Sept 8th, 2012
Deuces Wild Olympic Distance
Show Low, AZ
This year’s race was sort of a redemption race. Last year, I mainly did it for training for Ironman, as a C Race. So could learn what I needed to “go the distance” so to speak. It was also the race where I discovered I was no longer afraid of “sharks” in the water and more afraid of drowning as there were white caps on the water last year. The race was also in June, so it was moved due to the opening of TriSports store opening in Tempe I think.
Other things I learned from this race last year, was nutrition issues, wind on the bike. And it was my first race that I did after my back injury in 2010. So, I had a lot to prove to myself, and of course just have some plan old fun!
I had the opportunity this time to say with some good friends that I met last year at the race. Walt and Pam, who I met at Starbucks in Safeway. Walt became one of my biggest supporters and even came to cheer me on for my Ironman last year. I got up to Show Low Friday morning, got to Walt and Pams cabin and we drove over to the race site to check in. It was much more subdued this year, maybe because of the time of year, and the 70.3 Worlds going on in Vegas that weekend. I got all my stuff for the race and we headed back to the cabin. We went out to dinner in Pinetop, and by the time we got back, Ken had arrived and was there to support me for the race. Walt and I did our usual checklist to make sure we were all packed and ready for the race. He was doing his first race back after having some medical issues, and was doing the Long Course. I stuck with my Olympic. I needed to get some redemption. And I notice that I like to do my races at least twice, due to I get my “PR” from the first race, and then I need to try and beat it.
2012 Results From Deuces Wild Olympic
Swim 48:19 min
T1 5:01 min
Bike 1:47:54 hr/min
T2 1:08 min
Run 1:16:09 hr/min
Total Time 3:57:24 hr/min
My plan going into this race, was the same as Mtn Man. Just shave off a few minutes on each sport to PR. Of course I was coming off a high from PR-ing 25 min off my Mtn Man Olympic, so secretly I wanted that as well for this race. I do know that I was off my Paleo Diet, and I was making this an experiment as well to see what my body did with getting back to eating “regular” crappy processed food. I also didn’t get as much training in as I wanted, but I was getting in some good fast hour plus rides with Ken on the Carefree Highway. So I was feeling strong on the bike, but nervous cause I took a few more breaks then the training plan called for.
I woke up Saturday morning and was greeted with some words of wisdom from Walt taped to my bike seat!
Ken drove me to the race site, and I got myself all setup in transition, only to realize that they switched the areas, so I re set up in the Olympic area. I got ready and met up with Pam and cheered on Walt starting the Long course for the day. Ken got some video of my race, and put it to music with one of my favorite songs to train to.
I got in the water and was ready to go for the swim. The water was, like Flagstaff, pretty warm, 71 degrees. And it ended up giving me a lot of trouble. The minute the gun went off and I put my head down to swim, within about 200 yrds, the googles were so fogged up I couldn’t see where I was going. So much for a faster time and swimming straight. I succeeded in not getting any vertigo issues or swimming on my back, or feel like I was drowning from the white caps, but I just couldn’t see, so basically I was swimming blind. That was a first. I need to get a good goggle cleaner/rinse. So thanks to the goggle malfunction I didn’t have the best time. I had to stop several times during the swim, take them off, rinse, and lick them to try and stop the fogging, and put them back on. Precious time in a race this short.
I got into transition at 38:52 min/sec. So, even with a crappy swim, I beat my time by 10 min from last year. My T1 time was also quicker at 2:34 min/sec.
I got out on the bike course and the ride was nice. I felt pretty strong, the wind with nowhere near what it was last year. I was rocking it on the bike, my average pace was around 16.5 miles per hour. I made my usual pit stop on the back side for the restroom, but again hadn’t swallowed the lake like last year so I was good to go.
I cruised into transition at 1:32:25 hr/min/sec , which was 15 min off my time from last year! T 2 was also fast at 2:39 min.
Heading out on to the run, I felt much better than last year, and I was able to keep my pace under control and pace myself better.
It was also a bit cooler so I wasn’t overheating like last year, and I had no back spasms. I high fived my friend Dave Droste on the race course during the run. I love this course. It’s so scenic, running next to Fools Hollow Lake and enjoying the water’s view.
Then before I knew it I was running across the finish line!! With Ken and Pam there to cheer me on and take photos. I ran it in 1:06: 58 hr/min/sec. PR by 7 min!!!
OVERALL RACE RESULTS
Swim 38:52 Min/ Sec
T1 2:34 Min
Bike 1:32:25 Hr/Min/Sec
T2 2:39 Min
Run 1:06:58 Hr/Min/Sec
Total 3:23:30 Hr/Min/Sec
Another PR goes down by a whopping 34 Minutes from last year!!!
Next up? A Ten Mile Run at the Iron Girl Tempe Girls only Race in December. But just before that? Volunteering for AZ Ironman 2012, and signing up for 2013!!!
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