Auburn Race Report

(Photo of my car with Doug's Hancycle on top and our bikes on the back)
We woke up in the morning at 4:50 and packed up for the 30 minute ride up to Auburn. I ate my can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup for my pre-race meal. An Ironman buddy of mine taught me that trick. Chicken Noodle soup is so loaded with sodium that it helps keep you from cramping. So I ate my soup and drank an XS sports drink for breakfast. . Joe and I drove up to the finish area which would also act as T2 for the race (transition area 2 from bike to run). We made a game day decision to drive down to the start. The race director had recommended riding down to the start as a warm up ride, but I couldn’t understand how a 6 mile downhill ride at 60 degrees outside would warm me up. So we decided to drive down (right decision I might add). On the way down we almost hit a deer. Joe saw her early enough to alert me. She missed my car and ran between me and the BMW behind us.
Got down to T1( transition from swim to bike) and got our rack spots. We got our swim caps and watched everyone go through their various routines to get ready. There is a tremendous amount of nervous energy at the beginning of every race I’ve done and it’s become somewhat entertaining to me to watch how people deal with it. Some talk incessantly, some go into a cocoon, some run. It’s really entertaining to watch. I got into the water for a warm up swim and everything felt good. Then back up onto the boat launch ramp to wait my turn. 2 waves of swimmers would go out before me. Men’s sprint distance racers and women’s sprint distance racers. Then it would be men 39 and under along with elites. My buddy Joe did the sprint distance race and did a great job. I was especially impressed with him; because this was his first open water swim and he hadn’t really been doing any swim training since last year. Open water swims are really scary when you first start because you can’t just stop and put your feet on the bottom or swim over to a wall to rest. You have to keep going or drown. He did great.
Off Joe went then the ladies, then our turn into the water. We had a deep water start, which I really liked. Our heat had about 150 people in it, but not too much kicking and shoving at the start. Usually, a mass start like that has all sorts of unintentional punching, kicking and swimming over or being swum over. This one was uneventful for the most part. I quickly found some fairly clear water to swim in and got into a rhythm. It was a great swim course. The valley on both sides of you and swimming to a point on the mountain made it easy to swim in a straight line. In fact, for the first time ever in an open water swim, I held a pretty straight line. Out of the water in 34 minutes, which put a big smile on my face and up to T1. Things went smoothly in transition. Out onto the bike course where we would climb for the first 6 miles before the ground finally got level.
Brad Kearn’s (the event organizer) creates legendary bike and run courses in his races and this one was no exception. This bike course had everything. Super steep climbs, to long sustained grades and very technical white knuckle descents. My mantra for the day was “make money when you can” which meant. Whenever the road turned flat or downhill, instead of soft pedaling or coasting, I would force myself into the aero position and pedal. I would do the same on the downhills in the run. Things went well on the bike, not necessarily a stellar performance, but I felt good for most of it. It was a beautiful course along windy small roads that went back into the mountains to nowhere. It was open to traffic but we hardly saw any cars and the volunteers did a great job of letting you know about where to go and when there were upcoming things to look out for. At around mile 30 I saw the flashing lights of a motorcycle cop coming at me, closely followed by the race leader. All you can do at that point is shake your head and marvel at how strong the pros are. I started feeling the twinges of a quad cramp in my right quad around mile 30 so that started my salt tablet regimen. I popped two tablet then and 2 about 20 minutes later and changed bike position to use more of my hamstrings on the climbs. That meant no more standing up out of the saddle on the climbs, because when I would try to do that it would get dangerously close to a full on cramp. Good news though, the left leg was feeling fine. I drank my first bottle of XS sports drink loaded with carbo pro (about 450 calories) within the first hour and a half and tried to stick to 2 gels (chocolate flavored) per hour. In total I ate 6 gels. At every aid station I took on a fresh bottle of water from the volunteers, including the aid station around mile 40 which had cold bottles (that was a treat). There was a hill called “LeMonde Walked” hill at mile 50 that had me a little worried. It was a 12% grade for .4 mile. In fact, I caught myself soft pedaling a couple of times on the way to that hill. Somehow though, it didn’t turn out to be that bad because at mile 54 I was still looking for it. It turned out to be just another hill in a very hilly course. Mile 56 and I’m feeling good. Into T2 where Joe was waiting by my gear, to tell me things were going to be good and help me find my shoes. I felt fine, until I stepped into my running shoes. In the process of pushing my feet into the shoes, first my right quad, then my left cramped. This has happened in every race I’ve done. I think I am going to get some of the quick lace adjusters so that I don’t have to work so hard to get the shoes on next race. Joe asked if I needed salt, I said “No, I’ve got some in my run belt” and off I went. Grabbed some cold water in the aid station and headed down the hill on the run.
The run was beautiful. It was a lot of single track running up and down hills. Down hills were a little technical and tricky because you use your quads a lot to control yourself going down and mine were crampy. It wasn’t horrible, but in the early miles each uphill was a delicate dance to keep the quads from going into full cramp mode. I ate some more salt and started working on another bottle of XS sports drink and Carbo Pro. I had unexpectedly lost one of those 450 calorie concoctions off the bike at around mile 40 after only drinking about ¼ of it. That made me a little worried, but so far I wasn’t having any energy problems that I could perceive. In fact, on whole for the day, my nutrition worked out great. I never got hungry, and when the energy level did dip a bit, I had a gel or bottle to bring it back up. My only real issue was with the electrolyte balance and the slight cramping.
The race director has told us, the night before, that there were only 2 hills on the run course. One was from mile 5.7 to mile 7 and climbed 440 feet called the “Dam Wall” because it was part of a Dam and the other was between mile 10 and 11.5 that climbed a similar distance. The course was two loops that went through the finish line once right about mile 7. At the bottom of the Dam Wall there was an aid station. I walked through the aid station so that I could grab two cups of water and drink them without spilling too much. At the end of the aid station was a guy with sponges soaked in ice water. Did I mention it was hot? It was definitely warm out there and with brush waist level high in many parts. The brush held in the humidity and kept it even warmer in those areas. So when the guy asked if I wanted Ice cold water squeezed down my back, I was more than happy to let him. Wow! I turned to the racer next to me and said “I now know what heaven is going to be like” He just looked at me and said “I definitely know what hell feels like” and off we headed up the Dam Wall. Shortly into that climb, I made a decision to walk quickly. It was almost as fast as I was able to run it anyhow and I could better control my heart rate. And I was back to my mantra of “make money when you can” and the Dam wall was not it. Got to the top of the wall and headed through the celebration at the finish line. Stopping never entered my mind, but I did think “it sure would be nice if my Joe would run through this second loop with me.” He was there cheering me on, but was not going to be running with me. Back down the hill for loop number two. Cramping was pretty much gone by now and it was just a matter of measuring my effort so that I could do well throughout the remainder of the race. I felt really good in some spots and was able to stretch it out. At the bottom of the hill were ice cold bottles of water. Into the mouth and over the head, turn around and head back up hill for the final brutal climb of the day. Back up a minute, at mile 9 there was an aid station with a girl in a bikini top with a big sign that said “Happy Thoughts”. She had a cow bell around her neck and was quite the cheerleader. She was also the one giving ice sponge baths. Reassurance of what heaven will be like with that squeeze of water down the back. Just a side note, if you ever go out to one of these races, don’t underestimate the power of a positive word to the competitors as they go by. It makes a big difference. We are battling all sorts of negative thoughts in our heads and a simple “good job” or “you look great” goes a long way.
Ran and walked up the last big climb of the day. Cheerleader girl had put some sign in the bushes on the way up “finish strong” and “triathletes are hot” are two that I remember. At the top of the hill were the final miles. Brad had said they would follow a water canal and were completely covered in shade from the trees. He was right. At mile 11 I stretched out my legs a little on the run and when I saw the mile 12 sign, I made a decision to finish strong like the sign said. At that point, my mind says “I can handle anything that comes my way in the next 1.1 miles”. So I started running and passing people. I felt really good. Around the last corner and hear the announcer say my name. Finish strong and look good as you do where the thoughts in my head then. I glance at the clock and it says 6 hours 16 minutes. I don’t have the official time right now but that is close enough to what I have on my watch. I wanted to finish in around 6 hours, so I was a bit off my pace, but for the severity of the course, I am more than pleased with the results. The guy at the finish line has some great words of praise, takes my timing chip and hands me a finisher t-shirt. I go over to the food table grab a Cytomax drink, two of the best strawberries I’ve had in my life and half a banana. Amazingly everything feels pretty good on my body. Doug and his brother Drew are there to congratulate me. What a day.
All in all I am really pleased with the results of the race and would do the course again. Brad runs a great event that lives up to the finisher t-shirt slogan that says “still the world’s toughest half”.
I am typing this up as we drive back to Etiwanda. I felt fine when I woke up this morning. A little stiff and sore, but nothing like the day after my 1st haf-ironman race last year.
A Special thanks to our hosts up in Sacramento Drew and Heidi. They were awesome. We had everything we needed, including a great barbecue Saturday night. They dealt with the selfish nature of race preparation up to and including touring us around the course the day before. We got to celebrate Drew’s 52nd birthday on Saturday night with a big ice-cream cake.
Thanks for following along. Next race is July 30th. I’ll keep the postings coming.
Some photos from the race are below.