Cool, wet and happy in Lubbock

My Ticket to Kona (again)?

The Buffalo Springs course is a hard one on a cool day like we had this year and a brutal one when the sun is out. It can also be windy, as evidenced by the two wind farms around the town that have been built in the last two years since I was here last. When hit with wind and sun the race takes on a Kona feeling but it gets worse. There is a vast Feed Lot less than a ½ mile from the turnaround of the out and back run. With the wind from the west you can smell the stench for 4 of the 13 miles; again we were lucky this year.

Competition in my AG was deep. Larry Krutka and I have raced in Kona more than once and I have never got closer to him than about 45 min, he has I think been on the podium. Ron Dent and I have raced in Boulder together several times and always been close winning and loosing. Michael Dwyer, who I did not know, was a major worry of Larry’s and Michael Zinn was a potential threat. He was doing his first ½ but was top 10 in USAT’s ranking last year. Larry, and the two Michaels had home course advantages of sorts all living in this heat bubble of Texas and Oklahoma. In half IM races I don’t think I have ever run against this depth of field.

At the Expo was a friend running the Computrainer Booth, Jack Weiss. Jack knows almost everyone in the sport in Texas and the country (he runs a whole bunch of very popular races in and around his home state) and especially my competition the next day. I asked him about Michael Zinn on Friday evening and then Larry on Saturday. By this time I think he had talked to all of us except Ron so we knew all our secrets and successes. Jack’s assessment was that we are going to have an interesting race. I don’t think he was putting money on any of us.

Reversing the clock a bit, I ran Eagleman two weeks earlier. My quest for a Kona slot this year was to smoke the bike on that flat course and cruise to a win on the run. I had two worries with competition in Cambridge. Both of them beat me the year earlier but not by much and I had always taken them in the past. A year can make a difference and William Wren and made big improvements with his swimming and overall fitness. My plan was working by T2 but his swim split meant that the difference was close.

He almost slipped by me at mile 3 as I stopped for a pee in the Port a John (remember this when we get to Buffalo Springs), I saw him go by thru the vents. We rand together for the next 4+ miles and I felt I would be able to stay with him to the end. A sprint to the finish would have been exciting. But that was not to be. I cramped, hamstrings, just past mile 7 and watched my potential Kona slot glide off into the distance. Those last 6 miles were punctuated by thoughts of a very hot and unpleasant race in Lubbock, my fall back plan.

The plan had a successful precedence; I came here two years ago after missing out in Eagleman and got lucky. I followed a very similar two week training plan, very easy workouts, low volume with race pace intensity intervals with the 5430 Sprint sandwiched in between. This time however I went nuts with all kind of therapy. This included a massage from my regular massage therapist Keira McMahon, ART Treatment from Phillip Bammer, Acupuncture (for my gimpy knee) from Whit Reaves, an IV full of vitamins and minerals from Kelly Parcel and finally some Muscle Restoration from Josh Shadle. Advice was gathered from anyone I could think of but most important was tips from Bobby McGee, Mike Ricci, Keith Watson Barry Siff (my frequent bike companion) and Mike Monastero. Even included was a group therapy session (unplanned) with Scott Fliegelman and his Fast Forward group of IM Louisville bound athletes who were doing a training race here in Lubbock. Special mentions should go to Donna Mitchell who came up with the mantra; “I will not Fail” There are many others who have helped me get to this point and many thanks to all.

I was dreading racing in the normal Lubbock heat/wind and two weeks out the forecast looked grim, It was still grim a week out and then a crack in the 95-100 deg heat appeared for Sunday. Collective prayers, offerings, and rain dances (well at least clouds) were made by the F4 group for the rest of the week.

Rain hammered the skylights during the race meeting Saturday evening and we knew the cool front had arrived just on time. I stuck my nose out of my room at 3:30 am and found another competitor doing what I was doing, checking to see if any stars were visible, and no twinkles, not even a glimmer. So my two traveling companions and I were happy as we drove to the race site at 4:15 for a 6:30 (for me) start.

The transition and swim venue is the nicest part of Lubbock and the residents, those with some money, make that obvious with homes around the lake. Those not quite so lucky have a couple of nice camp grounds and beaches. This is all in a gully that is over 2 miles long and perhaps ¼ mile wide. It is filled largely with a spring fed lake keeping the water temps always wetsuit legal, just.

The pros went off 5 min ahead of my wave. At 6:35 in the morning it is still not full daylight and with the cloud cover sighing was a challenge thru tinted swim goggles. My navigation was a bit off coming out of a cove at the start and turning right to the next left hand turn. But I was feeling very comfortable in my Desoto Wet Suit with, for the first time, no sleeves (Thanx Gail and Roger). I do seem to have lost my drafting skills loosing several feet that were swimming just a bit faster. The water tasted much better than the Boulder Res but visibility was not much better. The old geezers in that first wave were much more civilized than the mad crowd at the Stroke and Stride series.

I came out of the water looking at a slow swim time but quickly put that behind me as I know that courses can be off a bit (it looks like it was long). . 100 yards out of T2 and you are heading up the steepest hill, about 9%. The hills are produced by going in and out of the gullies along the stream that starts at the lake. Each has a drop/rise of about 250 feet. We climbed out of them 7 times. On the top the roads are almost dead flat, certainly dead flat by Boulder standards.

After that first hill, I pushed a bit harder than planned, the road screams back down to a dam at the end of the lake with a dangerous turn (at speed) at the bottom. With a Zipp 808 on the front I was breaking the golden rule, nothing new, and a wind gust caught me at the bottom at near 40 mph, dreams almost came to an end at that point. Another steep climb got us up on the flats for the next 15 mile or so. With the excitement of getting out on the bike over I settled into my plan to maintain a constant power output of about 240 peaking at 300 on the hills. The plan did have a problem early on in that I could not read the power meter thru my sun glasses.

It was windy this year I would guess 15mph+. I had a rental 808 on the front (again thanks Roger and Gail) and early in the bike that was a bit wild. Skies were threatening rain; there was a thunderstorm to the north as we dove out the race. The forecast was for clouds all morning and that was what happened.

The wind was almost blowing across the gullies from the North East. So the descents were screaming ones hitting almost (for me) 40 mph, my guess is some of the mail pro’s were getting close to 50. Coming back into the wind was a different story but I think both played to my advantage of more body weight than my competition and an aggressive aero position.

I passed my big worry, Larry Krutka at mile 30; he swam about 4 min faster than I did. I did not know it but I was in the lead at that point. Mother Nature then dished out a home court advantage to me, it started to rain, hard. I grew up with rain in Ireland and conditions were very much like my first and only bike tour at about the age of 16. I heard complaints about loosing time in the rain but I don’t think it altered my speed a much.

There were a number of keys to my success in this race and one, more than anything else was a new skill in body functions. Last fall I had peed on the bike on a very long downhill. That had taken several attempts earlier in that race and I thought it was a freak of nature (I had no hills and no luck at Eagleman). On the last three slight and short down hills I coasted and peed a bucket full (I had hyper-hydrated using Glycerin before the start). In races past that would have cost me minutes.

We got back to T2 with about 2 min between us and I felt OK the first 1/4 mile and then my good old hamstrings cramped, the left one. I recovered reasonable quickly (lost about 90 sec looking at my Polar watch data) now Larry was less than a min behind me. We ran down to the end of the lake and partially around the other side. I was debating on what to do on the 9% grade out of the canyon. Last time I had no choice and walked up. This time I ran to the steepest section and started walking. I needed to pee again and knew that if I stopped I would be passed. As I walked I tried to pee and to my amazement it happened, another bucket.

Magic, well not quite, I switched to Hammer Nutrition products in the early spring including their PSA pills. I have been taking Saw Palmetto for years to very little effect. Hammer has some critical dosing advice that you do not take them with protein. It must have worked. Their advice on carrying Perpetuem, their new Café Latte flavor, yum, was great. Double the concentration in your bottle, in my case a Never Reach Tank, then take a sip of the mix and water, in an aero bottle up front, to keep get the right concentration in your stomach. I was amazed and very happy to find that I had nailed my consumption on the bike with both containers one sip away from empty when I checked at the end of the race.

Gradually Larry ate up the little time I had on him and at the turnaround there he was ten steps behind me. I had a choice at this point. Continue at my pace or go faster and risk another cramp, I chose the latter. Larry conveniently is a noisy breather and slowly he dropped behind and then I could not hear him. At the bottom of the next downhill I cramped again and he by me while I was bent over massaging my leg (all’s fair in love and war). Again I did not loose too much time (about 30 sec) and was able to run up the last hill after another short pee (this is gross I know but it felt good warming up my leg). I was finishing up my pee when I heard heavy breathing coming up behind, I cussed at my protesting muscles and started to hustle again. This time the breathing got louder and louder and at the top of the hill he drew up along side and passed me. I got a new appreciation for young noisy athletes; there was a 24 on the calf of this athlete. So I thought I was still ahead of Larry and there was 3.5 miles to go.

At the 3 mile mark I started to fear I was reading a 60 on the back of another calf and creeping closer it was more competition. I eased past him wondering what he would do when he saw who was passing. For some reason, I was loosing focus on everything but myself, I did not hear any heavy breathing. All the way back on the south side of the lake I could feel my hamstrings protesting (now both sides). I focused everything I had on form. Bobby McGee’s advice rang thru my head constantly, lean, push and arm swing. I did a few exercises Josh Shadle showed me that could be done while running, I thought of my old friend a doctor in Ireland who tragically died at 50 and wondered if he could put in a good word with the boss (I am not religious but it could not hurt). It worked. At about 1/2 mile from the finish I willed then not to cramp and pushed a bit harder. Somehow I felt a presence very close. It was Larry that I passed and he finished 30 sec behind me.

The cramping in the run was the least disruptive of any of my recent races. I have three people to thank for that, Donna, I kept thinking of her mantra as I massaged my leg, Josh for giving me a great work over and some very valuable exercises that I was able to do in the car as I drove down her and a product called Cramp 911 (a topical homeopathic ointment) given to me to test by the developer). It did not stop the cramps completely but I have never recovered so quickly. I think with time the exercises I got from Josh will further diminish the chronic problem I have been having.

I was especially nice to have so many friends at Lubbock. Scott and Ivy Kroger had done the Sprint race, held while the 70.3 gang were out biking and won their AG. They were on hand to welcome us home. Many of the F4 athletes were doing their first ½ and it is always fun to be around people finishing their first long race, or a race of any distance. They are in great hands with Scott and Michael Kelly (Michael raced and had a great day) and the Fast Forward team as they prepare for their first full IM in Louisville. I know you guys will do great, “Will not fail” and have fun. I hope I can do some riding with you as we train for an end of season IM.

Ingrid was not with me at Lubbock but she was in spirit. To settle my mind when it gets too cluttered with negative thoughts I think of those who got me to this point. Parents naturally, two childhood friends no longer with us, the doctor mentioned before and Connor who loaned me he 4 speed racing bike with no brakes and almost got me killed at 10 and of course Ingrid. When I called her after the race she said she was very proud of me. Those of you who know Ingrid know she speaks her mind, like the time she told me I looked like Sh@#, at mile 3 of the run in my first IM in Hawaii. This complement was very special and I it was good to be reminded of how lucky I am.