2005 Titanium Man Triathlon

After a brutally slow swim (19+ minutes), I headed out on the bike. Picking off lead swimmers out on the bike one at a time I was able to regain my confidence as a competitive triathlete. I then got passed by Eric Vozza about 5 miles into the bike. I let my competitive personality take control, dropped into a smaller gear and watched the HR start to climb. I finally passed him and eventually achieved lead status by the start of Dallas after playing leap frog with a couple of the lead bikers. From there it was all I could to keep Greg in my sights. I finally caught a glimpse of John B at the turn-a-round as he blew by me in the opposite direction with about a 3 mile lead. After the turn-a-round I was able to asses my competition with Eric only about a mile behind.

I started the run with about a 1 minute lead (quite a bit when it come to an Olympic distance). After that, it was pretty lonely for the first half of the run. As I neared the run turn-a-round (about 1.5 miles) I passed Gary - going the opposite direction! Man he was flying. I pretended for a moment that was me and started to run faster. After about a minute of that, reality set in with a side stitch bringing me back down to, what felt like, a turtles pace. I knew that my fast bike split of 1:01 would soon catch up with me, and it did. I could no longer hold the sub 6:30 min/mi pace and I was passed just after the turn-a-round like I was standing still. And then again about 2 miles from the finish.

I finished in 2:03ish with a 3 place slot. I was pleased. Not too bad a way to end the season. My rival this year, Eric Vozza, came in shortly after and with scoring more age group points took 1st in the Multi-Sport Series with me coming in a close 2nd. 601.75 to 603.64. Great job Eric! You deserve a beer on me.

2005 Whidbey Island Triathlon

Below are a few pictures from my trip to Whidbey Island last weekend:
Deception Pass and the hotel on Whidbey Island.

http://www.swparks.org/triathlon/general/triathlon.htm

The race started with a 1/2 mile swim in Lone Lake on South Whidbey Island.
The race had 4 wave start with approximately 250 individual and team participants.

From the results, it looks like I exited the water in 4th place (I think it was more like 10th including all the teams) in 12:57.  But anyway, blazed through T-1 in just over a minute (it felt like I hade to run the length of a football field).  As I grabbed my bike from the rack, one of my bike shoes came unclipped and fell off the bike, so I had to put it on and run with one bear foot.

The bike started with an uphill climb on a packed dirt road.  After I got my bike legs, I passed the remainder of the lead swimmers within the first 3 miles, including Peter Oakley (the local raining champion).  After that it was pretty lonely until the second lap when I caught the last wave of triathletes coming out on the bike.  Finishing the second lap I got to leave the rest of the lapped bikers as I headed through the town of Langley and finally to T-2 where I was greeted with applause.

Again, T-2 was another long run with the bike.  This time 45 seconds.  The run (like the bike) started with an uphill climb on a dirt trail leading into the darkness of the woods.  From their I looked back and noticed no racers in the transition area.  I would later find out that I had a 2 minute lead on Peter and finish with the fastest bike split of 51:47 (22.5 mph on a farley hilly course for 19.5 miles).  After winding through the woods for 2 miles the darkness broke as the course turned onto a paved road where I made my lonely trek back to the finish line for a total of 3.8 miles and a 23:12 run split.  I gained another minute on the run and finished with an overall time of 1:29:46 - three minutes and one second ahead of Peter Oakley with 1:32:47.

The course was very scenic and cool (temperature) because of all the tall trees.  I highly recommend this as a get-a-way vacation race.  I plan on continuing my winning streak for years to come.

Other Tri-City participants:
Erin Weber: 2:08:18
Ann Shattuck: 2:05:44

I will let them tell there own story...

Next up: Aquaman and Coeur d'Alene Triathlon.  Both this weekend.  Stay tuned...

2005 Whiskey Dick Triathlon

Whiskey Dick Triathlon

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Vantage to Kittitas to Ellensburg

Swim - 1 mile

Bike - 26.4 (elevation gain of 1900 feet in the first 12 )

Run - 8.8 miles (flat and hot)

It was a day the Triathlon Gods were smiling... My swim was a bit slow compared to last year, but I more than made up for it an the bike. The weather was very forgiving. Last year the head winds brought my average bike speed down to a crawling 15 mph and the heat zapped every bit of energy on the run. This year my average bike speed was 19 mph and the run was much cooler. I came out of the water in about 10th. On the bike, I worked my way up to 4th at the top of the hill. Then on the flats I passed 2 more and moved into 2nd. I stayed there "till about mile 6 on the run where I was passed. At that point I started feeling the burn and gave everything I hade just to hang on. I felt strong almost the entire race. I think I nailed my nutrition plan (e*Gel all the way). I got 3rd over all, 1st in my age group and won 40 bucks! (Just about paid for gas and breakfast.) Improved my time from last year by almost 20 minutes (mainly due to the weather) and moved up the overall standing by 5 slots. More than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing and just love that race.

	Bib	Time	First	Last	City	State	Age	Age Group	Sex
1	382	2:39:35	Brian	Hadley	Coeur d' Alene	ID	30	30-34	M
2	395	2:48:10	Andrew	Neff	Bellevue	WA	45	45-49	M
3	384	2:49:41	Ryan	Brown	Richland	WA	29	25-29	M
4	392	2:50:18	David	Karman	Seattle	WA	38	35-39	M
5	366	2:51:17	James	O'Brien	Shoreline	WA	39	35-39	M
6	375	2:53:56	Jay	Clark	White Salmon	WA	38	35-39	M
7	360	2:54:39	Ted	Burnham	Kalispell	MT	35	35-39	M
8	359	2:55:01	Chris	Kimbrough	Austin	TX	35	35-39	F
9	344	2:56:18	Jason	Houck	Seattle	WA	27	25-29	M
10	367	3:01:09	Craig	Scrivner	Ellensburg	WA	39	35-39	M