Black Diamond Half Iron

Sometimes I actually like being a slow swimmer...

Came down on Friday to stay with Debbie's parents, nice easy and relaxing. Up early to get the worm, or at least a good parking spot within the state park. As usual I'm an early bird and got there before the park gate was open, but not first in line (second).

Sat and read and eventually someone came an opened the gate to let us (1o or so) early arrivers in. I probably could of slept in a bit more as I noticed some spots as late as 6:30 but I was up anyway so oh well.

Got my packet and put the numbers in the correct spots and went to get body marked and find my transition spot. They provide lots of bike racks, but put about 20 per 20 feet and they are numbered in 20's so I try to find a kinda open spot in my grouping, but not much bigger than a postage stamp.

With the great parking I was able to leave some stuff in the car and not use up as much space in transition anyway. There must of been 200 bikes on 15 or so racks and about 20 more unused racks. I (along with quite a few others) asked about spreading out into an unused area so I ended up moving and had a whole rack to myself, it was great.

I had some stomach issues going on too, just a bit unsettled, gurgling and such. Wasn't sure if I was going to have to stick close to the porto-lets or actually get to race, maybe it was just nerves because as once I started getting my wetsuit on and fully ready to go my stomach settled down.

The swim is a two lap course and I hadn't done much swimming since Coeur d'Alene so was just hoping for anything under 45 and as it turns out I only missed last years time by about 20 seconds or so. I was a little worried on the second lap as I swam and pretty much only saw the pink swim caps of the second wave of all women, not many green (men's wave) caps. Once I saw my time coming up to transition I was happy.

Swim: 43:32 (1.2 miles - 2:04/100 yards)

It was great to have the whole rack to myself, I was able to stomp my wetsuit off, dry my feet, get socks and shoes on, jersey, sunglasses and helmet and was off, faster than last year.

T1 - 2:40

They changed the bike course this year (from 62 miles to proper Half Iron 56 miles) so I knew I was going to improve on my time, but I started out strong and started passing people right away. This is where I really like being a slow swimmer, I had the 180th fastest swim (out of 219). I like having these rabbits to catch, so I count them, helps keeps me focused, plus one for everyone I pass, minus one for when someone passes me.

They added two out and backs to the loop to the north we have done in the past for this course, this turned the north loop into 24.75 miles (same course they use for the Olympic tri) and the middle loop to the south was cut considerably shorter and skipped the Mud Mountain road (2 mile uphill).

I had ridden most of this course in previous years, but wasn't sure what to expect on the new out and backs and part of the south loop. The first out and back was on a dead end and nice and wide and a little uphill, but we got to come right back down that. The second out and back was a turnaround on a busy main road. I was a little worried on how they would work this, but it was great, they had two police officers with stop signs and only letting cars through if there were no bicyclist, the gap between was a couple football fields of wide open road and we had the whole width to turn around, didn't loose too much speed.

I finished the first loop of 25 miles in 1:13 and change and knew I was flying (for me at least). I was up 39 positions by then, still feeling good and not tired or anything. My goal for the bike was to hopefully break 3 hours and my quick math told me had a good shot if I get the south loop done in 20 and 1:20 for the repeated north loop.

We head south and it got a bit windy, but not too bad, my pace of counting slowed quite a bit on the south loop and the repeat of the north. We were getting further strung out and the space between riders was much larger. We stayed on the main road for a couple miles with no protection from the wind, finally turning over to a side road for the route back and got to use some of that (now a tail) wind.

Passing back in front of the state park at 1:33 meant I was still on pace and I hit the 1:33 right on, just need to keep the pace for the final 25 miles.

My right knee started to talk to me about mile 40 or so. I started to ease off just a bit. I had been leap frogging one rider. I'd pass on the hill, she'd pass me back, then another rolling hill and I'd get my spot back and then finally she was able to get away as I just had to slow a bit to not hurt as much.

There is a long straight before the first out and back and generally downhill, but rolling and I was able to fully hammer through this without any pain and the hill on the out and back was fine too. My number had gotten as high as 48, but with the knee pain and easing I got back down to 41, I kept thinking I gotta keep going, I can't give these all back, I earned it. I was happy to be able to ride pain free all the way back to the state park and in doing so, got my final number back up to finish at 49. Very happy, what a great ride!

Bike - 2:54:24 (56 miles - 19.27 MPH)

Coming back into T2 I stopped and used the porto-lets and still had a pretty quick T2. I did a test run this week with bungee laces and (thankfully) decided to stick with regular laces and run a comfortable half marathon. Changed the shoes, got rid of the helmet and grabbed the race belt and took off for an afternoon run.

T2 - 2:08

I had one goal for the run and that was to run and not walk. The previous two times I did this event I ended up walking a good portion of the half marathon. I know I can run a pretty decent half marathon, but after swimming and biking it just had not come together.

I started out slow, a secondary goal was to break 2 hours, so I tried to stick to 9 minute miles and hope for the best. The course was not as well marked as previous years, but the few mile markers I saw, I was ahead of the 9 minute pace.

I keep count on the run too, I think mostly to keep my mind on something other than my feet and body. So I look and count other peoples feet and bodies.

I kept picking off the miles and before I knew it I was at the furthest turn around and headed back, its all downhill from here , right? head home now! gotta keep going as its the only way back. I was still feeling good at this point, I had some water at every aid station alternating my own gels or thermolyte tablets. On the way back though I started to not want to eat, I tried my clif blocks and started chew, but just ended up spitting it out as it didn't want to go down.

No problem, I'm almost home, I can make it. There is a section of a dirt road that is not gravel and not really dirt. I'd say it is mostly fist to shoe sized rocks, not the best or most fun to run on, but I kept on keepin on passing a few more in this section as I think my trail running helped some through here.

Back on the road you have to run past the state park to enter through a back trail and then you are so close you can hear the music, hear the announcer calling peoples name at the finish, but they send us on the final 1.4 mile loop around the lake.

I had gotten up to plus 18 at the start of the lake loop, but I was hurting, I kept on running though. very slowly. It is not like running around Green Lake (flat paved trail) not like running around Lake Padden (wide well groomed gravel with ups and downs). This is more like an extra wide single track you might find while out mountain biking. The path is exposed root after exposed root, they do mark them, but the ground is almost all powdery white from all the roots that are marked. not to mention to brutal ups and downs (not too bad, but at mile 70 of this 70.3 adventure) I was hurting and they felt brutal.

8 people passed me in the final 1.4 to finish at plus 10. I had no energy, I usually have something to kick it in and across the finish line, but I had nothing. I did get a smile and thumbs up in for the photographer, but was happy to be done. I even had the volunteer taking my timing strap off open my water bottle for me.

Run 1:57:55 (13.1 miles - 9:00/mile)

Total 5:40:39 (83/202 Overall - 22/26 Male 35-39)

I went down and soaked in the nice cool lake for a bit while I thought about the great race I just had. I actually felt like a raced it too, first time I felt like I raced a triathlon of this distance. I hit all my goals and then some. I was hoping to break 6 hours and smashed that out the door, broke 3 on the bike, sub 2 on the run, ran the entire run. all in all a great race.

Weird tidbit of info: final place of 83 matched my race number of 83

Boys day out

Mountain biking with the boys up on Galbraith mountain was great! We started early and did get some rain, but finished before the heavy stuff started. Great riding with friends, great riding on new trails, great all around!

Ride 542 (Mt Baker Hill Climb)

What a great day, not a cloud anywhere on the way up or down.

We met before 6 to carpool up and arrived in plenty of time to get fully dressed and bikes all ready. It was cold because there were no clouds overnite either. We wanted to get going to warm the legs and body up.

There were lots and lots of riders, they roll us west on SR542 back out of downtown Glacier to the mile post 33 "starting line". Kevin, Joel and I were towards the back of the group, but once we started we were able to use both sides of the road and I was able to move up quickly. By about a mile into the ride I was within 100 yards of the leaders and on the first downhill section of the uphill ride we were crusin along at better than 30 MPH.

The ride is 24 plus miles from Glacier up to Artist Point which is about 5k past the Mt Baker ski area. The lower first 11 miles or so is the steepest section past Nooksack River Falls. I was about 5 minutes faster up this section than the recon ride last week.

Just past here we get a false flat up past the DOT station to the real climb. It is not as steep but it is much longer, the final 12 miles is just up, go around a corner and then its more up. next switchback, more up, up, up.

You go past the lower ski lodge and you need to either not know the road or gather your mental strength as it seems like forever to get to Heather Meadows and the upper ski lodge. After multiple switchbacks and passing the sign (about 1 mile before the real Heather Meadows) you finally get to the upper ski area.

Now it gets interesting as you turn up the final 5k ascent. This uppper section is what you think of in the Alps of the Tour de France, above the tree line and lots of switchbacks that you can see above you (and below you). This part is tough for me too as once you pass the Austin Pass parking lot you got a big, long switchback and you think your close, but once around the upper part of this you hit the Lake Ann trailhead parking lot and you see a repeat of what looks like the same big, long switchback, but this is great too as you start to see many more spectators, hear the cowbells and it helps get you up to the top.

They mark each kilometer of the final 5k and in between 2k and 1k to go I start to fell real sluggish, I thought it might just be because of my location (riding up the side of a mountain), but as it got worse I noticed some give to my rear tire, yeah I had a slow leaking flat. I started to feel my rim on the ground, so stood up over the handlebars and got a bit better, but couldn't stand the final 1.5k. Once I sat back down I realized I had to stop, ug!

Got my wheel off the bike, got out my tire levers, was about to release the final bits of air to get the tire off the rim, but noticed it still had a good amount of air, so decided to simply fill with my CO2 cartridge. Filled it up, loaded up my gear, and back underway. It was a slow leak and I was able to finish with just the refill of air. (I did a full change before riding back down)

I was close to the 2 hour mark I've been hoping to get, still a personal best on my third time in this event. If I had no flat I still wouldn't of made it under 2 hours.

Great ride, highly recommend to everyone.

Hill Climb recon

Met a couple friends and we drove up to the Glacier park and ride. We parked and then rode the bikes to rest of the 24 or so miles to the top ending at Artist Point. Great weather today, very little traffic, Mike and Mark are much better riders than me and as such mike was able to get a repeat of the final 3 (toughest) miles from the ski area to the top. Both are ready for the actual event next weekend. I'm ready too! Just hope for decent weather.

RSVP

Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party

Kevin and I started this little bike ride on Thursday as we made our way to Seattle via a couple different cars and two wonderful drivers (our wifes).



Spent the night at my parents and got up early to ride to the start line at Sand Point, got settled and we were off in the right direction (south). The ride heads south for about .25 mile before turning around onto the Burke Gilman trail and we had a grand time. The weather cooperated and the food stops were awesome. Saw some other riders and friends we know along the way. Got into the stop in Bellingham and rode home for a first day total of about 112 miles.



Since the kids were with the grandparents, Debbie and I went out for dinner and watched a movie we picked out. Got to bed and was up again early as Kevin and I wanted to head out about 6:30, rode up to Kevin's and we were off.



We should of not had breakfast as once we went into the Dutch Mothers bakery in Lynden we found out they put on a special buffet for the riders, we both just ordered a scone and was it ever good! Next time get the breakfast buffet.

Hit the border at 8:04 am just after they opened and continued north through farmland and lots of horse country. Went past an equestrian show and got some pictures for Debbie and pretty soon we were at the ferry for a very short ride across the river. Back on the bikes and another 5 miles we made it to the only food stop on the second day ride.



After some food and a short rest we got back at it, Kevin was hurting a bit but once we hit the outskirts of Vancouver and going through neighborhood after neighborhood I think he got distracted and didn't notice the shooting pain in his knee as much, He was our navigator and got us through all the twists and turns.

We totally lucked out and had NO RAIN for the whole two day ride... we did have some snow though, yep snow on August 18 in downtown Vancouver where they were filming a movie, pretty neat.



The end was a little of a let down, after all that way, we turn into a parking garage, an underground parking garage, so we head down, down, down to the depths and find a nice security lady guarding the bike coral who took our finish picture. We went upstairs and found the 'party' (yeah small p) and it was not much to write home about, or blog about other than we made it! had our free burger and paid for a beer and visited with some other riders, while a DJ played the radio in the background.

Rode the 1k to our hotel, checked in, showered and then went for a great afternoon/evening out on a double date night, took the subway, water taxi, walked around Granville Island, dinner there, back to downtown via water taxi and subway, and went for drinks at our hotel lounge, which was on the 42nd floor and rotates like the Space Needle, and did I mention the weather was awesome! had a great view all around as we sat, visited and spent way too much on way too little to drink.



Woke up Sunday morning and went for a run in Stanley Park, I couldn't pass it up and ran all around the seawall except for a section under repair due to storm damage, cleaned up and went for Starbucks and then we made our way to check-out and found an IKEA, about an hour wait at the border back and then Kevin and Robin dropped us off in time to relax and get settled.

Whistler

We went to Whistler last weekend with Debbie's parents and her brothers family. What a great time. Second year we have been, second year of rain, we will go again and hopefully get some sunny weather. All photos can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ggtriguy/WhistlerJuly2007

Clear Lake Race Report

We had planned on getting up early to go watch some of the Tour de France down at The Mount Bakery - a local Belgian bakery, but skipped it for a little extra sleep before we headed south. I loaded up and then got the kids fed and loaded and we were off.

Clear Lake is about 30-40 minutes south of Bellingham, just east of Mount Vernon and I thought we were late, but as it turns out the race started at 9:00 instead of the 8:30 I had thought, so we had plenty of time to get setup and relax and play a bit.

My parents same up from Seattle to watch Jacob do the kids race which starts after the adults race. They arrived early enough to watch me race too, very nice! The lake has a very nice small park with a great play structure for the kids, some slides to slide into the water, nice sandy beach and it was turning out to be a beautiful day.

The race got underway a bout 5 minutes late to allow cleaning up some of the road construction. The swim is basically a 1/3 mile triangle and the start in between the swim docks was a little tight. I think I hit and got hit just as much as my Ironman swim. Once around the two turns and coming back into shore, it did clear up a bit. I got out of the water in just under 12 minutes, right where I was hoping.

I decided to try to race with no socks to see if I could save some time, so my swim to bike transition was very fast, just sunglasses, helmet and shoes and was off, no drying , no stopping to put on socks. I was able to bike without socks without any pain or blisters. This is a short sprint race and was only a 15 mile ride, out and back so you get to see all the leaders and who is coming up behind you. Pretty flat too, one hill and I really didn't even notice how big the hill was until I was coming back down. I passed 14 people on the bike and had two pass me, I know one very well as I ride with him most weekends, the other was wearing the new Bellingham Tri Club gear but I did not recognize him. Even though it was so short I was happy to finish as I was going VERY hard the whole way, finishing in 42:17 (or 21.3 MPH and averaged 154 HR which is a lot higher than I train at).

My bike to run transition was very fast too, I had transitioned to bare feet on top of my bike shoes on the last 200 yards of the bike so just needed to run to my spot, set bike and helmet down and put on my running shoes, this was a little harder than I expected as my feet were still a little damp, but got them on, grabbed my race number and hat and was headed out.

I could feel that I wished I had socks on, it was rubbing me the wrong way, but I made it through with only a couple cuts on one foot, no blisters, so no complaints. I checked my watch at the mile marker and saw 6:45 so I was moving along pretty good. Kept picking off people too, one at a time here and there and hit the turn around at 13:13 still moving fast. Finally got passed by one faster runner just after the turn around, but I kept on trucking along and pretty soon I saw the 1 mile to go sign. The first part of the last mile was a bit tough, but after a couple turns you can see how close you are getting and before I knew it was around the last turn and turned it up a bit more and then the final 150 yard dash was a nice sprint to finish it off. I passed 6 on the run and had 1 pass me. not bad at all! 26:39 run or 6:40 per mile 160 HR!

Final time of 1:22:20 and 13th overall position!

Relaxed a bit and then got Jacobs transition all set, He wanted me to swim/bike/run with him so I did a second triathlon and it was just as much fun as the first. Jacob used a kick board and I swam along side, his swim was about 100 yards and he did great, ran quickly up and out of the water and I helped rinse off his feet. He was going sock less as well, got on his shoes and helmet and I set him off while I got my shoes and helmet on too. I quickly caught up and we rode the 1.5 mile ride having a nice conversation. Back at transition, we ran to drop off our bikes and I told him just to set it down and I would catch up after I set the bikes in place. He ran most all the .6 mile course with only one walk section this year. He really wanted to improve on his time from last year and was about 3-4 minutes faster. He was very happy!

After his race I found out that I actually finished my race in first place for my age group (Male 35-39) so that was a nice surprise. They do a great raffle for all sorts of stuff, but Jacob was a little disappointed again this year, two years in a row and our names were not called (75 or more prizes on the table to choose from).

After, my parents took us all out for lunch and treats at Dairy Queen, so I think Jacob's disappointment did not last long! Great day and very happy to have my parents come watch Jacob and I race. Alex had fun playing and I was able to swim and catch him coming down the slide. Great Day!