Elephant Butte Tri Clinic

My coach set up a triathlon clinic to prepare for the upcoming Elephant Man Triathlon on September 25. She had a good turnout with 8 of us there including Brooks, Art, and Laura. Several newcomers as well which is always good to see. There will be an Olympic (1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 10K run) and Half Iron (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run). I've done 10 sprints this year and have the Eagle in the Sun coming up on September 4 and I was honestly thinking about not doing the Elephant Man because the idea of swimming a mile freaks me out a little. I've done 99% of my swimming in a 25 yard pool with workouts going up to 2000 yards.  A mile is 1750 yards so I know I can swim the distance but swimming that straight in a lake is a lot different from swimming in a pool 25 yards, pushing off a wall and doing it again, all with the safety that you just can stand up anytime you have a problem. Not so much in a freaking lake.

I went to Gretchen's clinic because I need the open water training and I never miss the chance to participate in a clinic since there are so few in this area. Gretchen put on a great clinic. We swam for about a mile and I surprised myself and swam really well. No problems with my fitness at all. Swimming a straight line? - whole 'nother story. Not good AT all. Gotta work on my sighting because I suck at it. Can't swim a straight line to save my life. Irritatingly, there's no black line on the lake bed, not that you could see it if there was.

The bike route is a 26 mile loop described by Gretchen as gentle rolling hills followed by 2 steep hills and then a long descending ride back.  My idea of "gentle rolling" dramatically differs from Gretchen's but they weren't all that bad. Pretty rough roads all the way but no dramatic pot holes that I discovered (although I did discover several dead animals).  The two steep hills were as advertised and are rumored to bring bikers to walking the hill with their bikes.  It's about 16 miles on the winding roads and "gentle rolling" hills and you end up back at I-25 and then back on a small highway that leads back to Elephant Butte.  Screaming fast ride back topped off by a nice scenic view of the lake as you come back.  Very, very careful on the way back down to the transition area as it STEEPLY descends into the boat ramp area.

We finished with a brief run to experience the beginning of the run. It's through the sand up some small hills and then one steep little hill til you are at the road that goes over the dam.

After today, I'm definitely doing the Olympic distance!  This will be a tough course made even more difficult by the fact that this race doesn't start until 8 a.m. (the real studs doing the 1/2 Iron start at 7). That means if the swim takes me approximately 30 minutes and the ride 1:15-1:30, I won't get to the run until almost 10 a.m. If you read my blog at all, you'll know that me, heat and running don't get along so well. I will do it though.

I cramped up something fierce after I cooled down but one of the guys helped me out with a banana and some CR333. This guy, who I just met today, is named Bates Gaddy and is 30. He decided he wanted to do a triathlon and started training this year and has already done 3 half Irons and just did Vineman Full Iron 2 weeks ago! Freaking crazy! I'm not even thinking half iron til next year and MAYBE a full Iron the year after that. Hats off to Bates.