Harvest Thunder Triathlon

The Harvest Thunder triathlon, a race that is unlike no other. This is not because of world class venues, scenic courses, or once in a lifetime experience. I wavered back and forth about racing this year, a rather steep entry fee and a 3.5 hour drive each way dampened my enthusiasm to race it.

However, I like to race, and as always I caved in and paid up. My experience has been that the races that I have the most doubts about racing are the ones I end up enjoying the most, and I did enjoy this trip! Corrie, very nicely, agreed to go with me, it gave us an excuse to drive my car on the twisting hair-pin road was just an added bonus. vroom vroom.
This race is one of the only races in the pacific northwest that utilizes a time trial type swim start. Each racer essentially races against the clock as each racer is started one-by-one 30 seconds apart. It is hard to gauge where you are relative to other racers but one thing is for sure, catch the racer in front of you and you have essentially gaped them by 30 seconds and dealt them a mental strike. Have a good day and positive confirmation comes easy, have a bad day and you'll see a lot of racers going past. I put down a little slower of swim time estimate to add a little "fun" to my race. I figured if I am going to drive 7 hours round trip and pay 55 dollars for entry I am going to make the most of the experience. I chose to start further down the start list (starting 10th) because that would allow me to use those racers starting in front of me as motivation to go faster and add a little to the race.
  My race, after a 300 meter warmup, started with a leaping plunge into lane 1. I hit the far end of the pool, flip turned and started back. After completing lap one (of 5) of the 500 meter swim, I ducked under the lane line and started down lane 2, thus the serpentine swim format. After 2 laps I had caught 2 swimmers in front of me, 7 left. I continued to swim what I felt to be a comfortably, yet fast, pace. I caught 2 more racers by lap 4, taking it 3 wide in the lane. Time is of the essence in this race and I was not going to wait for these swimmers to pull over at the wall.
  I completed the final lap and hopped out of the pool for the run to transition 1. I picked up a few spots in transition while quickly getting my helmet, sunglasses, race belt, and saddling my Cervelo P3 Carbon. I put the hammer down and passed one racer before putting my feet in my shoes. With my feet in my shoes, I made the sweeping corner to enter the main out and back of the bike course.
  I felt two things immediately. The first was the slight wind I was riding into the the 22.5 mph reading on my computer re-enforced my suspicion. The second was the uncommon, but not unknown, feeling of not fitting on my bike.

I am fortunate enough to have a body type that affords the full maximization of a P3 frame. Very few people can ride a P3 to it's full aerodynamic potential because in order to do so one must fold themselves over very prominently at the waist, ride a high seat, and drop many inches to the aerobars. This tucks the rider into a very pronounced and very aerodynamic tuck. Like I said not many people, due to flexibility issues, bio mechanics, and/or body composition cannot (or should not) ride in this aggressive setup. I am lucky because I have very long legs and a relatively shorter torso. This allows for a very high seatpost on a relatively smaller frame. This afford the aggressive drop from saddle to aerobars that is extremely aerodynamic.

However, it takes everyone time in this position to fully adapt to it, no matter how flexible or bio mechanically efficient you are. I had not spent enough time in the position (time off and aquathlon) so I felt a little awkward and uncomfortable throughout the ride. It was mostly a comfort thing as I forced myself to stay in the aero tuck as to not lose any time. I rode hard, creeping all the way up on my saddle, holding my shoulders steady, and focusing only on those ahead of me, forcing myself to stay in that zone of burning legs and painful lungs.

I caught a few more individual racers and many of the team cyclists that started 20 minutes prior on the out portion of the race. I readied myself for the one major hill that led to the turnaround and my one time split I could take on Geoff (my bet for the winner).

I hit the bottom of the climb and sat up, dropping a few gears. I saw Geoff go by going downhill at easily 40 mph. I found my way to the turnaround spinning easily 95 rpm, made the turnaround and started downhill. Not only was it a down hill, but it was also, after making the turnaround, tailwind assisted. I maxed out my huge FSA chainring and 11 tooth cassette, easily doing 45+mph with wheels (literally) screaming in the wind. I wind gusted blowing me from one side of the road to another, I held tight and pitied those smaller riders that would be more susceptible to the cross winds.

The ride back to transition 2 was fast, mostly over 25 mph. I caught a few more riders, 1 that started 4:00 ahead of me. There was now only 2 racers left to catch. I made my way back through transition 2, feeling great and started the run course.
 Finally, after 2 races of running like a "tank" in a world of incredible pain, I felt like I could actually run efficiently. I made my way around the course running what my estimation to be a 6:30 ish per mile pace. I could not catch the person that started the run slightly ahead of me, but he had started 4:30 ahead of me so I essentially had a 4 minute gap on him from this position.
  I later found out it was this same guy who I had battled for the lead on the bike portion of Summit Solstice in 2006 before he cracked me late in the race to take the win. The fact that I had erased 4 minutes of the 4:30 gap he started with today felt great. He ended up 3:56 behind me at this race, a tribute to my hard work in the past years, very satisfying.

I ran hard the rest of the run, making it really hurt at the finish line. I had a great race, ending up 2nd overall, only 50 or so seconds behind super-triathlete (and Hawaii qualifier) Geoff L'Heureux (He was also my home stay for this race). I even made out with 2 yes I said 2 medals!!
  Aaaaaannnnd! The Great Falls News Station wanted to interview me! I answered many questions on camera, the typical ones mostly. "What goes through your head in each portion of he bike?" My summarized and paraphrased answer, swim: swim smooth, strong, and don't get crazy. Bike: hammer, hammer, hammer. Run: pain, always pain. :)

My favorite question was "what would you tell the people watching this that are thinking about doing a triathlon?" Ahh, a perfect question. My answer, "I would tell them that a race of this length is perfect for anyone to achieve success at. If you can swim 1 lap in the pool the can work up to this race. If you can ride a mountain bike for 30 minutes you can work up to this race. If you have ever run a 5k you have what it takes to train for this race."


And the million dollar phrase, it's mine so don't try and steal it. "The thing that people overlook is the mental aspect. With a race of this distance it is really the mental challenge that one must overcome. Once a person puts their mind to actually starting the training and starts believing in themselves, a race like this is achievable.When it comes to a triathlon the challenge of finishing it is IN YOUR HEAD, NOT YOUR MUSCLES" That made the news...because it's true. Hopefully it convinces one person to take up the challenge or breaking their routine and doing something special.

It was a great race, and a great weekend trip. Check out some random pictures of the adventure. Thanks for reading.

***It gets windy here!

***Mmmmmmmmm

***Fun times with the camera!

Aquathlon at the Pond

Aquathlon at the Pond, the slow bikers dream. The aquathlon is usually a yearly event for me, I always look forward to it because it is a unique race. The aquathlon is a 1000 meter swim followed by a 5 kilometer run. The absence of the bike portion does a few things, removes the rest that comes on the bike segment of a triathlon, makes an athlete enter the weird realm of going from swimming to running in less than a minute, and most significantly, makes an athlete start the run at a super high heart rate. All these factors make aquathlon short in time (no bike to draw out race), but don't kid yourself every ounce of fatigue and intensity that is felt in a tri is felt in this race. This race, in fact, hurts more because you pack all the intensity in a red hot burst of "owe my legs, lungs, and arms hurt."

**More fun than doing the race. ha ha

Every year this race has attracted fast people. It is a smaller race but you can always count on a handful of serious racers going for the street cred of being top shelf and gaining possession of the overly generous winner's schwag (this year EVERY racer made out like a bandit by leaving with at least 40 dollars in donated schwag). This race has had fast people race it. Soon-to-be pro Geoff L'Hueruex won it a few times, Ted Burnham has won it, I certainly hope to one day win it, I have now finished 3rd, and 2nd...twice. This year had tough competition also. Former olympic trials swimmer John Weston (nuked everyone in the water, won a half ironman earlier this month) and super fast runner Jeremy Oury (ran a 19ish 5k, won Janet Clarkson Tri a handful of times) were my main concerns for the overall win.
  The small, but competitive field started very quickly, like always. I fought with Oury for Weston's feet, bumping into him multiple times in a swimming/wrestling match before gaining the spot. I swam on Weston's feet for, oh, about, 75 yards before he spit me off the back of his hydrodynamic slipstream. When we hit the first buoy and made a 145 degree turn it was Weston, myself, and then Oury.

I swam very hard the majority of the course, again pulling left with each set of strokes, that gets annoying! I caught sight of Weston at the other end of the backstretch when he made the second 145 degree turn, my estimate put him at a minute. I had roughly 1.5 times that on 3rd place. I continued to swim hard trying to limit my gap to Weston. The man is ridiculous, he is so good in the water that he swims without goggles...he rode his bike to the race (20 miles) ran the course before hand...and he's 53 years old. I have heard he has one of the highest VO2 Maxs tested, he literally hasn't slowed down from the 1990s...oh and he holds the CDA Ironman swim course record, he set it when he was 47 year old...amazing.
  Anyway, he put it to everyone on the swim exiting in 12:50, I exited (I think) around 14 minutes. Jeremey Oury was a few minutes back in 3rd. I hit the beach and ran conservatively to try and lower my heart rate. I stripped off my wetsuit, crammed into my running shoes and took off for the 5k, immediately having that feeling of being stuck in 5th gear unable to shift to overdrive.
  The run course is drawn out on a bike path so I had a line of sight on Weston, he was well ahead. Despite being tired I think I ran time off of him up until the turnaround. After about a kilometer into the run I was maxed out and hurting. By 2k I was a hurting machine begging the turnaround to come quicker.

I made the turnaround, I knew Weston wouldn't be caught, by me or anyone else, (he would take back all of the time I had previously made up and more before the end of the 5k). I gauged Oury as I made the turn. He was running incredibly fast, I had a huge lead early so I knew it would be close at the finish. At 3k the wheels figuratively fell off, I was too tired to race at such a high pace that day, I was locked in the most intense battle of mind versus body that I have ever been in. My muscles were hurting, bad, my run stride became distorted as muscles started to fire off timing and in overcompensating patterns.

My mind however, was willing my legs to keep going, I didn't want Oury to catch me on the run. Even if I am tired I don't want to look like a fool. :) I saw the second place guy in my age division shortly after, I knew I had the age division win locked up. I had no ranking/medal/award reason to continue to run my legs off, even if I slipped from 2nd place to 3rd my division would still be mine. But...it's that pride, desire, etc that everyone burns with that wants 2nd place so badly, not for the purposes of rankings or awards, but for the feeling of never backing down, working hard and never quitting, and proving to yourself you have what it takes to do more than the rest.

The heart (desire) that makes you run harder and harder when two seconds ago you were thinking I have to slow down. The desire that stips you of any machismo or ego and makes you ask yourself how deep are you really willing to take this pain? The ideal (but not advisable all the time or you run yourself to death because you hurt your body and mind to do it) outcome is to have the desire always answers, I want more." Finally, after an agonizing stretch on the bike path I made it back to the pond for the final mile loop around the water.

Weston was out of reach, Oury was still well behind but I could visually see the huge gouge he had taken out of my lead. My lead on him was cut and definitely bleeding profusely. I knew if I wanted 2nd place I had to dig really deep. I reasoned with myself that I was willing to do whatever it took to hold off his charge. I was prepared to manage this fatigue for another mile, give back every second of my lead...all except the 1 second that kept me 2nd overall. It was going to bring discomfort that I would rarely bring upon myself because I knew Oury was running incredibly well and he was closing.

I managed to hang on the edge of discomfort for the back stretch of the lake. I knew once I made the corner it would be 600 meters to the finish. I was prepared to try and out sprint Oury if it came down to it. I forced myself to focus ahead for the last 4 minutes or so leading up to the corner, at the corner I snuck a peak.

Oury had cut 2/3s off the lead I had when he entered the pond loop. I kicked immediately at 600 meters, sending myself to the next level and indescribable level of subjection to self suffering, knowing full and well I could not sprint the distance to the finish, it was a bluff to try and break the charge. At 300 meters I was cooked totally, my legs started to get really really really really hard to turnover, my lungs hurt, and Oury was closing fast.

**Legs totally shut down at finish...speed shuffle. :)

At 200 meters it shut down, Oury cut the lead big time with each passing second and each step. 100 meters, almost there, Oury had obliterated my lead, closing the gap, a few more meters and he'd catch me. I could feel the pass approaching... Unfortunately for Oury I had gauged my swim, and run perfectly. I trudged across the line doing a run/leg wobble combo totally spent, and totally satisfied with hanging on the edge for the last 18 minutes and never losing the desire to hold 2nd place.

**Satisfied with holding 2nd but totally spent I am so satisfied with how smart I raced. Oury was by far stronger on the run, however, I executed a perfect plan of energy management, gaining a huge advantage on the swim and managing the gap (and my pre-fatigued muscles), giving back time but still staying in the race. It was worth it, and a really fun day to test the limits of what I thought I could do.

_______________________________________________________ **Another fun day at the races!
 **The most pain I have ever subjected myself to for a medal...totally worth it