Cactus Challenge 2006

My first Olympic distace triathlon. It was fantastic!!

The short version : Everything went very smoothly for me during the race, I was extremely happy with my time... 2:47:44. A great time for me!

Special congrats to Party Pat - completing the event just 2 weeks after his first child was born - on just a couple hours of sleep. Way to go man!

Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ttutri/tags/cactuschallenge/

The long version (spare yourself the pain...this is long):

It all started for me on Monday. I had stomach issues all week and I struggled to get my nutrition in order. By Wednesday I was feeling much better. I cut back all my workouts and rested up. By Saturday I was feeling very strong.

Friday afternoon I stopped in to ATC and picked up my packet and do a little shopping. I got a cycling jersey in my race packet! My first one - it will be put to good use. They opened the transition area on Saturday for bike check in - I skipped it. Something just didn't sit well with leaving any of my gear out all night. In hindsight I'm glad I did. Much less worry for my obsessive personality. I packed and repacked my Tri-bag - all. day. long.

Sunday morning: Race Day.

6:00 - Party Pat and I met up in the driveway at 6:00 AM to load bikes and gear.
6:15 - A quick stop by Starbucks to load up on caffine.
7:00 - We pulled into the parking area shortly after 7 AM and started unloading. We were early and had full run of the transition area, chip check-in and to walk the Swim-to-T1 run area. I took my time setting up. It really helped to calm the nerves. By the time we lined up for the start I was feeling great.
8:00 - I took a quick 250M warm up swim. The water was great. Nice and cool. The wetsuit fit great.
9:00 - Around 9AM the race director came on and let us know that they had dropped the ball and the bike course would not be completely closed off. At this point you kind of got the impression that things were starting to spiral on them. There was definitely a sense of urgency in his voice.

9:30ish - I don't remember what time the swim actually started. The swim felt fast. I remember checking my watch in T1 and being really excited because I was almost 7 minutes faster than my planned pace!

I transitioned fairly smoothly and hopped on the bike. No problems. The bike felt fast and fluid. Good stuff. Lots of strange things to keep up with on each loop (4 loops total). Loop 1 - I noticed spray paint all over one intersection of the road. Turns out there was a fatal collision on that road a few days beforehand. Yipes! There was still glass on the road. I looked long and hard at the markup of the wreck on each loop. Loop 2 - I caught a passing glimpse of a bike and helmet down in a ditch. I have no idea what the story was here. I saw it again on Loop 3 & 4! By loop 4 lots of drivers were starting to get aggressive. I was glad to be done.

I didn't do a good job of hydrating or eating on the bike. This worried me a bit going into the run.

T2 - feeling good. I ran hard for the first mile or so to get the legs under me. The course was a bit uneven in places and really through off my stride. Luckily it only lasted for a mile or so. There was a killer hill on the back side of the run. It got me both times. I ended up walking a quarter of it both times.

M, T, and Amers cheered Party Pat and I on the whole day. It was really great to see them so much. By the time I was on the second loop of the run, I was actively looking at the spectators expecting to see them. Cool feeling have some great folks to cheer you on. Amers took all the pictures. Thanks Amers!

Lessons Learned:

• I still don't have a good feeling for nutrition. I especially need to work on bike nutrition.
• I was on empty at the end of the race. Makes me wonder about being able to "race" BSLT. I'm thinking that BSLT will be about finishing - not racing.
• I need to train on hills - lots of them. Hard ones. I did not run on hills well at all during this race.

OK - every great adventure needs a scandal. This adventure delivers. I was reading a couple of the message boards on the race today. Turns out there are some unconfirmed reports that the first Age Group wave turned about 250M early. I was in the first wave! It's a little tough to tell from my splits if I turned early. It was a very fast pace for me but I was really swimming well and had the added benefit of the wetsuit.

I can say that I was very aware of the first turn. I know there we no more buoys in sight when I started my turn. The only thing I can figure was that a boat or lifeguard may have been blocking the view?? I guess we'll never know for sure. But, it would explain why I was so surprised by my pace. We'll see if anything comes of it.

I really like this distance. There's just more time to enjoy every sport.

The course was fantastic. I loved every part. This was a good race - a little disorganized but nothing that couldn't be handled. It would also be nice to get this race USAT certified.

See ya out there...