Saturday, August 30, 2008

Titanium Man

It’s been a busy race season and what is essentially my last important race of the year has come and gone. I’ve done this race five times now, placing no worse than 2nd in the previous four attempts. Not only is it a competitive race, it’s the season finale for the 3rrr series. I have been digging myself out of the hole from my first race, an off road duathlon. It’s where I learned that I suck at mountain biking. In this final race, I needed to finish ahead of Brown by ~1:23.

Leading into the race, I did everything right from sleeping to eating to training to recovery. Race morning I woke at 4AM, but unlike the norm, my gear was already packed and good to go. Amanda and I had breakfast en route to make sure we got there as early as possible. We were one of the first on scene at 6:30 for the 9 AM race. I took my time to fuss over all the details and make things perfect.

I did my warm-up and waited on shore for the one-minute warning. Races sometimes start late and I didn’t want to swim against the faster than usual current for an indefinite amount of time. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a one-minute warning and the race started on time. Those way out from shore in the speedy current sped off as I jumped a few rocks and got on my way. They ran out of caps, so race series participants had to bring their own caps. Ryan had the only green cap and was easy to spot. He normally swims my pace, so I figured I’d draft for half the swim and take off. After making my way to him, I saw a swimmer 10m off the front of the pack. It was a great opportunity, so I surged and caught him. Although he was fast, he would virtually stop when sighting. I ran into him a couple times before realizing this and drafted much more effectively after that. He often put in surges, but I kept up. The effort was just about right. A small group I never noticed escaped off the front, so I was 7th out of the water and 3rd individual in a time of 13:05.4. Keep in mind that 1500m swim is in a current. I’m sure 24 people can’t break Grant Hackett’s 14:10.10 short course meters world record.

Coming out of the water, I knew I needed every second. My goal was to make the bike turn with him. I raced T1 in 34.8 seconds, good for 2nd, excluding teams. Ironically it was 2nd to Ryan Brown by 1 second. I brought my A game and he got me in T1 for the first time this year. Leaving with a 38 second lead was about twice what I expected, so I was pretty happy.

I flat out hammered the bike. There were some teams to reel in that kept me pushing early on. After I caught all but one, which I couldn’t see until the turn, I could do little other than figure how much faster Ryan was if he were to pass me at a certain time. Frankly, my lead lasted longer than I expected, but the pass came too early. I stayed with him for about 3 minutes before I just couldn’t hang any more. He hit the turn at 36:55 and I was 35 seconds back after just 12 minutes following. We had a big gap to the 3rd individual, but my race was only with him. The distance wore on me, but I fought as hard as I could without blowing up. I made it back to T2 after 1:02:51 in the saddle. It was the 4th best to one team and two solos. The best split came from Sean Howard, who’s probably the fastest TT biker in the state since Eric Anderson moved and Andrew McDirmid stopped competing. He’s a cyclist, not a triathlete, so he’d lose too much time in the swim. Ryan on the other hand, is probably a bit slower than Adam Jensen and a bit faster than Roger Thompson. He put 3:31 on me earlier this year in 30K. I’m biking a lot better now, so in this 40K, he was only able to outsplit me by 2:42.2. It’s a small victory by nearly slashing his advantage in half.

I couldn’t see him as I approached T2. I had no idea what the gap was. T2 was 31.8, good for 3rd individual of the day to a couple guys who biked in their running shoes and simply ran through T2 (I had to ask). My cumulative time was 1:17:03. I was 3:09 ahead of last year’s pace. A decent run time could put me under 1:53:00. More importantly, I was told my deficit was 1:53. That meant I had to outrun him by 3:08 for the series or just try to catch him. I’ve run that kind of time out of him before, so it was time go hunting.

My goal was to go out in a reasonable 5:40 to 5:45 pace. That would be fast enough. One mile in, my side started to ache. I had closed the gap to 1:25 with a 5:42, so I could afford to ease up and did. My next mile was 5:57 and I was still closing quickly. My side really started to ache in the third mile, which was 5:59. I eased up some more, but the pain kept getting worse. I was still closing and was down just 25 seconds at 5K. My side hurt so badly that I knew I had to surrender the series and simply try to catch this guy. Unfortunately, the pain got so bad that I could barely stand it. After about a half mile, I had to walk. It kept getting worse as I walked. I hoped it would go away quickly so I could try to get back into this. It didn’t get better. Normally I’d call myself all sorts of mean names for walking, but even that required me to endure a lot of pain. It was a bit embarrassing as a team runner that passed stopped to help me. He stopped in a race when he had a team depending on him to hold the great position they gave him! Please don’t ever do that unless I’m lying passed out, delirious or a broken and bloody mess. It took a couple minutes to pull myself back together. I was still in 2nd place and had a good lead on 3rd with just 2.5 miles to go. I started jogging and wow it was a breathtaking pain. I was clinching my teeth and breathing through them with spit and drool coming out for a pretty gruesome image. Sometimes you just have to do whatever works to keep moving. Sometimes, in order to get to heaven you have to go through hell. I wasn’t even trying to get to heaven, well I am, but I was really just aiming for that finish line. Mile 4 was around 9:30, then I dropped into the mid 8s and finally got down to a mid 7 on mile 6. That last .214 was about as long as they get. Despite hitting the turn with an 18:05 5K, I ran back in 26:15! Although I really didn’t care, I managed to come in 2nd overall with 24 seconds to spare. Although I was wreathing in pain, it was nice to not be racing while I was doing it. Instead, I was able to lay there on the hot concrete.

Looking back, I can’t say that I pushed too hard or made a considerable error that caused the side ache. One thing I used to struggle with was side aches. I got them so often for my first five years of racing that my nick name was Side Ache. I’ve been in the hospital over it before and have had one last for an entire month. So far this one is only on 10 hours, but I expect it to go away after a day or two. On the other hand, I may have pushed too far this time. One of the cures for me was to drink less fluids than most. After the race, I realized that I downed about 40 oz. in just over an hour. The body can’t assimilate that much fluid in an hour and I’m much better suited to drink half that. These things happen and all I can do is move on to the next one. I’ll make sure I don’t have that much water with me to risk it That left me in 2nd for the series. It’s the second big series that I’ve done this decade. The first ended with pneumonia, but it cost me a brand new bike as I nearly beat a strong pro racing the series. This time it was just for a title. Honestly, I’m happy it turned out this way. Ryan’s been trying to win his hometown’s marquee race for many years now and he not only deserved the win, but he earned it. I’ve had the best race results of my life this year. I’ll take 2nd in a hard fought race over a blowout win just about any time because I love racing.

It also goes to show that even when I’m at my best ever, there’s no way to beat top competition on a day when I run a 44:20 10K. In important races I run low 34 to high 35. I’d have to be a top world cup racer to fall apart that badly and still beat someone like Ryan. It takes me back to when I first started triathlon at EWU. I had a bad day in my second year and came in second to a guy I normally outsplit in every leg. The run course was inadvertently extended by a mile and I lost it in the last half mile, which was too far to employ my kick. My goal for the following year was to come in first and break the course record. I wanted to be in such great shape that even with an off day I could make it happen. In 1994, I made an attempt on that record of 1:00:53 when it was still an 800m swim. Although I broke that record by :30, I came in 3rd. It was then that I had my first undiluted taste of what fast is in triathlon. Some guy named Roger Thompson beat me by around 4 to 5 minutes. He took 3rd in Sprint Nationals that year. I learned pretty early on about perspective in this sport. Nowadays I get beat up annually by Tim O’Donnell and know that I’m a long way from the top. This year was a lot of fun and a great one to build on if I’m able to keep the fire over the winter and through the next year. There will undoubtedly be some races, but I’m on a cruise control break for a month or two. Thanks to everyone for all the great races and stories.

Side Ache out ...

7 comments:

M-Dot said...

Michael aka (C. Bear)
Cause they are your fav. treat and you are smokn' fast and come in hot!

Way to wrap up your year! Cudos for sticking it out. Pain sucks and when even you c.bear can't pull out of it the little guys know it was bad.

You have had an amazing year and we can't wait to see what happens next year. Thanks for all of yopur tips and help and encouragement. Enjoy the break you deserve it.

M-Dot and J

Spokane Al said...

Wow - I can't imagine trying to run in that much pain. Congratulations on a terrific race and a solid season.

jessithompson said...

Wow - awesome race report. It made me feel like I was there watching it with my own eyes. One of the things I admire about you, Michael, is the way you take it all in stride. You're a fierce competitor and major congrats on such a stellar season - one for the record books, literally.

Roger Thompson said...

Nice work. I have to say that it sounds quite familiar to my experience at Cda this year. Sometimes full throttle turns out to be a 40 plus minute 10k. But you kept fighting even though it limited you to a walk... you still fought on. You just did not have the luxury of having Bresson come running by cheering you on to 'jump' on as he danced by you at a 5:15 pace.

A big reason we race, is to see if we have prepared ourselves well enough, and then we race to find out tat the body has other plans and challenges of its own to pass our way. Two things that sometimes don't align as we wished.

Awesome effort and I applaud your effort to recognize Ryan's performance in all this. Though you did not come out where you hoped, he had a great series.

You drank too much, I don't drink enough... there must be a middle ground.

By the way, that year at Iron Eagle, to this day, was the best prize I have won. A CD player (remember this was 1995). To my surprise that day, I saw that my brake was rubbing when I was loading my bike in my car. And you should have seen the bike I raced on. I would suspect I was faster then than I am now. I don't know what my 5k time was, but I am sure it was pushing 24ish. You move forward in some areas and backwards in others.

See you soon,
Roger

Unknown said...

I remember those side ache days. You'd come back from the weekend with a race story to tell us, all going well, then you'd recount the side ache you got. John and I would always have a laugh when hearing the story second-hand, "...then Michael got a side ache..." It was like clockwork. Those side aches were debilitating! Then you got better and better and the side aches passed into myth. Who's laughing now? Great season, Miguel...Sonny

Steve said...

I am definitely familiar with the side ache epidemic. My race was Boise and although I wasn't trying to win the race, that had to me the most frustrating half-marathon I have ever ran.

You have had an incredible season and way to put it all into persepective.

LORIE said...

Thank you again for sharing. I miss you. I'm back on the blog. Love you