Here’s the setup: we were taking our family to the Bay Area in California for a spring-break trip. It seemed like a perfect formula to me: drive over 2000 miles with 4 kids in tow, visit family, eat Easter candy, see the sights, go to an amusement park, visit some museums, see Golden Gate Bridge, hike in the Redwoods, take in a few cultural activities, eat my daily allotment of calories in one sitting at Fenton’s Ice Cream parlor, tour the Jelly Belly factory, then try to qualify for USAT Nationals the next day. Perfect, right?! Maybe not so perfect… oh, and somebody forgot to tell me that an XL Suburban with a 4-bike rack on the back is nigh-impossible to park in San Francisco!

And no, you didn’t see any mention of any training-related activities for the 8 or 9 days prior to the race — I did get in one good run, plus one bike ride around the block to make sure the bike was operational. I guess you could say I went into this race “well rested.”

Friday afternoon we drove to Lake Berryessa to pick-up race packets – it was rainy and cold but there was a buzz in the air and race crew were busy setting up for a class-A event. After getting our packets we walked through the transition area to check things out. We were personally greeted by the president of HITS, Tom Struzzieri. What a pleasant guy – he was obviously very busy but took the time to stop and talk with us. He chatted with my two boys and told them how cool he thought it was that they were doing the race and that he had kids that do triathlon as well.

Saturday was an early morning alarm… got up a 4 a.m. as we had to pack & check-out of our hotel plus drive about 75 minutes to the race venue. HITS put on an incredible event – one of the best run, nicest events I’ve participated in; however, my only complaint about this race was there was NO hotels/motels within an hour of the race. If you wanted to stay nearby you had to camp.

Parking was a little crazy but everything went smoothly and they had assigned spots in the transition area — they even had nice little stools to sit on while you were putting on shoes or whatever during your transition.

Pre-race was more relaxed than other races I’ve been at — I guess those Californians are more kick-back than us up-tight Utah folk. The only pre-race item of note was the poor guy next to me.  While setting up my transition area I hear him breathe a long, drawn-out, “ohhhhh nooooo, I forgot my wetsuit!” just minutes before transition area closed. Oh baby, did I feel sorry for him! The water was somewhere around 53-degrees that morning!  And little did I know just how the cold water would affect me.

I was able to run a little bit and get warmed up but decided against any swim warm-up; there would be no warming-up effect in that water! The water was so cold I figured it would do more damage than good.  I donned my wetsuit and cap and headed down to the start area.  Promptly at 7:30 a.m. the horn sounded and we headed out.

It was seriously the coldest water I’ve ever swam in.  They said 53-degrees but I bet it was colder once we got a few yards off-shore.  When I was only 100m out I was already hyper-ventilating and getting dizzy; very very cold and very tough to get my breathing regulated. I could immediately feel my feet going numb and wished I had more than a latex swim cap on my head.  There were a few moments when I just about stopped and headed back to shore – I came very very close to giving up on this one.  But, after about 700m, my swim started to even-out and I felt like I could finish.  It was a very slow swim for me; probably 4 or 5 minutes longer than normal and I exited with a time of 26 minutes.

Running to the transition area I saw my wife and kids cheering me on. I wasn’t too happy at that point and all I could say was, “that was not good!”  However, what they heard over the other noise was just, “not good!”  Somehow a parent’s suffering is very humorous to teenagers and they thought it was hilarious that I blurted out, “not good!”  They were popping-off the remainder of our trip (Saturday and Sunday) throwing out a “not good!” whenever they had the chance.  ”How was your lunch?”… “not good!”  ”How are you feeling?”…”not good!”  ”Look at that pretty scenery”…”not good!”  ”Can you pass the chips?”…”not good!” — it was basically that for the 12-hour drive home.

Arriving at my transition station my feet were so cold I decided to take an extra 30 seconds and put on socks for the bike ride.  That little stool came in very handy after all!  The bike course was very hilly and it was a sea-saw ride the entire time; I was passed by others on the downhill and then I’d pass them all again on the uphill.  In the end I moved up a few places on the bike and felt good about my performance there.  The big issue was that the ol’ feet never did thaw-out.  I tried wiggling my toes while riding to get some blood flow but frankly I couldn’t tell if they were even moving — they were completely numb.

Coming off the bike I jumped off at the dismount line and promptly took a dive onto the ground, dropping my bike and sprawling out on the gravel.  I was a little surprised but my feet just didn’t work.  Luckily I and the bike were fine but I did have to focus on walking while getting used to the feeling of having no feet.

I was hopeful that running would get the feet warm but it took about 4 miles before they hinted of thawing out.  The run was quite hilly too and I had a so-so time of 50 minutes. About 5 minutes slower than I was planning on but I guess the ice-block-feet just wouldn’t move that fast.

Crossing the finish line was exciting and it’s always a little euphoric for me – I’m just so elated to be done!  Probably a little bit of the “runner’s high” going on too.  But mostly I like to just sit down, savor the moment, relax, and enjoy the rest of the day!  In the end I did not get anywhere close to qualifying for nationals.  There were some VERY fast racers out there.  Bottom line is I came away learning a few things and have some things to work on going forward.

After my race we had a blast getting the boys ready for their Open-division race.  The course was somewhat short but they had to swim in the icy water, do transitions just like the pros do, and bike & run.

The participants ranged from 4 & 5 year olds to grown men and women.  Prior to the race, the HITS race director Mark Wilson gathered all the participants together and talked with them on the boat ramp.  It was a really cool moment where he praised them for how brave they were to attempt something like this and related it to challenges in life.  He then gathered everybody in and they gave a group cheer before lining up for the start.  What made it even cooler is the fact that the Open race has NO registration fee — yes, free.  Super cool.  What a great way to grow the sport and make race day a family-oriented event.

I really have to give the HITS organization compliments on their race, their professionalism, and even their model which they call “A Distance for Everyone.”  I would love to see them do an event in Utah next year — it would be on my list of must-do races!

The race started at 9 a.m. (which was nice because I didn’t have to get up super-early!) and the race was really well organized with a prompt start. I decided to run this race as it is part of the “runner’s series” and will be the last race I need to do in order to get a guaranteed entry into the St. George Marathon in October. Also, the Canyonlands Half-Marathon is 3 weeks afterward and this would be a good warm-up race for that — I needed to see how I feel at this distance and get an idea of my paces, etc.

The course is mostly through Coral Canyon and through some residential and somewhat rural areas — on the whole a great course with plenty of beautiful scenery to make it enjoyable. Its a downhill course but the grades aren’t too steep – there were a couple of short stretches that had a good slope but mostly gradual downhill.

I started out holding back a little but half-way in I felt really good and picked up the pace a bit. Then for the last 2 miles I pushed hard to see what I had left and finished with a time of 1:48. I was most pleased with how I felt after cooling down at the finish line — felt really good, not too fatigued, etc.

Warm-up:

200 m swim
2 x 100 kick, no kick board–back, R side, L side, back
4 x 100 drill/swim–50 drill of your choice, 50 swim

Main set:

5 x 200 N/S each 50 (Negative split each 50. Each 50 should be about 1 second faster than the last), 20 second rest
-45 sec rest-
5 x 100 N/S each 25, 10 sec rest
-45 sec rest-
5 x 50 build-up, 10 sec rest
-30 sec rest-
5 x 25 fast, 5 sec rest
125 kick on your back, no kickboard

Cool-down:

200 swim EZ, your choice

Total distance = 3,000 meters

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We were in St. George with some friends and I found this Runner’s Series race in St. George.  Looking forward to doing the St. George marathon in 2012 so I need to get a few “series” races in so that I can get a guaranteed entry into the marathon.

This was a fairly small race but was very well organized, great support and the post-race food and awards were very well done.  As it was a fund-raiser and awareness race for breast cancer they did a fun “balloon launch” just minutes before the start.

I hadn’t really trained specifically for this race but I was fairly happy with my time.  It was  a general gun start (no timing chips) so I SHOULD have made my way to the front of the pack for the start… as it stood I crossed the start-line at about 30 seconds… in hind-sight this could have made a HUGE difference as a 30 second faster time would have put me 4th overall rather than 6th.

My only complaint about this race, and it’s a small one, is that the shirts were not very comfortable and were definitely designed for women rather than a unisex-type design.  Of course, it is a breast cancer awareness and fund-raiser run so it’s not that big of a deal.  I guess my wife will get a free shirt

Official results can be viewed [here]

Bib #689,  Age: 43

Total time: 1:43:09, Average pace: 7:53/M

Place: 228th out of 1,074 finishers.

This race just about didn’t happen for me… early in 2011 I was pretty enthusiastic and thought I’d love to do the Hobble Creek race again, mostly so that I could see what, if any, progress I’d made on my running over the past year. This race sells-out the morning that registration opens.  So, I jumped on it and signed up.  As the year progressed I decided to also do the Utah Half Iron-distance triathlon the week after the Hobble Creek run.  The half-iron race quickly became my focus and my “A” race target for the year.  So, as the half marathon approached I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk having too little rest and recovery before the big triathlon.  I hired a coach a few months ago and she advised that my legs would likely feel “flat” if I did the half-marathon.

In the end I decided to run the race — mostly because my mom, who is a total inspiration to me, was also signed-up and running it.  It seemed that if I just went easy and didn’t push too hard that I’d be able to count it as a good workout rather than a race and that I’d be able to recover sufficiently before the triathlon.

It was a beautiful morning and considerably warmer than last year.  Lines for the buses were terrible and we waited a LONG time to get the ride up the canyon.  All the race alumni around us commented that it was par-for-the-course on this race; “they always start late,” was heard many times that morning.  After the long, winding ride up Hobble Creek canyon and walking to the start line we heard race officials try to calm the crowd by saying 10 of 25+ buses they had contracted were no-shows.  Frankly, it wasn’t that big of a deal… at least everybody had enough time to get through port-potty lines and start the race a little more relaxed!

I decided to not get my heart rate over 150 for this race and figured that would dictate my pace and effort level.  Had to make one quick porta-potty stop on the race which cost me a few minutes.  Other than that the race was pretty easy… MUCH easier than last year.  As I got to mile 9 I realized I might actually be able to beat my time from last year.  Last year’s effort was basically everything I had… I’m not a fast runner and was totally wasted after last year.  This year I felt pretty darn good.  The few short uphill sections near the end were kinda fun… I’d been holding back and was able to motor up those little hills; passing a lot of runners in the process.  For some reason passing other runners is a GREAT feeling (even if they are some of the slower runners)!  After checking my Garmin and doing some quick math I found that if I picked it up a little bit I could come in very close to last year’s time.  I knew I should have stuck to the “this is an easy workout” plan but I just couldn’t…  So, I pushed harder for the last three miles and beat last year’s time by about 30 seconds

I came away from it with mixed feelings.  First, if I’d gone my all-out effort I would likely have taken several minutes off last year’s time.  On the other hand, I had probably gone harder than I should and would probably pay for it the following week at the half-iron triathlon.  The other thing that was a little disconcerting was the hamstring/sciatic pain I was having in my left leg.  The hamstring (at least that what I think it is) had been nagging me for a few weeks.  I’ve never really dealt with “injury” before and frankly I don’t really know if I injured it or what.  I just know that it has been somewhat painful and definitely uncomfortable for a few weeks.  A sports massage did seem to give some relief but it didn’t entirely go away.

Over the next two days I was happy that my legs didn’t feel totally shredded; only a little soreness and stiffness for two days… We’ll see how the half-ironman goes, I’m hoping it will be good!

Final time: 1:43

Determined to get a great position in the bike transition area I got up extra early and decided I’d be parked, ready to go when the race director opened the transition area.  That meant I’d need to arrive at KOFPC slightly before 6 a.m.  As I headed out the door it wasn’t looking good.  I’d been watching weather forecasts all week and they had been getting progressively worse.  About 15 minutes after leaving home I was driving through heavy SNOW fall!  Fortunately the snow only lasted for a few miles and then it was back to just wet roads.  Thirty minutes later, as I neared the event venue, I exited the freeway.  Now, again, I was back in the snow and here the snow had accumulated on the ground.  Probably 6″ to 8″ of heavy, wet spring-time snow.

According to plan I was about the 2nd or 3rd person in the transition area.  I setup my things and threw a big blanket over everything in an attempt to keep them somewhat dry.

After taking care of check-in, timing chip pickup, etc. I had some time to just sit around and wait.  I talked with the race volunteers and there were suggestions that the bike portion of the race might be cancelled.  I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

The race directory finally had to make a tough call and she cancelled the bike portion; improvising she added a 2nd swim portion and a short, 2nd run section.  The race now boiled-down to this: 200yd swim, 5k run, 200yd swim, and a few hundred yard run from the pool over the the finish line.  It was a disappointing change but in hind-sight it was a good call; the bike course is fast and has several sharp turns and railroad crossings.  Crossing the tracks when they are wet would have surely caused many accidents.

The change-up of the course caused me to loose some of my advantage… feeling like the swim was too short and it was mostly a running race; my run isn’t currently my strength!  However, the last-minute change made the race exciting in a way and was great for making you “think on your feet”

This is the second year I’ve done this race and I’ve really enjoyed both times.  I’ll probably make it a tradition and see what Mother Nature throws at us next year!

In the end I was pretty happy with my results.  3rd in age group and 20th overall.

This year my goal is to do a few less races and focus on better performance at each one. Here is my tentative race schedule for this year:

19 Mar - Moab Half Marathon (race report)
30 Apr - Spring Sprint Triathlon -Sprint (race report)
25 Jun - 5150 Tri – Provo – Olympic (cancelled)
25 Jun – Bountiful Tsunami Triathlon – Sprint (race report)
20 Aug - Hobble Creek Half Marathon (race report)
27 Aug - Utah Half Ironman – Half-Ironman (race report)
17 Sep - Nautica Malibu Triathlon – Olympic
02 Oct – 5150 Tri, Henderson, NV – Olympic (undecided)
22 Oct – Lake Powell Triathlon – Olympic (undecided)

Post-race Update:
We made a quick trip down Friday afternoon, had a great carb-rich meal at Pasta-J’s in Moab and then headed out on Pot Ash Rd. to Wall Street to watch the climbers.

The weather Saturday was overcast and breezy in town. We headed over to the park for the bus pick-up and spirits were high among those in our group. Great time getting worked-up for the race and riding the bus up the canyon.

I’d heard reports of how freezing cold it usually is up the canyon so I was well prepared. However, it turned out to not be too bad; just a little chilly. We were all nervous though as the winds were pretty strong coming UP the canyon… yes, that meant there was going to be a nice head-wind! I knew I wasn’t going to be getting a PR given the howling wind.

I guess it’s pretty common for all pride to go out the window at big running events like this but I haven’t been in too many so it was a little shocking… men AND women too impatient for the porta-potty lines, just dropping down at the side of the road and letting it fly!

After the gun sounded we took off. Two of our group headed out FAST but I was determined to stick to my plans and try not to get caught-up in the fervor.

The race went pretty good and I really felt great for about 9 or 10 miles, after that I could feel my energy dropping at at mile 11 it really dropped off. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get my gels & calories timed correctly. Should have probably taken more about mile 9-ish. Either way, I plugged it out to the finish line.

Final time: 1:49

I have been trying to do strength training on the legs during this winter off-season in hopes that my biking and running will benefit.  Thursday is typically when I do my “leg day” — I go hard at it on many different weight machines in the gym as well as lunges, squats, and a few other exercises for hamstrings and hip-flexors.  Normally I have a few days to recover from the soreness… and I’m always sore after doing legs.  However, I decided today (Friday) needed to be my long run day rather than on Saturday — too much to do and I just know I wont get to it.  So… I did 9.5 miles this morning.  I thought I felt ok… but then I sat in my office chair and worked for a few hours without getting up and moving around.  Then… when I finally did try to go up the stairs I really did feel like an old man.

I guess I’m not really sure if I should work my legs in that order… weights, then running.  Maybe I should do my long run day and then do leg strength training a day or two after that.  If anybody has some thoughts… please let me know.  In the mean time I’ll try not to walk like an old man too much