Spartan Race Ft. Carson

Here are some pics from my first Spartan Race.  It was a ton of fun (when do you ever get to roll around in the mud with an m-16?) and I was fortunate enough to win the race.

Mud crawl w/ Gun

Bolder Boulder

Please excuse the typos, the kids need to be supervised!

The weekend race double is now complete and I every grateful for that.  I finished the Bolder Boulder in a time of
35:38 (+/-) which wins the age group and is somewhere around 90th place.  Unfortunately it looks like my chip wasn't working and I'm not listed in the results.. I have emailed the timers twice so far and I hope that it is corrected soon.

We couldn't have asked for a better day for the largest 10k that I compete in.  For those who have never done the Bolder Boulder, there are something like 60 runners, but the race feels small because you start in seeded waves of a couple hundred.  Any way, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature was a pleasantly in the mid 50's (I know a bit chilly but livable).  I started in the back middle of the A wave and that seemed a about right. Even though I do this race every year, I still have some trouble rationalizing finishing around 90th place as about right.  I started the run at a measured pace (5:32) since I knew the difficulty of the course really picked up at mile 3 and it seemed to work. 

I was able to maintain my pace through the second mile (5:33) and was fortunate enough to pass Justin Little.  A quick side comment about Justin, he is racing so fast this year that he is really pushing me.  On one hand I am grateful to be pushed while on the other, a pleasant jog through the Pearl street mall would have been nice too.  He is a far kinder person than I so it is gratifying to see him compete so well.  The third mile is where I started to struggle and I think that Saturdays race played a part in my suffering.  When the grade ticked up, I found it hard to power up the hills.  My third and fourth mile splits were 5?:51 and 5:52 respectively and I was so happy to run through the 'Highest Point' marker.  I was able to let my legs turn over better after the summit and I was able to hold 5:35 pace until the hill into the stadium.  I would have liked to loaf that hill and the lap of the track, but I could feel the mass of runners behind bearing down on me (thanks Justin) and I was able to only loose one place in the stadium.

At 35:38, I was just under 30 seconds faster than last year which is refreshing since all my other running races this year have been slower than last year.  I am hopeful that this is a harbinger of things to come.  I just hope that I make it back into the results some time soon.  I could really use a new key chain.  Thank you Runners Roost, Nike, Pearl Izumi, Power Bar and Colorado Ophthalmology.

2012 Pelican Fest Race report

I always get nervous before races and the first race of the year normally makes the butterflies living in my stomach flutter even more violently.  This year’s edition of the Pelican Fest Triathlon was no different.  I had won last year’s race handily and I was hoping to repeat the result which didn’t help my nerves.  I have normally used this race as a warm-up to the more competitive races later in the season because it has been able to maintain a local (and amateur only) feel which I find helps ease the anxiety of getting back into triathlon racing.

Saturday started with a some what unnatural yet welcome calm that bathed to ground with a thick fog that fogged your goggles and misted your wind shield.  Despite the fog the air was a refreshing 60 degrees at race start which made for ideal race conditions.  The race starts with brisk 63 degree 800 meter swim across Windsor Lake, followed by a rolling 10 mile time trial, and finishing with a 5k out and back run around the lake.  A nice quick race to knock the winter cobwebs from your winter hibernation. 

Before the race started I was looking forward to the swim because I have been swimming faster then years past so I was excited to see if my increase in pool speed translated into a faster swim split.  In addition to swimming faster, this was my first race with my LASIK enhanced eyes that allows me to see the buoys which I thought would also help me swim faster since I would be able to swim a straighter line. Unfortunately at the word go, I had, by anyone’s measure, a slow beach start that ended in me having a dozen or so swimmers to swim over and around.  After the first 200 meter buoy and the only 90 degree turn I was in 4^th place and within sight of first.  There was a lead group of two, and break, and then the one guy that I was behind.  I immediately tried to pass, but either he swam into me or I swerved into him which farced me back behind him.  I tried to pass several times only to be thwarted in the same way until just after the half way point when I was finally able to get past and into third place.  Once I was clear, I started to reel in the leaders, but I ran out of water so I exited the lake in third place 15 to 20 seconds back.  I had a reasonable transition and started the bike course.

On the bike I caught second at about 1.5 miles into the ride and discovered the shock of the day.  A bunch of ITU races had shown up to race.  Only in Colorado does a small local triathlon become an international Olympic qualifying race!  The rest of the ride was uneventful until the dismount line into t2 when I caught the leader and was also passed by an Argentinian ITU points racer (gotta love the names and country written on the uniform).  The original leader took the run out hard (+/- 5 min pace) and me and the Argentinian where forced to try to keep pace.  I passed the Argentinian after the first half mile, but I was a good 25 seconds behind first.  I was able to get some time back after the initial blazing pace so that I was with in 20 seconds behind the leading ITU racer, but once he saw me at the turn around he restarted his original relentless pace which I couldn’t match.  Once I realized that overtaking him was not to be, I shut it down and cruised for the last mile. 

Intellectually I know that second overall including beating 4 of 5 pros and posting a faster time then last year isn’t a bad result, but emotionally I would have liked to won.  Perhaps with a better start and a stronger effort on the run I might have been able to get the W, but probably not.  The one silver lining is that I am old enough to be the winner’s father.