2011 Season Recap

I had two goals for this season, the first being to qualify for Kona and the second was to win my age group in the local points series.

My best shot at Kona, I figured, was at the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii (Honu), but I also raced Oceanside, which is another one of the rare half-Ironman races to offer a few Kona spots, and was registered for Ironman Louisville.

I realized that I would be able to participate in all of the local "KOZ" events that make up the San Diego Triathlon Series.  In past years, I've raced the duathlon when available (not eligible for series points) or I've had conflicting events and missed a few of the events.  This seemed like a good year to go for a series AG win.

I also had 3 marathons on the schedule, Carlsbad in Jan, Boston (my favorite) in April and my first NYC in November.

Already suffering at mile 17

Carlsbad Marathon, Jan 23 (3:12 ~ 2nd AG)
My longest training run was 15 miles, so I knew I was going to struggle in the last 10k.  Well, the pain started earlier than that.  For the second year in a row, I started to suffer around mile 15.  Moving up in age helped my AG placing and I wound up with a nice little award for finishing in 2nd.

I decided to try something different for this race and carry my nutrition / hydration, so I ran with two handheld bottles of my Powerade Zero / Carbo-Pro mix.  One thing I didn't count on carrying was my heart rate monitor.  It was a little loose and started to fall down around my stomach during the first 5 miles of the run.  I took it off and carried it the whole way.

I also forgot sunglasses, but my friend, Karen, who I was picking up on the way to the race, had an extra pair and loaned them to me.  Came in handy when the sun came out.

XTERRA 15k medal

XTERRA Black Mountain 15k (1:16 ~ 3rd AG)
Hooray for suffering!  A tough course in Mission Trails: up and over the saddle between North and South Fortuna Mountains, then it meanders around before heading up the "Stairway to Heaven" to the top of South Fortuna.  Bomb back down the saddle and wind along the riverbed and back to the start/finish area.  There was some walking on the first climb, three miles into the race - and then again, of course, on the staircase.  Took a while to regroup and feel like I was racing again.  Took it very easy on the descent back down the saddle and suffered on in to the finish.

Desert duathlon podium

Desert Duathlon & Triathlon (1st & 15th AG)
After racing the international distance triathlon last season, I decided to head out again this year and race the duathlon.  When I found out that the the du and the sprint tri were going to be on Saturday with the longer international tri on Sunday (all events were on the same day last year), I decided to do the double.

Unfortunately, I came down with something on the Wednesday of race week and I was feeling pretty bad when we headed out to Palm Springs at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  The duathlon had a pretty small field and I ended up finishing 2nd overall  (I think a chase pack just in front of me ran off-course).  The first finisher was in my AG, but he was pulled out of the division to accept the award for 1st overall and I got to take the top step of the podium.  I certainly didn't feel any better after the race (or the next morning)
and was dreading the more competitive event to come.  The swim was tough as I was struggling to breathe and I was pretty slow on the bike.  When I got to the run, I was pretty miserable and slogged to a 15th place in my AG - about 10 minutes slower than the previous year.

 
SuperSeal Triathlon (2:15 ~ 4th AG)
The first event in the San Diego Triathlon Series.  Felt okay heading into the race, but knew that I would give back a lot of time in the water.  Swimming is definitely my worst discipline and in an Olympic-distance event it carries the most weight.  I was around 20th coming out of the water, but climbed back into the top-10 on the bike.  I picked off a few more people on the run, but finished just short of the podium in 4th.

Ironman 70.3 California "Oceanside" (5:02 ~ 52nd AG)
Still not feeling great about my swimming, I took it easy in the water.  At least my goggles didn't fog up too bad and sighting wasn't ever an issue.  Headed out on the bike feeling pretty good and with the tailwind, averaged 23/24 mph on the way up the coast.  Once we headed inland and then south through Camp Pendleton, the cross/headwind cut into the speed and sapped my legs.  I didn't feel great on the run and stuggled to a 1:39, my worst in 3 races at Oceanside.  I stuck around for rolldown, thinking I might have an outside shot at the 70.3 Worlds in Vegas, but just missed out on the last rollover spot from another AG.  Oh well, I definitely didn't deserve it.

Boston Marathon (3:08 ~ BQ-11)
Flew into Hartford on Friday night and drove to my hotel on Saturday after staying with family in Whately, MA.  Checked out Hopkinton and drove the course into Boston to register.  For the first time, I was staying in a hosted house one block from the start.  It was really nice to be able to hang out around the fire with other Tri Club members and head out to the start about 15 minute before the gun.

I had been concerned about covering the distance as, again, my long runs were limited.  I only ran one 15 miler (technically only a medium-long run).  I felt pretty good through the first half, but as expected, I started to struggle around the 15-mile mark.  I maintained effort and slowed through the hills of Newton, but wasn't able to pick up the pace in the last 10k.  Once again, I suffered on in to the end.  The last two turns (right on Hereford, left on Boylston) are the sweetest in the sport.  I saw my aunt Jackie and uncle Russ along Boylston and met up with them afterwards for a ride back to my hotel.  I love the Boston Marathon!



Spring Sprint Triathlon
The next race in the series.  Last year, I raced the duathlon and finished 5th overall, 2nd AG.  This year, I fell off on the swim, but came out of the water in the top 10 of my wave, which consisted of two age groups.  I caught a few people on the bike and thought I passed everyone else on the run.  I was a bit surprised to see that there was someone else who had been way off the front.




Ironman 70.3 Hawaii "Honu" (5:05 ~ 33rd AG)
When planning out the season, this was to be my "A" race.  Not sure exactly what happened, but I came into this race feeling unfit and afraid of the run.  I had focused so much on swimming that I was looking forward to what I had heard is one of the most enjoyable race swims in the world.  I stayed with family in a condo and several friends were also staying in Waikoloa Village.  It was a short trip up to the T2 / finish area, but the swim start and T1 were farther up the road at Hapuna Beach.

Well, things took a turn for the worse as soon as I arrived on the Big Island.  After passing a few of my friends who were out for an easy run (and completely soaked from the humidity - great), I headed up to the Fairmont Orchid to see if I could check-in and claim my gear bag (I had shipped my bike through Tri Bike Transport and paid an additional $35 for the bag).  Unfortunately, my helmet did not make the trip, but, fortunately, I had decided to bring my road helmet along with me, just in case.

This was my first non-wetsuit swim and I wore a TYR swimskin.  There was a lot of contact - I was dunked twice intentionally (and then cursed) by another athlete about 200 meters into the race.  My goggles were fogged up the whole swim and we all battled chop and crowded conditions.  I still think I ended up swimming pretty straight and I felt good coming out of the water.  The bike was great!

Riding on the Queen K and then up to Hawi was awesome.  There was a nasty crosswind coming on the last stretch up to Hawi, but it was mostly a tailwind all of the way back down to Kawaihae.  I remember seeing the 40 mile marker and thinking, "Only 16 miles to go?  Cool!"  It did feel pretty hot on the bike at times and I made an effort to get as much water in me and on me as I could.  I also took in extra salt to help in humid conditions.  Still, coming off the bike, I felt pretty hot and my legs were cooked.  I shuffled along for a few miles, but before the aid station at mile 3, I could tell that this was going to be the end of anything that resembled racing.  The goal was now survival.  The miles miserably passed and before long I had made it to the long out-and-back stretch and on to the finish.

A disappointing race, when I had hoped to go faster than ever before, but I had gotten a bit burnt out from all of the early season racing and let the run fall off.  I came into the race a bit heavy and undertrained on the run.  The 1:48 was the worst half-marathon I have ever run off the bike.  I also missed the Vegas rolldown spot by one again.  And the rollover spot went to the wrong AG.  Again, probably a blessing as I didn't deserve to be racing at Worlds.




 
San Diego International Triathlon (1:47 ~ 8th AG)
Probably one of the most miserable swims I've ever experienced.  Fortunately, it wasn't all that long.  I think I was hurried in getting my wetsuit on and didn't get it up and over my shoulders enough and I was struggling the whole time.  I felt gassed before the turn and the last 500 meters were not good.  The bike was fun and I suffered on the run.  Having such a poor swim put me in a bad position.  I had hoped to finish in the top 5, but fell to 8th in the most competitive event of the series.

Solana Beach Triathlon (56 min ~ 6th AG)

On the bike in Solana Beach

Another competitive event.  After racing the duathon for the past three years, this was the first time racing the tri (although I did do the swim portion of the relay last year after finishing the du).  The swim was fine and I pushed the pace on the bike.  I didn't feel great on the run and for the first time that I can recall, I was passed on the run in a local sprint.  Not a great race,  but I picked up more points in the series.


Surf Town (Imperial Beach) Triathlon (58 min ~ 2nd AG)
A good swim, a bit of a struggle on the bike (following a pretty hard training session the day before) and a solid run put me in 2nd place in the AG.  The leader was well up the road.


Ironman Louisville (11:01 ~ 50th AG)
See race report on this blog.

Noble Canyon 50k (5:22 ~ 6th AG)
See race report on this blog.

Mission Bay Finish

Mission Bay Triathlon (58 min ~ 2nd AG)
Needed a 5th place to wrap up the series.  Turns out my closest competitor didn't even enter, so I had clinched before even showing up.  Still it was a fun local event and a good way to wrap up the tri season.

I may still enter some local running events, but I'm keeping an eye on the NYC Marathon and Carlsbad again in January.  More to come...

Race Report - Noble Canyon 50k

This was the second year I've run the Noble Canyon 50k.  My first was last year, when the course was closer to a 55k, and I finished in just under 6 hours (5:57:35).  The race takes place on the trails between Mount Laguna and Pine Valley in the Cuyamaca mountains east of San Diego.   This year, the start / finish area was moved up to Mount Laguna (last year, the start & finish were at the bottom of the Noble Canyon trail, at the Pine Valley Bible Camp).  I train out on the course periodically and I just figured it made sense to sign up for the race again.  It's put on by the San Diego Bad Rats, a group of Southern California ultramarathon runners.  Several of my running friends were signed up for the race as well.

 The Bad Rats do a good job with the event and the race is relatively inexpensive - good suffering-per-dollar quotient!  The elevation ranges from about 3,700' in Pine Valley to 6,000' at the highest point on the trail in Mount Laguna.

Last year, the heat was definitely a factor.  We did catch a bit of a break as the brutal heatwave somehow spared us on race day, but even with highs "only" in the upper 90s, it was still a hot day.  This year, we were all keeping an eye on the forecast and were pleasantly surprised to see the race day high posted at 71°.  At least it didn't seem like the heat would be a factor this year.  Still, there's distance, terrain, elevation gain and altitude to overcome - it would still be a challenge.  Add in the fact that I had just finished Ironman Louisville three weeks prior and I knew it wasn't going to be the most pleasurable experience ever.  But I wasn't necessarily looking for a walk in the park - that's not why I signed up.  I've found that long trail races are a good test of mental toughness and a great way to get in a very hard workout.  It's tough to simulate the experience in training.  It's just too easy to quit.  There were several times during the Louisville run that I called on some of my trail running training (from these very trails) to get though the tough patches.  Those long days on your feet really help me keep moving forward when things start to go south.  I've learned that I really can suffer on through to the end.

Anyway...I rented a room in the Laguna Mountain Lodge for the night before the race.  I opted to extend the stay for a second night.  It's only $80 a night in the "motel", although, I would have prefered one of the "cabins" that line the property - more privacy.  The accommodations are sparse, but they do offer a small refrigerator and a microwave.  I took Friday off of work (the race is on Saturday) and spent the morning packing up and making some pasta and salad for pre-race dinner.  I finally loaded up and drove out to Mount Laguna, arriving just after 3:00 p.m. for check-in.

The view out the back door of the motel room.  All of the cabins were booked.

Coming off of the Ironman, my endurance training was a bit limited - considering taper / recovery and then taper for Noble.  Through the summer, I made several trips out to run on the course, but the last 3 times, I had only run the 10-mile upper loop.  I did do a couple of down-and-back 20-milers (6 and 7 weeks out), to get used to the new course, but there was A LOT of walking going on up the steepest parts of the Noble Canyon trail on both of those "runs."  I figured that, at worst, this race would be a good training day, but I still wanted to give it my best shot and try to cover the distance as quickly as possible.

I ate an early dinner of tofu spaghetti and salad and got to bed as early as possible.  I set the coffee maker for 4 o'clock and my alarm for 4:30.

Trying to keep warm at the start.

Staying at the Lodge made for an easy drive to the start.  After a banana, coffee and a bowl of oatmeal, I headed out around 5:45 and was parked and registering by 6.  It was cold!  42° at the Al Bahr Shrine Camp, the new start/finish of the race.  After picking up my bib, t-shirt and goodie bag, I sat in the truck with the heat on and waited for the race briefing to start.

 The first part of the race meanders out of Al Bahr, through the El Prado and Mount Laguna campsites, and then across the meadow along Big Laguna Lake before dropping into Penny Pines and the top of the Noble Canyon trail.  I followed a friend, Brian, through this first part of the race.  He had also run the race last year and we had met up for one of the down-and-back training runs.  The pace seemed easy, but we were running right around 8-minute miles and I didn't really think I should be going any faster in the early stage of such a long race.  It should feel easy.  I had told myself that I would treat this race like an iron distance triathlon.  The first 4 miles would be the swim, the down-and-back along the Noble Canyon trail would be the bike (2 loops, 2nd much harder than the first), and then the last upper loop would be the "run."  The swim went just about as well as it could go.  I still felt great and I was running somewhere around 15th place.

This course offers some pretty amazing sweeping vistas of the Anza Borrego desert below.

After hanging a left on the Noble Canyon trail, starting the first loop of the bike, I slowed down a bit.  There are two climbs in the first two miles out of Penny Pines, and there are rolling hills to the Big Tree aid station at mile 3, but mostly, it's down, down, down to the canyon floor and Pine Valley.  My bottles were still pretty full when I got to Big Tree, so I didn't stop, but I knew a friend from our running group, Rachel, would be there volunteering, so I was looking for her.  She was the first person I saw and we exchanged a quick high-five as I passed through.  I really wanted to take the steep downhill section easy.  I knew there was going to be a lot of climbing coming up - most of it from mile 13 to mile 26 - and I wanted to save something for that.  I tried to keep Brian in sight, but he was moving much faster than I wanted to, so I let him go.  I was worried about what the pounding was going to do to my quads so I backed off as much as I could.  I met a few people on the way down (all of them were passing me).  There was Dan, who was going to be riding his single-speed mountain bike through the canyon the next day, Dave, who seemed to be keeping pace with Brian, and Jeff, who was also on Team Odwalla (and with whom I had traded wetsuit zips while in swim staging at the Oceanside 70.3 in March).  Another bigger runner came barreling down the hill and said he needed to make up time on the downhills and that I would see him again when the trail started going up.

The view from the turnaround in Pine Valley.

Sure enough, I made up ground and passed the one runner on the uphill to the old Pine Creek aid station (not in service with the new course layout) and started to make up ground on Brian and Dave through the rolling section into the turnaround.  I was keeping an eye out for the leaders as I figured they should be coming my way anytime soon.  This was the start of the part of the race that I had been dreading - passing 200 runners on tight singletrack.  Before long, the first runner passed me and I checked my watch so I could give my friend, Chris, a split on the leader.  Chris came past in 5th and I told him he was 4½ minutes back. Chris finished 4th last year, despite getting offtrack - ironically, on the same section of trail where we passed each other this year.  I started passing more runners coming the other direction and before long, I cruised on into the aid station at the turnaround, by my count, in 22nd place.

The trail makes it's way up the canyon.

Monica was there with my supplies and she helped me fill my bottles.  I was still good on Shot Bloks, so I was soon off and running back from where I had come, starting the second loop of the bike.

I ran out of the aid station right behind Brian and Dave.  The trail was starting to get pretty crowded coming the other direction and it was tough to get past people at times.  Both Brian and Dave let me go past and we started the climb up the canyon.

I missed the turn to the first creek crossing (not the first time I had done this), but there were mountain bikers coming down the trail and they let me know where I should cross.  I backtracked a bit and let Brian and Dave cross first.  I tucked in behind them, but I started struggling just then - not coincidentally, right where the trail starts the steepest sustained climb.  About 3 miles up to the Big Tree aid station.  I walked most of it.

Like a panting dog, I reached the road crossing just below the aid station and ran in to Big Tree, happy to see Rachel and the wonderful volunteers.  I had long lost sight of Brian and Dave, but there were two new runners here - one just leaving and the other looking for pain killers.  They both beat me out of the aid station, but none of us were moving too swiftly.  I caught the first gentleman within the first half mile, but it took quite a while to reach the second.  I only caught him because he stopped to work out what looked to be cramps.  The three of us played our little game of suffering leapfrog all of the way into Penny Pines.

Heading into the Penny Pines aid station at mile 22 - Photo by Dax Ross.

There, I was again greeted by Monica and my bag of treats.  Chris' girlfriend, Kathleen, was there, too and she said that Chris had come through about a half an hour sooner.  Sounded about right.  I stocked up on my Powerade Zero / Carbo-Pro drink mix and Shot Bloks and was off and running again shortly.  The "bike" was over and it was now time to slog through my Ironman run.  Fortunately, this "marathon" would be only 9 miles!

The view from Penny Pines towards Monument Peak (miles 22-26).

 The first mile out of Penny Pines is mostly downhill, but you have to climb right back up to the same elevation - and then start the long ascent up towards Monument Peak.  You never reach the actual peak, but the trail still tops out right at about 6,000' before dropping into the last aid station, Rat Hole.  I did quite a bit more walking through this stretch.  The first female passed me about halfway up the climb and there were a couple of others that went past, moving well.  Well, better than me.

I recognized the cramping runner as a veteran ultramarathoner that has finished some of the most brutal events on the planet, including Badwater.  His name is Iso and I had the pleasure of running with him for most of the last 9 miles of the race.  He reached the crest of the PCT trail before I did, so I followed him down into Rat Hole.  this was a no-crew aid station, so we just stocked up on what was available and headed out together.  The first 3/4 of a mile or so out of Rat Hole climb up to a flat fire road section.  Iso stopped on the uphill and I went on past.  I had something in my shoe that started bothering me so I stopped at the top where the trail spills out onto the road.  I emptied my shoe (found a nice sized rock and a ridiculously large twig) and waited for Iso.  The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful.  I got away on the fire road, but he caught me as I was basically walking the technical descent down to the meadows.  We didn't say much, as we were both obviously struggling, but at one point he did ask me what was wrong with my leg.  I told him "nothing, I'm okay.  Just tired."  And then I remembered that I was stopped just as he had made it up onto the fire road.  He must have thought I had stopped to work something out.  He said he had been battling cramps since mile 15.  I told him that I had salt, but figured he had picked some up at Rat Hole.  He had.  We ran together, jockeying back and forth and I followed him across the meadow, alongside the fence and over the wooden bridge to the right hand turn to go back the way we had come 5 hours earlier.

Heading for home!

The last 9 miles of the course, from Penny Pines to Al Bahr, is basically the same finish as the San Diego 100 Endurance Run.  I had run this section as a pacer the last two years, but this was the first time I was going to be able to run it for myself.  From the turn at the bridge to the finish was about a mile and a half (1.62 is what I had on the Garmin on the way out in the morning).  Iso stopped again and I went past.  There were random people along the course at this point, cheering and offering encouragement.  I ran until I tuckered out again and checked my watch.  5:14 and change.  Probably just a little under a mile to go.  I told myself I could walk until it hit 5:15 and then I would run to the finish.  The last stretch was familiar, but still a little confusing.  I concentrated on the orange flags used to mark the course and ran through the campgrounds, both on paved and gravel roads.  I finally made into Al Bahr and followed the flags to the finishing chute.  I crossed the line in 5:22:13, kissed the rat and got my medal.

Looking a little...different, right after finishing.

Chris powering to the finish - Sub 4:30 50k! And 4th place overall! - Photo by Dax Ross

I think I'll just lie down here for a minute.

Obligatory finisher's photo.

That nasty Bad Rat.