Yucca Triathlon, Weekend training

Did the Yucca Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range on Saturday.  I really, really thought about not going to this one. I am tired.  Just got a huge influx of cases from a big shot television advertising lawyer from out of town who decided he didn't want to handle his El Paso cases. Have a trial starting on Tuesday. Worked what seemed like 80 hours this week and I left all I had on the table at Eagle in the Sun. But come 9 the night before, I dutifully started putting my stuff together by shaming myself by asking what would Cody or Gretchen do? They'd compete and so I did. Not to mention this event was carbon made as a good training event for the upcoming Elephant Man as it was advertised as an 8K run, 45K bike, and 400 meter swim. Close to olympic distance and would be the longest distance tri I've done so far.

If you haven't done a triathlon at WSMR, I highly advise it. The base is never crowded, it's only a hour drive from the west side of El Paso, and they have good volunteers and are well organized. The schwag? Not so good but who couldn't use another cotton race t-shirt right?

Got up at 4 to get ready and make the drive and was searching the base for the staging area by 5:30.  When in doubt, just follow the other guys with tri bikes and they'll get you there.  There was noise about cancelling the race because only 30 people had signed up but they got enough late registrants to yield about 51 racers so we were on. Race was a reverse distance course.  Run was basically a 4.25 loop on streets and I felt good and managed to negative split the miles and came in just under 34 minutes.  I needed to put time on my Clydesdale competitor John G. because I knew he'd be coming for me hard on the bike.  The slightly longer run gave me an opportunity to get ahead of him but the longer bike to come would give him a greater opportunity to catch me and pass me before we got to the swim. We're about equal in the water, so I didn't want him passing me on the bike.

One of the good things about a non-USAT sanctioned race held on a military base is they are not sticklers for the rules. Case in point - no mount/dismount line.  You could run up to your bike, get your shoes on, mount and cycle right out of the transition area.  You could also do the same coming in off the bike which I took full advantage of and made for some lightning fast transition times.

The bike route was out the base down a long a gradual hill and then a small loop off the main road on a pea gravel road that shook the crap out of everybody.  You were on that road for about 12-13 miles and felt it later in the day.  No volunteers at the turn points anywhere so you just had to follow the crowd and keep an eye out for markers.  One guy missed the turn barrel and ended up doing the bike portion backwards but got it done.  After getting off the gravel road, you were back on the main road going back up that long gradual hill which strangely wasn't so gradual anymore.

Obligatory Cheesy Medal Shot

I thought I was flying down the hill and keeping the distance between me and John but at the 14 mile turnaround, he was right freaking behind me!  He looked beat though but I knew that didn't mean anything when it came to John.  I figured I could hold him off to maybe 20 miles and then he'd pass me but I kept going as fast as I could go.  Shockingly, he never caught me on the bike and into the pool.  I was Cadillac'ing the swim because there was nobody in front of me I could catch and nobody trying to catch me.  Swim was up and back in 25 meter pool for 8 lanes. I was looking for John and saw him coming up the first lane when I entered the 3rd.  The rest of the swim was something like swim, swim, swim, look for John, swim, swim, swim, look for John, repeat.  Finished in 1:54 and took 1st in the old fat guy division!

Then I looked at the Gretchen torture, er, training calendar for tomorrow hoping for the always appreciated but rare "off day."

Bo the wonder dog

Nope - I quote "This is a critical workout for Elephant Butte." 26 mile ride followed by 6 mile run. Gulp.  I was tired but, again, dragged my sorry butt out of bed and joined the group for the ride.  Kept up just fine until I got to 13 miles then turned around and headed back on my own. Grabbed my running shoes and my running buddy "Bo the wonder dog" and off.

6 miles was 2 miles to get legs under me, 2 mile at Yucca tempo (8/mile) and then last 2 doing 30/30s. I forgot to take my "sports legs" power pills this morning and my legs started to cramp something fierce while doing the tempo miles.  I managed to keep up the tempo but I could feel that if I tensed up my quads at all, they were going to lock up.  I had never felt that while running before. After the workout? Lotsa times. Never during. Note to self - load up the sports legs pills before any 2 hour or longer workout!

Southwest Challenge Series

Guys that have been doing triathlons a LOT longer than me came up with an idea to keep track of results for a series of triathlons in the surrounding areas. They dubbed it the southwest challenge series and currently this year, there were approximately 35 races ranging as far north and east as Amarillo and Lubbock and west to places like Roswell, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Farmington. Whoever took up this task of keeping track of the results of all these races and the athletes is to be commended. I can't quite figure it out but I know it's been around quite a while and they do a wonderful job.

And what do they get out of it? Well, that's a head scratcher. As far as I can tell, they get nada from anybody for going to all that trouble and they give out pretty nifty awards to the series winners at the end of the year. Like monogrammed fleece vests - cool, huh? The only thing I've seen similar in concept (at least as far as funding goes) is AA. I've been sober for almost 8 years and went to lots of meetings. I could never figure out how they kept the lights on when nobody pays any dues or membership fees. But they do and it's an incredible program helping to keep people sober for over 70 years. I'm not comparing AA to a tri challenge series in effect on world peace and families, but it is cool how selfless people believe strongly in something and sacrifice to share their love of sport with others. We that follow the Series thank you for sharing with us.

Im in the old big boy division, otherwise known as Masters Clydesdale. I just started tri's last year and didn't race Clydesdale because of ego and because I wasn't sure if I would stay above 200 all year. Well, this year I competed in Clydesdale and have stayed about 203-207 all year. I had pretty much given up on winning my category because John Gardea was a machine and seemingly did every flipping race for the first 6 months! After the Milkman Tri on June 4, he had done 9 races with 5 1sts and 4 2nds. I thought I stood no shot catching him. In the Series, you get 10 points for 1st, 9 for second, etc., etc. By the time we did Ruidoso the following week John had 74 points and I had 55 points Having done 6 races - no shot right?

Well, John did a couple more tri's after Ruidoso but then stopped because he was doing a half Iron in Boulder. He also sustained a knee injury (although he was able to gut out the half Iron with it). I've done 4 more races since then and the point standings now are dead even with 78 point each! We've both got 6 firsts and 2 seconds for our best 8 races. Technically, John has a quarter point lead on me because he's done 11 races and I've done 10 and you get a quarter point for each race past 8.

I've still got the Eagle in the Sun on sept 4, Yucca tri on sept 10, and Elephant Man on sept 25. John will be doing two of those with me and it sounds like an exciting finish in the fat boy division! I'm just glad I'm still in it because John is one heck of a competitor.