This afternoon as I sit at the Salt Lake City, Utah airport I was thinking of what I was going to write about. Since I raced this morning the answer was easy. Write a race report. But I wanted to also write about some of the thoughts and feelings behind the race and what fuels my effort. My thought was to write about hope. Why? Well, over the past weeks I have been watching all these stories on ESPN and other channels about terminally ill kids and adults. Some of these stories were the tear jerker types. Here were these kids and individuals with smiles in their faces while facing life or death situations. Their individual stories were incredible. Yet each one of them manages to make it each day as well as most people. What drives them? Hope drives them. Without hope they may as well be dead. This is sort of a powerful concept. Think about what drives you. Think about what makes you get up every morning. I thought about it and in my case my kids drive me. I hope to be old enough to see them in college and later as contributing adults. I hope to see them get married and have kids. I hope that they are good kids and excel at whatever they choose to do. I also hope that once they are a little more self sufficient I can travel the world with my wife. I have personally been in about every continent but she has not. It will be fun to travel with her. On the other side of my current life, that being triathlon, I am driven by the hope that I can race in Kona this year and race it strong without the course and the conditions getting the best of me. Hope can dwindle sometimes so it needs constant fuel. We have to make strides each day, each week, each month and each year. With the kids growing and learning each day under my wife’s and my guidance it is not so hard to keep hope alive. It is just hard and constant work. In triathlon the work is of a different kind but challenging as well. My fuel is created as I win small battles which indicate good progress. So without any more deep thinking, here is the story about my race this morning and the fueling of my hope.
I needed to find a race for this weekend before I went to Vineman. The reasoning was that in my last race I had trouble on the run with cramping and I also sucked on the bike. Mark Allen and thought it out and I suggested this race to try a few things. For one I had to make sure I kept stress away. In my last race my stress levels were huge. Stress is actually related to sodium depletion in research literature. Another part was to make sure I stayed hydrated every day to prevent any long term dehydration. The last part was to take TriGeniX which provides about every vitamin, mineral and more to insure my body had whatever it needs. I always take extra sodium and potassium in racing but these minerals do not work alone for sure. The chemical process for absorption is complicated. So short of having all kinds of tests and spending thousands of dollars I decided to take TriGeniX daily. I managed to do these for the past 3 weeks.
On Thursday as I got home from some training I found a big UPS box in the living room. It was my HED 3 racing rear wheel. All right! Here is something else to try on race day. Of course when one tries many things at the same time you never know what worked but it is not like I can race every weekend. So the HED 3 went into the mix.
The only Olympic distance this weekend around was this race in Utah. It is called the Echo triathlon. It was too far to drive but United Airlines had 138.00 dollar round trip so off I went. I got to the race site Friday for the Saturday morning race and the temperature was 101. Nice! I want it hot. I am not training for the Alaskan Iditarod. I went for a ride and I have to tell you I have not felt that good on the bike since the Queen K in 1993. I am not sure if it was the tough rides I did in the last few weeks or the HED 3 but I felt good. I then swan with my wetsuit and ran a bit later. I was ready. I set the alarm for 4:00 AM and fell asleep about midnight. At 4:00 AM I had a small breakfast and went back to sleep for another hour. I then got up and rode my bike about three miles to the transition area. I ran a little and went or a swim. I missed the instructions as I warmed up and luckily someone mentioned that the swim was a two loop swim. That was a close call. I was thinking it was a one loop swim. My wave was men 40+ so if many guys beat me out of the water I would not know exactly what place I was in my 45-49 age-group. As usual I was near the lead in the swim except for one guy next to me. I slowed down to try to get on his feet but 30 seconds later he was pulling away and he was also not swimming straight. I let him go and as we started passing the wave in front of us I lost him. The race director gave the same color caps to everyone. I kept on plugging and I was out in good position and no worst than second in the age-group .
In the swim to bike transition we had to walk about 200 yards on small loose gravel. Many people placed a pair of sandals or spear shoes next to the water. I placed my running shoes since I only found out about this little issue right before the start. Good thing I can swim fast and the chances of someone taking my shoes are slim. I got my shoes right away but I got all kind of sand and water in them. That was going to be a problem later when I wear them on the run.
The bike started nicely and a few people came by me but once I got going I passed them back. Unlike other races I was in the bike race, we were passing people and I was staying in contact with those that came by. That was a good feeling especially because the first 12 miles were a slow uphill with a 1200 feet gain. The return to transition was very fast and some 40 year olds came by with a few miles to go. I kept them in sight and I never saw anyone in the 40-45 age-group. So unless the guy that won the swim was in 45-49 I got off the bike in the lead.
My T2 was fast as usual and I passed some of the guys that entered the transition ahead of me. The run is what I was most nervous about and the main reason for this race. Cramping has been a problem in the past but after the first few miles I was feeling good. One of those 40 year olds that I passed back in transition went by me. I even tried to pick up the pace to stay with him. He was still moving away but it was a good test of my hamstrings to pick it up. I hit the turn around after a small downhill and notice some guys that look about my age or older not too far behind. So for the next mile I went as hard as possible on the up hill. Again, my hamstrings held up. As a precaution I took some salt tablets and kept on plugging. With a little less than 2 miles to go I hear some footsteps and this guy came by real close to me, almost as if to say "check me out". Sure enough he was 45. Here was my competition finally. Unfortunately this guy was really moving. I stayed with him for about 20 yards but the pain in my legs was too much. No way can I keep this for one and a half miles. I ran about as hard as I could, my thought was “how long it was going to take to recover from this”. It hurts. But inside of me I was also happy. I have not been able to run this hard this season and now I am. Getting passed was actually good because it forced me to go beyond where I would have gone without this guy going by. That was a great test. I crossed the line and met the guy that won and the other guy behind me who was very confident we were 1, 2,3. He knew exactly because of the numbering system the race director used. He was reading numbers at the turnaround.
Mission accomplished. I can not ask for anything more based on my fitness. I examined the results and although I know I can still do better down the road if I get fitter and keep losing weight. I can not be anything but pleased. My age group was rather small but the race had about 300 athletes. Another 500 did a sprint race. So as I look at the results overall I had the 14th fastest swim, the 22nd fastest bike and the 26th fastest run. That is a hell of a lot more balanced than in my other races. The only place were I have biked better than I run has been in an Ironman race so I am very pleased.
What worked exactly to get this turn around. I really do not know exactly but I know what to keep doing. Keep hydrated, keep taking TriGeniX, keep stress down near races, and keep that HED 3 wheel on the bike. That plus many more hours of training should keep me on track. Hope is definitely alive. Of course the next challenge is Vineman. There will not be any shortage of competition in my age group there and it will be my first national caliber race. Fortunately I feel better about going there than a few weeks ago. Hey sorry for another boring podium picture but I have no action shots from the race.