This is a new section created to post Race Reports submitted by GMS Athletes!
5/24/2010 Auburn Triathlon "World's Toughest Half" race report by DeeAnn.
Well, they don’t call it “World’s Toughest Half” for nothing. I knew when I signed up last winter that this is a course that does not play to my strengths. But I love a challenge and this race delivered just that.
I highly recommend this race to anyone who loves a hilly bike course! My Garmin recorded ~5700 ft of climbing in 56 miles. Depending on your comfort level descending on your tri bike you may consider bringing your road bike with some clip on aero bars. After driving the course I wished I had my road bike, but now that I have completed the course it was just fine on my tri bike. The main thing is "choose your gearing wisely!!" This is not a high profile race, 243 total participants in the half distance race, so don’t expect much hoopla just a tough day of racing and some beautiful scenery! I had heard a couple negative things regarding the RD and the race over the past few years but from my point of view the race was well managed, from check in to post race food! The bike course did have one unattended turn where there were no volunteers to point the turn and no one to stop traffic. Other than this one instance, I felt the race was managed very well!
With Long Course World’s about 2 months out I felt this would be a great gauge of my fitness and a nice long training race. “Training races”, for me, are very hard to execute – I like to race and lay it all out there on race day. So, this would be an interesting day. I had time goals but my main goal was to treat it is a long/hard training day, not a race, and finish with a little something left in the tank.
I researched the bike course as well as I could and still came up empty on a valid elevation profile, so my husband and I were very excited to drive the course upon arrival in Auburn on Saturday. Our banter in the car went something like this: “Whoa!” “Holy cow!” “Are you serious?” “Are there any flat sections?” “Oh, this is a nice 3 mile section of huge rollers.” …. On and on and finally ending with my stating the obvious: “I need to revise my bike time goal.” Going in, I had what now seemed to be a very optimistic bike goal. Now I know the bike will take ~30 minutes longer than I had anticipated and what would that do to my run? Original goals of swim: <34 minutes, bike: 3:15 – 3:30 and run: <2 hours, put my finish time in the 5:55 to 6:10 range. After driving the bike course it looked to me like I could average 14 mph. This would put me in just under 4 hours on the bike. Considering the extra time on the bike I had to assume that coming in under 2 hours on the run was unlikely. The run is a 3 loop course and I knew I could use this to my advantage for pacing, so I remained optimistic that I could get in "close" to 2 hours. Revised finish time goal was ~6:35.
After race check in we went back to the hotel to prep our gear, which took a bit longer than normal since this race has 2 different Transition areas and so the logistics of such had to be considered. In bed by 8pm, I was very anxious about this bike course but I can relax because it is a “training race”, remember! Zzzzzzzz.
Everyone had to park at T2 (the finish) and ride your bike or be dropped off at the lake. We dropped our stuff at T2 and began the 6+ mile descent on our bikes with backpacks to T1, it was freezing cold, maybe low 40’s. By the time we got down to the lake our hands and feet were numb! Next time bring gloves!! Duh! Steam was coming off the lake so that was a good sign, at least the water will be warm! By race start I was ready to execute: “Race the swim, hold back on the bike, and see what you have after loop 1 of the run.”
Swim: Holy Steam or Fog! When the first wave went off you could barely see the first buoy. By the time the athletes got to the buoy it disappeared into the steam! When my wave started no one could see the first buoy. I had an idea of where it once was so I swam! Once I was within about 20 feet of the buoy it rose out of the water like a giant! No chance of seeing the next buoy so I swam following arms and caps until it rose out of the water in front of me, another giant! Miraculously, I was on course and remained on course for loop #1 of the 2 loop course. I picked up my pace on the second loop, hoping I had memorized the course…still could not see the buoys!! As I stood up onto the boat ramp my watch said 32 something so I was happy with that. There was a good 50 yard run to T2 and I struggled like never before to get my wetsuit off! I had to sit down in T1, my worst nightmare! It finally came off and I stuffed it into my T1 bag for transport to the finish and was off on my bike after what I was sure was my worst T1 time ever!
Bike: I told myself from the first pedal stroke “take it easy, it is going to be a long ride”. And amazingly enough I did! I stayed seated on most hills where people were out of the saddle powering up. I will stand when I absolutely have to and on the few steep climbs in the last 20 miles. The first hour I was averaging 13mph and was a bit discouraged. The average mph went up from there, but not much. I looked mostly at my power so that I did not overdo it on the climbs and tried NOT to look at my total time for sake of my mental well-being! On the way back my average mph was up to around 14.5 and I figured now that I would be in with a bike time around 3:45, I was okay with this. At ~mile 50 I was trying to take an “inventory” of how my legs felt and how well I had executed my nutrition/hydration. My legs felt surprisingly fine as long as I was not on a steep climb! The steep climbs were done at mile 50, just one modest climb and a few rollers into town. I had taken in plenty of water and had managed to put down ~100kcal an hour which was the plan.
Run: No Garmin, by choice, this is a training race remember! My plan for lap 1, scout the course. This I did! I went out easy, there were several volunteers and spectators cheering for the first ¼ mile and this helped a lot! The course turned onto a lonely but beautiful single track trail that is flat for a mile. After the trail, there is a long downhill road section leading to the out/back which was mostly (not all!) down out and mostly up back, some road, some dirt/gravel. There was an aid station on the out/back where I figured would be my one “okay to walk” section on the way back (uphill). After the out/back section the gradual uphill continues to the turn around/finish. This section had me concerned on lap one, it seemed very difficult and painfully slow! Plan for Lap 2, see what you can do. Once I reached the trail section of lap 2 I felt much better and was able to pick up my pace. Now I knew the hardest part of this course was the ~1+ mile ‘back’ of the out/back to the turn/finish. I could keep a solid pace to that aid station on the ‘back’ of the out/back section so I did. I walked the aid station and had no issues with the gradual climb on lap 2! Plan for Lap 3, match or better lap 2! This I did, and I did NOT walk that aid station! It was one mile to the finish for heaven’s sake and by this time all I could think of was my horrible T1 time! I was so close to going under 6:30 and I thought if I do not get under 6:30 I will forever by haunted by that horrible transition! I crossed the line a 6:28:54, feeling good! Placing 5/17 in my age group and 14/65 women. As a training race, for me, I feel I executed it perfect – I was tired and ready to be done by the finish but by no means was I out of gas or struggling. A bit sore, tired and definitely hungry!