70.3 on July 15.  Racers included Sean Molina, Justin Waller, Ken Petruzzelli, Jason Berry, Gloria Petruzzelli, Jay Pothier and Jennifer Moore.  Results have been posted to the Results page of the website.  Also posted are race reports from Justin Waller and Jason Berry.  Finally, congratulations are in order for Sean who earned a spot in the 2012 Ironman World Championship 70.3 to be held at Lake Las Vegas on September 9^th.

Donner Lake: Shawn Hughes and Joanne Gilchrist raced the Donner Lake Sprint and Olympic triathlons respectively on July 15, 2012.  Results have been posted to the Results page of the website.

Next General Meeting: Mark your calendars now for the next CTC general membership meeting, which will take place on Sunday August 26^th at 3:00 PM at the home of Shawn Hughes and Joanne Gilchrist (1267 Orchard Way).  CTC Member Ryan Santanna-Hart will give a talk on Nutrition Needs for Triathletes and the general membership will be asked to vote on a proposal of financial support for Girls on the Run of Butte County.  More details to follow.

Next Club Race – Tri for Fun:  The next club race is the August 4th Tri for Fun Sprint Triathlon at Rancho Seco.  Shawn Hughes (sponsorship@chicotriathlonclub.com) will be taking the lead on organizing club activities for this beginner-friendly race.  Look for updates from Shawn as race date approaches.

Following Club Race – Mount Shasta Tinman:  CTC will be well represented at the Mount Shasta Tinman on September 2^nd.  As a reminder, this race filled up for the first time last year and several people were unable to sign up on race day.  If you’re planning to race, be sure and register ahead of time.  Look for more announcements on camping, lodging, and other club activities as the race date approaches.

Final Club Race – Granite Bay:  Our final club race of the year is Granite Bay on September 23^rd, which is the California Sprint Distance TRI Club Championship.  Championship Points are awarded for all participants, regardless of finish time, so the more racers we have, the better our chances.  CTC finished second last year by a single point, just missing out on $500, a Huge TRI Club Trophy, and reserved bike racks next year at all TBF Racing triathlons.

Cycling Kits:  Several members have expressed an interest in buying one of the cool, new CTC cycling kits.  The minimum for re-orders is five, so if you’re interested, please contact Sean Molina (training@chicotriathlonclub.com) so he can arrange for a re-order, which will be done through the Voler online store.

CTC Gear at Northrim: CTC has lots of cool gear (shirts, sweatshirts, visors, tri kits, etc.) for sale at North Rim (178 E. 2nd St.).  These items are made available at cost as a service to current club members.

Xterra Wetsuits:  Xterra Wetsuits is a sponsor of the Chico Triathlon Club and is offering up to 60% off with free shipping to club members.  Orders can be placed through this website.  If you'd like the code, just send an email to president@chicotriathlonclub.com.

Greg Watkins

President, Chico Triathlon Club

Friday 7/13/12 - Travel Day

Woke up Friday morning and per my training plan, I was supposed to get in a 1 hour very easy bike ride.  I didn't want to have to do this in Guerneville after my long car ride, so I had decided earlier in the week to do it early Friday morning.  I ended up going from my house out just past the covered bridge, which at a nice easy pace ended up being just under an hour.  When I got back to the house, I packed up the car, put the kids in the other car and left for grandma's to drop off the kids.  We finally left Chico at about 12:30, destination, Guerneville.

Not too bad of a drive, took about 3.5 hours and there was no traffic except for the last 1/2 mile in Guerneville.  Showed up at the cabins, which we had only seen pictures of on the internet, and it was not too bad.  A bit quaint, but the location was perfect.  The start of the swim was literally less than 100 yards from my cabin.  I figured this would make it much easier for the last minute bathroom stops.  We got everything out of the car and into the cabin and started to get settled in.  We took it easy that night and went to a little pizza parlor just down the street for dinner.  It was very busy with all of the activities and events that were going on that weekend.  Took 45 minutes just to get the pizza, but it was worth the wait.  We watched a movie and went to bed that night at about 10:30 or so.

Saturday 7/14/12 - Pre-Race Check In Day

Slept in until about 9:00am Saturday morning.  It was the greatest thing ever!  I have not been able to sleep past 6:30 for the last few months so, it was great to get in some extra rest.  We finally got up and went out to Subway for one of their breakfast sandwiches, I had the 6" ham, egg and cheese on wheat, which I love.  I was in need of a nice easy 40 min bike ride and 20 min run per my training plan, so I got my gear together, put some air in the tires and headed out for a quick ride up hwy 116. I didn't like the traffic on 116, so I cut my bike a bit short and only did 30 minutes but threw in (2) hard 20-30 second efforts.  When I got back, I grabbed my running shoes, and went out for 15 minutes of easy run and also did the same as on the bike and did (2) hard 20-30 second efforts (both of them, just over race pace).  Everything felt pretty good, but I still seemed slow for some reason.  I don't know what made it seem slow, but it didn't help my confidence very much.  I kind of shrugged it off and didn't worry about it.  Figured it was just the long drive from yesterday and adjusting to the new environment.

After I got back to the cabin and cleaned up, I gathered my T2 gear and we headed out to Windsor High School in order to check in and set up my run gear for T2 as well as to look at the shops that had set up.  We had some snacks before we left, so we didn't stop for lunch before we headed out.  We ended up getting to the school at about 1pm and looked around and ran into Sean, Jen and Jay and we all watched the 1:30 showing of the required pre-race video.  The video was rather annoying since they had this puppet chicken that you could not understand throughout the entire video.  Anyways, after the video we all got our race packets and then went to set up for T2.  I put down my transition mat (I used this since it is bright red and it seemed like it would be easier to spot than a towel), I then put down my running shoes, a filled water bottle with (2) GU Roctanes attached and a small towel to dry off if needed.  I also took my recently acquired Vineman T-shirt  and put it in my Oceanside gear bag and tied it around the rack.  This served (2) purposes, One, to spot my T2 area easier and Two, to have a spot to put my stuff in when I am done and to have a T-shirt to wear after I finish.  Once I was done with T2 setup,  we then looked around the tent shops, sampled some wares and purchased a few Vineman products.   Jay, Jenn, Myself and Marisa then went to downtown Windsor to have a very late lunch around 3pm.  After lunch, we went back to our cabin in Guerneville to relax and make sure I had everything ready for tomorrow.

I went through all of my gear and made sure I had everything that I needed.  I put my (3) GU Roctanes and my (3) Margarita Shot Blocks (with extra sodium) in my aero fuel bag on the bike.  I then made sure I had all of my clothes out for race morning; my tri-suit, my swim gear, my short sleeve wetsuit, goggles, etc. and set those aside.  My Garmin Edge 500 is what I use on the bike since it can read the power meter, but since my Forerunner 305 is out for repair, I wasn't able to have that for this race so that I can see what my pace is.  I didn't like that, but I figured I can pace myself off the mile markers so I wasn't too terribly worried about it.  So I set up the 500, set up my Speedfil A2 aero-bar mounted water bottle and set the bike off to the side for the night.  I did one final check of my gear bag and then closed everything up for the night.  I was trying to get to bed by 10:30, but I never sleep well before a race, and to compound that, I never sleep well when I am not in my own bed, so double whammy there.

I finally got to bed around 11:15 or so and was able to go out pretty quick.  The one nice thing was that since my wave didn't start until 7:40 and we were right at the start location, I figured I could get up at 6:00am and eat something substantial for breakfast.

Sunday 7/15/12 - Race Day

I had set the alarm for 6:00am, but ended up waking up about 10 minutes before it went off.  I proceeded to get up and take a shower so that I could fully wake up.  It was probably the best thing I could have done, it really washed out the sleep in my eyes and woke me up pretty well.  After the shower I put  on my tri-suit and heart rate monitor and made  myself  a bagel with cream cheese and then put together my pre-race chocolate shake mixture chugged that down.  After that I put together my water bottles for the behind the seat holders and put them in.  I then grabbed my bike and my tri-pack and headed down to the swim start.  I laid out all of my gear at T1; gloves, helmet sunglasses, shoes, socks etc. and ran into Ken Petruzelli and talked with him for a bit.  I looked at his new BMC TM01 Time Machine and he checked out my Felt B12.  One thing that I noticed on my bike while it was racked up was that the water bottles I had on the back were clear and the Accelerade that I used was bright pink and it really stood out in the sea of bikes.  I made a mental note of that so that I could spot it when I got out of the water.  I also looked around to see if there was any chance that I could just toss my gear bag to Marisa rather than worrying about picking it up in Windsor.  Unfortunately, there was not a good way to do that so I abandoned that idea.

I finished setting up my gear and put my leftovers back in my tri-pack and then walked around to see how everything was going.  By the time I had gotten set up, the Pro Men were coming out of the water.  I was able to get right in there next to the Pro transition area and watch these guys get into T1.  These guys were fast!  It was amazing watching them moving out of the water and getting on their bikes.  That whole thing kind of amped me up for the race.  It was great to see that.

After watching the Pros for a minute, I then went back up to my cabin to use the restroom one last time and put on my race bib (which I now always wear under my wetsuit), my wetsuit and some cheap flip flops.  I carried my race cap, goggles and ear plugs down to the swim start as well.  I use the ear plugs from now on due to my dizziness from the cold water at Oceanside.  Ever since then I have used them and not had the same problem.  Marisa had come down with me to the swim start so I was happy that she would see me start.

I waited while the wave in front of me (the red caps) entered the water and then watched them get counted down to the horn.  Once they were off, my wave (the white caps) all got into the water and started mulling towards the start.  I was looking around for Justin to see if I could spot him since he was in the same wave, but it was about this time that I realized that I never did any warm-up before getting on my wetsuit, so I would be going into this cold.  The only nice thing is that the water was very warm so at least it didn't add to my missing warm-up.  Not much I could do at this point so I just took a few quick strokes and got ready.  All of a sudden the horn goes off without any countdown as was previously done, that was a bit disappointing, but oh well.  I pushed the button on my watch and went to town with my swimming.

The Swim

I have really been trying to work on my swimming in the past month and a half since it has become painfully obvious that this is where I am currently doing my worst.  I tried to focus on getting my body rotated and keeping my stroke the way Wally has been showing me.  I know it wasn't perfect, and I would catch myself not rotating like I should and force myself to fix it.  I noticed a lot of people were standing up and walking through the water.  I knew that it was shallow, but some of these guys were less than knee deep.  I considered getting up and walking as well, but then realized that they were walking a lot slower than I could swim so I just kept at it.  Not much after the turn around, I did end up standing for a few seconds since it was getting a bit too shallow.  I sited myself out and then aimed myself for one of the bridge pillars.  I kept going along and just about 20 yards before the 1st bridge pillar, I saw Ken go past me with his blue cap.  I knew it was him because of his wetsuit and the goggles.  I had pretty much figured that this would happen, so I just relinquished and kept going on my own pace.

I finally got to the end of the swim and finished in 34:36.  Much, better than Oceanside, more than 5 minutes actually.  This made me feel very good coming out of the water, which is rare, because typically when I look at my watch coming out of the water, I don't like what I see.   Running down the carpet, towards the bikes I was able to spot my pink water bottles and go down the correct isle.  I got to my bike and started tearing off my wetsuit and shoving it into the gear bag.  I grabbed my towel and wiped off all of the dirt and rocks from my feet.  I then rolled on my socks, and slid my feet in the shoes.  I thought about putting on gloves, but decided against it and threw those in the bag as well.  I then  grabbed my helmet and sunglasses and headed out.  All in all the 3:35 transition wasn't too terribly bad.  Ended up being 1/2 the transition time I had in Oceanside (7:12).  I made a mental note of both of these and realized that in the first 40 minutes of Vineman, I had already cut 8.5 minutes from my Oceanside time.

The Bike

I got to the base of the hill driveway that leads out to the bike course.  I stopped at the base and considered running up the hill, but it seemed relatively clear so I decided to just clip in and go for it.  I clipped in and started to chug up the hill.  I was in the right gear and was moving along fine, but then a huge cluster formed right at the top of the hill where everyone was trying to stop and clip into their pedals.  I didn't think about that at the base, but luckily I saw an opening.  I ended up swerving to the right and riding up on the sidewalk on the way out and went around the entire mess while I was securely clipped in and moving.  My plan was to have 1 GU right at the start of the bike, and 1 GU for the next (2) 30 minute intervals.  I would then switch over to Shot Blocks with Extra Sodium since I seem to have an issue with quad cramping on the run sometimes

The bike started off pretty nice, it seemed pretty flat for the first few miles, with only some minor dips and valleys I downed one of my GUs and kept track of the time.  I kept a very good pace through the first few miles here, about 23-24mph, but I was watching my heart rate and power as well.  (Before the race, I had decided that I wanted to have a heart rate around 153-154 and a wattage around 260. This had been based on the Oceanside race and the feeling that I could have done a lot more during the bike leg of that race (248W Avg. and 138 HR Avg.)).  It took about 8 miles before my heart rate settled down, but I kept my wattage where I wanted it at right around 260ish.  After the initial, mostly flat few miles, it started into some larger rollers and I wound up passing a lot of people.  I also yo-yoed with (1) guy for about 20 miles, and another for a good 15 during the ride.  I would fall back going up the hills and then I would just fly past them on the down hills.  This went on so often, we actually laughed and chatted each time we passed each other.  It was good to get some levity during the race.  During this time, I had finished off another (2) GUs and was starting planning to move into the Shot Blocks.

I can't remember the exact location, but I came up on Ken I think at about mile 20 on the bike.   I had spotted his red jersey and slowly started to roll up to him.  And with him it was the same thing for a while, I would go past on the downhill and he would catch me going uphill.  This seemed to go on for about 4-5 miles through the rollers and then we hit a good sized hill where he passed me again, but on the downhill side, I really made sure to keep my heart rate and power up and just flew past.  I didn't see him again until the run.  After this there were a few times I had to hit my brakes to avoid hitting a slower cluster of riders, and I noticed that a lot of riders think that they are the fastest guy out there (including me a few times) that would sit just next to the double yellow and cruise along.  I found myself having to yell out "On your left" many times during this ride.  I will say, I only remember about 4 guys that passed me on the bike that stayed out in front of me and I never saw again, so that made me feel pretty good.  Oh yeah, before I forget, Never, Ever, buy a tri kit or a pair of cycling short that are white where the ass cheeks meet, unless I want to scare my opponents.

So after all of this, I finally get to "Chalk Hill" the Oomph! part of the climb apparently.  The climb started at approximately Mile 44 and it was fairly steep.  It didn't seem like it was as bad as the climb at Oceanside, and after looking at the data for both, while Vineman had a larger overall elevation gain, the big climb at Oceanside was longer and higher, which for me is much harder.  I actually got through the tough hill fairly quickly, downed my first Shot Block during the climb and hit the 2 hour mark right at the top of the hill, I then proceeded to fly down the back side of the hill for the last ~12 miles at an average speed of 23.8 mph (calculated).  During this time I was keeping an eye out for Jen since I had figured I based on our start times I should see her around mile 50 on the bike.  Right at about mile 48.9, I yelled at her while I went by.  She was looking very strong and moving at a great clip.

I was feeling pretty good, and for the last few miles, and was trying to make sure my cadence was higher so that I could get ready for the run.  I rolled into T2 at a fairly good speed and ended up with a split of 2:28:26 for the bike leg (22.6 mph average and 11 minutes faster than Oceanside).  Final data from the Garmin showed an average of 258 Watts and an average Heart Rate of 149, which was pretty close to where I wanted to be.

The Run

When I checked my watch and saw the time, I knew that I was going to pay for it on the run.   This was a bit of a gamble that I was hoping would pay off.  I got into T2 and had remembered from yesterday to watch for the pink "X" that someone had conveniently put on the ground so that I could find my row.  I found my row and proceeded to rack my bike, take off my helmet, grab the last (2) shot blocks from my bike pouch and put those in my kit, throw on my shoes, and head out for the run.   The transition here was not the fastest, but there was a lot of ground to cover in this transition.  Ended up with a 2:25 T2, which while faster than Oceanside, I didn't stop to take a bathroom break this time.

I headed out for the run and immediately noticed it in my quads.  They weren't in pain, but I could tell that I went pretty hard on the bike.  Out of the run start, even though I could feel it, I was actually moving pretty well.  I went around the first right turn and noticed a Chico Tri Club kit about 30-40 yards in front of me.  I knew who it was, but was very surprised to see Justin Waller just a few yards in front of me since we started in the same wave.   I figured he must have had a mechanical since because I have ridden with Justin many times and we are fairly close, and I know his swim is much better than mine.  Either way, I thought about trying to close the gap and run with him, but I thought better of it.  I didn't want to slow him down, and I didn't think I could keep up anyways.  kept going along at a decent pace, and kept him in my sites until about mile 5, just before we went into the winery.  By that time, I knew that he was just going to keep pulling away, and I figured he would finish while I was still about a mile out.

I was starting to get annoyed with the run since I couldn't see any mile markers on the course.  I was guessing that the aid stations were the mile markers, but I didn't actually see a mile marker until Mile 6 while running through La Crema Winery.  By that time, I had already been clicking at the aid stations so, I don't know what my splits were for sure.  I re-calibrated at mile 6 and started fresh with my pacing on my watch.  Right about mile 7 on the run, my quads started screaming at me.  I don't know if it was from low sodium or if it was from going too hard on the bike, but they were starting to hurt.  I kept going, although at what felt like a tragically slow pace.

I was finally able to figure out my splits for the last few miles, and it was a bit discouraging.  Miles 7 and 8 were ~ 8:25, and it just got worse from there.  I ended up slowing down about 10 seconds per mile until the end of the race.  I had downed one of the shot blocks at the start of the run, and hit the other one just before the half way mark, but it didn't help the quads.  I don't think it was cramping due to low sodium, I think I just hit the bike too hard.  It was about mile 8, that I saw Justin while he was headed back from the turn around and about 10 minutes later I saw Ken after I had made the turn around.  Not much further down, I got to see Jen again while she was at about mile 4 or 5 of the run, nd she was still looking strong.

I kept looking at my watch and trying to figure out what I needed to do for my last few miles in order to break the 5 hour mark.  I remember thinking to myself, 'OK, I just need a 10 minute per mile pace for the last (2) miles and I will have it'.  This was the only thing keeping me moving, because my legs were literally dead.  The entire time, I was waiting for Ken to just fly by me during the run.  He is such a strong runner, I knew it was inevitable, but surprisingly it never happened.

I kept on plodding along, the entire time my quads were telling me to quit and just walk it out, but I refused.  I actually reasoned it out that my legs were going to hurt no matter if I walked or if I ran, so I might as well just keep running.  My last 1.1 miles ended up being about an 8:30/mile pace which surprised me because I was sure I was only going on a 10min/mile pace.  I finally crossed the finish line with a run time of 1:47:45.

The Aftermath

My final official time was 4:56:47, which was 3:13 faster than my goal and I was very happy to attain.  Ever since Oceanside, I had wanted to see if I could break the 5 hour barrier at Vineman.  Based on the data from Oceanside, my gamble on the bike paid off.  I ended up 11 minutes faster on the bike, but 5 minutes slower on the run.  That ends up giving me a net gain of 6 minutes which in my book is a good thing.  With the gain on the swim and the faster transitions, I was able to take 14:20 off of my time at Oceanside and drop below that 5 hour mark.  For me, Vineman 70.3, 2012 was a success.

Jason Berry

Lessons Learned at the 2012 Vineman 70.3:

1)  Get to the start earlier than you think you need to.

2)  If you see debris scattered all over the road, there might be a reason – slow down and steer well clear of the area.

3)  Make sure all of your gear works together and you have plenty of contents in your supplies.

4)  Focus on what you can control.

5)  Race with friends and family around if at all possible

Pre-Race

Plan – get there 1:15 early so I would have plenty of time to set up transition and get ready.

Vineman 70.3 is a logistic challenge.  The transitions are in two different locations, and there are 19 different waves that start 8 minutes apart.  This is exacerbated by the very small town the race starts in.

While there is sufficient parking, if you get there late, you may have to park a long ways away and walk/roll your gear to T1.  As we got parked about an hour before my wave was supposed to start, and we were farther away than anticipated, my wife prompted me to ride my bike to T1 and she would walk the kids down by herself.  This act of bravery on her part helped tremendously.

By the time I got there, the transition area was already packed.  There were specific sections reserved for each wave, but I did not get there early enough to “stake out” a successful location to set up my equipment.  I ended up squeezing my bike between two other racers that were in the middle of putting on their wetsuits while I was trying to rack my bike (another indicator that I was behind schedule.)

I organized my gear and grabbed my wetsuit bag to go stand in line for the “facilities” and put on my wetsuit.  Debbie and the kids were standing near the lines, so I was able to talk with them for a few minutes as I stood in line.  As I was putting on my wetsuit, I realized I had 3 pairs of socks in my bag. That happens to be 2 more pairs than I had planned on, but I figured I must have over packed.

I met up with Debbie and the kids again at the start of the swim corral.  I told the kids to be good for Mom, got my pre-race kisses and hugs and took off for the water.

Swim

Plan – Swim hard at the beginning and steady through the end.  Push the pace, but don’t blow myself up.

As I hopped into the water with my wave, I thought I had about 5 minutes to warm up which should otherwise be sufficient.  I swam past the front of the start line and swam 20 hard strokes out.  I turned around and swam about 15 hard strokes back (roughly 1 min of swimming).  At that point, I heard the announcer starting the wave I was supposed to be swimming in.  I was still about 5 yards in front of the line of guys wearing white swim caps (indicating our wave) and staring at me.  A second later, all I saw was the line of swimmers heading straight for me with their heads down and their arms flailing.  I realized instantly that there was not going to be any chance of me swimming “upstream” to reach the start line, so I turned around and started swimming.  I didn’t want to impede anyone else’s swim and I would be sure to swim an extra 5 yards on the course so I wouldn’t feel like I cheated.

As the initial group of super fast guys swam by me, I realized that I didn’t start the timer on my watch.  I got that taken care of and became aware of the surreal feel of the moment.  It was like the dream that you are late for school, but you don’t know what class you are supposed to be in, much less where etc… and I was disoriented.  I thought, “Any second now, I am going to wake up in my hotel bed and everything will be ok”.  This was a new experience for me as the swim is usually my best part of the day.

Within 5 minutes, I was swimming through the wave ahead of mine (red caps).  There were people walking on the sides (yes, this is a very shallow river and you can walk at several parts of the river.) You swim upstream at the beginning and after the 180 degree left turn, half way out; you swim back to the same beach you started at.  The course is marked with large, triangular red buoys you are supposed to keep on your left and there are also two large orange buoys that I believe are roughly half way.

As I passed the half way mark, there were several boats clustered around the orange buoys and I heard people asking “are you ok?”  It appeared as though some of the swimmers on their way out had collided with the swimmers on their way back.

Well before the turn around, I also started seeing some blue caps, so I knew the swim was either going pretty well for me or very poorly for some of the folks who had started before me.

On the swim back, I was pacing with a comparable swimmer from my wave.  I saw him 10-15 yards in front of me, so I put on a big effort knowing that once I caught his feet, I could draft and recover.  Shortly after I reached him, he got caught up passing a group of swimmers, so I swam around on his left.  We were still swimming about 10 yards apart at the same pace.  He would get caught up in a passing a group of swimmers and I would pass him, only to have to swim around another group of swimmers and he would catch up.  Keeping up with a comparable swimmer made the effort seem much easier.

Swim Result – My swim time was almost 2 minutes faster than my previous best at 26:57.

The first transition (T1) was about 14 seconds slower than last year, but I did find out where the extra set of socks came from.  It turns out that while I was setting up my transition; I had put all my socks back in my bag, and forgotten to lay out any socks for the bike.  When I started doing shorter distance triathlons, I had done several without socks, and seeing as I didn’t have much choice, I decided I would do this without socks as well.

Running out of this transition, you have to be prepared for a little bit of chaos.  There is a very steep hill that starts at the bike mount line.  If it is not jammed up with other athletes and you are in the right gear, it is rideable.  As there was a crowd of athletes trying to get on their bikes, I thought it would be better for me to run up the hill and mount at the top.  The hill is only 25 yards long, so I thought it best to avoid the carnage and this worked out in my favor.

Bike – 56 miles

The Plan – 3 sections of 18.67 miles at 230 watts on my Garmin display which should result in a normalized (Norm) wattage of 250.  Each section should be ~50 minutes.  Gel intake every 15 minutes and 2.5 bottles of water for hydration.

As I mentioned before, this is a wave start race.  There were 12 waves of athletes that started before me. For the first 20+ miles, I doubt I went 150 yards without passing another athlete.  Early in the first section, I met up with a couple of guys that I would continue to see throughout the ride.  One of them was a “Sports Basement” rider and the other was a “Compassion.com” rider.  We continued to trade off the lead throughout the ride.  Passing athletes from other waves made it difficult to get into a rhythm on the bike, but having other riders of similar ability who were continuing to push the pace was a great mental cue to put on the pressure and stay focused.

For the first section, I averaged 234 watts with a Norm Power of 248 and time of 49:24 (36 seconds ahead of target pace).  The power target for my first section was relatively easy to hit as there are a lot of rolling hills.  I was able to power up the hills and then try to carry the speed of the decent into the next hill.

The second section came and went with similar regularity although there were some breaks in the riders.  About half way through this section, I really started to feel my legs.  I was riding within my ability for a shorter event, but at I was trying to maintain the same power output for this longer distance.  I could tell that I was definitely pushing the envelope, but not blowing myself up and it felt good to put in some hard work on the bike.  I finished the second section at an identical time of 49:24 with average watts of 233 and norm power of 242.  This put me 1:06 ahead of my target time thusfar.

Shortly after the end of the second section was “the” climb on this course.  It is called Chalk Hill and it a relatively short climb, but the longest on this course.  After this climb, I was going to try to recover on the decent and then push it pretty hard back into town.

My overall goal for this race was to essentially ruin myself on the bike and then see how well I could run.  The power target was what my coach and I had estimated would be what I need to ride in a full-distance Ironman to qualify for Kona.  We thought it would be a good stretch and a good experiment to A) see if I could hold that pace for a ½ distance event and B) see how I could run after an effort like that.

Until this point, I had met all my power targets and was almost over a minute ahead of my goal.  Around mile 51 I noticed a “yard  sale” up ahead in the road.  “Yard-sale” is what I affectionately refer to a scattering of water-bottles/spare tubes etc. that have been ejected from bikes that have passed that point ahead of me.  It is not uncommon on a race course to see an occasional water bottle or piece of trash in the road that riders have accidently dropped.  When there are several things all in one area, there is typically a reason for it.  I slowed up somewhat as I got closer to the debris and found that the apparent cause was a set of railroad tracks.  What I failed to notice soon enough was the significant pot-hole after the railroad tracks.  As my rear wheel slammed hard on the pot hole, I heard my rear disc cover bang and my heart sank.  Within 50 yards, my back tire was flat.

I had a rear flat recently at the Auburn Triathlon, and I knew that it took a significant amount of time to change a flat tire on this rear disc wheel.  My calculations showed that it took me about 11 minutes to get back on the road last time.  In Auburn, it happened at mile 28, so I had no choice but to stop and change the tube.  At this point, I was roughly 4 miles from the finish, so I thought I would try an alternative solution.  First, I attempted to use the Vittoria Pit Stop which is a pressurized, expanding latex sealant that should be able to seal a hole up to 1 millimeter and re-inflate the tire.  I had never used this before, but I figured it was worth a shot and a better alternative than changing a tube.

Unfortunately, as I attempted to administer the sealant, the plastic top popped off due to the angle on the disc cover.  This resulted in spraying my wheel and myself with expanding latex sealant.  This was about the same time the “Sports Basement” rider rode by me and expressed his disappointment and wished me the best.  The can of sealant had somewhat inflated the tire, so I hoped for the best and attempted to ride thinking that maybe, just maybe, enough of the sealant made it into the tire and I could “limp” the remaining four miles to T2.  Let’s just say that I was disappointed to make it less than a mile before the rear tire was flat again.

This time, I was grasping at straws and attempted to inflate the rear tire with the use of a CO2 cartridge.  This also got me less than a mile.  To put it mildly, I was frustrated.  I was so close to the transition area, but I would be sure to lose several minutes if had to stop and change the tube.

The more disturbing part is the excess vibration in the rear tire had actually released the rear skewer and knocked my rear tire out of the bike frame.  I had to stop and reattach my rear wheel to the mount. While I was stopped, one of the mechanics on the course stopped nearby and offered to help.  He asked me if I had a spare tube, which I did.  I asked him how far it was to the finish and he said it was about a mile.  My options were A) Change the tube (an ~11 minute ordeal) B) run with the bike (would take at least 8 minutes and likely more running in bike shoes, or C) ride it out – this would be a slow and sketchy ride, but likely take less time than either of the two other options.  I chose option C.  This was an aggressive and risky decision.  I knew that I would not be able to go as fast, but I would be able to go faster than running.  If everyone else followed the drafting rules, I wouldn’t put them in any danger if I fell, so I rolled the last 1+ mile to transition with a flat rear tire and my back end skidding all over the place.  If you have seen the Pixar movie “Cars,” when Lightning McQueen blows his rear tires out in the last lap and he is skidding all over the place, it felt a bit like that.

I stopped just short of the transition area as there was a final sharp left turn, and I knew if I tried to ride that turn, I would run a big risk of losing the back end of the bike all together and going down.  So I ran the last 50 yards or so with the bike.  I saw Debbie and the kids cheering on the sidelines and gave them a wave.  It was great to see them out there and was very uplifting given the last several miles.

Bike Result – 2:34:41.  I averaged 230 watts with a norm of 246.  This was pretty darn close to target. Based on my data, I lost approximately 5-6 minutes due to the rear tire issues.  If I focus on what I was able to control, the ride was a success.  My legs were pretty well thrashed and I was able to overcome some adversity.  Now it is on to the run to see how my legs hold up…but first a quick note on T2.

I knew that it was a going to be a relatively hot run, so I switched out my normal racing hat with a visor.   Accordingly, I also included in my transition gear a can of spray sunblock for the top of my mostly bald head.  Unfortunately, at least one other person who had transitioned before me apparently thought it would be ok for them to borrow the aforementioned sunblock as the can was in a different spot than I had left it the day before.  And, by accident I am sure, they used the last of the sunblock in the can.  This was slightly annoying, but it was certainly not the end of the world.  Next time I either need to go faster or bring a newer can of sunblock.

Run - 13.1 miles

The plan – 26 ½ mile sections broken down into 4 groups.  The ½ mile sections are for reminders to check my running form and 4 groups for effort pacing by heart rate.  1) From the start to mile 3.5 at a heart rate below 160 beats per minute (BPM), 2) Mile 3.5 to 6.5 at 160 BPM, 3) Mile 6.5 to 9.5 between 160 and 162 BPM and 4) 9.5 to the finish should be over 162.

The run on this course is also rolling hills with a couple pretty significant climbs.  You run out of town to LaCreme winery, through the winery grounds and back.  In total, there are 21 turns which does not exactly lend itself to getting into a good rhythm, but there are several straight sections where you can move pretty well.

Running out of Transition 2, I heard a voice call my name from behind me and it was a training buddy and friend, Jason Berry.  Jason is relatively new to triathlon, but he is a very strong athlete.  He is a machine on the bike and I knew he would have a great ride on that course.   Jason is in my age group, but I believe that he had only done 1 or 2 other ½ Iron distance races up to that point.  I was a bit faster on the swim, but he was able to make up all that time on the bike and he was right behind me coming out of T2.  It was great to see him out there doing so well and good to hear a friendly voice out on the course.  At this point, I was concerned that with the work I had done on the bike, and as worn out as my legs were, he was going to pass me on the run.  I wanted to stay focused, so I tried to minimize the small talk and get back to the business of beating myself up on the run.

I identified early in the run that running at ~160 BPM was going to be harder than I had anticipated.  It is common for a race situation to elevate an athlete’s heart rate.  I have heard anywhere from 5-10 BPM.  You could attribute it to excitement, adrenaline or whatever you like.  So I had attempted to adjust my racing targets accordingly.  I had been training on long runs with a target heart rate of 150-152 and decided to go back to that.  As I had not done any running at my adjusted rates and I was feeling very calm and in control, I thought it would be better for me to “back-out” the adjustment for “race day.”  I decided I would target less than 150 for section 1, 150-152 for section 2, +150 for section 3 and “as high as I could get it” section 4.

Section 1 was uneventful.  My average heart rate was ~147 BPM.  I was able to regularly pass other runners, but this was due more to the wave start setup than my running ability.  I was not sure if they would have any caffeinated beverages on the run course, so I brought a RedBull in a flask on my fuel belt.  I drank ½ of that in the first section and I started to feel like I was running by the end of the first section.

The second section felt like it was a lot more uphill than down or rolling, but I got to the winery without any significant events and an average heart rate of 149.  As I was coming out of the winery ~ mile 7, I saw Ken Petruzzelli going into the winery.  Ken was the president of the Chico Triathlon Club when I joined and he is a great athlete.  I knew that he was in my age group, but started in the wave behind me (I had an 8 minute head start on him).  On any given day, Ken would easily be able to run me into the ground, so I knew he would be on me in no time as I was only approximately 1.5-2 miles ahead at that point.  Not only would he make up the head start I had, but if I didn’t push hard, he was going to pass me.  This was good motivation.

Around this same time, I also passed my cohort in the Sports Basement gear.  I tried to share some encouraging words, but it looked as though he had hit the wall and I went by him without too much fuss.

In the middle of the third section, my heart rate and perceived exertion level was starting to climb.  I knew that I was on the way home and I kept telling myself that I could rest as much as I wanted when I got to the finish line.  By mile 9, my legs hurt with most steps.  My average heart rate for the lap was only 153, but if I overstretched my legs, I would feel the first twinges of cramping in my quads and my calves.

It was about this time that I saw Jennifer Moore going the other way on the run course.  Jennifer is a lady that just weeks before had challenged herself by doing an Olympic distance event (roughly ½ the distance we were doing today) and she was really stepping up her game to race at this distance.  She seemed to be running very smoothly and it was inspiring to see her push her boundaries and to be doing so well.

On the way back to town, I was practicing a mental game called “fishing.”  I was trying to concentrate on the next runner in front of me and “reel” them in.  I would set myself a goal of how many runners I thought I could pass in a given section and do my best to make that work.  It really helped to keep my mind off the pain in my legs and keeping my heart rate up at this point was not a problem.

I had been counting down for some time (only 4 more miles…3.5 miles) but when I reached mile 11, I experienced something that I have not yet experienced in a race.  I got slightly light headed and the pain in my legs went away.  There was a tingling in my quads that was similar the feeling you get when a part of your body falls asleep and begins to wake up.  This was not painful at all, and slightly exhilarating.

By mile 12, I was feeling good and ready to be done, so I pushed it in the last mile.

Result – 1:38:46.  This was 4 minutes faster than my performance at this course last year and 3 minutes faster than my previous personal record (PR) at the distance.

Overall Result – 4:47:23.  12 minutes faster than last year and 8 minutes PR at the distance.

All things considered, this was a good day.  As Debbie pointed out, all I have to do is maintain the same paces for the full Ironman and I would be pretty close to qualifying.  Getting closer to Kona every day...

As a final interesting note, the person who helped me at the finish line was no other than Richard Bach.  The same guy that saved my bacon at the Auburn Triathlon a while back.  Triathlon is a small world.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I hope that you got something out of sharing in my personal form of therapy.

The next event for me will be guiding a visually impaired friend of mine, Richard Hunter, at the Santa Cruz triathlon in mid August. Until then… Happy training!