Race Recap

Yesterday was the Pumpkinman triathlon in Las Vegas. We had really great weather for race day. I debated until the day before the race if I was going to do the Half. I was feeling sick all week with cold like symptoms. Friday morning I woke up and felt amazing. I checked to see if I could sign up at packet pick up on Friday. When I found out I could I was off to sign up! I got my race number and paid my $200 and was ready to go. I brought the wrong shoes to leave in transition but it was not a huge mistake. They were not my number one choice of Zoot shoes to wear for the race. I forgot to grab the ones I wanted so I had to leave the shoes I had on. After I picked up my packet I had a few more clients to train so I went back to the gym. Around 4pm I started to develop a cough. I was a little concerned because it seemed to be getting worse. On my way home I stopped and got some night time and day time cough medicine. I was thinking I would take some before bed and in the morning if I still had the cough. Keep in mind I had been taking NyQuil all week. This is for sure a problem going into a Half Ironman distance race on a pretty hot day. I was basically dehydrated going into the race. I realized this when I got out of the water and was really thirsty already! My swim was OK at about 35 minutes. I was riding my new P3 for only the 3rd time. I did not have time to try out my Zipp wheels so I opted not to use them. I felt pretty good all the way out to the 10 mile turn except for the fact that I was drinking a lot cause I was so thirsty. When we turned at the 10 mile point then it got hard. The wind seemed to pick up and the hills out there are pretty tough. Then don't forget at the end of the ride we have something like a 5 mile climb to Boulder City! It is a ridiculous hard course! I have done the Half at Buffalo Springs and Wildflower both of which are really tough courses. I would say the bike on this course compares pretty closely to those! I guess I was in second place going into the run. They changed this course from last year so I was really confused and nobody seemed to know what the course was. As it turned out we had to run a two loop course of the Olympic distance. That meant going all the way back to the finish only to turn around for another 6.5 miles. At this point I felt so bad and was coughing up really gross stuff! I was so tempted to say screw it and go in. As I got to the turn around I saw the girl ahead of me. She said to me its all you go ahead. I said I don't know about that because I feel pretty bad. She said, "well I have two screws in my ankle so I think you can do it." And off I went to run another 6.5 miles of hell. In the end I finished in 6:07. That is a lot slower than my best Half time but I did manage to hang on to first place and 7th overall. Keep in mind there were only like 70 or so participants in this event. The first place prize was a GOBE solar panel briefcase and battery pack! For someone this might be really cool but I am pretty sure I will never use it. So if anyone is interested in getting one really cheap then let me know! You can see them at this website: http://gobesolar.com/store.html. I guess if you like to camp or stuff like that they are really cool. Definitely not something I will be using but thanks BBSC anyway!

Several people did the event and had really good results too. You can find results at the following website: http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=4228.
Leslie Shurmer completed her first triathlon and finished the sprint distance. Earl Hopkins did his second sprint triathlon! Great job to both of them. Nancy and Denny both Real Results trainers, had great races. Nancy was 4th in her age group and 8th overall for the Olympic (and she ran almost a mile too far). Denny won his age group for the sprint! So it was a good day all around!

The next event to look forward to is The Silverman Half and Full and then The Las Vegas Half and Full Marathon. They are coming up quick! The triathlon season is winding down and it will be time to plan 2010! I will talk about that in an upcoming blog so stay tuned.

The track and hill workouts will resume next week. I will keep everyone posted! Congratulations to everyone for a great race yesterday!