RACE REPORT Race:  Wildflower Long Course...I found my running legs!  Author: Lance  5/3/2005  Wildflower Long course total time: 5:08 108/1767 overall amatuer 33/300 age group swim: 30:49 bike: 2:58 run: 1:36 Every Triathlon I have ever done has been a lesson in humility. This is how it usually goes: swim goes great, push hard on the bike to not lose much ground, and then suffer horribly on the run while every grey-haired lady goes flying past me. I did not want that to happen this year. I was tired of suffering so much on the run, and if I really wanted to make an effort at qualifying for Hawaii, something had to change. So this winter I buckled down. First order of business, lose weight. I have always been told that if you want to run faster, drop that tire hanging around the midsection. I had done two ironman's at my current weight so slimming down was no easy task. I dropped 15 pounds since IM florida last November. All by cutting out the crap, more fruits and veggies, and upping my weekly run milage from about 20 a week to 45 a week. Next order of business: get faster. Weekly track and tempo workouts with the boys from the club sure helped and made some big progress. But the real gains came from finally hiring a triathlon coach. Mitch Gold is his name and we have become fast friends. He has done wonders with helping me prepare for IM Canada in August and I can't thank him enough for the progress we have already made. He is big believer in big easy run volume. pre-race: Made the 13 hr drive from Vancouver, WA to Lake San Antonio in central California on Thursday april 28, Set up camp in the dark and had the best nights sleep of the week. Friday Brandee(my wife) woke up early and headed out for a nice bike ride. This race was not a high priority for me and I was training straight through it without a taper or rest. So I actually rode the entire bike course on Friday before the race with Brandee riding with me for the first 20 miles or so. That is one hilly, tough-mother bike course, it just doesn't let up. This day was also my 35th birthday and we celebrated with a candle in my water bottle. Short run after the ride and off to the Expo and registration. Race-day: My plan was to swim steady, ride easy to set up a solid run split. This day was all about pacing and to see if all the training Mitch has me doing will pay off with a fast run. For some reason, I was not nervous at all before the race. I had no time goal, I just wanted to run fast and it seemed to take all the pressure off the race. I was very relaxed. It was cool to be a part of such a huge event. The transition area was GI-NORMOUS. WE also met Peter Reid and Norman Stadler and had a bit of a conversation with each, very down to earth cool guys. "Watch out for Yellow Pass at Canada, that's the killer." Peter warned me. Thanks. The Swim: 1.2 miles 30:49 1:34/100m pace 201/1767 I had a nice swim warm-up before the pro start and then stayed on the ramp until I found Brandee for my pre-race kiss. I was in the 9th starting wave. Countdown to the horn and we are off. I usually start right in the 2nd row so I don't get the snot beat out of me and within 200m I was in the clear. I found a great pair of feet to follow and I just hung there for the entire swim, he was a great pace setter and only lost him with about 300m to go as we weaved through slower swimmers from earlier waves. I did not feel like I worked to hard at all and hit the timing mat with a 3 minute PR. Relaxed + Good Feet to Follow= great swim T1 1:39 no trouble getting the new ironman stealth wetsuit off. Love that thing. Bike: 56 miles 2:58 18.9 mph avg. 306/1767 avg hr 142 Did I say the bike was hilly, it was really freakin' hilly. a mile out of transition you climb a mile long hill and then you don't get much of a break for 15 miles. This bike was all about arousal control for me. I had to focus on my goal to run fast and just let the fast people blow past me and keep to my HR limits. It took about 10 miles for my heart rate to settle down and then I kept hard caps of 140 on the flats and 150 on the climbs. That seemed pretty low to me, but Mitch said to trust him and stick to it so I did. Nasty grade was a bear! 5 miles of climbing at mile 40! But interestingly enough I caught quite a few people here who had passed me earlier on the bike. I stuck to my heart rate plan and just cruised. One thing that may have helped was my bike computer rattled off at mile one on the rough roads. I stopped and shoved it in my pocket but I had no speed reference for the entire ride, Therefore no pressure of thinking I was riding to slow. T2 1:21 I had the best bike dismount I have ever had in a race. I jumped off the bike at a full sprint right at the dismount line with no momentum lost. loved it. slowed down to cruise through transition and put some socks on. The Run: 13.1 miles 1:36 7:15/mile pace 64/1767 hr 155 This race was all about the run for me. running out of transition I felt something I have never felt before in a triathlon...MY LEGS DIDN'T HURT!! I glanced southward toward Mitch in Southern California and gave him a little nod. Then I went to work. I took it easy for the first 10 minutes to make sure it wasn't a false reading and then I parked my HR at 156 and just ran. I started passing people right away and I must have looked silly with the big MOOKER grin creeping across my face as I ran. I have never felt like this before and I was loving it. The run was brutally tough with several long uphills and downhills with 60% of it on back country trails. On the steepest section on mile 5 I passed a dozen people all walking. Cresting that ugly hill and going down the other side felt like sweet victory. On the flats I was cruising at 6:20 pace and on the long uphills about 7:40 pace. For the first time in my life i never once got passed on the run. And I managed to pass 154 people on the way to the finish line. Often they would say "good job" or "nice work" as I went by and I gained alot of energy from that. I sprinted down the final big hill and through the finish chute and wore a big grin for the rest of the weekend. Thank you Mitch! you are a star. Final Time 5:08 a 30 minute PR 108/1767 and 33/300 age group I loved this race, I loved being there and the "hugeness" of it all, camping was fun, logistics were tough but managable. Now it's time for the real work to start. Preparation for Ironman Canada and "chasing the slot". All I have to do is put in the work, listen to Mitch, and execute. Wish me luck. Lance and Brandee             Responses Topic  A much better race report  Author Steve Waldrip  Date Created 5/7/2005 1:05:09 AM  Message Dear Friends: I ran a race the other day too. It was called the "Run to the Hot Tub Naked before your Neighbor Sees You Race". It's a race run in Eden. Not usually a big crowd, just one or two. Here is the race report (sorry no pictures). It works best if you've just read Lance's latest race report. I have really been training for this race. It is pretty brutal because of the elements and the course. The race is usually run when it's dark out, so if there is no moon, BAM, you could run into trouble in a hurry. Bikes, scooters, patio furniture, cats, shoes, and gardening tools are just a few of the things you can run into out there if you are not careful or not lucky. This time I was lucky. I have really been trying to watch what I eat, so I am about 1.2-1.3 pounds lighter than I was when I ran the race in the winter (unofficially titled the Au-Naturale Polar Bear Sprint). The course is a lot worse in the winter, the ice and snow can really build up and make it really treacherous. Believe me, you don't want to be taking an unprotected spill on the ice. It can really put some things in jeopardy. I haven't really hired a coach or anything for this race. I probably should, but I am pretty modest and have given up my Dunk of Shame days (besides, I don't even own a wig now). If I did have a coach, I think he would probably be into big easy run volume and probably a bunch of other junk that I can't even think of right now. The morning of the race, I got up, took a leak, hopped in the shower, read, ate breakfast, kissed the wife and kids goodbye, and took off for the car. Even though I knew I would be racing that night, I still went all the way to the car, a distance at least twice that of the actual race, but I didn't want this race to interrupt my training. I drove the 22 minutes to the office. I set up base camp at the office and spent the day at work, just pretty much working. Walking to the break room, talking to secretaries, talking on the phone. Again, wanted to keep the training pure. Keep the body guessing. It doesn't know what's coming at it. That's the beauty, that's the purity. Race Time. My plan was to take it out at a strong pace, keep the HR at about 62-63, not get winded. I ran into Robert Reid and Craig Stadler (Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch and The Walrus from the PGA tour). Totally cool guys, just keeping it real. "Watch out for yellow snow! It tastes gross." They warned me. Thanks Mike Brady and The Walrus. The Run: 37 feet (11.2776 meters) 0:08 70.9/100m pace 1/1 Walked out the door all alone. Oh the beauty of hitting that stride with a full moon. No one to follow, just me and the elements. Pure. Beautiful. T1 0:17 No Ironman Stealth Wetsuit to worry about here. Got the lid of the hot tub up without a hitch. The Swim/Sit 0 feet (0.00 meters) 21:47 Water at 98-102 degrees Not sure how that pace works out Still 1/1 I knew this race would be all about maintaining arousal control following all pre-race kisses, particularly those involving the Walrus and Mike Brady. I didn't really have a bike, and I'm not exactly sure how that would even help with the arousal control, but, hey, I don't even have a coach to tell me about big easy runs and things like that. Probably something else I would know about if I had one. Pretty much just sat there for a little over 20 minutes. Sometimes reached over and adjusted the temperature and/or jets (never the two at once though, didn't want to overextend and spike myself). Just keeping a good flow. Concentrating on not much. Nearly comatose. Thermometer was impossible to read without light or a moon. Put it down. Just letting it flow. Not worrying about the temperature or the time. Pulled off a 21:47. Not a PR, but not bad for this stage of the training. T2 0:22 Have to reach all the way across half of the hot tub lid to get at the other edge to pull it up. Requires a lot of strength and balance to do it quickly and without falling over. Again, a coach could probably do a lot of good here as well. It's all about technique and timing. You have to get the lid coming down on the open half of the hot tub and then GET OUT OF THERE without it coming down on you. Again, unprotected, a slip here could be bad. The Run Back 37 feet (11.2776 meters) 0:06 53.2/100m pace 1/1 Got the sandals on. Stepped right into them. Beautiful. That's what the training is all about. Hit the bricks running. The trail is about half uneven bricks. Can't lose it on them or get off the path. Moving quick. Wet and cold. No one around to say "good job" or "nice work" to give me an energy boost. Just me and the trail. Gotta own it. Love it when I come in quicker than I went out. Kept the HR under 60 for this phase. Want to bring it in quick. Tied a PR. Poetry in motion. Beautiful. Pure. Got a towel. Big smile as I hit the house. Wife is in bed. No one there to greet me, share the joy with. Final Time 22:40 1/1 1/1 age group I loved this race. Thinking about posting it on the web. Might get me arrested though. Not sure what the next step is. Maybe hiring a coach. Steve     Topic Steve's Post-Race Email  Author Bob Croucher  Date Created 5/6/2005 3:53:54 PM  Message Lance, I loved reading your race report as usual. It was great hearing about your best race yet! However I had no plans to post a response until Steve's letter hit my inbox. I still have actual, dripping wet, tears on my face from reading the prose. I had half of my colleagues, who aren't even triathletes, gathered around my computer, bustin' up too. Steve really needs to post his reply here for everyone's future enjoyment. Thanks for the stitches, Bob    Topic  Wildflower  Author Brandee"Tri-Sherpa"  Date Created 5/4/2005 2:50:27 PM  Message Just a quick note from Lance's support. He did awesome! Thanks Mitch! As well as Bill, Stacey,Eric,Dan,Jane! You all have a hand in the success of each other and Lance. It means alot to have so many athletes and just good people cheering you on. I know it means alot to Lance and it made things so much fun and inspiring for me. Your there even when he doesn't have such a good race. I am proud of you Lance and all you do! It was great to see how excited he was and how he truly was amazed at the results of a new strategy. Way to go. Maybe, I'll sign up early next year.    Topic Running wild at Wildflower  Author Bill Nicolai  Date Created 5/4/2005 6:07:33 AM  Message Dude, I told you to expect a half hour difference between WF and any other Half Iron Tri. I meant a half hour slower, not faster. What a race you had. Keep the focus and the slot will appear, or maybe it won't; but as they say, it's not the destination but the journey that matters. It sure was nice seeing you there with all our friends. I talked to Bill Fallon yesterday and he just might join us next time, hopefully Michael too. I'm riding after Bob's swim class on Friday at 10:15 AM. Maybe a nice five hour heart rate cruise. BOG is a possibility. Thursday is TT night at Vlake. From my own observation and your recent experience, it appears that the key to a good run is to be so outrageously powerful on the bike that you can trottle it back a smidge and still go very fast. That seems to be where your're headed. Congradulations on a great race!    Topic Wildflower  Author Michael Formmlet  Date Created 5/4/2005 12:42:52 AM  Message Lance: Thanks for sharing your race experience, I always enjoy reading your reports, and this one in particular because I couldn't do the race myself, and because it went so well for you. Sounds like you are having fun and enjoying yourself, and as long as that's the case, you'll get something out of it, may be even a Hawaii slot. But don't make that your sole purpose in doing triathlons - take it as a bonus if it happens. So much for unsolicited advise! Take care, and see you around, looking forward to riding with you again sometime soon. Michael

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