Havasu = Learn = Success!!

Being my first Olympic Triathlon ever, I had one goal for this race: Learn.

Also being from the Phoenix, AZ area, this race was a convienient opportunity to visit family alongside doing my first race of the season.  Marian and I packed up the car and departed our home at Mountain Home Air Force Base on 12 March and headed South!

The next day we were rolling into Gilbert, AZ tired and stiff from the driving but ready to enjoy some Arizona weather. We spent the rest of week getting tans, hiking, visiting our long missed family members and - for myself - a nice week off from work to get some solid taper training logged.

18 March, Friday morning, we headed for Western AZ, and arrived in Lake Havasu about 4pm just in time to pick up my packet and catch the race briefing. Turned out the water was going to be on the colder side - mid 50's. We opted to head down to the lake and test the lake after checking into the hotel.

It WAS cold - for the first couple minutes. Eventually my wetsuit worked its magic and then it was just a matter of waiting for my feet to go numb!

Test swim accomplished, we went to the store to pick up some groceries when Marian reminded me, "Hey didn't you want to drive the bike course tonight?"

Oh yeah that too. Don't you love "first races"?

We drove the course; and boy am I glad we did. In the first quarter there were some steady 4-5% climbs that I would look forward to. Then it was mostly smooth and flat until a little more than halfway into the course when we took a little jog off into a neighborhood, where we felt like we on a rollercoaster in our car. The maximum grade that we found was about 20%. Ok, save the energy. Right.

As we drove back to our hotel, Marian and I looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "We're here to learn." Done. No worries.

Went to bed just before 10, planning to get up at 530. At about Midnight my eyes popped open and I laid there until about 230am until I finally dropped off again. I chalk it up to "race night nerves".

We got up in the morning and naturally took a little longer getting out of the hotel than planned. By the time we got to the race area, most of the racks were full. I started to get a little distressed until Corey - a friend of mine who just happened to be doing the same race - found me and offered me the extra room by his spot. I racked my bike, got my stuff laid out and picked up my chip.

*Whew* OK. I'll get to used to the "big race" scene. Really I will. I thought to myself.

Marian helped me lube up and put on my wetsuit; and then we waited. Fortunately I had Marian and my parents there to chat with me. Sure is nice to have people to support you!

About the time the sprint wave started I went down and did a quick warm up swim and got some water in my suit to start the "warming process". Then the collegiate men began (this race doubled as the Southwest collegiate champs) followed by the collegiate women. Then it was time for my age group.

Standing in the waist-deep water, I looked at Corey when I realized that everyone was lining up around us! Being my first big race, I'd wanted to start at the edge...or in the back. But here we were in the front and center and race director was counting down from ten! Corey looked at me, shrugged and braced for the start, I followed suit, praying that I wouldn't get beat up too badly.

"GOOOOOOO!!!" We dove in to the water and took off for the first bouy.

I hit a stride pretty quickly, quickly settling into aerobic swimming. I surprised myself by breaking away from the group within the first couple hundred meters and reaching the bouy first! Someone right behind me cut inside and pulled ahead and about 10 seconds later I realized I'd swung out a little too far. Drat! Keep spotting Ryan! Don't forget that! I corrected and fell in with a group of three. We rounded the second bouy and headed for the third. The swim was about 1/3 complete.

It was right about that time when I took a wave of water right down the windpipe. *cough, sputter, sputter, cough, gasp, gasp* Ug. Took me a minute to recover, and now I was losing ground. The three had gotten away, tucked in behind the next two when *BAM!!* Friendly hand right to the goggles. I treaded water while fixing them.

Ok. You'd still got a lot of race left. Time to make some time up.

I put my head down and hauled.

I caught and passed the group that had just left me behind. I spotted a swimmer just in front of me that was making a break for it. I sidled up next to him and made friends with his wesuit. I noticed that he was spotting a LOT and was still making good time. So I stayed right on his left hip, and let him keep us on course.

We reached the turnaround bouy - a little more than halfway. It was about this time that I noticed we were passing a bunch of gray swim caps...

Wait... what??? These are the collegiate guys! This can't be right!

But it was right. We had caught some of the collgiate males who had left 5 minutes before us...

Well if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is! My friend and I picked up the pace and shot through the group of college kids. There was a bit of a bunch-up with more college kids at the last turn, so we swung wide and passed them, bounding up the beach as the clock was reading about 23 minutes and passed into transition when the clock read 24:18. I had no idea whether Corey was ahead of or behind me.

Transition from wesuit to bike: 1:50 seconds. No comments there, just need to get faster.

Starting the bike was nice! I still had a TON of energy after the swim and was eager to use it! I struggled for the first few minutes of the bike to get my left foot in my shoe which apparently gave Corey enough time to catch up to me.

The road was crowded with athletes. It was hard to adhere to non-drafting rules. Corey and I stuck together and it was all we could do to not hit people as we maneuvered our way through the crowd. The first quarter of the bike, we spent a lot of time passing collegiate athletes up and down the semi hilly part. The whole time I kept reminding myself to save energy for the 20% grades that were waiting for us on the return trip.

On the second quarter, I let Corey pull away from me a little bit. He stayed about 100m ahead of me while I cruised at a medium-high cadence. I had energy but didn't want to kill use it up on this first half. We hit the turnaround and I turned up the heat a little bit. It was time to nail those hills.

We hit the turnoff for the jog we'd do in the neighborhood and flew down into a small valley. from above I could see the switchbacks getting closer. I waited until I was about 200 feet from the first hill, stood up, sprinted, downshifted, and started the climb.

I've never felt the sensation of backwards movement on a bike while peddling foward until this point. The hill was so steep that in between each pedal stroke, I moved ever so slightly backwards. Very creepy. But just when I thought my legs were going to give out, I was at the top!! And there was Corey. Ooh... he'd been having issues with his shifting and his bike wouldn't downshift all the way. Ouch.

We flew down the backside of the switchback and prepared for the second climb. We stayed together until I heard something crack on Corey's bike and he cursed under his breath. He told me to keep going and pulled over to the side. I chanced a backwards glance to see him struggling with his chain; then I pressed on up to the top.

The third and final hill of the jog was the longest. The good news was the backside was steep and long, so I'd get the fastest and longest recovery coast of the whole race. I hit the hill and tried to stay seated as long as possible. I stood and muscled my way over the top and was rewarded with a wonderful thirty second cruise down the backside.

Ok. Hills: complete.

Status report: Good to go!

I worked my way back out of the valley and onto the main road back to transition without incident. It was about this time I saw Corey about 100m behind me and slowly gaining. I was relieved to see he was okay.

A few miles later, he caught up to me, and we matched each other. Apparently we were in-between groups because the road was empty; so we decided to ride tandem for the ride back. A couple miles from the transition area I asked him what our time was at. (I'd forgotten my watch... which proved to be a blessing.) He responded, "About an hour and a half"

....wait... what?? Because of the difficulty of the bike course, and this being my first olympic race, I wasn't planning on getting anything less than 2:45, and was probably figuring closer to 3 hours.... But this was putting us on track to hit 2:30...

So, naturally, we picked up the pace a bit.

We neared transition and slipped out of our shoes. We were coming up behind group of about 5 other athletes, so it would be a crowded dismount. As I swung my leg over, I felt my left shoe twist and click... and as I jumped off I heard it fall off the pedal and skip across the ground. Nuts!! I stopped and when about to head back, but heard a volunteer shout, "I'll get it!! 282! Got it! Go go!!" Relieved, I sprinted off after Corey.

All told, I had a nice transition. Was in after Corey and out before him.

Then it was off on the run! The first quarter mile felt like an Xterra race because it had us running through thick sand, but then we hopped on a sidewalk. The other wrench that was thrown in the mix was the stairs up the London bridge... about halfway up them, the purpose of handrails suddenly dawned on me, and I rowed myself up the stairs. At the top, poor Corey got a side cramp, so I had to leave him behind. Once on top of the bridge, I turned my brain off and ran hard.

And before I knew it, I was turning around; and then before I knew it, I was back in the sand; and then before I knew it, I was watching the finish line grow closer and closer!!

I didn't sprint at the end... because there was no need to. It would only tear down my muscles a little bit more, and this wasn't my A or B race anyways. So I glided across the finish line as the clock read 2:31:11 for a 30th overall finish and 2nd in my Age Group. My wife and family were there to greet me and congratulate me. It was a relief to be done with the first race of the season. After cleaning up, we celebrated by going to In N Out and then Marian and I were off to Las Vegas and then back home to Idaho the next day!

All told, I was pleased with the result for the first attempt at Olympic. Now to get better, heh heh.

Next up: Onion Man. Walla Walla, Washinton.