Mountain Man is a triathlon held in Flagstaff, Arizona - they have a Half Ironman and an Olympic Distance. I had decided to compete in the Olympic distance because the last time I was at this race (2006) there were not many HIM athletes and I didn't want to do a race and not see anyone else on the course - that is not fun for me. The other factor was that I was only going to be able to do 2 Olympic distance races this season. As race day approached I learned that several folks from ONE were racing the HIM, which made me wish I was doing that also. Being that this race is at altitude, I did not want to waste the beginning of the following week recovering, so I kept with the Olympic race. This was my first race back since my bike crash where I have no lingering aches/pains and I was thrilled to finally toe the line! I had looked at the participant list and noticed a couple of guys in my AG that were very fast, but I thought if I had a good day I might be able to sneak on to the podium.
Race weekend started out a bit ominous for me - I put my race wheels on my bike and went out for an easy spin Saturday morning before heading to Flagstaff. As I got about 3 miles out I ran over a piece of glass and sliced my tire and tube - no problem, I changed my tube and went to put air in it and realized that my stem was not long enough to get my CO2 cartridge air into the tube. Darn the luck, so I started to walk home and was picked up by Carl in a pick up truck, who gave me a ride to my house. Now my race tire is sliced and I don't want to ride it during my race for fear of a flat, so I decide that I have a disc in my closet that I have never ridden - so today is the day to give it a try. I know...'never use something new or different at a race'. But at this point I had no choice and I had wanted to ride the disc but never felt that the opportunity was right. Today is the day... So, I put a cassette on it and got it on my bike. Added my speedfil bottle to my frame and cleaned my bike up a bit and I was ready to go.
All I needed to do was pick up my oldest son, Austin, and head North. He was going to be my 'team support' this weekend as the rest of my family had other obligations this time. Not a problem, as they come to all my races and give me a lot of support - I really can't complain. When we got to packet pick up we spotted several members of ONE standing in line. We got to chat with them a bit and the line moved quickly. Next stop was to the hotel to check in. This was quick and painless also. Now we were off to our pre-race dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Swet's casa in the woods! Let me just say... WOW!! What a place! Special thanks to the Swetonics for hosting about 25 of the ONE racers and volunteers. It was great to converse and relax with friends at such a beautiful home.
The alarm went off at 4:10 am - Austin and I jumped up and had some breakfast consisting of (2 packs of instant oatmeal, banana, scoop of ultragen = 600 cals) I was still feeling full from dinner the night before, so the appetite was not there as I had hoped. We arrived to transition with about 90 minutes before we were to start. I was relaxed but as we were rolling my bike towards transition I could hear some rubbing. So, I jumped on it and rode it and I could hear it rubbing more. It turns out the disc is rubbing on the frame, so I had to loosen the skewer and slide the wheel back just a hair as I was not equipped with a screw driver to move the screws to keep the wheel in place. I was hoping to lock down the skewers enough so that the wheel would not move. Anyway, got to rack the bike and noticed several ONE members around me, including ONE members Sue Meno and Carlos Mendoza, Craig Thorpe, John Dean and Bryan Dunn.
Lets get to the actual race...
Swim - 24:57 (3rd AG)
I got in the water and did some short bursts to try and acclimate to the altitude (7000') and experience the hypoxic feeling that was coming. I lined up on the left side by the dock and waited for the gun. BANG, we were off. It was a bit crowded as we headed out but I tried to go out quickly to get away from the pack as much as possible. Swimming is not forte, but I have been working hard to improve. As expected, I noticed I became pretty hypoxic over the first 300 yds or so, but once we rounded the first bouy I started to get into a rythm. I found some feet just in front of me and I stayed with them as we made the long trek towards the final turn. Once around that last bouy I decided I could go around them and make my way to the boat ramp. As I began to make the pass I notice it was my friend John Dean that I was drafting off of. We swam side by side for a couple hundred yards before he felt a cramp coming on in his hamstring and he had to let up to shake it out. I got out of the water feeling pretty good. I ran up towards my bike and saw Bryan Dunn stripping his wetsuit off, so I knew I must have had a pretty good swim. Anytime I swim under 25 min in Olympic distance I'm happy!
Bike - 1:07:22 (6th AG)
As I rolled out of transition I noticed that my HR was pretty high. I figured that would begin to come down now as I roll on down the road. I tried to get some fluids onboard and calm my breathing down as I always do when I get on the bike. The bike course was on Lake Mary Road, which consists a bit of an incline including several rollers all the way out and then a turn around and head back to transition. At mile 6.5 I was passed very quickly by Carlos Mendoza - he was flying. I knew I couldn't bike with him but I was surprised how fast he went by as he shouted words of encouragement to me. I appreciated his kind words, but knew that today was not to be my day on the bike. I don't know if it was the psychological battles that I had the day before or if the disc was rubbing my frame or if I just wasn't feeling it today. Ultimately as we headed out to the turn around I was passed by about 5 or 6 riders and 3 or 4 of them were in my AG! I was not happy to waste such a great swim on this crummy ride. I also noticed that my HR was still very high and I was hating this ride and couldn't wait to get off the bike. As I turned around I got to see the folks behind me and no one was in jeopardy of catching me right away. However, as I was about 5 miles from transition I was passed by another rider. I was frustrated to be sure! But, I finally made it to my rack and hung the bike up! Because of my high HR through most of the ride I was only able to get about 1/2 a bottle of fluid in me - consisting of about 200 calories. I didn't think this would be a problem because I only had a 10K to run.
Run - 42:01 (4th AG)
As I began to exit transition I noticed some familiar faces ahead. My goal was to start making up for that lousy ride I just had and I had a lot of work to do! This run was straight out Lake Mary Road about 2 miles to a serious up hill on a switchback road lasting about 1.1 miles and about 322' of climbing. I had forgotten how long this hill lasted! Its a tough one to be sure. As I got to the uphill I had caught 2 of the folks ahead of me - just as I headed up I saw the leaders coming down - Lewis Elliot, who was on his way to setting a new course record, and then Bryan Dunn was in second coming down the hill, a few minutes later the leader of my AG, Carlos Mendoza was on his way to collect first place in M 45-49. I started suffering heading up hill, but after that ride, I knew I had to keep my head down and keep it steady because everyone else was going to be hurting and I wanted to catch anyone who was not able to dig deep enough. I kept my mantra going all the way up the hill ... 'Bike for show and run for dough'. It is not as true in an Olympic as it is for HIM and IM, but it works for me and keeps me motivated. As I made it to the top and the turn around I got to see many familiar faces as I headed down. I do love to see the ONE uni's on the course. That makes the races much more fun for me. As I reached the bottom of the hill and made the turn toward the finish I saw a couple more runners that I thought I could get. I didn't know if they were in my AG or not, but nonetheless, it was my goal to get them. I was able to hold a pretty steady pace heading home running a 6:37 and 6:40 mile pace to finish up. As I approached the finish line I saw the ONE volunteers at the aid station which was being lead by my 'head cheerleader' and oldest son Austin. He had the camera and was videoing me as I approached, I tried to get a high five but it wasn't going to happen with the camera in his hand. I finished with a respectable 2:17:37. I was happy with this, as I PR'd this course by 12 minutes.
I was not sure where this put me in the Overall or AG standings, but I thought I might have a chance to grab a 3rd place in AG standings perhaps... Boy was I wrong. When the standings were posted, the top 3 in my AG were all 2:09 or better! They were 3 of the top 5 OA, if you pull the PRO out. I guess that means we still got some work to do for sure! I finished 5th in my AG and 15th OA.
Next up is Nathans Olympic in late September and then SOMA HIM in late October.
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