I am a reluctant tri-résumé builder, so I’ve never felt compelled to do Escape from Alcatraz.  However, after having lotteried in a few times and never once signed up, I decided it was time to get it done.  I would be tempting the tri gods if I once again passed up the opportunity.  Alas, the gods were out for me anyway.

No one can write a report like The Doug, so I’ll keep this brief by making some observations about the race.  These observations are presented stream of consciousness, much like the information provided at the pre-race meeting.

· Thanks so much to Tim and Yon and Melissa and Maya, for the spectator support as well as for taking care of me post-race.  All the questions were annoying, but my annoyance confirmed that I wasn’t concussed. 

· If California-based tri clubs are harbingers of upcoming trends, expect to see a lot of this stuff in the near future:  http://www.kinesiotaping.com/.  I bet Matt is already working on the RMTC sponsorship deal.

· Most scenic race I’ve done, BY FAR.  Riding the curve to Ocean Beach was exhilarating, and I took my time as I reveled in the views of the Pacific.  And the run along Baker Beach with waves crashing next to me…such a nice change from Colorado.  I loved my Colorado lungs, though!

· Everyone talks about the swim, but the run should get more hype.  There is a lot of steep downhill to train for.  The sand ladder is a bit overrated (if you ask me) and the single-track with 2 way traffic is underrated.  And I’ll be bearing the scars from that part of the run forever.  Thank goodness Len has offered to show me how to do a comb over.

· The swim is kind of lonely – people spread out quickly and you can’t see many swim caps between swells.  Singing “Elmo’s World” in your head may annoy you just enough not to notice (thanks for that, Melissa!).

· I didn’t much miss my tri-bike, so the road bike was the right choice for me.  I just wish I’d remembered to air up my tires.  (I don’t have my new FELT ZW4 yet, so I can’t make a sponsor plug here.  However, I’m certain I would have been faster on it!)

· Even a woman 5’ 1” in height should duck when running through the tunnel.

· Tim told me to sight Sutro Tower at 1 o’clock the whole swim, so I did and I finished 100 or so yards east of the exit.  Perfect.  He also told me I’d like the swim booties, and they were awesome.  Finally, he told me the race would be a lot of fun.  Moral:  Tim is always right. Always.

· This is a technical and hard race, with lots of opportunities for injury on the bike and run.  Which means you may not want to hear the volunteer doctors and nurses describe medical tent conditions as worse than their last medical mission.

· The worst part of the whole race is jumping off the boat.   Once that is behind you, the swim is quite enjoyable, the bike is spectacular, and the run is an oxygen-rich extravaganza.

· Except to recoil in horror, the run aid station volunteers had no idea what to do with a participant who wore a blood stained cap and had blood streaming down her face from a gaping head wound.  So, I made my way 2.5 miles to the nearest medical personnel, who happened to be just past the finish line.

· Having appeased the tri gods with blood sacrifice, I can now look forward to next year’s club Ironman – Canada!

Three tiny ships depart Denver on a great voyage. Four triathletes, stout of heart. The Nina, Pinta (me) and the Santa Maria (Joey and Andrew hauling most of the bikes). Just like Chris, we were sailing the great western desert seeking Indians. Not Indians for tech support like Columbus, but Indians of the once great warrior tribes of America. The desert is truly vast. Brown and red hues dominate the landscape. We sailed into Tempe Town Lake where our tale unfolds.

Gallup, NM was 27* when ! Left the hotel at 9am. Still in the 40s when ! Got to Payson, AZ. 73 miles to go down the Beeline Highway. The last 17 would be the bike course. As ! Plunged from 5,100' in Payson to 1,200' in Tempe the temperature rose into the 70s. Now that's more like it. It's 2:30 and the hostel wouldn't open until 5 so ! Stopped by the expo. In the parking lot a crew from IronMan live requested an interview. Wandering the expo, the reality of what we were here to do began to set in. Sunday would be a hard day. ! Picked up my stuff from registration. Dr. Buff was in town already, Yon, Courtney, Megan, Keith, Tim whom the bus system was named after (Tempe In Motion), Louis, Len would arrive over the next few days.

8-10am Thursday-Saturday are the only times Tempe Town Lake was open to swim. Dot.Nate had warned us of cold, brackish water. My squid lid was at the ready. The lake is artificial. An inflatable dam at each end holds back the fluid. A great deal of silt washes down, but not out. Friday ! Went in. 100 yards or so around the 2^nd bridge. ! Couldn't see past my elbows. My face was frozen. Sunday would be a hard day. Back to the hostel to sort my gear into T bags.

Saturday was bike and gear drop-off day. ! Parked my bike in the middle of the corral. One bike gear bag amongst 2,500 on a small patch of grass past the changing tent. One run gear bag amongst 2,500 on another small patch of grass. ! Ran from the swim exit to T1 then the tent. Out to the bike corral and onward to the bike mount line. Then ! Ran from dismount to T2 to the tent to the run start. Then ! Did it all again. A couple times. T1 pass 3 rows of bags and go nearly to the end. T2 run straight in past most of the bags until !'m abeam the outhouses next to the tent. This was starting to get real. It's no longer just something that will happen some time in the future. Sunday would be a hard day. Back to the hostel where “IronMan” met blank stares followed by a failure to comprehend.

Sunday morning came early. 4Am ! Was up and heading out to the patio to feed. As ! Laid into my cereal, ! Looked skyward to see Orion the Jogger. He had his race belt on and looked smooth. ! Decided to take that as a good sign. All my crap was loaded. ! Drove in the dark across town. The route !'d been taking was closed. ! Diverted and dead-ended in a parking garage. ! Emerged to find Mel and Maya setting up on the grass. ! Decided to take that as a good sign. ! Dropped my nearly empty special needs bags, donned my wetsuit and entered the fray along the dock. ! Wanted to hold off as long as possible to avoid freezing before the race even started. ! Had seen no one but Tim off in the distance. A strong urge to pee drove me into the lake. It wasn't so bad after all. The start line was quite a distance. The crowd thickened. This was going to happen. Today would be a hard day. The Anthem played as we bobbed, hands over hearts. Hearts stirred by love of the liberty that allows us the luxury of such pursuits. Hearts racing knowing that today would end in ecstasy for some and agony for others and at this moment none of us knew which would be our's.

The pros took off 10 minutes ahead of us. Kayaks rode herd on unruly swimmers. The cannon sounds. The hard day has begun. A kick in the ribs, several errant hands to the face or head. Time to go inside. Race my own race. Others would be faster or slower. That was none of my concern. ! Was here to swim 1.2 miles then turn around and come back. It was only me. Alone in a sea of red and white caps. Nothing but me and the next stroke. The next strokes just kept coming. Then the turn buoy. ! Was on my way back. Some of those caps were falling off the pace that got them out there ahead of me. Still it was just me and the next stroke. And then the final buoy. The day-glo orange step and the astroturf on the sidewalk.

A stripper had me stripped in no time. ! Was running up the chute to the field of bags. Got it. Into the tent. No chairs. ! Sat on the grass outside and put my shoes on. ! Worried about the grass and dirt on my soles. Andrew greeted me on his way in. Helmet and gloves on, bag to the volunteer. Sprint through the tent, into the bike corral. They were yelling numbers. There was someone to lead me to the row and pull her off the rack. Mounted up, pedal troubles. Finally rolling. My neck was hurting a block into the ride. Today was going to be a hard day. Some back achiness joined in. ! Was in the big ring moving fast and passing the swimmers. The neck pain was not subsiding. ! Thought to myself “!'ve done this twice before. !'m already an IronMan. ! Could stop now.” IronMan is 90% in your head. ! Rode on. ! Knew a DNF would not be that easy. It's bad even when it's just a short race and there is nothing you could have done about it. This would be a nightmare.

The first half of the first loop was uphill into the wind. It was a grind. ! Stayed low and pushed. It went on and on. All ! Knew was to turn around at the cactus :). It got to a steeper part with no end in sight. The pros had passed on the return leg already. Their clock said 1:58. ! subtracted 10 minutes. My usual swim time was 1:18. The bike computer said 30:00. ! had gotten through the tent and started rolling my bike in the time it's always taken to do the swim. PR!!!!!!!! Then came the turn-around. The long steady climb into the wind was now a descent with a tailwind. Andrew was close behind still climbing. ! Was flying now. As fast as 39mph squeezing between groups of triathletes on bikes and the cones down the center line. ! Came upon Louis fresh off Silverman. He didn't care to get into the fray so he was hanging back from the pack in front of him. ! Chose to pass them and the next and the ones beyond them. Off Beeline the roads were flat. Still had the tailwind and still moving fast. By now the field had sorted out. Turn-around. Lap one done in 1:45. Triple that for a 5:15 ride. That would be excellent if ! Could hold it. And the math was easy. Today would be a hard day, but this lap wasn't too bad.

! was heading back up hill now. ! Seemed to be going a little faster. Descent number 2 wasn't quite as fast. No surprise. Turn-around at the end of lap 2 was 8 minutes slower. Even so, ! Was 2/3 of the way done and deep into a great ride time. Lap three seemed faster on the uphill. ! Could tell the wind had changed. A push up the hill. ! Took heart knowing that climbing 1mph faster saves more time than descending 1mph faster. ! milked that wind as much as ! Could. Just a little extra churning to maximize the benefit. Good thing ! Did too. Turn-around and the wind was in my face. The steepest part was near the top. ! Was cranking hard and not getting very fast. Up to 21mph on the descent. It was going to be a long way back. ! Was starting to ache. Staying in the aero bars was painful when ! Needed them the most. A marathon was coming up. Today would be a hard day. No respite from the wind on the cross roads. 3 miles to go a guy passed me and started taking his shoes off. 3 miles out? Really? Why? ! Waited until ! Was into the crowds and that was a little early even.

! raced up to the dis-mount line like a 'cross racer and hit the ground jogging. A volunteer put his hand on my damp saddle and my ride was over. Run down the side of the T2 bags until abeam the outhouse. They had my bag for me. Into the tent. Lots of chairs. Tri kit off. Run gear on. New socks. Lots of Bacitracin ointment on the soles of my feet. Putting the 2^nd sock on ! Remembered to hit the timer on my Garmin. It thinks ! Had a really fast transition. 5:35 on the bike. Out of the tent. Time to run. ! Have never run farther than 18 miles. Today would be a hard day. Louis was right behind me for the first ¼ mile. After that he was a shrinking image with funny looking hair. This is where ! Realized ! Could get a Kona slot. All ! Had to do is run like ! Did at Harvest Moon and then to the 2^nd half marathon in 30 minutes. Just over 1 mile in ! Came across aid station #2. Now ! Was confused. Shouldn't it be 2 miles in and what happened to aid station #1? ! was thinking. The first rule of running is “don't think” If you have sugar getting to your brain you aren't running hard enough and if you think about running you realize how ridiculous running is. If you have any sense, thinking about running will lead you to call a cab.

My right foot was swollen. Somewhere in mile 6 Andrew patted me as he tried to pass. ! Hugged him. He ran faster. His ride was 5 minutes slower than me. He had to stop to pee several times. ! Asked him why he had stopped. “Etiquette” Brits. Joey should be along soon. ! Got to the aid station at mile 6. Took off my shoes and walked through it. The rough concrete massages the feet. All the way through and no improvement. Just past there was the biggest, baddest hill on the run. ! Walked up it. Keith passed. He was concerned. If ! Didn't get this solved, today would be a really hard day. ! Kept walking. No improvement. Near the top, suddenly they were all better. Not gradually. Boom. Better. Shoes back on and running again. 2 miles later they were swollen again. ! Took them off again. This time ! Ran in my socks. ! Was fit enough to run. Someone said to take the insoles out. ! Did. Once the swelling subsided the shoes went back on. Soon they felt puffy again. Not as bad with more room to grow. My throat was sore. ! Was stopping at every outhouse. Still moving forward. Lap two as ! Entered aid station #2 a volunteer ran over to me to see how ! Was doing. Just like the 1^st time through. ! Didn't feel that messed up. She got me some Vaseline for the nipples. Chicken broth was out now. It soothed my throat. ! Ran on. The inflatable dams that create the lake don't let any water out. It's 15' deep on one side and dry dirt on the other.

Past the mile 6 aid station and walking up that hill again. Tim is running well. Good thing !'m a lap up. He doesn't know the joys of chicken broth yet. We run down the other side and ! Let him go to pop into an outhouse. ! Should have cut the fluid intake. !'d seen Dr. Buff, Megan, Courtney, Yon, Len , Nina and even Elvis (Perezly) off in the distance. There is no way Joey could have gotten by me unseen. Ten miles into the run was too far for him to be behind me still. Lap 2 down. One to go. The mile marker on the Garmin beeped 18. Every stride from here is a record. My quads are cramping. Aid station #2 (again) promised cramp relief. A massage table. The girl dug her knuckles into my thighs. ! Chanted “ow, ow, ow” We came to an agreement that ! Could continue running. The sun was setting. ! Was still wearing shades and my neck cooler. It would be ½ a lap to special needs. When ! Got there that stuff and my hat and insoles got dropped. 4 miles to go. Too far to sprint. Too short to be undoable. It hurt, but ! Just couldn't quit running now. If ! Kept going ! Would have RUN my first marathon ever. Time to dig in. ! Was feeling better without the extra stuff. There was a sign out there that said “You can do anything for 15 minutes” In 15 minutes !'ll be 15 minutes closer to the finish. It just doesn't get not uncomfortable. !'m into the crowds. Under the last bridge. Past the bike corral. There's the sign. Laps 2 or 3 straight ahead. !'ve done those already. Finish left turn. ! Make the turn. Into the parking lot. Out the other side onto the road. Slap a low-5 for a little kid on the curb. The fences are packed. More hi-5s. 90* left and it's ½ a block to the finish. Lot's of hands out. Arms up for all of them. The guy ! Passed in the parking lot must still be back there. Sprinting now sort of. Under the finish kite. It's over. Joey withdrew on the swim. Today was a hard day.

My catcher earns her keep. Another comes to assist her. Hair check then the official finisher photo. !'m still wobbly. Maybe a visit to the med tent to get checked out. ! Look back at the clock 12:21. this catcher becomes my new best friend as he hands me off to a red-head. Life is grand.

12:18:24

As near as ! Can tell, everyone from RMTC PRed @ Harvest Moon 1/2. It seems the cool weather makes you go faster.

The forecast was 47* @ 6am and getting all the way up to 63* by 2pm with a 30% chance for thunderboomers. With Yon racing instead of announcing there was no reason to expect the race to be called off. It was chilly when ! Got there and still dark. ! Got my chip, got set up and went off to get body marked. Molly was there. Since she kissed Matt for luck, ! Figured having her do the body write on my arms would be lucky. Probably luckier than letting her kiss me. All wrapped up in neoprene, it was time to wander to the beach.

Yon in the water was concerned. He wasn't sure he could even finish. He was not planning to push too hard. ! knew ! Could make up his 5 minute head start on the swim. ! Know ! Swim faster than him. He knows he's slow on the bike and the run. He's the only one who knows that. !'ve seen him running recently and !'ve ridden with him. Yon doesn't kn ow what he's talking about. So, ! Guessed we'd be in T1 together then ! Could make a couple minutes over 56 miles and try to keep him from taking the 5 minutes back on the run. Actually, 1 was hoping to make it through the whole run without falling apart completely. ! Can stay focused for a 5k, but longer than that is really hard for me.

19 minutes after the pro start, wave 5 was off. 1.2 miles around the buoys and back to the beach. WI took me 1:18 so ! Was expecting 40 minutes. Two weeks ago @ Candy's Fit Tire Tri we did a ½ mile swim and ! Extrapolated from that time to an IM time of 62 minutes. That would be really fast and not sustainable over 4.8 times that distance. ! Wanted to start today just as hard then settle in. That's what ! Did. Lots of kicking and whacking until we got spread out some. ! Kept pushing and even though ! Could see as many orange caps ahead of me as ! Had seen at the start ! Felt like ! Was going fast. No need to slow down since my arms would have the rest of the day off once 1 got to the beach. ! Was a little off course. Nearly crossing over into oncoming traffic. Around the buoy and heading back in, ! Could see the exit flags. They were a bit off the track along the buoy line. ! Adjusted and found myself a good distance outside of the rest of the pack. They would have to cut across once they got near shore and go farther than ! On the hypotenuse. !'m half way back now and watching the shore to the West. It was moving by quickly. Surprisingly quickly actually. Could ! Really be on that good of a pace?

Out of the water and up the beach ! Had no idea what my time was. My pace has been the same for years so that would make it about 40 minutes. No reason to question that. There was Yon in T1rolling on arm warmers. ! struggled to free myself from the rubber casing. The clock raced on as ! Sat there. It was still cold and ! Was wet. It must have been 10 minutes preparing to ride. Yon had walked by wishing me luck. Probably he thought ! Would still be sitting there when he finished the bike. At long last ! Was on my feet heading out to the mount line. ! Was still cold and wet. As ! Went up the first rise from the parking lot to the park road ! Saw Yon ahead of me. He got over the top before me and it was all downhill to Quincy from there. ! Wasn't going to get him on this segment. Onto Quincy ! Was closer. Wait. He's got black arm warmers. Yon was putting on RMTC yellow arm warmers. Who was this? ! Pushed and came up to his wheel. Still no joy. ! Pushed some more and had my front wheel abeam his bottom bracket. ! Couldn't see who it was. Quincy turned up and he accelerated. ! Had no answer. He was pulling away on the ups. ! Wasn't gaining much on the downs.

Quincy rises and falls in great chunks. ! Was rolling swiftly. Well over 30 mph down and holding high teens up. ! Was passing a lot of people. Yon was among them. ! Wished him luck and cheered him by reminding him we where already into the final 67 miles of the race. Almost there. A long way out some riders were returning. Th first one was not Matt. Neither was the 2^nd one. A few more who weren't Matt came by. Something must be wrong. Someone called out to me. That may have been him. It didn't seem right that he wasn't up front. Back to cranking. ! Was pushing really hard. Probably a little too hard. The turn-around was still ahead until ! Got there. Then the wind. A head wind to cut the pace down. Not quite half way back to the Res. We hit the turn North. There were two bikes ahead of me and one large truck ahead of them. The volunteers directed the truck inside the cones around the turn. He had to slow down a lot to make the maneuver. We had to slow down a lot to wait for him to get out of the way. The three of us accelerated up the slight hill until the girl dropped off. The guy in the white, long-sleeve Skins was going fast. He would go by and ! Would chase. ! Would go by and he would chase. We went back and forth until we got onto Colfax where Denny was staggering home. ! Dropped him there. We were heading East again with the wind behind me. ! Was in the high 20s sometimes over 30 mph. The early swimmers were falling behind me. On occasion ! Could see the mysterious RMTC kit. That gap wasn't closing.

Two and one half hours requires an average speed of 22.4 mph. ! Was at 26-28 every time ! Looked. ! Began to think ! Could pull of a 2:30 ride. Maybe even better than that. Add my 40 minute swim and 10 minutes in transition for 3:20. ! would have 2:20 for the run to match my PR. !'ve run the distance under 2 hours before. 2:05 just last week. ! Could do the 9 minute miles, but would ! Have that left after a hard ride? Could ! Keep focused and keep moving? That would be a chore. The faster the ride the more buffer ! Would have. We turned South off Colfax toward Kiowa. ! Could feel a little wind. Not bad and my speed was still up. 2:30 was looking realistic. ! Thought back to the head wind on Quincy after turning around. The same way ! Would be going for the last leg back to the Res. That wouldn't help. Southbound was over before sooner than ! Expected. We were onto Quincy. 40 miles down. 16 to go. Mostly into the wind and hills. This would be the hard part. This would kill my time and my legs. This is where ! Had to race smart or, like Matt and pros ! Could race stupid and apologize to my body tomorrow. ! Opted to ask forgiveness instead of permission. Even then my pace plummeted. ! Was climbing @ 8 mph. Still catching people, but 16 miles of that would not fit into my time frame. The descents were faster. ! Didn't really need to be able to focus on what was ahead. The enemies were big enough to pick out as my eyeballs bounced around. ! Had to minimize my losses. Every 15 minutes at 8 mph required 15 minutes at 38 mph to even out. ! Pee'd. Eight miles down Quincy ! Looked at the time. If ! Could average 60mph all the way back in, ! Could salvage 2:30. ! was cutting into my running time. Jodi's green kit goes perfectly with her green Guru. And Megan was coming back to the road after pulling off the course to pee. Finally the park road was there. The mysterious RMTC kit was just ahead of me. ! Had closed most of the gap. It was uphill to T2. ! Passed him by the park gate. It was Jodi's man. He had been hauling ass the whole way and was just now giving in to rational thought. ! Thought ! Should be easing off for the run too, but ! Didn't give in. One more turn. One little climb and it was time get out of my shoes and spin in. My feet had felt cold and wet when ! Started the ride. Now they were neither wet nor felt. A puffy, numb sensation. Just under 2:45 for the bike.

Shoes on. Sunglasses, number belt. ! Really needed to pee again. The out houses were just out of T2. ! Didn't feel like ! Usually feel after a massage and eight hours of sleep. ! Felt like my feet were twice their normal size and feelings of remorse would soon rush into them. ! Was ahead of Megan and Jodi's Matt for now. The last bit of mile one was a short steep hill. It hurt. My shoe didn't feel right so ! Stopped to adjust. Megan and Matt ran by. ! Was under 9 minutes for that mile. Just barely. By my estimate, ! Would have to squeeze 12 more nines out and then sprint hard to the finish line if ! Was to have any chance of matching my PR. ! Kept on. Mile 2 was 9:23. This was not going well when it should have been going the best of the run. Even if ! Didn't PR ! Still had 20 minutes to get under 6 hours which would be an improvement over recent years. A girl on a bike was approaching. She turned onto a different section of the path followed by a really fast guy. He must be the leader. Matt would be right behind him to rip his legs off in the last 2 miles. Some other guy came along. Something was dreadfully wrong here. Half a mile further was Matt. ! Surmised that he had flatted twice. Two guys ahead of him means two mechanicals. Isn't that the natural order of things? He was 8 miles ahead of me. If ! Hustle ! Can catch him :) The next 2 miles were 9 ½ each. PR was close to slipping away. ! Must be under 2 hours on the run to do it. ! Needed to pee. Jodi's Matt got away when ! Stopped. We were doing the same pace. He just wasn't stopping.

There were miles to go. ! Thought back to IM Moo. ! Had run no farther than 8 miles in the final 3 months before the race so ! Decided ! Was to run that far before ! Would even consider walking. Last weekend ! Had run 13.1 so ! Knew ! Could do it if ! Wasn't pre-fatigued. Keep pushing. ! Can do it. There is a wide dirt section along the path on top of the dam. Megan was on her way back. The guy in the white Skins shirt had passed me some time back. He said ! Really “crushed the bike”. The closer ! Got to the turn-around the more crowded it became. ! Grabbed some Gatorade. 20 feet to the cone. ! Told them it was too hard. “!'m going back”. Water and Endurolytes. Nearing the end of the dirt section ! Passed Yon. He was within a mile of me. Either he had held on during the ride or he was killing me on the run. !'ve seen him run. ! Picked up the pace.

Mile 8. 5.1 to go. !'ve just noticed it's all downhill from here. !'m back to 9s. Some better. Still hard. Still not sure if ! Can make the PR or hold Yon off. !'m still going. My will is waning. Must focus. ! Can do this. ! Know ! Can. Mile 10. Just a 5k to go. ! Should be able to knock that out in 23 minutes. Not happening today. There are 2 guys just behind me. They are pacing each other. ! Picked up the pace to keep them back there. They weren't talking. The push was helping. They can't get by. Not for a few k anyway. They put in a little surge and passed me. ! Really need to pee. They were gapping me. ! Can't keep this pace for another mile. ! Stopped to pee. One was from the wave before me. If ! Could touch him he was 5 minutes behind me. 1.5 miles to go. It's really hard now. ! Can make it. Yon and Matt are too far back to see. There's a dirt section that goes down then up then down then up again. Ouch. A guy got past me. ! Asked him what wave he was in. He was 10 minutes behind me. 1 mile to go in 10 minutes to stay under 2 hours. ! Told him ! Was shooting for under 5:40 to PR. That's the time he was going for too. How could that be possible? He was a mile out. 8 or 9 minutes to go and he was at 5:40 already. Maybe ! Was a little ahead of what ! Thought. 1 k to go in 8 minutes. ! Can do this. !'m back on the concrete path. ! Can see the pavilions. ! Can hear the announcer. Orlinda and Henry are at the last turn. 100 yards downhill, A kink around the fence Matt is there cheering. A girl with a camera over her face is next to him. ! Think it was Molly. (it was) Lot's of people past the fence for the last 20 yards. ! Was flat-out now. 10 feet to go. ! Looked at the clock. 5:43???? ! Knew there were 20 minutes (actually 19) on the clock when ! Started swimming. Matty Matt and Dusty were at the end of the chute with another camera.

! need to wade in the cold water to soothe my legs. It was a struggle to get there. How could the clock say 5:43. That would be 5:24 for my race. Surely ! PRed. ! Dragged myself out and up to the results. That 10 minute T1 was under 4 minutes. It sure felt like 10. My 40 minute swim was 31 minutes. 1:59 for the run and 2:45 on the bike. This lends credence to my theory that ! Could do a full IM in 11 hours. We shall see. ! am really sore.

Congratulations to Pikes Peak Tri Club for finishing as 1^st loser in the club competition. A mere 16:34 behind RMTC. They should be very proud of themselves. http://www.withoutlimits.com/

In attendance were Megan, Big Al, myself and, of course, Candy.

3:30 am yet again. It's an hour and a half up to HorseTooth Res. In Ft. Collins. It was cold out. 61*. 76* in the water. This is the first year so the crowds weren't overwhelming. We swam in the cove into Lory State park. Long and narrow out from the beach. High sandstone cliffs on both sides and across the end. A little mist hung over the terrain. A gorgeous location. !'ve been learning that ! Need to warm up my shoulders before ! Go for a swim so ! Did. ! Was in wave 5 with 5 minute gaps between waves. After wave 4 went off ! Did a couple sprints then swam back to the start area. ! Found a large rock to brace my feet on. Just like starting blocks and rocketed off into the fluid. Recalling Jordan Jones' advice, ! Pushed hard from the get go and found myself being the guy who gets drafted. There were a few caps ahead. Most were behind. ! Kept pushing. ! Caught up to some feet before the turn-around and that guy fell off the pace soon after. ! Kept it going knowing ! Wouldn't need my shoulders after ½ mile. There were few ahead of me. The beach was muddy and slick up to the carpet. ! Ran to T1 the best ! Could and struggled out of the wetsuit. This is a socks-on race (except for Big Al who was living recklessly). A short jog to the bike mount line.

! considered a 'cross mount, but thought better of it and didn't fall at the line. The first bit was slightly uphill to the dirt road. About a mile to the single-track to spread out. My mountain bike handling skills are dependent on my current experience and since my last trail ride was New Year's day my fitness was not a limiter. After a couple water bars and my concern over tires softer than my road bike's ! came to see that the grades were pretty gentle. ! Had someone on my wheel so ! Kept cranking. He would catch up in the tight corners then ! Would lose him on the climbs. ! Felt really good going uphill. Eventually ! Did get passed by a couple dudes. Then they got by a backmarker that stalled me out. That opened a gap and ! Was starting to feel more confident. ! Was after them and starting to feel strong. A few miles later ! Was on their tail. The 2^nd guy was using his GPS navigator without current charts. Some segments of the trail were over ditches or dips that weren't deep enough for a bridge so they just had logs laid down to retain the dirt. As he headed into a right-hander that was more right than his navigator warned him, he took the wrong side of the log. Maybe he was British. ! Was scared for him as he dipped in and rode right through. Mid-way through lap 2 the front guy blew up. We went by and ! Was still hanging on. That's when ! Spotted his front quick release lever not levered in tight enough. He kicked it and failed to faceplant for my amusement. We were really moving now. ! Was thinking ! Could go under 2 hours since ! Saw 16-18 mph ever time ! Looked at my computer. For a 12 mile ride and 4.8 10-minute miles would leave me plenty of time for the 15 minute swim. The final bit of the ride was twisty with a banked turn before a short climb then 100 feet to T2. ! Lofted the front wheel over the top for the photographer.

It had been near drizzle conditions off and on for the ride. ! Opted to leave the shades in transition for the run. That too was uphill. Just a short stretch on the roadway to the single-track climb. ! Walked the aid station just a few steps to drink then continued the run up up up. We switched back and forth up the hill. Near the top ! Could look down onto the bay we had swum in. That was really nice. The top of the hill would have been a great spot for the photographer. They missed it. When ! Got to the top of the hill ! Saw ...more hill. It kept going up. ! Had a strange thought. “! really like trail running” ! Do actually. ! Was still running, just not very fast. Soon enough (! can say that now) it leveled off and mile 2 went by. So far ! Had been unpassed. The little guy went by fast, then another bigger guy. ! Could hear tiny footstrikes behind me. We were descending pretty well now. ! Asked him which side he wanted to pass on and a girl's voice replied. Oh crap. Passed by a girl. She was tiny. Too tiny to be going downhill that fast. She was also a redheaded menace. It's obvious what was happening. She had killed a clydesdale and drank his blood. Probably ate his still beating heart too. ! Apologized and did NOT witness anything. Mile 3 and some old guy passed me. Still downhill. Then another old guy became the 5^th to pass me. This one was Big Al. He'd had chain issues on the ride. When a multiyear 'cross state champion is chasing you down trying to catch the other old guy it's polite to pull over. The trail was too narrow for that so ! Dropped down to do some pushups. That way Big Al could leap over me and ! Could turn this into a real workout. He mistook that move for me tripping and falling. He feigned concern then ran off as ! Dusted my left side off. Not being a neat freak ! Was on his heels watching his line almost down to the aid station onto the road again. It was all downhill from there and ! Was pushing it. Big Al was still in the chute when ! Came in.

Candy was first to notice the blood on my knee. The dust had clotted the blood. Food and drink was ingested and results were posted. My 2:08:52 put me 61^st of 184 and 7^th in my age group out of 19. The next guy in my category came from Windsor were a bunch of the rest of RMTC were doing the road tri. Big Al won his age group. ! Didn't see Megan come in. http://www.myentryfee.com/results/Results.aspx My swim was the best ranked leg. ! Guess there aren't a lot of fast swimmers in the area. ! Did beat Big Al's swim time though so ! Must have done something right.

3:30 am. ! Wonder if that's part of the reason ! Haven't raced in 11 months and 8 days. ! Was expecting a long line into the park so ! Got a late start anyway. Barely any traffic to deal with. RMTC showed up in force. Both racers and volunteers. We were everywhere. ! Can't say the same for Parker or Arvada. No Arvadans that ! Saw and the few Parkerians ! Spoke to are taking Tuesday night off. Their coaches are having their best peak so they have a shot @ us. HA!

Jim started the music with some Enya. That brought back memories of the day before this day in history. On August 14, 2001 Enigma, who is practically Enya, was playing on the stereo of the 41' sail boat ! Had spent the night on. We were moored in a bay in an island in Canadia. http://2001abikeodyssey.blogspot.com/ Docked in Vancouver that night.

Yon claims to be in Israel now so there was an alternate announcer. Not a real Aussie. He only even tried once. “Go Sheila” He didn't stand on his hands or toss any shrimp on the barby. ! Sure hope Yon comes back next year.

There was some confusion at the start line-up. ! Wandered thru the line and saw numbers out of order and a lot bigger than mine. ! Was 3 from the front of the line so ! Slotted myself in there and took off. ! Had noticed a lot of the sheilas had walked in slowly. ! Was having none of that. ! Dashed and zigged until ! Was diving in far to the outside of the enemies. More traffic during the run around to lap 2. ! started seeing green caps. Lots of caps. ! Drove right through them. Liz It Up was a wet suit stripper. ! Wanted to keep it in the club so the rest of them were out of luck.

One of our jerseys was just a bit ahead of me when ! Mounted the bike. They were moving fast. Turns out it was Heidi down from her altitude training camp. ! Passed her when she went off the side of the road. It looked to me like she had drifted while drinking and tried to ride it out in the dirt one-handed. Her handlebars slipped on her. ! Was really moving on the ride. Turning around on the bonus segment ! Hit the wind hard. No wonder ! Was going so fast. The first bike to pass me was a Blue. Blue bikes are really fast. We want to keep Blue as a sponsor. If ! Had a Blue !'d be faster too. Ride Blue. (! am available for product development) Quincy was fast until the turn-around. It's that damn wind again. It was a long way back.! Did the really cool barefoot dismount right before the line.

Into T2. Todd came in while ! Was putting my first shoe on. That's a problem. No more time to relax. Big Red Paul who flipped me off last time ! Saw him was observing from the run exit. He was much nicer this time. It was starting to warm up. ! Can do a 10k. ! know ! Can. ! Was uncomfortable. By the 2^nd aid station ! Had remembered to squeeze the tops to the cups before drinking. Todd had gotten by. Then Ed came by. He's too fast to be a teacher. Michael was looking unhappy when he passed on his way back. He always looks unhappy as he passes everyone in sight.

Turn-around finally. Heading back. Patrick, Nina, Dara, Heidi, Casey. All behind me. Patrick was the big concern. He hasn't trained all year kind of like last year when he was worried about doing Xterra for his first tri ever on a crappy old bike. He crushed that day. ! Kept pushing. ½ mile to go, ! Could see someone way back. Probably Patrick. ! Had to keep pushing. The course was so convoluted ! Couldn't tell if he was gaining on me or how big the gap was. ! Kept pushing. There's the turn onto the final bit. ! Had him for sure now. Afterburners lit. ! Have a vague recollection of cheerleaders lining the final yards. More power. Over the line. A volunteer looked up and dove for cover before ! Ran him down. ! Was just coasting in now. Coasting way too fast. Darin dispatched the 2 fastest finish line volunteers to try to stop me before ! Crashed into the lake. They found me on the other side of the pavilion trying to remember how to breathe. They were very concerned. They always are.

Sunday Sprint

3:30 again? It's cold out. !'ve waited so long !'ve forgotten the whole race. ! Recall that it hurt a lot, Charley is a freak of nature (1:05) and ! PRed the 5k by over 2 minutes. It's now down to, don't laugh, 22:42. 1:10:58

Dip N Dash

Good golly !'ve got nothing left. RMTC killed those other teams. Who were they again?

It's been five years since I bought a new bike, and those have been five very uncomfortable riding years, so this year I decided to take advantage of our club sponsorship by Blue Competition Cycles and buy myself a new bike. Moving from a tri geometry to a road geometry was something that I had been thinking quite a lot about, and as a part of this I was determined to get the best fit I could afford. Anyone who has ridden with me over the past five years will tell you that I whined incessantly about numbness, discomfort and a general lack of bike fit, in spite of the fact that I had been fitted twice (once at Campus Cycles and once at REI).

Oh how little I knew back then...

With this in mind I decided that this time round I was going to get my bike fit done properly, and not at the local bike store, but rather by someone who understood a bit more about body mechanics as well as fit.

So I made an appointment with Todd Carver, the master fitter at Retul (another club sponsor), and armed with my bike, wife and child made the trip down to fivepoints to get fitted.

The first thing you notice as you walk into the Retul storefront is that they are NOT a bike store. Sure, they can fit you for and put together a custom bike, but these guys are all about the fit. From the 6 or so bikes they actually have on the walls for decoration to the stems, handlebars, saddles etc... that they have in the fit area you can immediately see that you are not going to be told that you would fit so much better on a custom bike but rather that you will be fitted onto the bike you walked in with.

Todd himself is an extremely personable guy. He will answer any question, and will not make you feel silly for asking.

The fit begins with a few questions - What are your goals, why do you feel like you need a fit? Where are your areas of discomfort? Describe discomfort / pain points etc...

Once that is taken care of Todd puts you on the massage table and does a physical evaluation of how flexible you are, how long your legs are, whether they are of equal length (I never knew one of my legs was longer than the other) and any other general physical attributes that could affect your bike fit.

After collecting your physical details it's time to get on the bike. Due to the 3D nature of the fit, you need to be fitted with electrodes that can monitor the motion of your body as you ride. The placement of these electrodes is important as they denote key points in the fit.

Up on the trainer and start riding, at which point Todd monitors the various angles and points of contact between your body and the bike on the big screen in real time.

For me a couple of small adjustments to saddle height, a new saddle and a new stem were required for the fit, and here is the interesting part. Due to the low sales volume (or at least this is my assumption) of parts Retul don't offer the big box type savings on parts if you buy through them. So no that isn't really that interesting, but what I did find very interesting was the fact that Todd was happy to refer me to several shops that could probably sell me the parts I needed for slightly less. Needless to say that I was more than happy to just buy them from Retul. I didn't think that the 20 minute drive each way, and the 2 week wait for another appointment justified the $10 in savings.

Also... I am a firm believer in supporting small businesses, especially when those businesses go out of their way to support us.

Todd recommended that I ride the new configuration for a few long rides, lent me a saddle to try so that I didn't need to buy one and then find out it didn't fit (nobody takes returns on saddles!) and fixed my stem. He also recommended some yoga to improve my flexibility.

At this point I have to admit I had already decided that I really liked Todd, he's just an affable, good guy. I ask a lot of questions and Todd was not only not thrown off by any of my questions, but had concise informed answers to all of them.

After a few long rides I had to go back in to get some minor tweaks made, and was again surprised by the level of professionalism and knowledge at Retul.

The final result? No more numbness (VERY good...), no more neck pain and a much more stable ride.

If you need to get your bike fit adjusted, or are just uncomfortable or thinking of buying a new bike I would highly recommend taking advantage of our club sponsorship at Retul. Simply put this was one of my more interesting and beneficial experiences with a triathlon vendor!

Yon.

• Squid lid! Buy one. Train in one. Race in one. Love one. I threw mine in my bag at the last minute. When I jumped in on Saturday for a practice swim, I could not believe how cold it was. I decided to use it for the race. On race-day, I noticed in the corral when we were jumping in the water that all those weathered old ironman types all had theirs on. Sure you can go without. But why loose the extra heat and be that much more in the hole by the time you get to T1? They’re only 15 bucks.
• Warm clothes! All that junk about the desert is mostly true. It can get cold overnight. It was about 52 degrees on race morning. Before the race, I was in a beanie, sweatshirt, tights, socks, and shoes. I saw lots of people in shorts and flip-flops drinking cold gatorade, while I was all bundled up and drinking hot tea. Advantage, dotnate.
• Oregano’s! On University Ave. Go post-race or a couple of days early. I ate WAY to much of the pizza and desert. Everything else was great too!

• Race-day is mental. Everything else is out of your control. Think about it. You’ve trained (maybe well or poorly) and your physical shape is already determined. Your taper week is already done. Weather will happen. Race situations will happen. Bike breakdowns will happen. The only things you can do to change your outcome on race day are mental.
• Az Ironman in November might be the best race. No offense to the other Ironmans (Ironmen?), but Az has a number of good points. The surf isn’t rough. The weather is fairly predictable (I know the wind was bad in April, but it should be consistently better in November). The run has tons of spectators (3 loops and almost always in earshot of the finish announcer). Both the bike and run courses are fairly flat.
• It was so worth it.