RattleSnake Triathlon 2 days of speed

Saturday Olympic
! was up at 3 am both days remembering Danskin and 5430 half. ! didn’t leave until 5:30 though. It was plenty of time to get there. Traffic flowed smoothly into the park. Jeff Carroll racked his bike next to me for luck. He was going to need it. He’s in great shape and all of course, but this is racing. Training means nothing. It’s all about the luck. There was some confusion about start times since it was a TT start. Jim had it all under control and we got off on time. Charley was working the start line and kept things flowing. There was a large flock of RMTCs out there. Trish and Jocelyn were out of the res. before ! went in.

Saturday’s swim was kind of confusing. Run in swim to the far buoy and turn around. The girl in the pink kayak was holding the rope up to swim under. Swim back to the start on the other side of the rope. Run onto the beach, around the giant X and back in where you started with all the others who were just starting. Second time to the far buoy don’t go under the rope. Turn and head to the other giant X on the other end of the beach. Half way through the 4th leg ! spotted someone swimming a good pace to draft. Before that ! would draft as ! was overtaking little old ladies or they would blow by me. ! jumped on his feet and whacked him in the leg. Probably annoyed him some. Then ! started getting next to him. Sleeveless wetsuit and RMTC jersey poking out. It was Michael. If ! was hanging with Michael ! knew ! was moving having a good swim. All the way up the beach to the strippers. ! don’t remember having strippers when ! was in high school. Then up the sidewalk to T1. Michael was just ahead.

Not too far out on the park road we had the extra section. Out and back so ! could check the gap. Jeff Carroll was only 8 tenths ahead. Michael was close behind. Back on the park road and down to Quincy. The cones on the corner were awfully close. There was a girl in front of me and a guy from the San Francisco Tri Club in between us. She slowed down a lot. The guy slowed down. ! slowed down. No room to pass. The cops should have stopped the truck farther up the road to keep the corner clear. ! accelerated out onto Quincy and the SF tri guy started chasing me. It’s a good thing ! had the new shorts on instead of the see-through ones. He held on for a mile until ! finally got away. Next time ! looked behind ! saw 3 guys gaining on the climb. Kevin was one of them. First tri ever and he’s already made up a bunch of time. He averaged 1.3 mph faster than me. ! was only 23 minutes into the ride. Only 54 minutes to go. ! would have to hunt him down on the run.

Quincy was out and back so another chance to check gaps. Jeff Carroll had gained some ground. Damn him. Then Tanner came up on my wheel. ! wasn’t about to let him out climb me. He does weigh more than ! do for the time being. ! jumped and got over the top first. Then he got by. Roberta was sitting by the entrance to T2 and greeted me with a rousing “is that all you’ve got?” It was all ! had plus some that belonged to a few others.

10k is a long, long way to run. !’m not even sure it’s possible to run that far. ! was watching my pace. It was pretty good. 8s ! recall. Then the 2nd half mile started. Keep on pushing. It was hard. ! tried grabbing water as ! went through aid stations without walking. It works. It’s just not very relaxing. ! had to keep going. Prior to the last aid station going out ! was plodding along. By now ! had decided it was best to walk the aid stations. ! was walking. ! could see the aid station. ! didn’t want to miss it. JC was on her way back and chastised me for walking. ! maced her. Never walk when people can see you. If you’re tired carry mace. ! started into the loping again until she was out of site then went back to hiking. ! didn’t want to blow by that aid station. No cots so ! continued on to the turn-around. Back to the aid station. It had been awhile. They had all forgotten about me. Most of the volunteer kids had grown up gotten married and were now out there with their own kids. From here it was all downhill except for the climbs and flat parts.

Amazing as it seems ! made it all the way back. Charley was chagrinned by my slow pace and told me. ! sprinted for the line. High school kids don’t study physics any more. If you only weigh 110 pounds and 195 pounds of wheezing, gasping sweaty muscles is coming at you very rapidly downhill with eyes crossed, arms flailing and an empty thought bubble trying to hang on it would behoove you to step out of the way. ! nearly killed two of them. That concrete post didn’t have a hay bale on it.

5th in my age group was a thrill. ! told everyone. Jordan was confused by my skepticism. His girlfriend beat my by several minutes. ! checked the results later to get my actual placing. 17th age group. 110th of 408 overall. The back-to-back people got the low numbers so ! started 30 or more minutes before most of my age group.


Sunday Sprint

Michael and Jeff Carroll beat me to transition this morning and Jeff Carroll got my spot from yesterday. ! just moved over one and got ready. A bunch of RMTC were doing the Crazy Back-to-Back and they were all here today. Then there were some who were just doing this one. Overall RMTC was well represented both day. Racing, volunteering and just spectating. Charley was out to play today too. Lucky for us Charley can’t run (like he used to). Yon got hold of the microphone and was directing the action.

! missed my appointed start time. It didn’t matter due to the TT start. ! just queued up with the old women and ran in. The swim was much shorter today. Only 500 meters. ! was going to push it. ! was going to push the whole race as hard as ! could. Katrin and Denny were on the beach on my way up to the strippers. ! got to the little girls. They were standing around me cheering. ! thought they were the strippers so ! asked. ! got on the ground and lost nearly 10 minutes while they fought over which of them would get to strip me. !’m used to it.

T1 was much like Saturday. Same bike. Same gear. The course was the same except half as long. ! saw 3 bikes up front coming back Jocelyn was one of them. Then a long gap to the rest. Kevin didn’t pass me today. Jeff Carroll then Michael then Charley. ! was pushing a lot harder than yesterday. It really hurt. Charley thinks training might help me some. Out and back was a blur. ! recall the girl with the blonde dreadlocks getting by. Mostly ! couldn’t think.

Onto the run course. My strategy was just to go. It’s only 5k. It’ll hurt, but it will be over quick. ! kept pushing. ! was wondering where our fast guys were. ! was well into the run when Charley came flying by. He was now out front. ! was concentrating on just going. Pushing the pace. Don’t back off. ! didn’t wear the heart monitor since it would just tell me ! was suffering. It was pretty obvious. Jeff Carroll was up next. Less than a mile ahead of me. Michael was hurting. When Michael hurts he still goes fast. ! made it to the turn. Now ! just had to make it back. ! was even more tempted to back off now. ! could walk. ! could slow down a little. ! could cut the intensity. ! pushed through those thoughts. ! grabbed Gatorade and dumped water on myself. The bad thoughts were still there. ! must banish them. Try not to think about anything. The final aid station. ! hadn’t stopped running hard the whole way. ! grabbed a cup of water and dumped it on me. The cup hit the ground before ! was out to the aid station territory. My only thoughts now were when should ! swing my number around front and when should ! zip up my jersey. It all needs to be done before the final sprint, but late enough to avoid being annoyed by the number and overheated. Here? No, not yet. Here? No. Speaking of annoying. Some of the volunteers had noisemakers and were beating out a steady rhythm near the start of the run. For some reason ! was barely tolerating the racket.

Last corner. It’s time to zip and twist. ! picked up the pace just a bit. ! could see Paul in Denny’s gold jump suit and blue fro. Denny was with him. 200 meters to go. They wanted me to sprint. ! always have to give the fans what they want. 200 meters is a really long sprint. ! was at 100 yd dash pace. ! couldn’t slow down now. ! was nearly to the final straight. 100 meters to go. Downhill. Now ! really had to push it more. ! was already all out. ! was looking for something else. That something was gravity. By this point ! was hoping ! could keep getting my feet in front of me fast enough to keep from crashing. ! could have hung with Jordan and Kevin doing striders. There was nothing going through my head now.

The high school kids stepped out of my way. They had positioned small tubs of wristbands just behind them. !’d like to say ! leapt over them, but the clearance would have made a Japanese auto engineer gape in awe. ! didn’t slow down because ! knew ! was done. ! slowed down because there was nothing left. A golf cart was parked just ahead of me. ! grabbed it and got on the seat. The finish volunteers brought me water and took my chip. ! couldn’t stop them. Whatever my max heart rate is is where ! was for the next 5 minutes. ! was sucking up air as fast as ! could. It wasn’t fast enough. My chest was heaving so hard it was putting me into oxygen debt. A breeze. Ram air is just what ! needed. Recovery was possible. ! was only 16 minutes slower than the overall winner. 1:12:49.6 or so. 15th in my age group. Ouch.

! got the coolest belt buckle of anyone. Take that Jeff Carroll.

5430 Half

!’ve read that recovering from an IronMan lets you absorb a whole lot of fitness from that workout. Maybe the 7 month taper ! put in prior to the race. And the altitude training ! did. Last week ! “trained low and slept high” The low was on the beach in Alabama and the high was the 4th floor condo 100 yards away. ! did a 5k jog on Tuesday and spent the rest of the time hurling my 6 year old nephew across the pool. A couple jet ski sessions rounded out the speed work.

The plane touched down a little after 4pm Saturday and ! had a party to get to. ! also had to be up at 3 the next morning to get to the res. to pick up my packet. It’s still dark out. ! chatted with Spiderman (yeah, we know each other. It’s a superhero thing) and Roberta (yeah, ! know her). She was up to volunteer since Paul was racing. ! thought ! was really early. Not. There was a long line outside transition to get my arms and calves tickled. That’s still my favorite part of the day.

The team was all over transition. Charley and Brett had snuck in somehow even though they were just there as TnT coaches. Denny couldn’t make it. ! suppose he was still in bed dreaming of pony rides. The big deal about this race was the TnT group. Mary Carey decided to put together a ½ IM gang. Every one of them made it to the finish. ! would say that experiment was a success. Mary didn’t race. She’s working on getting some hardware in the 0-4 age group. She loves ½’s until mile 8 on run. Then they suck. ! was pretty excited at mile 8. Longest run !’ve done in a long time. 10 mile trail run w/ Brett and Michael was the longest since January.

In the water ! found Len who has mostly been MIA since his IM last year. ! hate Len. He’s always right where ! want him until late in the run. As soon as ! fall apart he goes on by. Did ! mention ! hate him? On the line we were staring into the sun. ! could see 50 feet ahead of me. The first buoy was farther out than that. !’ll just follow the fast guy with the welding mask.

And they’re off. There were 2 guys right in front of me and 94 more pairs of arms right behind. Of course ! had my fastest swim ever. Still the pummeling went on. Eventually ! found my spot. Big enough for me. ! was drafting the same guy for a while. ! couldn’t see him. He was clearly into barefoot trail running. If his decomposing corpse is found they’ll ID him by his callous feet instead of dental work. ! always knew it was him. ! went out fast just to survive. Then settled into a faster than usual cruise pace. Two minutes faster than last year. A few of the swimmers from the wave after me got by, but none behind them. That’s partly because ! was in the next to last wave. There were even bikes still in T1 when ! got there.

T1 is just about the lowest point on the whole bike course. That means there is a 10.5 mile grind to the highest point on the course. ! just wasn’t feeling it for the first few miles. 3 miles in ! heard someone shouting my name. No sirens so ! wasn’t sure just what was going on. It was Matt. His swim “sucked”. He was slower than me so he was right. Must have gotten lost out there. Near the top of the climb ! found something and blasted over the last rise. Then onto that really smooth, fast road. 48.2 mph. Around and around we went. ! moved pretty well until ! came upon the aid station at mile 20/47. ! nearly had to stop both times. Bikinis. Roberta was marshalling bikes at the turn-around. She was very explicit in her instructions as ! approached. Using her outdoor voice and her pointing instrument to make sure ! knew to turn around. Some of us need that personal attention. ! know how Paul feels when it’s time to take out the trash.

T2 came along and ! was concerned. My quads wanted to cramp for the last 5 miles of the ride. Would ! be able to run? Would ! be able to play piano after the operation? ! couldn’t do either before. The 3rd pro was coming in. Under 4 hours. He had a 27 minute head start. If ! could pull out a 26 minute ½ marathon ! would make the podium. That’s just 30 mph. Surely ! could run that fast. !’ve done two 8-mile runs recently so ! wanted to get at least that far before walking. ! started off feeling pretty good and backed off the pace a bit to make it last. ! was doing a little better than 10 minute miles. Even @ that pace ! could PR. If ! could hold it. There was that damn hill. First aid station. ! calculated that ! would be 8 miles in next time ! got there. ! can do that. Surely ! can. Just keep moving. On and on. ! walked the aid stations. Only from the first Gatorade waitress to the next water waitress and just far enough to get it drunk and dumped on my head. Back to running.

This was not as bad as ! had feared. Just keep running. There was ice. Charley and Brett were out riding the course backward to cheer TnT on. They never saw me walk. Passing the boat lot now and still running. Not fast, but moving in a running like fashion. There’s Steve. ! think it’s Steve. He’s walking and people can see him. Something was wrong. He DNFed. On ! went. !’m on lap 2 now. My goal is the next aid station. There was a couple ahead walking. ! told them they should hold hands if they were going to walk around the res. They started running again. The goal aid station. ! made it. One of the waitresses approached me with a wet towel and slapped it on my chest. It was icy cold and ! was stunned. She was confused. Thought ! didn’t like it. ! was confused. !’m a triathletes. ! can keep going. ! was already at 9.17 miles. My longest run since January was 10 miles with Brett and Michael before Roth. ! can make it another mile. There’s Brett now. ! can chat too. We chatted for a bit until ! remembered ! was in the middle of a project. ! have a really short attention span. Time to run on. And on. The long, straight, hot section was nearly over. ! can do this. Just through the next aid station ! heard someone cheer for Jocelyn. ! know Jocelyn. But not that one. The real Jocelyn was done, recovered and into her next workout. This was another one. There were 3 Jocelyns out there. ! had just enough sugar left in my brain to be skeptical of having her behind me 10 miles into the run. Much like the sensation you get when a politician talks. It took another ½ mile to quantify those misgivings.

It was by now the hottest part of the day. 94 degrees ! hear. Certain Death Canal still didn’t have the appeal of last year. Nor did the plague section along the dam. ! was still moving. Calves wanted to cramp up. Keep running. If they lock they lock. No point giving in to a threat. My feet hurt. Oh swell. And a blister was starting up. Keep running. ! walked a bit here and there. Less than a mile total. ! was pretending to be in shape. Last aid station coming up. Some one is yelling “out of my way” That damn Len. 1.5 miles to go and ! hurt. That’s his plan. And he was running well. Then he was gone.

Keep on running. There was the romantic walking couple again. The guy was walking behind. She had gapped him. ! told him he should pick up the pace before she started holding hands with a guy who walks faster than him. Keep running.

! was off the damn dam. Onto the blacktop. It still looked like a long way to go. It was downhill. ! was running now and you could tell (barely). Then there were people along the road. Zipper up. Number front. Hammer. Can ! go faster? ! can. ! did. Get around the back markers. The fans mistook me for someone who was running. ! heard my name. ! saw the icy water tub. And it was over. They wanted to repo my chip. ! saw the water tub. ! advised the girls to move to a safe place and the bitter cold engulfed my torso. !’ll drink a Gatorade instead.

! took 11:48 off last year’s time. Slower on the bike and slower transitions. Swim and run faster.


Matt 05:33:45
Katrin 05:09:58
Jordan 04:24:36
Jocelyn 04:50:40
Marcus 05:23:47
Steve DNF
Rick the Clydesdale 06:03:50
Doug 04:54:33 Fastest of 12 Dougs
Doug!! 05:55:00 7th of 12 Dougs
Paul 05:02:15 3rd of 12 Dougs
Brian 05:48:46
Len 05:52:52
Bobby 05:13:39

Average time 5:22 puts us @ 279th of 884 or top 32%. 11 spots ahead of Marcus. ! guess he’s an average RMTC guy and he still got whooped by all our girls.

Only 4 of our times are slower than my PR for this distance.

You get this kind of statistical analysis because !’m a Numberjack. And ! don’t have social life to get in the way.