Sunday, July 22, 2007

Mountain Man Oly 07

I had a good time at the 23rd annual Mountain Man triathlon, a well-organized race in Flagstaff at Lake Mary. Now, my point in doing this was to have a good strong brick workout, the last heavy one I'll do before Ironman Louisville. I relaxed and had a good time on this race, and didn't push myself.
The folks that run this race are friendly and enthusiastic. It's a lot of fun and well-organized. I also like that it takes off early, so you're finished earlier.


GOALS
None, really. Finish, and not be dead last, although I didn't really care about that. This wasn't even a C race. I was relaxed and had a good time.


SWIM
This was by far the most apalling swim I've had. I was wearing a new long sleeve wet suit that i'm not used to yet, and I felt smothered. The water was decent, about 70 degrees.
If you do this race: do what I did. The rocks going down into the water are sharp. Wear your flip flops into the water and then when you get to the oogy lake bottom part take them off and toss them up on shore. Works. No wetsuit strippers here.


BIKE
This is the second race where I tried it with no socks, and it was fine. In fact, my feet felt kinda breezy. Now, of course, I'll be putting my bike shoes out into the sun to destank.

On the Olympic, there's no aid station on the bike except for the one just as you leave transition. The thing about this race is, there's abundant supplies. Water, gatorade, etc., but you have to carry them with you. In face, your race packet even includes a couple energy bars, Gatorade endurance formula, e-caps, and a gel. You just have to make sure you get the supplies and carry them with you. Which I did. The bike is somewhat challenging, but the road is in good shape with a nice wide shoulder. No potties. I put two bottles onto my flatwing and took off.
I'll let the bike profile do the talking...


RUN
I did the 10K without socks, and it was fine except for the teeny tiny little rocks that found their wayinto my shoe...I'll need a 2nd towel next time for extra food wiping.
On the Olympic, there's two aid stations on the run, but it's an out-and-back so you get to hit aid stations 4 times. More than Adequate. Still, I carried my own stuff with me. I filled up with some water at one. No potties on the run, or in transition either. Accelerade continues to work well for me. I can drink a lot of it without the stomach cramps I usually get if I drink too much of anything else. The run included about a 1-1/2 mile run up a very steep hill. Volunteers at the aid station gave out cold water and gatorade and were extra friendly.
I'll let the annotated run profile do the talking...


RESULTS

I didn't win anything, but I wasn't last. I was nearly last. So there you go. There was no Athena or Clydesdales categories on this race, by the way. This race is a lot of fun, but challenging, especially since it starts out at 6800 feet above sea level and climbs. the weather was GORGEOUS today, and after I was done I had some muffins, oranges, and a cold beer. Then I sat in the cool shade and waited for Sweet Baboo.

All in all, a nicely done race. I recommend it! It's got beautiful scenery, not too much traffic nice roads with wide shoulders. My only change would be to somehow put some port-a-johns out on the course. The race director is friendly and enthusiastic and very hands-on. This is the 23rd year they've done this race, and it shows.

11 comments:

  1. Sounds great except for the 'no potties' part. What is up with that? You can carry your own liquids and nutrition but when you gotta go you gotta go!

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  2. I love those annotated charts :)

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  3. No potties in transition?? That's just wrong.

    I was thinking I might try that race next year, but the no potties part kinda freaks me out.

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  4. 6800 feet above sea-level? Aaack!

    Your charts say more than many folks whole reports.

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  5. Great race pre-ironman. Glad you didn't push yourself and had fun!!
    :)

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  6. Yeah - the problem with the potties is that the area where transition is happens to be very long and narrow. It's also separated to keep non-athletes out. Thus, the only way to go to the potty is to leave transition, which means going all the way out and around, a real time sucker. If they could put a few out on the course it would help. THey usually ask for suggestinos on how to make the race better, so that will be one of mine.

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  7. I couldn't survive a race without potties in transition.

    Also want to add my luuurve for the annotated charts. They're the best part of any race reports I've seen anywhere.

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  8. More accolades for the fine charting! (And a great training day, too.)

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  9. I also ditto the love of the charts. It really sums up the race with your true feelings.

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  10. No other way to sum it up than to say that your blog is the best. It flows effortlessly and has the best graphics and pictures. I hope there are magazine editors and product advertisers out there reading your blog. I think they would be dumb not to pay you to write stuff. I hope you guys are as excited to the IM as we all are to watch and wait for the report. It has been awesome reading of your training adventures and races.

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  11. Crap! I missed you there! Fortunately we had great weather for the race.

    I like the charts!

    hak

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