Location: Greenville, SC
Date: April 17, 2010
Placing: 4th Overall
Format: 500-meter swim/19-mile bike/5-mile run
Race Photos
Results: Click Here

It finally got here. My first triathlon of the season. You would think after 25+ years in bike racing that I would be smart enough to avoid races with the word "Mountain" in them but alas, just as most people learn the difference between right and wrong, we endurance athletes learn the difference between comfort and pain. I'm just not sure why we choose pain as the more desireable option. In reality, there should probably be a foundation looking to find a cure for this disease before people like me die trying to see who can run up Mt. Everest the fastest.

When I started doing triathlons 4 years ago if you had asked me to design a course that I could most assuredly accel at, I would have said...a five-minute lake swim, a long ride over a mountain and a flat run with no shade. Well, the inaugural Paris Mountain Triathlon was two-thirds there. Of course I'm not the same athlete I was 4 years ago. Allergies and age have both taken a toll on my power and now my running ability has started eclipsing my cycling ability. On the other hand, my swimming ability can still hardly be called an 'ability'. Regardless, one thing has always held true and that is the tougher the course, the more I tend to stand out from the pack. Whether it is an iron-distance event or an event that rides and runs over a mountian...which is precisely what this event did.

The promoter (Set Up Events) made no bones about the severity of this first time event and opened registration only to seasoned triathletes. There would be no first-timers allowed for this event. Sound scary? Well let's check out some of the 'scare tactics' from the pre-event email, shall we...

'I trust each of you know what you are up against this weekend and that you are well prepared. If not, I suggest you consider sleeping in on Saturday. For what you brave souls have signed up for is one of the toughest intermediate distance triathlons in the world.' This was obviously sent out to weed out those who thought they were signing up for a magazine subscription because a statement like this would not only make a triathlete laugh - it would make them ask, "can we do the course twice?"

'Use EXTREME CAUTION at this turn. The bike course is open to traffic and you must stay in your lane at all times. Taking this first turn too fast will result in you ending up in on-coming traffic or in the woods across the road.' Seriously...are they simply challenging me to see how fast I can take the turn? Obviously death does not scare us. We attempt daily to get run over or to drown ourselves.

And my favorite...'This event will be unique in that you will not get your event t-shirt until you cross the finish line. The event shirt will say FINISHER across the back. Any shirts not given out at the finish line to event finishers will be destroyed so only those who completed the event will be able to wear the 2010 Finisher Shirts.' Now it's GAME ON. I'm finishing this thing if I have to push a car up the mountain.

It was nice to start the tri season by waking up in my own bed and making a simple drive across town. Paris Mountain State Park is beautiful and on this day it had the weather to match. I knew if I just raced like I had trained, it would be a good day. The problem is that I felt this way at several events last year. Triathlons to be exact. I had a recurring problem of feeling like someone had robbed me of my power on race day. It sounds ridiculous and unfounded but I know my body after 30 years of this stuff and believe me, it is ridiculous - but true. It only happened at shorter races that seemed to involve a swim. Never my running races, duathlons, or long-distance tris. Janis and I tried to find a common denominator in these events but never came up with anything concrete. In my head I hoped that this 'phenomenon' was tied to my asthma and that now I had it under control. My early season running races were a testament to the fact that my fitness is not in question. I was sure that whatever problems I encountered last year were behind me.

The secret to no socks...talcum powder in the shoes. Plus, it makes it look like smoke is shooting from your feet when you start running.

In the past 3 weeks, my allergies have been horrible but as much as my lungs have had some gunk in them, I can say that my training has not been overly affected. I knew this would not be an excuse for today...although my brain tried to tell me otherwise when I saw the very visible layer of yellow 'dust' covering the entire lake in the park. A blanket of pollen no diferent than the blankets we've all seen on our cars lately. It looked like someone had spray-painted the lake until people started getting in and warming up. The layer of 'paint' seemed to slowly disappear.

I must say that this was the wierdest event from my point of view that I have done in a long time. Looking at the results or watching the race you might ahve thought it was sort of 'business as usual'. But it was far from it. In a nutshell, my performance today was unorthodox in that it was based as much (if not more) on skill and experience as it was physical ability. Let's take it step by step...

The 16 or so Open/Elite athletes would start together in a single wave before the rest of the athletes would be sent off one at a time into the lake (time-trial style). I had not worn my wetsuit in a looong time and it would hardly seem worth it for a 500 meter swim but the water was frigid so most everyone opted to wear one. Wetsuits are by nature a bit clostrophobic and it doesn't help when the water is cold - and I have a low body temperature. All of these things by themselves were a recipe for disaster but to add insult to injury, we would be swimming directly into the blinding early morning sun. I tried not to think about these things because after all, it was just a 500 meter swim. We'd be out before we knew it. What could go wrong?

There's just no way to look good in a wetsuit. Here, myself, Peter Kotland, Bryan Benitez-Nelson and Gregg Cromer look more like wer are doing a science experiment than getting ready to swim.

We shared a good chuckle as they counted down the start and threw on Ozzy Osborne's 'Crazy Train' which seemed more than appropriate ("All aboard!...heh, heh, heh, heh..."). Seconds before they sounded the horn, I blocked the sun with my hand and aimed myself towards the green buoy. Off we went. It was like swimming in the dark. Some kicks and nudges made it feel like we started with 500 people. I had no opportunity to look ahead at all as I tried to manage the small group. I swear I started easy but in a matter of less than a minute, I was not only a bit disoriented from the sun and the people splashing all around me but I also began to hyperventilate. I tried to grab deeper breaths and slow down but in an instant the damage was done. I forged on just a little longer before finally spinning over on my back and taking a few back strokes. I flipped back over and tried to slip into a steady rhythm. I felt like such an amateur. Well, I AM an amateur - but you know what I mean.

It felt like I had only been swimming for a minute but I knew I had been going for longer than that. I was so busy trying to hold myself together that I hadn't once looked up. I stopped in my tracks and looked ahead - preparing myself to see just about anything. What I saw was the green turn buoy...5 feet directly in front of me! I quickly glanced around to see people swimming everywhere. I watched one swimmer zoom right past the green buoy with no idea they had passed it. I rounded the turn and saw three other swimmers who must have taken the corner very wide. How many times can I say this - thank goodness I swim straight. I am sure that I was one of only a handful of people this day who swam the absolute shortest path from start to finish. Today, the 'skill' of swimming straight helped make up for a physical deficit.

I glanced at my watch as I exited the water and also knew instantly that the course was well short of 500 meters since I was going to be nearly 2 minutes shy of my time estimate to the transition. At this point, I had no idea where I was overall but I assumed that the majority of elites were ahead of me. I saw Gregg Cromer leaving transition just as I was arriving and again, some experience and skill helped me to strip my wetsuit off quickly and get onto my bike quickly. Good transitions are time you can buy without even having to workout.

I screamed out of the park on my bike and as I chased the group of riders up a hill ahead, I realized that it was happening again. I pushed on and tried to tell myself it was all mental but it wasn't. The power in my legs was just not there. Lactic acid would build up quickly every time the terrain got challenging. This phenomenon isn't age; it isn't asthma. I did not feel this when I did any of my running races so far this year or either of my practice time trials on my bike. After racing bikes for so many years, I know exactly how it's supposed to feel to go hard and this was not it. After being 're-passed' on a couple of different occassions in the first half of the ride, I really focused on going as fast as I could on the downhills and flats...and really taking advantage of my bike handling skills. I looked back as I made the turn up Paris Mountain. Peter Kotland was maybe 5-10 seconds behind me and Gregg Cromer and Bryan Benitez-Nelson were both in sight behind us.

It was rough. My HR was averaging right at 140 on the climb and my legs could not go any harder. I am typically in the 150's on this climb and often hit 160. I was far from maxed out aerobically, but my legs...About 200 yards in, Peter passed me. Shortly thereafter, Gregg flew by. Bryan followed suit before we reached the halfway point in the climb and then it was just me and the mountain. I have honestly thought of quitting when I've been in a similar situation before but today, it never entered my mind. Instead, I focused on the fact that the final 6 miles of the ride were downhill and technical and those are two things I have NO problem with.

By the time I crested the top, the 3 riders in front of me were long gone. The volunteers at the top of the mountain were directing me to ride across the timing mat at the summit but I yelled to them that I did not want to capture my time (at the race start, the race promoter said that IF we wanted to be eligible for the 'fastest climber' prize that we had to ride over the timing mats at the top and bottom). Apparently, I was the only one who opted out. I had glanced at my watch when I started the climb and I'm telling you right now that my climb would not have brozen the top 15. I instantly went to task. I only slowed for the first sharp turn...the next 3 miles I never touched my brakes. My Garmin said I hit 51.7mph. I caught Bryan, then Peter and as I reached the hard left at the bottom of the climb, my coach Rick yelled at me to go. I think I took Gregg by surprise as I bolted around him in the turn. I probably surprised all 3 of them on my way down after they all passed me so convincingly on the way up.

If you look real close you can see Gregg just 5 seconds behind me as we enter T2 in 3rd and 4th.

I maintained a slight margin over Gregg the final 2 miles as I prepared for T2 by pulling my feet from my shoes on the final little downhill. My last bit of bike handling came in as I negotiated the winding park road while passing a car that had just pulled into the park. I came in for a 'perfect landing' just before the mat. It only took a moment to reach back and grab my cycling shoe that had fallen off the pedal. Gregg crossed the mat 5 seconds behind me...and ran out of T2 2 seconds in front of me. I had to be one of the slowest climbers of the day and yet still managed the 3rd fastest bike split. Again, skill and experience counted big time today. But wait, there's more...

The first half (2.5 miles) of the run was up an increasingly steeper climb. And much like the ride, it required power that I was lacking. Gregg literally ran away from me. I could barely see him at the first mile marker and estimated he had already put 30 seconds into me and it would get worse as the road rose up. I kept going knowing that it was a pretty good bet Gregg was setting the fastest run slpit of the day. Shortly after mile 1, Bryan passed me again and left me behind. At mile 2, Peter did the same. This had to look almost comical to them. Any part of the course that required power today - they went by me like I wasn't even in contention...and then...I finally hit the summit. I estimated that Gregg was probably 1:30 ahead of me at this point and I hadn't seen the two leaders all day (Chris Olsen and Parker Roth).

"Hey, Gregg - come back here with my 3rd place!"...I don't think he heard me.

The return trip down the mountain would be done almost completely on trails. Moments after jumping off the road and onto the dirt, I caught back up to Peter. The trail was quiet technical and we were 'jog-dodging' our way down. Without realizing it, I had become complacent. We caught Bryan fairly quickly as well. After a few shared words about the current state of the course, Bryan asked if we wanted to pass and we did. It was then that I realized that I was no longer racing and was merely 'hanging out' behind Peter. I got close enough to him so that he asked me if I wanted to go ahead. I said "yes", passed him and took off. I gotta tell you - I was worried about the trail. I have huge feet (size 13) and these things are like hooks on roots and stumps. But it turns out, they also make for great stability. I was hauling ass and having fun. I've never felt so close to being a jedi knight as I leapt between trees, around curves and over a 5-ft black snake (no lie). If my buddy Dan had been racing today, the snake would have stopped him in his tracks. Much like Indiana Jones - Dan HATES snakes.

I never tripped, kicked or ran into anything (which unfortunately was not true for several athletes) When I was literally 100 feet from emerging from the trail, I saw Gregg yet again. I popped out onto the road just seconds behind him. To the spectators near the finish, it must have looked like I stayed right behind him for the entire 5 miles. It was all I could do to finish 12 seconds behind Gregg for 4th. Sure enough, Gregg had the fastest run slpit of the day; mine was 2nd just 11 seconds slower.

Finally got to sport the new Rudy Sunglasses on a sunny day. If you could read my mind here, I would be thinking "These guys have no idea how wierd today's race was for me."

I was actually happy and a bit amazed to find out that I was seperated from the winner, my teammate Chris Olsen, by 2:34 when 1:40 of that was in the swim alone. Chris Dillard - another Team Kattouf athlete took 2nd in the men's 35-39 division. That's right...3 Chris's; We might have to change the team name. Physically, it was not really a great day but it just goes to show how important all the little things are - and how to take advantage of your strengths. It certainly doesn't hurt to have a really short swim either ;-)

Race Notes:
* Gregg beat me by 12 seconds...but out-transitioned me by 18. He had the two fastest transitions of the day. Maybe I shouldn't stop for coffee in the transition area...
* This has to be one of the only races on record where more people crashed on the run than on the ride (I hope they were able to put Eric Mitchell back together)
* My pre-race time estimate? 1:33:50 written on the back of a receipt the night before. Actual finish time? 1:34:46. It's a shame that estimating your time is not the 4th event.
* Ran another 5 miles for a cooldown with Peter Kotland and Dee Atkins (the women's champion). The only place to go was back up the mountain. I'm not ashamed to say that Dee put the hurtin' on me...and Peter didn't look like he was enjoying it much either.
* Enjoyed a great lunch with my friends Matt and Melia Eiken (Matt is my chiropractor). Matt almost hit his time goal but was happy to finish adn get the coveted finisher's shirt.
* If I had known my race number (#4) would be my placing, I would have asked to be #1.
* My Fleet Feet teammates actually put together a relay team for the event and anihilated the team competition.
* Janis stayed at home today because her mom and sister were coming in for a visit - so no 'team photographer'...but Kimberley Westbury did a bang-up job filling in!
* Kudos to my fellow Scansource employee Mike Fuller for sucking it up and getting his finisher t-shirt as well (I think on casual Friday that we will both be sporting our shirts. I may sport my belt buckle as well;-)
* I have a new theory about my power loss in shorter events. One thing that seems to be a possible commonality is my hyperventilation - or hypoxia - during the swim. Is it possible that reaching this point during the swim somehow saturates my muscles with carbon dioxide? Or prematurely drains them of oxygen? Just a theory.

Next Up: My first half iron is in 2 weeks in Charleston. In the meantime, I had coach Rick add the Greer Half Marathon in as a training race next weekend. Hope to see you at one of these...