Las Vegas Triathlon - Half-iron Distance

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It’s been over two weeks since this race and a report is long overdue. This was to be my last event before my final push to Ironman Arizona and more of an experience/training event than anything else. In other words, I did not spend a lot of training focus on it nor did I fully taper.

The Las Vegas Triathlon shares much of the same roads as the notorious Silverman course, a very hilly and desolate bike course that is also prone to some windy conditions. I’ve been on these roads before during Pumpkinman several years ago and the Halfmax National Championship a couple of years ago. I guess my memory isn’t so good. I had a general notion in my head, “yeah, yeah, the bike is hilly, but not too bad”. However, during my pre-race brick the day before the race, I was reminded of just how tough it is.

Also, during my pre-race brick, I got a short swim in. The water in Lake Mead was very warm. We’d learned at packet pick-up that the swim would be wetsuit legal, but at 77 degrees, just barely. Anyway, I decided not to wear my Zoot Zenith wetsuit, but to try my new Zoot Speedzoot. This was my first time swimming in it and it was fantastic! It’s going to be a huge advantage at my next non-wetsuit legal race! For this race, I chose to wear the Zenith. I get too much of an advantage to not wear it when wetsuits are legal.

Race Day:

The water at Lake Mead is continues to recede. The water level doesn’t even make it to the boat ramp any longer. The result was an in-water start in ankle deep muck. It felt pretty nasty! The lake is still, however, very clear and it’s pretty easy to find and follow feet, which I did where prudent. Mostly, I found myself working forward. About 500 yards in, I was getting quite warm and started to second-guess my choice of swimwear.

I exited the water in about fourth, I think. There were very few footprints heading up the ramp and through transition and most of the bikes were still racked.

By mile four of the bike I had caught the cyclist immediately in front of me and passed the next one within a mile. The fist two on the road looked a bit out of place. Not really hardcore triathletes. I can’t describe it, but you just know. I decided later on that they must have been part of relay teams. By mile six I was pretty sure I’d taken the lead. I held my watts as steady as possible on the rolling course and by the turn-around at mile 28, I hadn’t seen anyone going the other way.

I checked my split and headed back waiting for the first chaser to appear. It didn’t take too long, only about a minute and a half. A three minute lead with 28 miles left in the bike. I really enjoyed all the support, cheers, and thumbs-up from all the cyclists heading the other way. More than one took the effort to let me know I was in first. For this season at least, I consider my bike to be the weakest of the three disciplines, relatively of course, and the entire way back to T2, I expected someone to catch me. It never happened though, and with a few miles left, I was feeling pretty confident that even if someone did pass me, I’d have a faster run split.

As I left T2, the next cyclist hit the dismount line. They were close now! Shortly after leaving transition, I realized that I had left my Hammer Gel flask sitting on my towel. Crap! All of my calories! At first I thought, “no problem, I can hack a half marathon without any calories, it’ll be OK”. But then I remembered they had Hammer Gel on course! Saved! It was getting very warm at this point. I hit every aid station, stopping at most of them, to make sure I got plenty of fluids. The course climbed early and steep to the first turn-around. At about mile 4, I got the worst cramp that I’ve ever had in a race in my hamstring. No! I slowed but it didn’t go away. I stopped for just a moment and stretched it a bit. I started again but it was still there. I ran stiff-legged for while like someone trying to run with a leg brace on. I’m sure it would have looked funny, but I was determined not to lose the lead. The cramp gave way but returned several times during the run. I just told my legs “Look, we’re not stopping, so you’re going to have to find a way to deal with this”.

After the first of two u-turns, I saw my lead was only about 3 minutes again. I was holding a strong pace, but I didn’t know for how long. The cramps started early and kept returning. The first guy chasing looked strong. By the second turn I counted my lead a 6 minutes. Growing, but really, whomever was chasing only needed 1:00/mile in the six miles coming back to erase that, should I falter. I did not rest easy. I pushed on and settled into my pain cave. At the last turn down to the finish, I snuck a peak back. No one in sight. I slowed just a bit, just to make sure nothing catastrophic happened over the last 300 meters. I zipped-up and took my second 70.3 overall win in month’s time. Pretty cool!

I waited at the finish for the second-place athlete to come in. I was sure they were right behind me, but I had to wait nearly nine minutes. I guess I put a little more time in over the last stretch.

The temperature at the time I finished was around or above 100 degrees and climbed to 103 that day. There were many DNF’s. Just savage conditions. I felt bad for those I saw still on course as we were driving back to the hotel.

Well that’s all for now. Back to IM training!