consistency in my run training

Monday I finally returned to the Big River Monday night run---I had missed the past few weeks for various reasons.  It was good to be back in the swing of things and there was a young lady named Carrie who was looking for someone to run the 7 mile loop with, so I volunteered as we were getting underway.  She looked pretty fit and fast and said she was looking to run around 7:40 pace....yikes!  I think I normally run between 7:30 and about 8:00 minute mile pace when I am feeling great and the path is free of obstructions.

On this particular day the River Des Peres trail was still covered in snow.  I managed to keep up with her for about 2 miles before she took off shortly thereafter to run with a couple of guys ahead of us.  Yeah, nothing like a fast woman dropping me in the snow to bring into focus the fact that I have my work cut out for me training for the Go! St. Louis Marathon.  I ended up running solo for the last 5 miles and Matt Gibbs and company finished right behind me by about a minute or so.  It was a good effort since I usually run that course between about 54 to 56 minutes and this time I completed it in about 61 minutes which I thought was great considering all the snow and ice we had to trudge through and I was running somewhat conservatively on the path to avoid slipping and falling.

Wednesday evening I also made my debut with the Big River Running training team for the Go! Marathon speed work sessions.  The workout was set up to run loops around Francis Park which is 1.2 miles from point to point around and we were going a maximum of eight miles.  Ben and Tim were gracious enough to set out cones and read us splits at each mile which was great.  I started out running with Kevin Jackson who was planning on running 4 miles while I had in mind trying to complete 6 miles, if possible.  Ben advised us all to pick a distance between three and eight miles for this workout and only a handful were going the full eight, including Gibbs.

I was trying to run between eight to nine minute per mile pace since my previous best marathon had me averaging 8:45 per mile and the goal of this workout was to focus on running near your goal pace.  However,  I was somewhat out of practice focusing on running marathon pace, and in any event I usually run faster than my ultimate average race pace for the first 20 miles or so during a marathon only to slow down dramatically over the final 10k.  For example, during the San Antonio Marathon in 2009 I was averaging 8:28 per mile pace at mile 20 and then fell apart running the final 10k averaging a less than world beating 13:14 per mile. 

In other words, I can run a decent pace for 10, 15 or even 20 miles.....but I tend to fall apart over the final 10k.  Although that is a dramatic time discrepancy, my other races bear out a similar pattern, albeit in less dramatic time differences.  Experience has taught me that training to run race pace at something as short as 6 to 8 miles isn't that helpful for me.  I really need to focus on doing long runs up to the marathon distance and in particular focus on either maintaining the same pace throughout or even picking it up slightly near the end of the run.  I don't say that to slight the workout itself, which has merit, just less so for me than perhaps others who don't know what their race pace feels like.

Thus, I found myself early in the workout running almost even eight minute per mile splits which is probably faster than my ultimate race pace will end up being.  The first mile was right on at 8:00 minutes, second one was at 8:02, third at 8:08, fourth at 7:45, fifth at 7:54 and finally I finished the sixth mile in 7:43 to conclude the workout in 47:32 or 7:55 per mile average pace.  Kevin was a little amazed/surprised I could run such even splits without a Garmin but I am pretty good at maintaining pace early in a race or training effort like this, provided I don't go out too fast.  The final two miles I considered skipping since running with Kevin wasn't particularly easy but as he was peeling off another runner, Heidi pulled up behind us and we ended up running the final 2 miles together.  It was interesting because I was sucking down all the oxygen I could get breathing heavily and working hard and she seemed to just be coasting along which I was trying really hard not to find slightly annoying.  I don't think I heard her take one deep breath during those last few miles....so she is clearly ready to run a pretty quick time. 

The weather in St. Louis on Thursday and Friday was pretty nice hitting the 40 degree mark so I ended up getting out on my own and running over 6 miles on Thursday and 5 miles on Friday before my scheduled 12 mile trail race on Saturday morning at the Frozen Feet event sponsored by the City of Wildwood and timed by Big River.  It should be fun since at least a few of my friends are scheduled to be racing there too.

In looking back over the week I managed to run over thirty miles on at least five days worth of running which is the most consistent I have been so far this winter.  I feel like I am finally starting to feel some motivation to get out the door and run on my own.             

Winter Weight Training----Legs

I few friends have asked me recently about my weight lifting regimen during the winter--particularly focusing on the legs.  I try to hit the legs at least 3-4 times a week (usually every other day) for the following core exercises for my legs, though sometimes I will mix things up, here is my standard workout these days:

5 x 100 seated calf raise machine with 120 lbs alternating leg position after each 100.
5 x 100 hip abduction machine, start with 70 lbs and add 10 lbs for each 100 completed.
5 x 100 hip adduction machine, start with 70 lbs and add 10 lbs for each 100 completed.

5 x 100  leg extension machine with 35 lbs.
5 x 100  leg curl machine with 40 lbs.
5 x 100 squats with 40 lbs barbell


I take as many breaks as necessary during each set and between sets because for me the main goal is to reach the 500 total reps.  However, recently I can almost always go through all 100 reps without a break and sometimes can go through several hundred reps at these weights without stopping.  I don't recommend this workout for everyone and be aware it took me some length of time to work up to this many total repetitions, but I like the feeling I get from doing so many reps at what are mostly relatively light weights for me. 

American Triple T Ohio Race Report Part Five

Half Iron Distance Race Sunday morning

It felt a little weird going back to the transition area for a standard swim, bike and then run format after the craziness of the day before with all the leg cramps from doing the events out of order. I set up my bike and shoes and thought that the bike leg would probably severely test me. The olympic distance course was tough but only 40k in length. I knew I could push my way through 40k of anything on a bike, no matter how hilly. However, if the 56 mile course was anything like the 40k course I figured this was going to be a tough and long day. Again, I didn't have the luxury of driving the course so I opted to try and ride conservatively on the first lap of the two lap bike leg. I didn't really give much thought to the swim leg ahead of time since the 1.2 miles was only slightly longer than the 1500 I swam twice the day before.

With my moderate expectations of just being able to finish the swim I again started near the back of the pack. Once more there were several people who ended up swimming into me, especially on the first lap, but I was getting used to it by that point. I felt a little twinge of the leg cramps from Saturday's afternoon race but nothing nearly as severe.  Rather, it seemed more like a faint echo of my pseudo-torture from the day before. I was able to walk the last few meters at the turn around buoy and then starting the second lap.  At some point during the swim it all just started to click and my body seemed to go on auto pilot.  I don't think I was any faster than normal but the effort necessary to maintain my pace seemed to diminish. I felt pretty good exiting the water and excited to get started on the bike.

We turned right out of the parking lot so I had a few miles of roads that we drove down on the way from Portsmouth to the race start. After a few miles we turned left into another state park and I was then in virgin territory. Fairly soon we starting going up a massive hill and once more it was granny gear time. I was able to pass some of my fellow racers on the hills but everyone was crawling--it was just a question of degrees of slowness at that point. At the top of the mile long hill there was an official photographer snapping pictures which was nice. This would be a two lap bike course so I knew I would be visiting this scene later on in the morning. However, I tried to put that out of my mind. The good thing about this course compared to Saturday was the relatively sparse traffic we encountered and the fact that there were no riders traveling in the opposite direction. I think there were less than ten vehicles that were on the entire 56 mile course so you could really just focus on your cycling. There were more stretches of flat pavement so you could get your speed going but when you hit the hills they were tough and unfortunately plentiful.

Eventually we left the park and skirted some semi-residential areas that backed up to the park. There were race volunteers at each corner where there was a turn, plus with arrows painted on the roadway I never felt in danger of being lost. Nevertheless, there were points during the race when I was all alone on the road for a few minutes before I either caught the rider ahead of me or someone would come up on me from behind. Eventually we turned back on the main highway to repeat the final miles from the 40k rides on Saturday before entering the transition area/turn around point. Mostly those miles are flat but there were a few hills that kept you honest and reminded you this was suppose to be a challenging course. Message received. We went all the way down to the transition area and the race organizers had set up a bottle exchange/pickup area directly in front of the transition area. I dropped off an empty bottle and picked up a fresh one filled with water. They also had HEED in water bottles but I wasn't really a fan of that option myself. In addition, there was a table to set out your own bottle(s) pre-race, but I opted to just take what was offered.

It was a tough first lap and for a moment I felt like I would be content to call that a good effort and get off the bike and become a spectator shooting pictures rather than ride that super hilly lap once more before running a half marathon. Nah! I told myself let's keep going and see if I fall apart or can keep chugging along. Lap two begins and my legs were decidedly less zippy than lap one. The major hills were still there but this time I knew where to expect them. I expected to go slow on the hills, but what was disconcerting were some of the relative flat sections when I would look down and see my speed somewhere between ten to fourteen mph. Of course I think I was doing the same thing (going slow) on lap one, but it was perplexing because I was looking at the geographic contours of the terrain and roadway trying to figure out if this was just a gradual uphill that I couldn't see clearly or if the chip and seal pavement was somehow sticking to my tires slowing me down (kidding).....I couldn't figure it out. At one point I stopped to check my tires and make sure I didn't have a slow leak. Nope! I was just riding slow. Anyway, the hills were again plentiful and seemingly never ending. Lots of climbing and pretty scenery that kept my mind wandering.

The next eventful thing that happened was a loud pop and hiss around mile forty four. Flat rear tire on a short downhill section. It reflects on the craziness of this course that I was more upset that I had a flat tire on a section of the course where I was traveling more than twenty mph than the mere fact that my tire blew. I honestly would have been relieved if that happened on one of the killer climbs but to steal my meager thunder while going fast--how dare the cycling gods mess with me like that! I pulled the rear tire off, pulled the tube and replaced it. Used my CO2 and was back on the road in about 3 minutes. It was one of my faster changes on the side of the road. I was mentally prepared for it, so it really didn't throw off my race plan or rhythm at all. It was just one of those things that happen. I was so happy once we made that turn onto the final highway road because we had about five miles to go until we hit the transition area although there were still hills in that section too.

Once I reached the transition area I was truly looking forward to being off the bike. Now I only had to finish a half marathon. For the first time in transition I really noticed the heat and humidity. I could tell it was going to be a hot and humid day on the bike, but part of the course was shaded and the wind one could feel riding really helped cool me off. No such luck once the run started. The legs felt sluggish and heavy starting out on the run. I made a quick detour after only running a few steps to partake of some the liquids and nutrition offered once again by the race organizers just outside transition. I think I grabbed an orange slice and water but turned down the gu and heed etc. Once the run began I was surprised at how well I was able to still go in the first mile or so. Granted, I was certainly slower than my earlier efforts on the course but I was still running and passing a few folks to boot. I was stopping at each aid station on the way out to the turn around.

As the uphill sections mounted I was definitely feeling it. Once we hit the big uphill section I opted to walk up it. My legs just felt dead. After climbing back out after the turn around I knew lap two was not going to look pretty. These days I can tell when things go bad because at that point I stop being interested in taking pictures on the course. I think that happened on the way back to the turn around point to begin lap 2. By the time I reached the transition/turn around area I tried telling myself just one more out and back. It didn't work to inspire and motivate me to pick up the pace as I had hoped. I knew 6.55 miles is a long haul when you aren't feeling good. Ok....just had to suck it up and keep moving. I was running.....ok honestly it was more slow jogging the flats but then I started walking all the uphills. Frankly I don't know that my jog would have been much faster anyway.

Most of the second lap was just a tough death march for me. I wanted the race to be over but found myself  slow jogging until about mile two at which point I just had to walk.....my legs were toast. Previously I had stopped for refreshments at the turn around point to begin lap two and tried some coca cola. It tasted amazingly good at the time and did provide a short burst of energy. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't much appreciate the thought and decided to revolt about twenty minutes later. I intuitively knew this was likely before I actually drank it...but hoped my experience from high school and college trying to incorporate the stuff might end differently this time. No such luck! Sticking with what works makes so much sense, but sometimes you just need to try something and see what happens.

A popular past time was taking a dip in the water between races....which is what I was looking forward to once my run fell apart.

The truth is given how long it had been since I tried coca cola during a race I thought it possible my body might just be able to adapt to it. So, yes I was bent over on the side of the trail puking my guts out around mile 2.5 on the trail when history repeated itself. Good times! I walked the rest of the way after puking since I was feeling less than stellar by that point. I walked up the long hill just past the turn around and oh my gosh.....that felt much more difficult than I imagined to just walk it. I did of course have to stop again around mile 3.5 to puke yet again. Though the downhills were tempting to try and run my stomach felt like two kids had taken opposite sides of a see saw and were enjoying bouncing up and down ad nausea. So, I tried to focus on just making my way to either the next aid station or the next mile marker walking.

I think this was at the halfway point of the half marathon....when I had 6.55 tough miles to go. 

Interestingly, just before I reached the final aid station around mile 5.5 the girl who was "working" the aid station sauntered up to me on the trail heading deeper onto the course about 200 meters passed her post and asked me, " How far to the next aid station?" I was totally mystified by the behavior since I seemed to recall she was all alone on my way past her station maybe 30 minutes ago....but I assumed she ran out of something and was heading toward getting resupplied???? It was about a mile away I replied and she just kept walking past me. So....I found myself all alone at the abandoned aid station and though there was water on the table, no one was manning the area....it just looked eerie to me. It seemed like a scene out of a scary movie where the police might roll up any minute to begin investigating the disappearance of a race aid worker. I was also struck by the idea that gosh----I must really be slow if the volunteers feel comfortable walking away from their aid station while I am still technically racing. It was my very own version of the racing D-list.

This was a picture taken by J.P. when I was about a half mile from the finish line.....I was beyond toast by this point and just wanted it to be over.  Thus, I didn't mind stopping for a photo op. 

I didn't want to tempt my body to puke yet again so I skipped the water this time and trudged on. It was only about three or four minutes later that a van with race volunteers passed me on the course heading toward the abandoned station so I assume they were on the way to resupply it. I was ecstatic when I finally left the fire trail and waiting for me at that point was my friend JP who had already finished. It was great to see her and we walked together for a bit after she took my picture. She jogged ahead to shoot me crossing the finish line which was good news because I was worried she would try to jog in all the way with me. I knew my body wasn't up for that kind of effort. However, I was able to run in the last few meters and truly appreciate JP being there to document the moment with a few pictures.

About to cross the finish line

After finishing the race I again took in some liquids and pretzels and a banana offered by the race organizers. JP was kind enough to retrieve my race sandals from the transition area and I slipped off my running shoes, put them on and then walked out into the stream which was directly behind the transition site. It felt pretty good, though obviously a little cold and there were several other folks in there doing the same thing.

Finally taking a soak in the water after completing all four events of the Triple T

In summary of this final race, I finished in 334th place out of 346 total finishers in the half ironman distance race with a final time of 857:29. My 56 mile hilly as all get out bike split was 423:32 while my half marathon time was a pitiful 339:52, but I managed to finish and actually was the final finisher of all four races in my division in 65th place out of an initial 91 racers who began the event on Friday evening. Thus, 26 racers in my division alone either didn't start, or couldn't complete the half ironman race on Sunday which translates into a 29% failure rate. 

Final Thoughts

Having reflected on the experience over the past several weeks I am definitely glad that I participated in the American Triple T Ohio. I am scheduled to compete again at the Great Floridian full iron distance triathlon in late October. The Floridian course in 2009 was my first experience with a hilly bike course at either the half ironman or full ironman distance so that was part of my initial motivation to tackle the reputed hilliness of Triple T. I figured that if I could manage to survive Triple T's hills I would be prepared to tackle the full 112 miles in Florida with less vertical climbing (I think). However, given the crazy weather this spring I can say in retrospect that I didn't ride nearly enough on hills leading up to this race. Still, I was able to finish while several folks had to accept a DNF, including some who have completed a full ironman race. I think I will be back to race the Ohio Triple T again, but at this point am considering doing so every other year. The course is just too tough to want to tackle it every single year in my humble opinion, though I am sure some folks would disagree.

Post Script: Due to a shoulder injury sustained over the summer I was unable to complete any additional solo triathlon races after mid August including the Great Floridian Triathlon in 2010.  However, I did compete at the Ironman Branson 70.3 as a relay with a friend swimming for me while I tackled the bike and run legs.  For comparison purposes I would say that the Triple T half ironman bike course was significantly harder than the Branson course.  The hills of Branson were long but not necessarily steep.  The Triple T hills were more numerous and less predictable in their grade but often were much steeper.  On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate Branson a seven and Triple T a nine in terms of level of difficulty, though admittedly my judgment might have been influenced by tackling the three prior races before the half ironman on Sunday. 

American Triple T Ohio Race Report Part Four

Olympic Distance Race Saturday afternoon

The third race of the weekend was another Olympic distance event, however, this one involved a strange twist. We would be starting off on the bike to repeat the same course we rode in the morning before putting on wetsuits and swimming two laps in the lake.  I should point out that due to the tornado the night before race organizers had to divert from their original plan for this race and directed us to repeat the same course we rode in the morning race because some trees fell across a road on the intended course.  Other than a few minutes of warming up on my bike before a few previous races I don't think I have ever ridden hard and then tried swimming. So, this was going to be an experiment in dealing with new variables...namely what is it like to BIKE then swim and run? Before the race started I assumed there would just be some overall body soreness from the morning race and then of course from the 40k ride immediately before the swim. However, I thought my legs would only give me trouble once I had finished the swim and tried to transition to running the 6.55 mile course since I normally use them quite sparingly on the swim. Mostly my pre-race thoughts focused on sore arms and shoulders for the swim and sapped legs on the run. Oh how wrong I was!

The race organizers had set up the weekend as two distinct divisions; solo competitors and a team race. This third event was the first tangible reminder that there was a team dynamic at play during the race itself. Those who were racing as a team were allowed to start together on the bike leg and could draft off of only one another for the duration of the ride. Thus, my friend Paul and his teammate Becky were set to begin just ahead of me as we were theoretically suppose to begin in race number order which ordinarily would have Paul and Becky starting just a few seconds ahead of me. I was lackadaisically setting up my transition area and at first didn't think I wanted to start directly behind Paul or fight my way forward in the overcrowded line waiting to begin the race that dominated at least half of the already crowded transition area where the racers gathered standing atop their bikes. However, space opened up ahead of me and several competitors let me get ahead of them when they asked my number and noticed I was suppose to be starting ahead of them according to race number order. Somehow I made my way up to Becky and Paul and gradually came around to the conclusion that it might be interesting to try and hang onto them, at least visually, though obviously I wasn't allowed to draft off of them. I know Paul is a very strong cyclist and I thought if nothing else he would pull me along (without my actually drafting) to a fast bike time, though by following this strategy I was risking not having much left for the run. Life isn't much fun without any risk, right?

 Racers beginning to walk their bikes to the front of the transition area to begin the third event.

Paul and Becky took off and I was allowed to proceed a few seconds behind them. I was able to catch them fairly quickly and tried just hanging back maybe 4 or 5 bike lengths but it seemed like they were just cruising along in no particular hurry which I thought was uncharacteristic of Paul. When two or three riders passed us I decided to move ahead of Paul and Becky and see what happened since my perception at the time was that they weren't riding all that hard. After all, I was feeling ok at that point and assumed they would likely overtake me at some point. I kept expecting them to come flying by me over the first several miles but I didn't see or hear them again until shortly after the turn around point. At that point I had just made the turn and I could now see they were only about one hundred and fifty meters behind me with maybe two other riders between us. I had been riding pretty hard on the way out there, and though I shouldn't have been surprised they were that close, for some reason I was. Since there were about two and a half flat miles to the massive mile long hill I knew they would catch me before that point since they had the drafting advantage. Sure enough they both came flying by me on that stretch of roadway. I looked down at my Garmin and was getting dropped by them while I was going 23+ mph. It was one of the few fast spots on the course and I thought it would take too much energy and effort to try and stay in contact with the huge climb coming up shortly. I let them go.

Paul on the bike course

Once we reached the bottom of the hill I dropped down into my now favorite granny gear and made a concerted attempt to moderate my effort in the consistent turning over of the pedals. Several guys were already jumping out of their seats within the first 100 meters with their double cranks trying to over power this lung busting hill which I thought was crazy. I passed those guys fairly quickly and really wondered if they were planning to stay out of the saddle for the duration of the hill but couldn't simultaneously keep moving forward and look back to find out. I stayed seated and just focused on turning over the legs and keeping my heart rate and breathing in check. It was a LONG road with competitors zipping down the other side at 30+ mph and occasionally they would jump over into the far edge barely crossing over to of our side of the roadway. I never felt I was in danger of getting hit, but in the event one of them would lose control of their bike a crash was a distinct possibility. Thus, I was paying more attention to the roadway than I normally would during a tough climb. I was slowly passing riders on a consistent basis as the riders ahead of me appeared to be riding double cranks and just didn't have the ability to spin their legs around nearly as quickly as I could with my triple. They were having to use their strength to pull themselves up the hill by turning the cranks slowly and I could just see their leg strength seeping away into the afternoon heat. That is a tough way to race but I was impressed with their resiliency and really wondered how their legs would respond once the run began.

Tony Rigdon from the Columbia Multisport Club (CMC) was one of the few racers I knew at this event.

So, while I was passing a few riders there frankly weren't all that many riders in my near vicinity to catch. I would say I probably caught seven or eight riders until we almost crested the hill when I noticed Paul and Becky directly ahead of me. While I would like to say I threw in a surge to catch them the truth is that my legs didn't really have anything approximately a surge to spare for such an effort. Thus, I just kept turning over my legs as quickly as possible and tried to stay seated. Over the course of this long hill, over a mile in length, I believe I stood up in the saddle on three separate occasions. Standing up was basically to allow my legs to stretch and experience a different position to avoid cramping from the sustained and repeatable movements I was engaged in while sitting down for so long. I caught Paul and said a few words of encouragement--he looked better than I expected, but I could tell he was working hard to stay in contact with Becky. She was maybe fifteen feet ahead of him and I caught her too! Again, a few words of congratulations and encouragement sprang forth since by this point we were nearly at the top of the hill.

Becky on the bike course.

I tried to pick up the pace on the relative flat to downhill section that followed while trying to recover. Unfortunately there were more hills on the way back to the transition area. However, the last few miles were relatively flat so I was able to hold a relatively good pace for that section. I came into the transition area and lo and behold Paul and Becky were right behind me. As an aside, I will point out that chatting with them later Paul related that when I first passed them early in the race on the bike Becky had told Paul, "Don't you dare try and go with him" since they had their own race strategy that she wanted to follow. Apparently it worked quite well since I think our times were almost exactly the same on the bike portion of this race.

The following little tidbit is probably my favorite memory from the race. While still in St. Louis on a training ride Paul had mentioned that at Triple T the transition from the bike to swim during this third race was normally something to behold.  Paul had raced Triple T on at least one previous occasion so I was trying to soak up any insight he could offer at the time. He basically said that I wouldn't believe some of the things I would see as competitors struggle to put their wetsuits on after a hard 40k ride since their coordination, reflexes and muscle control are all not accustomed to going from the bike to the swim.  With Paul's warning/admonition ringing in my ears I took my time getting off my cycling shoes and helmet and carefully put my wetsuit in position to try and slip my right leg into the bottom of the suit.  In other words, I was taking my sweet time trying to avoid any quick movements that might cause a muscle spasm or contraction.  Before doing so I looked over to Paul whose transition area was on the same rack and just down a few bikes. Paul was flying! He had his wetsuit halfway on up to his waist and proceeded to stop one of the race volunteers to hand over two small plastic shopping bags saying, "I am sure someone else can use these."

 By way of explanation for those of you not familiar with this practice---the plastic bags are placed on the legs before the wetsuit is pulled on with the theory being that the wetsuit will slide over the plastic faster than bare skin. The race volunteer took one look at Paul and handed the bags back to him saying, "Actually, I think you will still need them, look down--your wetsuit is on backwards!" Paul then looked down and could see his zipper just below his navel!  Most wetsuits are designed with the zipper fastening from your butt to your neckline.  I think Paul had a choice word or two that he muttered to himself loud enough for me to hear and then proceeded to sit down and began taking off his wetsuit. By this point I was starting to get my own wetsuit on--with the zipper on my back I might add. I was smiling as I moved past Paul to the swim start spot since I recalled his words that I would see some bizarre things during this particular transition.....at the time Paul had no idea that he would be the one showing them to me!

J.P. was hanging tough throughout the weekend, particularly on the bike.   

My legs felt ok jogging down to the swim start, however, things were about to get interesting. Once I walked into the water and my legs had a dose of the cold water my quads and hamstrings began severely tightening up and muscle spasms were occurring every few seconds. This was not a good sign at all. So, I walked gingerly out as far as I could with leg cramps proceeding with each step. Once I actually began swimming with my head in the water and arms outstretched and legs behind me I could barely manage to swim without some rather uncomfortable pain.  Whenever I would stand up to sight or take a break with my legs dropping below my chest my hamstrings and quads would again begin to seize up in excruciating pain. It felt similar to a charlie horse cramp, particularly in my hamstrings.  By analogy it felt as if I were a marionette and a puppet master had attached wires to my hamstrings and was now pulling on them as hard as he could to get my attention. So, I would swim some more and kind of forget about the fact that my legs would seize up and then put my legs underneath my torso only to have the cramps return. It was not a good moment since I felt like an idiot for forgetting not to do that yet again! Anyway, I probably stopped a total of ten times during the course of the first lap, usually due to someone trying to swim over me. Normally I stop and let them pass but each time it caused more cramping in the legs.

Dianna was also from the CMC club and was racing with her husband Rodney pictured below.

At one point I noticed a young girl in a canoe for safety purposes maybe ten meters away off to the left and I just stopped and looked in her direction after having been swam over for the third time in about three minutes and the third time my goggles took on some water. Believe it or not, I have never had that happen before in an open water race and I wasn't experienced in putting them back on while dealing with severe leg cramping simultaneously. I was hoping she would see that I wasn't moving forward and come my way to help.  Nope!  No such luck on this occasion. I think it was more mental exhaustion with the cramping and frustration of people swimming over me, but I wanted a little break from swimming and, though as illogical as it sounds to me now, for some reason I was thinking at the time that if I could just hold onto her canoe for a minute to catch my breath and put my goggles back on I could start over refreshed. I clearly wasn't thinking at that point about my legs, though in retrospect I believe they still would of been severely cramping even holding onto her canoe.

Paul and Becky

I wasn't about to expend any of my energy swimming in her direction since she wasn't in the same direction as the finish to the first lap. So, I waited maybe another fifteen seconds. finagled my goggles back on my head, and then began swimming realizing that in Triple T there are no shortcuts and no easy races! I finally reached the final meters of the first lap where I could walk to the turn buoy to begin the second lap and it was more of the same--severe leg cramping. I also noticed for the first time that I wasn't the only one suffering from problems with the legs. Fellow racers were clutching their legs in pain and a few competitors were actually laying in the shallow water trying their best to massage their legs. In addition, I noted that at least two racers were unintentionally walking sideways in the water and fell over shortly thereafter. This biking and swimming combination was taking a heavy toll on athletes unaccustomed to swimming on anything but fresh legs during a race.

J.P. and I

Well, guess who started walking sideways beginning his second lap? Yes, that was a fun moment. I kept telling my legs to move forward but they had other ideas. Meanwhile, the leg cramps were continuing. The smart thing to do was to actually swim at that point but I was obstinate in my opposition to actually swimming before it was absolutely necessary. Besides, what is a race without a little temporary pain? Once I actually reached the point where the water was at my neck I did begin swimming. I remember it actually felt pretty good to start to swim the final lap for the day. Whenever swimming starts to feel better than staying still I start hearing the Twilight Zone theme song in my head. I focused on my form much more in the second lap and turning my hips properly to generate thrust. The second lap was much better than the first in no small part due to the fact that a good portion of the competitors were already ahead of me and thus only a handful of slow swimming competitors were in my general vicinity and capable of swimming into me again. I like my space during the swim. The second lap was relatively uneventful, although I felt tired generally, I did a pretty good job minimizing the cramps in the legs by staying in the forward swimming position for the majority of the time. However, once again as I was exiting the water by standing up for the last twenty meters or so the cramps were back. I had hoped they would stop once I actually exited the water but they continued onto the metal gang plank we jogged across to reach the transition area. I stopped just after crossing the timing mat, sat down and took off my wetsuit. The legs were still cramping and I spent a minute or so massaging them. I hated to waste the time to do that but figured if I wasn't able to run on these legs I would be losing a lot more than a minute walking a 6.55 mile course. The massage worked to a point. The cramps lessened and I moved over to my transition area and put on my running shoes.

Picture of me at the half way point/turn around on the run taken by a race volunteer

I then opted to walk out of the transition area and for the next 20 meters until I reached an aid station. I grabbed some water and they also had orange slices which tasted great! Ok....it was time to get moving. I started off jogging slowly just to test the legs.....there was soreness for sure but the cramping had miraculously gone away. I was so relieved that I could actually somewhat run that I started to slowly pick up the pace and began looking ahead to see how other competitors were faring. First thoughts? Who could I catch? By the time I hit the fire trail I was back into full on running mode and though I didn't feel great, I was running and felt that this final leg of the race wouldn't be the disaster I had been fearing when my legs were seizing up on the swim. The run was basically a repeat of the earlier effort from the morning.....a general uphill on the way out until the big downhill and then surviving the climb back until you could pick up the pace for the last two and a half miles. The main difference this time around was that I stopped at each aid station rather than skip every other one like I did the first time. Also, I took my camera with me for this second run and was busy snapping pictures of as many fellow racers as I could. Some of my friends probably think I am crazy for taking pictures while racing, but I actually find that it takes my mind off the effort of running and makes the race go faster mentally to keep my mind occupied with trying to spot people I know to shoot photos of. I finished the race feeling tired but stronger than I expected given that three of the four races were in the history books.

post-race

After the race I grabbed some food and drink from the race tent and sat down to replenish the energy I just expended. The food was the same all weekend at the race site and I just had the pretzels and a banana along with water and a soda or two. I caught up with my friends and had fun telling everyone about Paul's zipper moment. JP and I decamped back to the hotel where I proceeded to order a pizza delivered to my room and updated my FB status on the hotel computer. I went to sleep early after prepping everything I would need for the half ironman set to begin in the morning. I woke up a bit early and made a belgian waffle as a part of the hotel's complimentary breakfast offerings. It was pretty good but I was having a tough time eating it all. My appetite tends to diminish once I reach a threshold of consecutively hard workout efforts and I felt that my lack of appetite was my body's way of telling me that I had been working hard all weekend. In this third race I again finished in 76th place out of at least 88 racers in my division and 299th out of 372 total finishers with a final time of 322:09 which was 6:09 slower than my morning effort on the same course. From the sprint race on Friday night until the finish of this Saturday afternoon race there were at least 15 fewer finishers overall.

J.P., Paul, Becky and her husband Don were trying to relax between races

American Triple T Ohio Race Report Part Three

Olympic Distance Race Saturday morning

The athletes gearing up to begin their swim at the edge of the lake.

This race began at 7:30 a.m. and I think we arrived at the race site around 6:40 a.m. to set up our transition. By the way, racers are assigned a bike rack based on race number---I can't recall specifically but there were around 10 racers on each rack. You could set up your bike and transition area anywhere on that particular rack. There wasn't much space between bikes for your gear, but like I said before, these were all veteran racers so they managed to make it work. I was definitely wearing a wetsuit for my 1500 meter swim and hopeful that might improve not only my performance but also my confidence level. Assuming I finished this race, I still had another 3200 meters of swimming to go over the next 26 hours! Once more the organizers wanted us to line up in race number order to begin the swim. I, on the other hand, had a different plan. I am a slow swimmer and thus felt more comfortable starting out near the back of the pack. So, I decamped to almost the end of the line which really didn't matter since my time didn't begin until I crossed the timing mat. I think there were maybe 20 racers behind me when I entered the water. Don't ask me why, but I felt better not being the absolute last person to start the race. Almost everyone else was well into their swim by the time I started and some of the top guys had already begun their second of the two loops on the swim course by that point.

Paul beginning his race

Unfortunately, a good chunk of racers would still be passing me for their second lap and my first, but at least I figured this would help minimize the number of swimmers running into me. It worked to a certain degree. I still had quite a few people swimming into my legs but it seemed like there was more room to carve out your own space in this 1500 meter contest and those who were passing or swimming over me seemed to be more courteous (saying sorry) and in less of a hurry. I again walked my way out as far as possible before starting to swim and certainly did appreciate the buoyancy provided by my wetsuit.

There was a tornado that came through central Ohio the night before, and though it didn't touch down near the race site, it did drop a lot of water into the lake for this swim. As a result, the water levels were much higher and the temperature felt a degree or two colder than the night before. I never saw anything from the race organizers on the water temperature after the Friday sprint so that is totally a subjective judgment on my part. I was finally able to get into a good stroke rhythm on the back side of lap one and it felt just like my last iron distance race, albeit much colder. Once again I walked my way through the final meters of the swim on lap one and the first section of lap two. It was nice to see so many folks leaving the water as I made the turn since that meant I would be relatively alone to finish up lap two. Lap two was relatively uneventful as I just focused on my stroke and breathing bilaterally.

Just before the swim began I posed for a picture.

I came out of transition and was happy to be able to spot my bike sitting all alone on that particular bike rack since it seemed like all the competitors under number 200 were already out on the bike course. I began the bike and passed a couple of racers just out of transition on the half mile long ride out of the state park. We turned left out of the park which meant I was now on unfamiliar terrain. The first few miles of the course were relatively flat but fairly soon we hit the hills. It has only been a few days as I write this but I think I have already managed to erase many of the details of the course from my mind. I seem to recall a bunch of inclines that wouldn't necessarily flatten out but just gradually kept going up in a winding direction so you couldn't tell exactly how long they were until you would be able to recover.

A typical racer on his bike at Triple T

I tried to ride this course in a conservative fashion since I didn't know exactly what to expect, except lots of hills. They were there of course in spades. We reached a long downhill somewhere around mile nine(?) that was windy and seemed to go forever! I didn't clock it but it reminded me of skiing down a massive run at one of the Colorado resorts.....it just kept going down and down seemingly forever. It felt like we were cruising at 30 mph for over three minutes but that is probably just my perception, not having driven the course ahead of time. You couldn't tell how long it was from the top because it was so curvy and could only see about 200 to maybe 300 meters ahead at any given time before there was another sweeping curve in the road. In any event, the hill finally ended and there was a state trooper at the bottom holding up traffic from a junction road on the right hand side. There easily would have been a slew of accidents without his presence. I checked my Garmin for the distance of the hill on the way back up later and that downhill section was about 1.2 miles in length. After reaching the bottom we began the flattest part of the weekend on the bike--it was about 2.5 miles to the turn around point from the bottom of the hill and everyone was flying since it suddenly felt like a normal triathlon with everyone going 20+ mph.

After the turn around I tried to maintain a good pace without going crazy since I knew I would have to climb that beast of a hill in just a few miles. With the flat section ending at about mile 15.8 the climbing began in earnest. I was in the granny gear within 30 seconds and kept it there for a good ten minutes at least. The hill just kept going up in a winding fashion and I didn't remember any details on the way down that would have signaled when the end was near. There wasn't really any respite from the elevation gain so I just tried to grind it out without going into oxygen debt. Easier said than done. I also made it a point to stay seated as much as possible but probably came out of the seat about three or four times just to stretch out the legs and prevent the legs locking up from being stuck in one position the entire climb. Of course, once past the big hill around mile 17 I still had nearly eight more miles to the transition to the run. There were more hills on the way back too which further sapped the legs. Once I finally reached the park I had about a half mile jaunt to the transition area so I made it a point to take it relatively easy that last short spurt on the bike and massaged my quads to try and loosen them up for the run. The transition itself was uneventful.

I was looking forward to running since I figured I could catch and pass at least a few people over 6.55 miles given my running background. In addition, I figured this would be a conservative run since I had not yet seen the vast majority of the course I would be unlikely to go all out early on. After the first half mile along a park road (race organizers had wisely reconfigured the course to remove the soupy mudfest section steering us instead to the roadway) veers off onto what they call a fire trail. Basically it was about eight to ten feet across and though there was pavement along a good chunk of it, that pavement only covered about 1/4 of the trail and looked like it had been there a LONG time.....just a general impression but it reminded me of what happens when nature takes over a road from disuse. Anyway, I finally hit the first aid station which was around the mile mark (I think) and I noticed that the general trend of the trail to this point was a climb upward. Ok.....some downhills please! Well, the next three quarters of a mile continued the vertical trend until around mile 2.25 or so when we reached a significant downhill that basically took you almost all the way to the turn around at 3.27 miles. There was also a second aid station in mile two.

A group of runners on the fire trail

You reached the three mile marker on the downhill and just had a quick left hand turn and a quarter mile to go until the actual turn around point but that section was completely flat. The good news was that there was an aid station and porta pottie at the turn around point. So, after the quick quarter mile flatness and a quick right hand turn you were faced with a massive climb of 3/4 a mile. That was lots and lots of fun.....although I will say that I kept running and actually I passed a few folks on the hill. The best part about that hill was reaching the top of it because once you did you could basically coast your way back to the finish line because the trend on the way back was always either flat or downhill except for perhaps two very short moderate inclines or less than 30 meters each. I felt great over those last two and a half miles. I went through the finish line making sure not to sprint but just maintain a good strong pace since I still had another race coming up in a few hours.

Several runners walking up the climb just past the turn around point.

I grabbed some food from the race tent including a banana, pretzels and water and headed off to meet up with my friends. I found them at Paul's RV which was located maybe a quarter mile away from the transition area. We traded war stories and then JP asked me I wanted to head back to the hotel. Absolutely yes! JP's plan was to take a nap while my plan was to score some solid food to replenish my energy for the second race of the day. There was a McDonald's about 200 meters from our hotel so I walked over there and ordered one of my standard fares; a chicken mcnuggets 10 piece meal plus two cherry pies washed down with four or five cokes. It tasted great after the hard effort of the morning race. Unfortunately we only had about an hour and fifteen minutes from the time we arrived back at the hotel until we had to get back in the car to travel back to the race site. Before going to McDonald's I had changed into my normal civilian clothes and left my American Triple T jersey back in the hotel room  on a hanger to hopefully dry out a bit. When I returned to the room I put on a different set of tri-shorts and a dry tech shirt while carrying my Triple T jersey which was still damp from the morning race.
 
On the way back to the race site we passed another car full of fellow racers one of whom was holding his jersey with both hands outside the car window on the passenger side trying to air dry it. I don't know how well that worked for him but I was just expecting to deal with a slightly damp jersey. I figured once we were about twenty minutes into the bike we would be sweating profusely and it was a moot point. I didn't plan on putting on the jersey until a minute or so before I was ready to leave transition with my bike. As the distances increased my relative performance compared to the other competitors dropped slightly.  In the Saturday morning Olympic race I finished in 76th place out of at least 88 racers in my division and 324th out of 381 total finishers in this race with a final time of 316:00.
 

American Triple T Ohio Race Report Part Two

Sprint Triathlon on Friday evening 

Racers entering the water

 

We went in the water two by two about 3-5 seconds apart.  We were supposed to start in race number order which meant I was actually starting next to my good friend Paul Schon who is also from St. Louis.  We happened to be assigned race numbers 183 and 184 respectively out of approximately 550 racers who had signed up given our half ironman personal records are within a minute of each other.  We had submitted our personal record half ironman finish times when signing up for the race months ago.  Paul is a multiple ironman finisher and also owns a triathlon coaching business so I knew he would be ahead of me on the swim in no time.  I let him go and just tried to focus on walking through the shallow water as far as possible until I would actually have to, you know...SWIM.  Why? Because, well, I really don't like to do that very much since I am so very slow in the water.  So, I tried to proceed with haste but wasn't sprinting or anything to keep my heart rate down as my feet landed on the mushy muddy bottom of the lake.  I walked out as far as I could, probably 50 meters, until the water was at my neck.  Ok--it was time to bite the bullet and start swimming, which I did.

To wear a wetsuit or not???

 

I should mention at this point that I noticed something ominous--the water temperature was COLD.....or so I thought.  I remember seeing a race information chart at the check in site which listed the water temperature at 73 degrees which was the main factor influencing the no wetsuit decision.  However, that reported 73 degree temperature seemed absurd to me.  I would guess the water temperature was between 64-68 at most.  I later read several other blog reports from the race that estimated the water temperature was approximately 60-61 degrees and in retrospect I wouldn't disagree.  It felt truly cold to me and I really couldn't get comfortable in the water at all.  I think it was a combination of a colder temperature I wasn't expecting and the fact that at such a short distance I had people flying over the top of me trying to finish fast.  I tried to move into a less well traveled lane but given how short the course actually was there really wasn't a whole lot of room to find that wasn't being utilized by someone else.  I stopped a few times to sight the next buoy and was run over each time by someone from behind.  Of course, even when swimming full steam ahead folks were hitting my legs, back, arms etc. so basically it was one uncomfortable swim.  I finally reached a shallow enough point where I could stand up at around 230 meters and proceeded to slow walk the last section to the ramp out of the water.  Thank goodness the swim was over!  On to the bike. 

I had a rudimentary idea of where the 5 mile bike course would take us since it stayed entirely within the contours of the state park where the transition area was located and actually passed by most of the racers parked cars too.  However, I learned from friends that there was a long hill on the far side of the course that I hadn't seen, or obviously ridden yet.  I jumped on the bike and was off.  Finally a bit of a break with not having to take off a cumbersome wetsuit.  The first two miles I knew already and it went fast since that section was relatively flat.  We then hit a mammoth hill that just kept winding upward.  I dropped into the small chain ring on front and quickly assumed granny gear mentality; slow but steady progress.  The leaders were coming back down the hill FAST in the opposite lane.  The road kept going up and up on a windy road that seemingly wouldn't let us know when the end was near and I was trying to move quickly but not go into oxygen debt since I didn't know how much climbing was left.  I think the climb up the hill took around six or seven minutes until we finally crested the top.  However, instead of turning immediately around we had to keep going on a relatively flat section for about another mile or so.  Once I made the turn around it was time to fly since it was either flat or downhill to the finish.  I tried to go down as fast as possible while staying in control since crashing seemed a distinct possibility if you weren’t paying 100% attention.  I am pretty sure I was either high 30's or low 40 mph on the bike coming down the hill but I was using my brakes quite a bit to avoid going out of control.  I think I passed a whopping two guys in total.  There was too much traffic on the road and I didn't want to risk crashing in the first of four races so I was fairly conservative coming down.  I flew into transition, dropped off the bike, changed shoes and was off on the run. 


Now, at the time of the race the sun was out in full force but the night before it had rained and this one mile run course was a soupfest of standing water underneath a layer of grass that was quickly turning to mud due to all the racers plowing over it.  Thus, we were sinking into the muck with each stride and not getting any lift from the ground at all.  I tried to focus on running outside the beaten down pathways and then on passing a few guys and did so, but I couldn't really get comfortable on the run since there were just a few little hilly risers to break up my rhythm.  It was too short and I kept expecting the turn around to pop up any second but it seemed like it was taking forever to arrive.  We finally turned around near the entrance to the fire road that we would travel down four more times over the course of the weekend.  On the way back to the finish I just wanted a hard effort without trying to out sprint anyone.  I crossed the finish line in just over 30 minutes, pleased to have worked hard but not overtaxed given that I expected the races to become increasingly difficult as the weekend progressed.

Our legs and shoes after running in the muck for a mile.

Post race the organizers had set up a spread of food including bananas, pretzels as well as water and soda plus a bunch of other food that didn’t really appeal to me.  I grabbed some of the food and discussed the race with friends before decamping the transition area to go back to the car and finally check in to our hotel in Portsmouth which was about a 20 minute drive from the race site.  Although I can't remember if I shared this tidbit with anyone at the time, my overwhelming thought about the race after the fact was that the 250 meter swim was much harder than I was expecting.  As we were driving back to the hotel I had serious doubts about whether I could go from what I felt was a tough 250 meter course on Friday to swimming a 1500 meter the following morning.  I figured I would find out one way or the other though very soon and it would do me no good to dwell on it overnight so I put it out of my mind.  My final time for the sprint race was 30:18 and that translated into 72nd place in my division of about 91 racers and 291st out of 387 total racers. I didn’t really pay much attention to my standings at the time, although the race organizers were posting results at the race site shortly after the conclusion of the first sprint race. I did quickly glance for my name and was just happy I wasn’t dead last.

Paul posing with a friend

Abebe Bikila---a marathon legend

Some of you may know I am a bibliophile of the first order and thus I am constantly on the lookout for new books that relate to one of my many interests.  I came across a relatively new  (2008) book about Abebe Bikila called Barefoot Runner by Paul Rambali that focused on the marathon great at the local library.  For those of you who don't know, Bikila was the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal---and might have been the first African to win any type of medal for that matter.  Furthermore, he won back to back Olympic Gold medals in the marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympics as well as the 1964 Tokyo Games---a feat that had never been accomplished since the Games revival in 1896 up to that point.
I didn't really know what to expect when I began reading the book and quickly discovered it was a fictional account of both Abebe's life as well as that of his Finnish coach with quite a bit of intrigue surrounding Abebe's position with the Ethiopian Imperial Guard thrown in for good measure which was his nominal "job" when he wasn't training.  All in all an insightful book that gives you a wide angle lens type of view of  the type of environment Bikila was dealing with in his rise to Olympic glory. 

Unfortunately, I don't think the writer has a running background and thus gives scant attention to the training regiment that Bikila followed to transform himself from mediocre to a world leading marathoner in a few short years.  I can't really recommend it as a good read since the author made up the dialogue and weaved it together within the confines of certain historical events of record.  Plus, it really gives the impression that Abebe was a child like figure who simply did as he was told and all but negates the tremendous amount of will power any true runner knows must exist within one's mind to achieve the type of success Bikila enjoyed. 

I first became aware of Abebe Bikila as part of a series put together by Bud Greenspan regarding Olympic greats in various sports in which he was prominently featured when I was in high school.  Unfortunately, I looked on youtube for the series but couldn't find the section on Abebe.  I also learned that Greenspan put together another documentary in 1971 called "The Ethiopians" which focused on their marathon running prowess in which Abebe was obviously the most prominent example at the time though Abebe's teammate Mamo Wolde also won the 1968 Olympic marathon.  If anyone knows how to access a copy of "The Ethiopians" online or otherwise, let me know because I would love to see it. 

However, in my search I did come across some amazing footage from the 1964 Olympic marathon, though the commentary is in Italian, it is still worth a view.  Along with seeing some great runners like Ron Clarke and Billy Mills competing in the marathon, the footage includes many of the athletes stopping at an aid station, an Irish athlete walking(!) during the race, plus another who collapsed and had to be transported to a local hospital along with Abebe pulling away near the conclusion of the contest.  It really is amazing how much the sport has changed since the mid 1960's since it is clear many of these athletes, the best in the world at the time, were rather cavalier in their race tactics and/or training that led to several blowing up during a marathon.  Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajGwbZpO1_E

Four years ealier Abebe burst onto the international stage with an unexpected win at the 1960 Games.  Amazingly, up until right before the Ethiopian athletes were preparing to depart for Rome Bikila wasn't even on the team---he was a last minute replacement for Wami Biratu who broke his ankle playing soccer!  The footage of Abebe running in 1960 is famous because he opted to compete barefoot due to the shoes he was given being ill fitting.  Talk about making the most of your opportunity.


David Maraniss discussed Abebe's accomplishments and his inclusion in the author's book regarding how the 1960 Olympics changed the world; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMFXN_iRJ2w

The debate over the Tiger Mother

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece by an Asian American Yale Law professor named Amy Chua about how she was raising her two daughters that has elicited quite a bit of feeback--as in 5,000 comments on the WSJ website, a few death threats and hundreds of emails.  The Journal had titled the piece, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" and it was an excerpt from her upcoming book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. 

In a nutshell, she was extremely demanding of her children and would force them to practice their musical lesson for three hours a day and they couldn't even think about receiving anything short of straight A's in their school work.  I was really fascinated by the story and just came across a follow up piece about the inevitable controversy when more westernized parents put their two cents in. 

In the follow up piece Mrs. Chua was discussing her husband's laid back approach to parenting and asking him whether he had any dreams for their daughter's future, and then asked, if he had any dreams for Coco?  He began laughing because Coco is their dog!  I am not sure what to make of that question, but it cracked me up.  Here is a link to the original story;    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

Here is a link to the follow up story where Mrs. Chua discusses the backlash, asks about Coco, and perhaps is doing a little backpedaling;  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/fashion/16Cultural.html?src=me&ref=homepage

American Triple T Ohio Race Report Part One

Several of my friends have asked me about my experience at the Triple T race and I thought a race report might be illuminating for those of you interested in a somewhat unusual race format offered over three days of competition. For those of you unfamiliar with the race, the Triple T involves competing in four triathlons over three days. The race organizers have held the event for many years in Ohio in May, but in 2010 they expanded to an identical race weekend format in North Carolina on October 8th through the 10th in addition to their normal format in Ohio where I competed.  Another unusual aspect of the Triple T is that all the competitors are given a triathlon jersey that they are required to wear in all four races.

The standard uniform for the weekend featuring the Triple T jersey

  

The competition starts off with a short sprint triathlon on Friday evening. The distances are a 250 meter swim course, a 5 mile bike followed by a 1 mile run. On Saturday morning all the competitors gather at 7:30 a.m. to begin an Olympic distance triathlon (although the run is approximately 1/3 of a mile longer than a standard 10k at 6.55 miles). Saturday afternoon is yet another Olympic distance race, however, this time you bike first, then swim and finally go out for another 6.55 mile run. Assuming you still have your game face on after the Friday sprint and two races on Saturday, Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. is the final event; a half ironman distance race in the standard swim bike run order. A final twist that makes Triple T unique is that you can race as a solo competitor or as part of a two person team. If you opt for the team route you can draft off of your teammate only in the third and fourth events on the bike which would probably strike many of you as odd, to say the least, given the rules governing most USAT triathlons.

A fairly typical Triple T racer wearing her TT helmet, Trakkers jacket, and Ironman Canada shorts and matching backpack presumably to intimidate the competition(??)

In pondering whether to recommend this race to my friends I would say that I can think of two good reasons to tackle this race; the first reason is that you are an ironman finisher or hope to complete one shortly and are looking for a different type of challenge. This is not a race that would be a good idea for the casual triathlete, or even those who regularly tackle sprints and Olympic distance triathlons. If you aren't an ironman distance finisher, you are considering signing up for your first one, but are worried about whether you can complete a full 140.6 race and think that if you can handle Triple T Ohio, then an ironman distance race is doable.

However, if you aren't an ironman yet, you don't want to spend 600 bucks to possibly become a DNF at a WTC ironman. Thus, Triple T is a good reality check to gauge your ability to handle 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running. Granted, at Triple T there are some significant breaks between races thrown in to make it somewhat more manageable compared to a full ironman race and at approximately half the cost of a WTC event it is a decent bargain.

The second reason I can see to compete at Triple T is simple; to find out how tough you really are. That may sound bold, but believe me, these courses are seriously tough with hills on the run and the bike in particular that will test the endurance and strength of all but the most skilled climbers. These courses were not designed to be fast, but difficult and perhaps even punishing on your legs depending on your ascending skills. You will suffer and you will probably be seeing numbers on your Cateye, Garmin etc.....that you would think are funny were it not for the fact that you are supposedly racing.

At one point going up a steep hill on the bike I looked down and was averaging 4-5 mph and going as fast as I could. Good times. I passed a guy on the bike during the half ironman going uphill and his comment to me was that, " I really want to downshift to another gear....but it won't go any lower because I don't have any easier gears". Exactly! I was riding a triple crank road bike for the race with 24 gears and I spent some significant time in the granny gear over the course of those three days. I can't imagine doing this race with only a standard double crank, though I know many racers did just that. Of course, I am not a great climber owing to some extent to my serial flirtation with the Clydesdale division where excess weight is a serious disadvantage once the road becomes vertical. So, be prepared to suffer on some long steep hills. I didn't get out and measure them exactly, but I believe over the course of the weekend there are approximately five hills that are at least a mile in length. You cover at least one such hill in each of the sprint and olympic races and ride up the same hill (named Thompson hill I believe) twice in the half ironman race. Plus, those are not the only hills on the courses....just the most memorable because they were LONG.

There are plenty of other hills to frustrate your ability to ride anything like a pace you are accustomed to at a typical triathlon race with a relatively flat course. So, no matter what your Olympic or half ironman times have been in the past...you would be better off forgetting them for the weekend of Triple T. They will only lead you to frustration and possibly a DNF after you blow up trying to ride harder than you body will allow on these courses. Many of my friends have raced at Ironman Kansas 70.3 and for comparison purposes I would rate the Kansas bike course as a 3-4 in terms of level of difficulty compared to a 9 or 10 on the half ironman bike course at American Triple T.

Friday evening was the first race and I drove to the race site with JP, a friend from St. Louis, who was also competing in the solo division. Owing to my tardiness in getting underway on Friday morning we managed to arrive about 15 minutes before the cutoff time to check in at 4:30 p.m. The race was set to begin at 5:00 p.m. so we rolled over to the tent and officially checked in with our ID's and USAT card. Mostly that was a blur....although I do remember something odd about this race. There were no official paper numbers for the competitors requiring a race belt. They did hand us two wrist band type of numbers; one to attach to our bike and the second one to attach to our wrist. This was to allow only the actual competitor to walk out of transition with their own bike. Basically it was to prevent someone from stealing a bike. Ok....I was cool with that. We did get body marked on our left bicep/shoulder with a race number in black magic marker and we also received an ankle bracelet with a timing chip. Incidentally, the race volunteers collected the chips as competitors finished each race and you would pick them back up again before each subsequent race. JP and I went back to the car and grabbed our bikes and gear and headed to the transition area to set up.

This picture was taken on Friday afternoon at the time we checked in

A general observation here; almost every competitor that I saw looked like a seasoned veteran of countless triathlons. Plus, it seemed like quite a few folks had raced together previously at this race since there seemed to be a bunch of, "Nice to see you, what have you been up to?" conversations going on in the transition area. I had debated wearing a wetsuit for the 250 meter swim and in the end opted to go without one. Of course I made this decision without ever having put one foot in the water which was probably not the wisest move. I left the wetsuit at the car and once we reached the beach I was surprised to see the field seemed split about 50/50 with half the folks wearing wetsuits and half going without one. Interesting, since I assumed I would of been in the minority wearing one. Oh well. Too late to go back to the car. Plus, it was 250 meters......even a pathetically slow swimmer like yours truly can manage to get through a 250 sans wetsuit right?