Auburn International Triathlon - 5/18/08

patrick123 — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:13:39 -0600

It's been a while since I have posted any racing news. Today was my first triathlon of the year and boy was it a tough one! To begin, the West coast has undergone a serious heat wave in the last 4 days. Average temperatures at the beginning of the week were in the mid to upper 60's and by Thursday/Friday were in the 90's. Today was no exception, it was extremely hot, hot, hot! I don't think anyone was really prepared for this kind of a temperature change. However, the race must go on. There were a couple events in Auburn, CA today. The group, Brad Ventures put on the races today and they did a good job. The races: 1/2 ironman, International distance, and duathlon. The 1/2 ironman is listed as the World's toughest. If anyone has ever been to Auburn, CA (on the base of the Sierra Mountains - California side) they will understand why. It's nothing but rolling hills and steep gradients. I participated in the International distance race to begin my season. Swim was a very comfortable 70 degrees, but it did seem a bit long in distance. However, the bike was nothing but one hill after another - they just don't end. I actually felt sorry for all the 1/2 ironman competitors. *I did the Silverman 1/2 ironman in Las Vegas last November and that race had quite a bit of climbing on the bike* - the Auburn races blow the Silverman away. There are way more hills and the gradients are way steeper - they definately begin to take their toll on your legs even in an International distance race. I also used my road bike (which is a sweet machine too - Litespeed Vortex - I am a big Litespeed guy in case anyone did not notice) which I feel was a good call. A lot of people out there were on time trial bikes but they just don't climb well for races with lots of rolling terrain. Anyways, I actually enjoyed the bike and passed quite a few people on the bike and felt fairly strong throughout most of the ride. With that being said, I still feel like I am not racing very strong in any discipline right now. I probably could have ridden the bike much harder/stronger than I did - but it was a pretty good bike for me. About 1/2 way into the bike I did start to feel the heat. Don't know what the temps were at about 8:30am - 9:00am in the morning but it was feeling hot. As I entered T2, my legs did feel a tad sore so I just told myself that I was going to have a comfortable cruising 10K run. This tells you where my race head is this early in the year. Definately did not have the fighting instinct (the heat probably was having an effect too) plus entering into T2 my combined time was just over 2 hrs so I knew that this was not going to be a fast day. Run was about half on a single track trail and it was actually comfortable because it was shaded and early on so leg turnover was pretty good at this point and I was passing a few runners on the trail. However, once you exited off the trail the run took everyone into neighborhoods of Auburn, CA and the hills began with full exposure to the sun. Boy was it hot. Over the last section of the run which was about 4 - 41/2 miles into the run the heat was the worst and it was a pure up hill run to the finish line. Nearly 2 miles of running purely up hill in full sun exposure and this was where I was feeling it pretty bad. I had to do quite a bit of walking up the hill as I was just feeling fatiqued. Good news is all the dudes that I did pass were way behind and walking too. When I was not walking, I may as well as my feet were basically doing a slow shuffle. My leg turnover was slow and I had no bounce in my step. I looked at my watch at this point and it took me just under 20 min's to finish this section. I lost a boat load of time. The aids/aid stations were awesome and they did a great job keeping us hydrated and cooled off when they could. I am not sure where I placed but it was a good day. This course is by far one of the toughest that I have ever competed on and I hope to race this event again next year. The heat definately took a toll on me and probably 90% of the entire field. During this time of the year you never know what you are going to get on race day in regards to weather. However, doing a challenging race this early definately sets you up for a strong season and I certainly feel as though my head and body gained a little more strength today and I will be able to apply this into the rest of the season. Hope everyone out there is having a good start to their season.

Surgeon General's 5K Run/Walk

admin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:37:28 -0600

REGISTER NOW for the Surgeon General's 5K Run/Walk. Tucson, AZ June 11th, 2008. Go to http://www.phscofevents.org/related/sg5k.cfm

Run 4 Life

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:48:35 -0600

4/26/08 - Run 4 Life Event. Reno, Nevada - 5k and 10k runs, 5k walk.
Visit www.crisiscallcenter.org