IronMan Los Cabos 20015

My Father was a below the knee amputee (left Leg) and he had had an early technology hip replacement in the "good leg".   He was a typical over achieving challenged athlete for his day.  Swimming was his best sport but he could also deliver quite a fastball playing the sport he adopted and loved from living 15 years in Canada.  He was very dismissive of any complaints I had about pain when I was a child. I heard his words many times racing in Cabo.  I am sure I still don't know what "real pain", his words, is like but I came close enough thank you.  

Three weeks before the race my left knee started giving me trouble.  It has before and Doc Andy Pruitt suggested almost ten years ago (ironically another below the knee amputee) that I might consider sticking to shorter races.  But the stubborn streak in my Father had rubbed off on me and I am still at it.  

Acupuncture has been my cure in the past combined with visco supplementation and it will be at least part of the cure this time.  However four sessions of a acupuncture developed by a good friend Whitt Reeves, and applied by Lindsay Long (Modern Point Acupuncture) was not enough this time.  I thought it was working but Tuesday before the race proved it had been helped but far from fixed the problem.  I think I might have a meniscus tear this time.  I skipped my usual race week taper after that both running and biking.  It even hurt a bit while swimming. 



The Race Venue and Course:  

I would have loved the course under different circumstances.  It would be described as hard by many.  I don't think there is such a thing.  All IM races are hard; some are just slower than others.  That assumes you know what you are doing and adjust your pacing and fueling and hydration accordingly.   

Swim Venue:  Start is in the first cove from the top finish in the second

The swim is one loop with a beach start.  It can be rough but the start is in a somewhat protective cove.  Hurricane Philippe had just come assure to our south so surf was up but not terrible.  There is a current along the shore.  The only way to learn which way it is running and if it is a factor is to ask a local swimmer.  If they keep this race at the end of October this race will never allow wet suits if you want to podium or get a Kona Slot.  Most of the time it will not be wetsuit legal for anyone.  The race organizers claimed it was 82 this year, I know 82, my pool temp.  It was at least 86 and the local fishing forecast had it at 87.

The bike is hilly, Cabo has just under 7000ft of climbing but the highest elevation is just 750ft (a point on the road to the Airport just after you pass thru a toll booth on your way to town).  You need to adjust your target power, HR or perceived effort to match the extra time you are out there riding.  You also need to be careful you don't burn too many matches trying to crest the short hills.  If you don't it will be hard, if not at the end of the bike certainly on the run.  But do it right and it won't be any harder than any other race.  The climb to 750ft is at the end of each loop, two, means you make that climb at the end (you do go back down to T2).  It did not help to have a light wind in Sunday blowing up the hill.  There was no cooling breeze in the 90F heat.  I was prepared for this having reviewed the forecast the night before. 



I think it would be an accurate statement that there is no flat piece of road on this course, if there is it is very short.  Having electronic shifting is a huge advantage; you need to shift constantly on the aerobars and the hoods.  There is no traffic, other than bikes, on the course.  Much of it is one side of the Peninsular Highway, two lanes and the shoulder; the rest is on the closed road to the Airport and in San Jose.  In general the road is in good condition although the surface is rough in places.  The last 1/2 mile downhill to T2 is an ugly road with potholes and serious speed bumps.  There are other speed bumps along the course but nothing like those on that last bit.  



T2 and Finish are at the junction of the bridge over the
dried up river and the main road to the south.  The big hill
on the run is the ramp up to the bridge.

In contrast the run is quite flat, there are a few short ups and downs but you would not notice them on a training run.  Aide stations were well stocked with ice and seemed to be set up no more than a mile apart.  It is an out and back



One other topic about the race itself.  Two transition locations and you don't get to go to T2 race morning.  This means any food or liquids in your T2 bag sit in the afternoon sun on Saturday and Sunday until you finish the bike.  The solution is child's soft lunch cooler if you want to put food or fluids in there.

There was much confusion before the race about the total altitude gain.  Two weeks before the race they told us in an email that it was 3800ft.  That by itself was odd as they had the first loop at more than half the total.  I created a Computrainer course, which came out at over 6000ft.  Finally at the race meeting they admitted that it was 3800+ meters, that's over 7000ft that was a bit too much but much closer to reality.  Then there was the miss info about the water temps.  They were telling us to bring our wet suits right up to race week.  Ave temp for the water here is 84 in October and as noted before was higher than that this year. 


So on to my day. 



Walking down to the hill to the beach on the road we would soon climb back up the sky was clear.  My Dad was fascinated by astronomy (his uncle was a famous British astronomer).  Mars and Venus were almost in an embrace.  All the stars in Orion were clear, I have not seen so many stars since my sailing days, usually too much background light.  I thought of him getting quite emotional.  He would have been doing IM races if they had been around and the carbon blades invented before he died.  My knee was hurting going down hill but I remembered his words. 



This race is not the best organized but I don't blame the volunteers.  They were doing their best but be aware of this if you race here.  I went thru a modified warm up, no running and got introduced again to the bathtub water.

You always make some kind of mistake in a race you just need to keep them to a minimum and not fret over them.  Mine was not self seeding myself at the 1 min/100 mark I lined up beside the 1:30 sign, I swim closer to 2 min.  It did have its benefits. The only other owner of a Dimond introduced himself.  What are those odds, good karma.  



I did not run thru the sand in deference to my knee.  I did not time the waves right and got knocked off my feet.  That happened to several people around me so it was not just me.  Quickly I discovered my seeding mistake, I was passing everyone.  



Two weeks before the race i decided that the latest bit of Triathlon tech would be useful in an open ocean race with the possibility of big rolling swells making navigation hard.  I bought the Iolite GPS device for swimming, more in the side bar. 



I was still regretting my seeding choice at the second turn 2/3 the way thru the swim.  I felt good progress was being made; little did I know how well.  We may have had a current carrying us back to the beach; I got knocked off my feet again and crawled ashore.  More memories of my Dad, that is how he got into the 60F water in Ireland.  



For the first time I did not cramp in an IM event.  I have historical always cramped in any swim event much over 1900 meters and often in training.  A major factor was a new anti cramping product called ItstheNerve that I used, more in sidebar.  It has not been 100% successful for me but I will not leave home without it in the future.  I have gone 3800 meters enough times cramp free since getting samples to convince me it works.  Thanks guys and Amy.  

Transition was slow.  Changing went quickly but no running in the sand.   I knew I was in a small race (about 800) looking at the bike racks, a throwback to the old days.  All went well until a volunteer made me look up.  I had forgotten to fasten my helmet strap.  That broke my concentration on the uneven sand and carpet, I tripped and my knee made it clear that it needed TLC for the entire race.  

I did not find out my swim split until the race was over.  When I got to my bike my Garmin read 8:48 and I thought OMG slow, I had forgotten that my start was sometime after 7:30 not the usual 7am. (Post race I discovered it was fast, 1:10, best ever.  Combination of ItstheNerve, possible current, and training)



The bike course starts on what is probably the steepest hill of the course.  The knee would not let me climb out of the saddle so it was slow.  It was the only place I was in my granny gear.  The on ramp to the Peninsular Highway was a short down and then it was up again for a bit of a slog.  I worried about the slow swim for a bit and then remembered that we did not start at 7am.  That seemed impossible and I focused in the task at hand.  Up down up down and so on to Cabo San Lucas, about 15 miles.  One of the few flat bits of the bike are down near the turnaround.  And it is not really flat.

I did well for the first 25 miles.  My new, in May, Dimond bike wanted to go faster but the connecting rod in the engine was creaky.
Gradually I backed off the power to compensate.  Power goal when healthy is in the low 170 range.  I held right at 170 for those first miles but over the next 80 odd miles it fell to 130. 



The bike is certainly a challenge.  Hottest part of the day, 90 on Sunday.  On the two climbs up to the airport a tail wind matched our speed, man that was hot.  For the first time ever I started dousing myself with cold water on the bike (lots of logistics problems with this race but they got the most important things right including aide stations). On the second climb in the heat an Eagle swooped low over my head.  I thought of Natasha Badman's comment after the windiest Kona event ever, my first, "you need to think you are soaring with Eagles when it is windy". Class lady, still racing.  I was inspired.  



The downhill back to town and T2 was nice but I was very worried about the run.  I knew to be careful the last 1/2 mile, two speed bumps that would launch a car and several ugly potholes.  Getting off the bike my worries were justified. I walked into the changing tent and after a slow change walked out.  I had cut a deal with my knee that if he got me thru the run I promised to get him the best medical attention when I got home.  The idea came from a very special friend Barry Siff.  Barry was on my mind for the next five hours along with my Dad, Mum, and two old close friends who died way before their time, Connor and Ralph.  Connor loaned me his bike when I was 10. Our town was on a hill; the Main Street averaged over 10% grade, no brakes.  It almost ended my life.  Ralph watched me race in my hometown in Ireland just before we both hit 50.  He died on his birthday.  



I tried running, no go.  Took three Tylenol and kept walking, fast.  The math said I would finish at this pace so I was now happy.  After two miles I was wondering if the pills would work.  Running was still impossible.  I took a fourth pill and hoped my stomach would not rebel.  Then I found my big fan, squeeze, Ingrid.  She was very worried about me and I was worried about her.  I told her to go back to the hotel and wait for me to come back, around midnight. 



Seeing her must have convinced my knee that I was going to go the distance and he might as well get it over with as quick as possible.  As I approached the changing tents at T2 I tried running again, this time it was a go.  Shortly later a voice beside me said, "How are you traveling". I asked for a translation and now realized my traveling partner was from Oz.  We hung out for the next 12 miles, I got to meet his family and our conversation took my mind off my knee.  He was a good bit younger and having a tough race.  There is no question being friendly pays dividends, I don't remember this often enough. 



So Garth arrived at his hotel earlier in the week on his own.  He has three grown children living all over the USA and they were waiting for him with his wife.  A plan she had hatched and never told him.  I will never forget this story.  It lightened my load again.

Warning, this paragraph is a bit gross but in keeping with Tri tradition I have to tell the story.  I lightened things up some more and lost Garth around mile 16, the Tylenol, I had now taken 6 kicked in, just made it to the next aide station.  No toilet paper.  I won't go further.  



I was having feelings that my Quaker schoolteachers would not approve, I was felling proud that I had pushed thru my troubles.  Things still hurt a bit but I was thinking that maybe by now I had polished up my knee joint and I might not need and treatment, no such luck I know now.  But I eased on down the road starting my third loop.  My biggest worry now was not tripping on the uneven parts of the road in the dark; some of the course was on dirt roads and some just very badly maintained roads.  


The last loop went fast, I was not going fast but was in a very happy place.  I have now finished two IM events were I get the emotions of someone who struggles to finish.  I am thinking of friends and athletes I coached like Susan McNamee doing her first IM seconds under the cut offs for all three events, watching people do the same thing in Kona, listening to Mindy describe finishing her first Race. "Only a Sprint". She said but you could have been mistaken if you thought she had just climbed Everest.  And my latest coaching success, Ann Robinson finishing her first 70.3 this summer.  



No Kona slot for me and I don't think I would have beaten a new friend Andrew Loeb even if healthy. I would have pushed him though.  Andrew and I have raced in Kona several times and he has always finished just ahead of me.  This time we stayed in the same hotel and got to know each other.   I was the second older competitor I the race, I had hoped that would happen someday but not quite this soon.  I was second out of 4 in my AG.  

There was a lot of carnage in this race.  I guess in one-way it is fair to call this a hard race.  Getting things right is harder and if you don't the pain is much harder.  The heat in the water, air and the hills means you have to have things figured out and adjusted for this race.  I think a lot of people did not do so.  They were not helped with some critical misinformation about the race mentioned earlier.    



Don't let all this discourage your from coming to race here.  The course is great even if hilly.  The Mexican spectators are great, I learned that in Cozumel.  And I learned a much better way to express your admiration for athletes than "Nice Job". Or "your almost home" always shouted when you on the first of multiple loops.  Its "You are an Animal". I am going to learn to say it in Spanish.  It really sounds great that way.