race time.
travel log: thursday may 19, 2005
we arrived at the madison airport around 11:30am, plenty of time to get everything checked in (including the bike) in time for the 2:30 flight. no worries. lars of united put us on standby for the flight leaving even earlier. we boarded the plane on schedule and began the taxi to the runway for our flight. then, we stopped. then, the engines powered down. the pilot came on and said that a ground hold had been issued by ohare. 20 minutes became an hour which became 2 hours. then, finally, the engines powered up and the seat belt sign flashed on. the pilot came on "we're heading back to the terminal to let you guys stretch your legs." eesh. long story short, we spent an entire day at the airport just to book a flight with another airline a day later. stress levels were high. we were still in madison.
travel log: friday may 20, 2005
friday's travel was long but uneventful. we were back at the madison airport by 6am friday we arrived to sfo with a message from mr. scott peterson saying "i don't know if you knew this, but the swim has been cancelled." the trip was becoming more surreal by the second. turns out the run-off from the sierras was causing so much trouble that they had to open the dam into lake clementine, effectively dropping the water temp to a brisk 47 degrees and scattering debris. unsafe to swim. now it was a duathlon.
we made it to auburn around 8:30 pm (10:30 our time) in time to see where the race was going to be staged. headed on a goose chase to find our hotel and then spent the next 30 minutes hammering through a bike assembly session. everything went smooth with reassembly and i finally got a little excited for the race ahead. it was going to be sleep deprived, dehydrated (it's tough to hydrate when you are traveling for 2 straight days) and malnourished race effort, but damn it, it was going to be epic....
travel log: saturday may 21, 2005
4:45 came quick but i woke up excited to finally be competing at this race i've been focused on for a half year. oatmeal in the stomach, coffee and then as much water/cytomax i could handle without getting sick. the weather was calling for 85 and sunny, far from what the past few weeks had been in wisco. the race opened with a 3km sprint into the regularly scheduled 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. i came through the opening run pretty high up...i wanted to be in the transition with as few people as possible but without going too fast. transition was smooth and i was out on a very tough course. the climbing was amazing...the top pro came through in 2:35 (for reference: wildflower, a 1/2 im bike course considered pretty difficult had a 2:14 best bike split). i went out feeling pretty good but my lack of hydration caught me about 1/2 way through. i got passed a lot which was disappointing, but i was still fighting. the run transition came (finally) and it felt good to change disciplines. i ran the first 5 or 6 km with another guy and we were passing a lot of people. then the tunnel started to close. and my chest got tingly. i was in a spot of trouble. add the huge climb (think a gravel blue mounds...to the top) and the lack of a breeze in the oppressive heat and i was toast. i found myself walking the middle 2 km just to try to regain some composure. i began to feel better later in the run and managed a 1:45 run split. all in all, finishing was a great day and i managed to finish relatively high up considering everything. i'm very happy with it and ready for the next triathlon challange: pigman 1/2 ironman tri in august.
travel log: sunday may 22, 2005
yosemite in may is a must see. this year especially. i could write for hours about the beauty, but this will have to do....
not bad
we arrived at the madison airport around 11:30am, plenty of time to get everything checked in (including the bike) in time for the 2:30 flight. no worries. lars of united put us on standby for the flight leaving even earlier. we boarded the plane on schedule and began the taxi to the runway for our flight. then, we stopped. then, the engines powered down. the pilot came on and said that a ground hold had been issued by ohare. 20 minutes became an hour which became 2 hours. then, finally, the engines powered up and the seat belt sign flashed on. the pilot came on "we're heading back to the terminal to let you guys stretch your legs." eesh. long story short, we spent an entire day at the airport just to book a flight with another airline a day later. stress levels were high. we were still in madison.
travel log: friday may 20, 2005
friday's travel was long but uneventful. we were back at the madison airport by 6am friday we arrived to sfo with a message from mr. scott peterson saying "i don't know if you knew this, but the swim has been cancelled." the trip was becoming more surreal by the second. turns out the run-off from the sierras was causing so much trouble that they had to open the dam into lake clementine, effectively dropping the water temp to a brisk 47 degrees and scattering debris. unsafe to swim. now it was a duathlon.
we made it to auburn around 8:30 pm (10:30 our time) in time to see where the race was going to be staged. headed on a goose chase to find our hotel and then spent the next 30 minutes hammering through a bike assembly session. everything went smooth with reassembly and i finally got a little excited for the race ahead. it was going to be sleep deprived, dehydrated (it's tough to hydrate when you are traveling for 2 straight days) and malnourished race effort, but damn it, it was going to be epic....
travel log: saturday may 21, 2005
4:45 came quick but i woke up excited to finally be competing at this race i've been focused on for a half year. oatmeal in the stomach, coffee and then as much water/cytomax i could handle without getting sick. the weather was calling for 85 and sunny, far from what the past few weeks had been in wisco. the race opened with a 3km sprint into the regularly scheduled 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. i came through the opening run pretty high up...i wanted to be in the transition with as few people as possible but without going too fast. transition was smooth and i was out on a very tough course. the climbing was amazing...the top pro came through in 2:35 (for reference: wildflower, a 1/2 im bike course considered pretty difficult had a 2:14 best bike split). i went out feeling pretty good but my lack of hydration caught me about 1/2 way through. i got passed a lot which was disappointing, but i was still fighting. the run transition came (finally) and it felt good to change disciplines. i ran the first 5 or 6 km with another guy and we were passing a lot of people. then the tunnel started to close. and my chest got tingly. i was in a spot of trouble. add the huge climb (think a gravel blue mounds...to the top) and the lack of a breeze in the oppressive heat and i was toast. i found myself walking the middle 2 km just to try to regain some composure. i began to feel better later in the run and managed a 1:45 run split. all in all, finishing was a great day and i managed to finish relatively high up considering everything. i'm very happy with it and ready for the next triathlon challange: pigman 1/2 ironman tri in august.
travel log: sunday may 22, 2005
yosemite in may is a must see. this year especially. i could write for hours about the beauty, but this will have to do....
not bad
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