Black Diamond Race Report

Black Diamond Race Report

This was, and will, be the last race leading up to Hawaii. Kind of interesting that we all use the work ‘Hawaii’ to refer to Ironman World Championships in Kona. When in reality, Hawaii is much more than that. Anyway, Black Diamond is a ½ Ironman in the Enumclaw, WA area. I raced this event late year, but they have changed the bike course quite a bit… shortening it and taking out some major climbs. But the rest, was pretty much the same.

Jessi, Emma, and I headed out from Spokane at about 6:00pm for the roughly 5 hour drive. Should be about 4.5, but with Emma, we always make one more stop. We eventually got in to our hotel a about 11:00pm, unloaded, and got ready for bed. Emma has not been feeling too well the last day or so. She caught a cold/cough from somewhere, and sounds like a seal from time to time. At night is normally when it happens. So, at about 2:00am she started coughing. Jessi decided to take her out to the car and try and get some sleep in there. I did not even realize that she did that, but when I woke up, they were gone. Jessi will probably blog about her experience with Emma and the car later.

I got up at about 6:00am… which was nice. Normally Ironmans and ½ Ironmans start so early they warrant a 4:45am wake up call. But this race started at 9:00am. Kind of late for any race really. I had my traditional breakfast and stated getting ready to load up and head out. Jessi and Emma were already in the car. Jessi looked like she slept about 30 minutes and Emma still was coughing from time to time. Regardless, we had to get to the race site.

Upon arrival, we found out that we could not park in the parking lot since it was ful. I knew about this beforehand, but I tough 2 hours prior should be enough time… it wasn’t. Jessi dropped me off with all my gear and went to park the car. It’s always nice to go to some more ‘local’ races because you see so many familiar faces. Obviously at this one we had a bunch of Tri Fusion members (about 30 in all), but people from all over the state that you have come in contact with. Right when I got out of the car, I saw Ben Bigglestone. I formally met Ben last year at IM Cda at the B70 tent. He is one of B70s key guys and is a wealth of knowledge. We have become good friends over the year and always seem to have a lot to talk about when we run into one another. As I was talking with Ben, an old friend from Camp Reed said, then another person that I raced against last year, then another guy who wanted to know about PowerBar… the list goes on. You will see why I point this out later in the report. Ben also encouraged me to race ‘Elite’ today rather than as an age grouper. He said that he was the only one at this point and did not want to start all alone. So, I obliged and then roped in Ben Greenfield and Chris Blair to dot he same. That way we would have at least a few people.

So as I am setting up my transition area, I keep running into people chatting with them. So many great people and often people you don’t see very often. I also think this I what people do when they are nervous… talk to people. As time kept ticking away, I still did not have my transition area really set up. I had a bunch of crap all over the place but nothing where it should be. There was about 15 minutes left before the start of the race and I realized that I was no where near ready for this race. I started to scramble, getting on my skin suit, trying to find my gels, finding my race belt… this list goes on and on. All of a sudden there is 5 minutes before the start and my wetsuit is still on the ground. Anyone will tell you that I am not the first one down to the water, but this was ridiculous. I was actually nervous at this point. I finally got most of the things where they needed to be except my gels that I could not find. When Jessi zipped up my wetsuit I told here to throw some gels onto my towel so that I could at least have a few. She was able to do that, since in T1 I saw them there. I did make it tot the swim start on time, but only because they were running late. I think this was a sign that I was not really in the ‘zone’ for a race. I think the 5 days leading up to it where I did not workout at all should have been a sign. Or was it that I did not register until the day before, or get lodging the day we left… hmmm… things sure start to add up.

I headed to the start where I saw some people, including Jessi, Mark W., Daryce W., and the like laughing at me and my frantic state yet still maintaining composure like, ‘Imenat to do that.’ I got in the water with the other ‘Elite’ athletes. Ironically Adanam Jensen, the only pro in the race, was not racing Elite… hmmm, another sign of a dysfunctional day.

The horn sounded and off the 5 of us ‘Elites’ went. I took off pretty hard and lead most of the 1st lap wondering why no one would come by. Ben Nigglestone eventually did and then we all made a wrong turn and had to be redirected. Not placing blame on anyone, juts one of those things. As we continued the 2nd lap, things started to get a bit crazy with lapped swimmers (2 lap swim), and trying to figure out where in the hell we were supposed to be going.

Finally I exited the swim, behind Ben B., and Ben G. But we all met up in T1. I was able to scramble through T1 pretty east. But I have to say that I just did not feel ike I was ‘racing.’ It was more like a training day with some friends. I figured this would soon end.

I got on the bike with a it of an elevated HR and watched my power output and wanted to keep that in a certain range. I watched that super closely the entire time. I let people go on the bike and ended up catching a few in the process. It did not help that I had to pee on the bike which took a little time. And, no, I did not actually pee ON the bike. Even with my many years of cycling and bike handling, I have never found a great deal of comfort in peeing on the bike. I think I have too much respect for my bike as well as those around me. So as I strategized ‘where’ I would go, I was thinking maybe on a down hill? Maybe on a flat, a corner.. But I figured the best place would be at the top of a hill where my speed would be at the lowest and it would be a great place to recover. Business taken care of. Jessi actually came around the corner to see me, and I think she was a bit worried initially when she saw me stopped. But she just waved.

I eventually got into T2 feeling pretty good. I took splits at the 28 mi mark and the 56 mi mark and saw that my HR, speed, and power were all identical. Pretty cool to maintain an exact split for that distance. That is what I wanted to do. So I guess that was good. But in the process I let people go that I normally out bike.

T2 was fast… one of the fastest of the day. But since I had to pee again, I had to stop at on of the port-a-potties right outside T2. I started off running pretty smooth reeling in a guy that sprinted by me going into T2. I felt good, and felt like I could maintain this pace for quite a bit. I was about 8 beats above my LT, but I thought I would no be reaping the rewards of a conservative bike. Things went fine, but at mile 8 I started to feel a bit more tired in the legs. My HR dropped a few beats, but I was still pushing it pretty well.

With about 2 miles to go I realized that I was in the middle of nowhere. The person in front of me (Joe Byers) was about 3:30 ahead, and the guy behind was about the same distance. Hard to really push yourself when you know that the difference in placement really did not matter if you ran a 7 minute mile or a 9 minute mile. I still ran the faster, but it really did not matter.

I came in 5th overall, and felt pretty good. Legs were a bit sore from the run, but it felt more like a good workout day. I think I knew that it was going to be like this when I started. I was not really mentally prepared for this race. I just went and ‘did it.’ You never get your best results when you are not passionate about what you are doing. But it also allows you not to go and do something stupid.

The challenge here was trying to determine if easing up on the bike set me up for a better run. Or, by going a bit easier on the run I put myself too far outside of the race itself. Tough call really. It sure was nice to get off the bike feeling like I could run well above my LT for all of the run. Heck, I think I did for the bike too. And the swim, I’m sure I did… I normally do. So, though I was sick, I did 4 hours and 30 minutes at above my LT pace. I guess that’s good. I stayed on top of my nutrition, but still feel like I floundered a bit in the run in terms of nutritional intervals. But the temp. was cool, so that helped.

I cannot end this without mentioning the amazing support I received from Jessi and Emma on the bike course cheering me along. No matter how many times I see them, I never get sick of it. Jessi knows me so well… she knows when things are good, and too good, and when things are simply tough, maybe too tough. But that makes it even more worthwhile to see her out there. And Emma, are you kidding me? Ask anyone, she cheers better than just about anyone I know. How many 4 year olds do you know that will spend 7 hours out there cheering people on. Even people that she does not know. She shakes her cowbell, hands out water and gels to people at aid stations, she tells people they ‘look good,’ to ‘keep it steady,’ that they have a ‘nice pace,’ to ‘keep it up.’ She obviously has been around the best cheerleader in the world… my wife.

So, need to reevaluate the race plan for Hawaii. But before I do anything, I need to get well. No training when I am sick. Unfortunately this is ‘the week’ to get some good quality in before Hawaii. I am so stressed… wait, no I’m not. It’s just Hawaii.

See you all in Hawaii!