Elbert Reflections 10k Race Report 9/26/09

I decided to race this on Thursday after speaking with my friend Glenn. I was either going to swim or do a harder run on Saturday and follow that with my last long ride before Kona. Glenn encouraged me to do the Elbert Reflections 10k that he has been a part of for years. Glenn entered me into the race and I got set to go. It's a small event in rural Colorado. I saw a familiar participant at all races, Gerald Romero, at the start line. He always beats me by one minute or more. I figured I'm fitter than I have ever been so I'd try to stay with him and see what happens. The gun went off and the usual group of people took off way too fast. After 1/4 of a mile, those folks were already hurting and dropping off. The 5k and 10k start at the same time so you don't know who you are racing. There were 3 of us leading out. The first half of the race is just a long uphill section. I was not feeling good for the first 1.5 miles. One of the 3 guys then turned for the 5k so it was just Gerald and I. I was doing everything I could to hang on to Gerald. At that point, I came around and started feeling great. I took the lead and led out to the turnaround on the out and back course. Gerald passed me there but I was able to stay with him. I had not idea of time....I was just trying to race. At about 4.8 miles, he started to pull away. I would surge to pull myself back and then he'd pull away again. This happened all the way to the end. I couldn't reel him back as hard as I tried. He ended up beating me by 6 seconds. I did however get a great time for myself as a result. I ran 36:20 which is my PR at altitude. This time beat the previous course record by over 40 seconds as it's a slow course. Having completed a 3.5 hour workout the day before, I am thrilled with this performance.

Glenn and I rode for 5 hours following the race. It was very hilly which was great! I felt fantastic the entire ride. Ready for Kona!!!!!

Harvest Moon Race Report 1/2 Ironman Distance

Today was my final triathlon before Ironman World Championships in 4 weeks. It couldn't have gone better! My goal was to have a solid swim and a great run. My swimming had improved a little since my last half ironman on 8/9/09 but my running had improved dramatically. Today was the day to put it to the test.

The Swim

The weather was cold but no wind to speak of so it looked like it would be a perfect day. The gun went off and after a few minutes of the usual getting beat up, things settled. I found the feat of 2 people and stayed with them for 75% of the swim. It was a good pace. I eventually dropped off but felt my swim was pretty good while using very little energy. The swim was short, always a good thing with my swim resume, by about 150-200 yards. My swim time was 27:40.

T1

T1 went smoothly. I put on socks which took a few extra seconds but other than that, it was smooth sailing. T1 time 1:31

Bike

The bike stared off pretty cold due to being wet from the swim. After 10 minutes, I was completely warm and passing a TON of people. I was the next to last wave to start so most the participants were up the road. This proved a bit tricky as some folks weren't riding the way they were supposed to. The were riding on the left so I had to do a lot of shouting that I was coming. After about 15 miles, things started to spread out. This allowed me to just lock into my aero position and go. I never pushed real hard. I went hard enough to set a solid pace but not hard enough up and affect my run. This really paid of toward the end. The final 15 mile section of the bike is pretty tough. This is where I passed the stronger cyclists and I was able to pass them hard due to taking the earlier, faster sections at a reasonable pace. I finished the bike in 2:23:01 for the 7th fastest bike split of the day.

T2

I flew through T2. I didn't need much so just threw on the shoes, grabbed my number, visor and gel flask and took off. Looking at the results, only 2 people got out of t2 faster so I made up time here. I got out in 39 seconds.

Run

I started off easy. I wanted to build into my run. There was no one behind me but one person was ahead of me. He was setting a great pace so I planned to use him at my carrot. I came through the first mile in 6:44. I hadn't gained on the guy in front of me but hadn't lost time either. My second mile was 6:40. Mile 3 was 6:18 and I had gained enough on the guy to realize it was Gordo Byrn. This is a guy who has an 8:30 Ironman with a 2:46 Ironman Marathon on his resume. I was feeling pretty good knowing I was keeping pace with him. Well, that was short lived. I was still running a strong pace, between 6:25-6:35, yet he continued to pull away. I just went inside myself and ran my race. I felt strong the entire way. I dug deep to have a really strong finish. My last mile was 6:10 for a total run time of 1:25:47 good for the 8th fastest run of the day. This was a half ironman run PR of over 4 minutes.

Overall

My final race time was 4:18:36 which was a 5 minute PR for me. I ended up 7th overall and 2nd in my age group (behind Gordo). There isn't anything I would change about how I rode this race. It was just a good day and I accomplished exactly what I set out to do with my bike and run. I'm feeling pretty good about my buildup to Kona. Can't wait to get there!!

A good local Ironman article

There was an article published in today's Gazette that touched on a couple of small things as it relates to training. You can see it here.