AC Denali Post 6: Safe and Sound at Camp One!

Yeah!!!!!

We talked to Anders around 4pm this afternoon our time and around noon his time.  He and his team had just finished the arduous climb up from Base Camp to Camp One at 7800 feet.  Here are the details:

Yesterday, they flew out from Talkeetna to the lower parts of the SE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.  They were on the ice around 10 a.m. or so and spent the day building their camp, preparing their equipment, and practicing all of the skills so critical to surving the hostile enviornment that they will be living in over the next 2+ weeks.  Anders said that they went down around 9 p.m. but he had a great deal of difficulty getting any real sleep (editiorial comment--neither of us could sleep on our first night on the Aconcagua trip....it's not a big deal in the grander sense but still a pain in the butt for sure!)

They "awoke" at 1:30 a.m. local and were rolling around 3:30 a.m.  Anders said it was one of the hardest physical days that he has had to endure.  He estimated his total equipment weight at 130 pounds--probably 60 on his back and 70 on the sled.  He said it was VERY, VERY difficult and we could certainly hear it in his voice.   He was very positive but clearly whipped from a hard day in the office.

The route was heavily crevassed--and for the most part very obviously so.  This lead to relatively safe travel but certainly a longer trek than a month ago.  That said, Anders did at one point fall into a crevasse and penetrated up to his upper thigh--not a big deal at the end of the day but still a sobering reminder of the need to stay focused.  Anders said that many of the crevasses were hundreds of feet deep...

After six and a half hours they reached Camp One at around 7800 feet--right below the infamous Ski Hill.  This will prove to be a major challenge for them tomorrow.  It took 90 minutes to establish Camp One and when we talked to Anders (noon local) he was getting ready to sleep.  He said it is was very warm and they had a thick cloud that had planted on top of them and it made it very sticky--he was just wearing his base layer.  They plan to do the same tomorrow morning and head up to Camp Two.  Anders said his team seemed strong (although it's still early) and all 11 (one climber opted out back in Talkeetna) are good to go....

Here is pic from Camp One and a look up Ski Hill:

AC Denali Post 5: On their way to Camp One this morning....

Here is Dave Hahn's update:

"We enjoyed a final, but ample breakfast at the Roadhouse and then hurried out to the airstrip to get ready for flying.  Sure enough, conditions were favorable and so we loaded up in two big and beautiful K2 Aviation ski-equipped Otters.  There was some smoke in the skies from forest fires and a little cloud as well, but we had magnificent views of forests, rivers, lakes… and then eventually of nothing but gargantuan mountains and glaciers.  Our pilots, Randy and Jeff, had us into the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier and safely landed by 9:00 AM.  After unloading and a few handshakes, they were off and we were left in our breathtakingly beautiful new home.  We set to building camp and then spent a lazy afternoon reviewing rope techniques and getting set for glacier travel.  We ate an early dinner under the intense Alaskan summer sun, did a few more last chores and then turned in.  It was good to touch base, via radio, with the other RMI teams on the mountain and to feel like we’ll soon be joining in the fun.  The plan is to be up at 1 AM if the weather stays fine and we’ll hope to be on the march a few hours later."

Unfortunately, we did not receive any communication directly from Anders--hopefully his Sat phone is working--so we can't add anything....Hopefully, it will be possible for him to call from Camp One later today.....

AC Denali Post 4: Looks like its game on!

We just received a couple of texts from Anders and it looks like there is a good chance that they'll get a chance to fly-out this morning (local time).  If that's the case, they'll fly 35 miles from Talkeenta at an elevation of 358 feet to the Kahiltna Glacier where base camp is at 7,300 feet.  Once on the ice, they'll spend the day preparing camp (this involves levelling the ice, digging a snow latrine, pitching tents, melting snow, digging a group kitchen and cook tent, etc.)  and getting their gear ready to travel.  They'll work on crevasse safety and rescue techniques and then leave about 3 a.m. (local time) tomorrow, Friday the 28th.

The climb from Base Camp to Camp One at 7790 feet covers 5 miles and they'll be carrying packs with 60 pounds and dragging sleds with another 50.  They'll use snow shoes to traverse across the glacier and will be roped at all times as the Kahiltna Glacier is extensively crevassed.  The start of the climb will test their sled management skills as it involves a descent of 800 feet down "Heartbreak Hill" so named because it's the last obstacle they will face upon their return in 2-3 weeks.  Here is an excerpt from the team's blog last night:


"The climbing team ate a hardy breakfast at The Talkeetna Roadhouse.  We talked climbing and safety as we chewed bacon and swilled coffee.  Our excellent meal prepared us for a giant day of packing and organizing to fly on to Denali.  Longtime legendary NPS climbing ranger Roger Robinson gave our pre-climb briefing at the ranger station, after which we trooped on out to the K2 Aviation hangar to get into the nuts and bolts of getting our gear ready for the mountain.  We worked through some unbelievably hot hours, checking tents, stoves, ropes, pots and clothes.  Massive cumulonimbus clouds formed as the day went along and thunder boomed, but the storm never really hit Talkeetna.
We enjoyed a great dinner together at the popular West Rib Pub and then turned in.  All were intent on resting up from this big and busy day to be ready for a bigger and busier day tomorrow, hopefully one that gets us onto Denali."

Here are a couple of pics from the team's activities yesterday--you can see Anders in all three:

RMI Team 6 (the prior RMI team) was 150 feet below the summit ridge yesterday when they were forced to abandon their day's attempt.  here is an excerpt from their blog post:


"We woke up around 7:30 with clear skies and no winds. We set off towards the summit with all of the crew feeling great. We experienced a little bit of wind and clouds at Denali Pass, but that is pretty normal. The climb was going smoothly and the weather was about as perfect as you can get.  We were about 150 feet below the summit ridge when the clouds came in and blocked out our sun. All of a sudden we heard a crack of thunder and all of the metal around us began to buzz. We hightailed it down to a depression in a feature called the football field where things seemed to be calm. By calm, I mean a whiteout snowstorm came out of nowhere!  We hunkered down and waited to see if things would settle down. When we were certain they would not, we worked our way down the mountain with GPS and some wands that mark the trail. After a fourteen hour climbing day, our whole team is back in camp happy, healthy, and fed having come a few hundred feet short of the summit but without a permanent stutter from electrocution!

Our plan is to rest tomorrow and perhaps give the summit another go in the next few days. We will see."

We'll post again today when (if) we here directly from Anders.....

AC Denali Post 3: Expedition Overview

RC here and I wanted to give you a brief overview of what lies ahead for Anders and his climbing team--so here it goes:

Denali (which means the "High One" in Athabascan--local folks), aka Mount McKinley is of course the highest mountain in North America and one of the Seven Summits.  It's summit is 20,320 feet and as such it is the 3rd highest of the fabled Seven Summits behind Everest and Aconcagua.   However, since Denali stands at a latitude of 63 degrees north (which is parallel to the Hudson Bay and central Scandinavia) the altitude actually affects one's body as if it was several thousand feet higher (the air in thinner, the closer one gets to the poles).  Denali is just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle and during the winter, it is one of the coldest places on Earth with temperatures routinely dropping below -95 degrees and with winds frequently higher than 150 mph.  In fact, on the first winter ascent of Denali (in 1967), the temperature dropped to an incredible -148 degrees F!  (Another effect of this high latitude is that it never really gets dark and indeed, Anders did not even bother to bring a headlamp even though most of his climbing will be at night.)

Anders, fortunately won't face these winter temperature extremes but make no mistake about it, Denali and it's formidable weather will present significant challenges--certainly during this expedition he will need to function and survive in -40 degrees and most likely have to sit-out several day snow storms with 5+ feet of snow.  Denali is considered more challenging in many respects than Everest since there are no porters or donkeys to assist in load carrying.  At each camp, Anders and his team will need to build their campsite, creating snow-walls to protect against the fierce wind.  They'll have to boil snow to have water to make meals and drinks.  They'll have to cache their supplies 6 feet down in the snow so that the Ravens that populate Denali's slopes don't eat their food and ravage their equipment.

Anders is in Talkeetna today and he and his team spent the day preparing their equipment for the days ahead.  Soon, and perhaps tomorrow, they'll fly to the base of the Kahiltna Glacier where they will face an 18 mile and 15,000+ climb to the summit.  The vertical in this climb is greater than mountaineers seeking to summit Everest have to overcome!  In fact, it has the highest base to summit of any mountain on earth that is entirely above sea level.  In terms of topographical prominice it is the third largest of all of the world's mountains behind Everest and Aconcagua.

On the climb, Anders and his team will establish 4-5 camps--often making double carries from one camp to the next.  They'll for the most part travel at night--leaving around 2 a.m. as it is very warm during the day now on Denali and the risk of crevasse penetration and rock fall is higher as the temperature increases.  Denali has the greatest crevasse risk of any of the Seven, although the Khumbu Ice Fall on the south side of Everest is certainly more of an objective danger than Anders will face on this climb.

Anders is climbing with an RMI team of 8 clients and 4 guides, including the legendary David Hahn (whom we'll detail on in a latter post).  This is RMI's 7th and last Denali team of the year.  So far, in 2013, RMI teams have enjoyed great success with the first 5 teams all summitting and the 6th still on the mountain.  Normally, about 1000 people each year attempt to summit Denali and the long-term average success rate is around 54%---although, this rate is lower later in the year as the heat makes conditions dicier.

Here is an excerpt from the team's blog yesterday:

"The last RMI Denali team of the 2013 climbing season is in place in Talkeetna.  All people (12) and all baggage (24 plus) made it to Anchorage without delay.  We met at four in the afternoon and shortly thereafter we’d connected with Bill, our Denali Overland shuttle driver and we began the shuttle to Talkeetna.  We got to feel the much discussed heat wave… It was hot.  We took a short break in Wasilla, to take on final provisions, and then Bill took us up to Talkeetna town.  Most elected to take it easy on this jet lagged evening, settling down to a comfy night in the Talkeetna Motel.
  Work starts tomorrow."

We talked to Anders tonight after he finished up the day's work.  He has met up with his team and likes them.  He was thrilled to meet Dave Hahn and during equipment check Dave complimented him on his crampons (which are mine) so that was kinda fun!  They had a very long day in Talkeetna today at the airport hanger sorting through their equipment and they are all set to go potentially tomorrow morning local time.  Anders has 71 pounds of personal gear and will carry another 30-40 pounds of group gear---having experienced a bit of what that is like I must say this represents an extraordinary physical challenge....it's easy to dismiss this piece of data as numbers or stats but it really is pretty amazing when I think about the physical challenge that Anders will face--physically propelling 100+ pounds at altitude over 5-9 hours is not an easy challenge for sure.

The big issue right now is the weather.  As we talked to him the weather was over 90 degrees!  Alaska--really?  They are in the midst of a major heat wave right now--almost unprecedented.  It needs to get quite a bit colder or they may be shut out from any real summit attempt.  The big issue is trying to land the planes on the Kahiltna Glacier--when it gets hot like this the crevasses open up and it's too dangerous to land the planes.  They are about 50 miles from the glacier so it's too far to walk.  Another weather complication is that it looks like it's going to rain/snow until around July 3rd, which presents it's own set of challenges.  Nothing to be done about all of this now of course.  They have done all that they can do to prepare and they'll go if they get their shot....


Anders was in great spirits when we talked to him.  He is concerned about the weather but is prepared to enjoy himself no matter what the weather gods throw at him.

Here are a couple of pics--first a sunset view over Talkeetna Lake and then a couple of pics of the airport hanger where all the long hours of preparatory work took place today:

AC Denali Post 2

Anders arrived in Anchorage around 4 am EST--midnight local today.  15 hours of travel of course presents its challenges but AC reported that the trip was uneventful and without much stress.  He was able to sleep for about 6 hours in a hotel near the airport.  His two expedition bags totalled more than 100 pounds but he smooth talked his way past check-in.  One of the big challenges of a Denali expedition is the shear mass and weight of all the stuff that is necessary to ensure survival and success in this most inhospitable environment.  We'll see what he ultimately ends up propelling up the mountain as some of what he brought will stay below and he'll have to bring a significant amount of group gear as well.  Some of this mass will be on his back in his pack and some he will drag on a small plastic sled--a pic of him training for this in our backyard is below.

AC will meet his team around 9pm EST tonight at the airport and they will board a van to Talkeetna.  The van will be the first chance for Anders to meet his team.  He'll have the first "official" expedition meeting tomorrow morning.  I'll give a detailed overview of the expedition tomorrow.  Find below a few more pre-expedition pics:

RC leaving Mont-Tremblant and AC heading to Denali! (Denali Post 1)

I'm back at the beach tonight....definitely summer here--hot, humid and windy!

I did the IM Mont-Tremblant70.3 yesterday--very tough and very satisfying....I'll post a race report shortly but it was a great experience.  I high-tailed it back to DE right after the race--which is not so easy at 56 years but there you go....

I was very focused to get back right away so that I could see Anders off on his great adventure to climb Mount McKinley (aka Denali).  Denali is one of the 7 summits as it is the highest mountain in North America.  Anders has already climbed the highest peak in Africa (Kilimanjaro) and in South America (Cerro Aconcagua).

Over the next four weeks, Anders will be attempting to climb Denali, which most accomplished mountaineers feel is the 2nd hardest of the 7 summits,  just behind Everest.  He is climbing with one on the greatest mountaineers that America has ever produced, David Hahn.  I'll detail more on David and the other impressive climbers on his team in the days ahead.

My basic plan is to blog at least once a day--and Judy will probably jump in as well given her outstanding job blogging in support of Anders and my expedition to Acconcagua last January.  We'll do so off of the updates that we get directly from Anders via his Sat phone as well as other sources that we can access.  If you're interested, you can check RMI's blog each day at:

http://www.rmiguides.com/blog/location/12/mount_mckinley

You can also access a site that gives you daily weather updates for Denali at:

http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-McKinley/forecasts/6194

The easiest thing will be to just check here as I will synthesize all the data I get and publish it here daily.

This is obviously a very big deal--one that Judy and I are very concerned as parents about.  That said, we are excited for Anders and are confident in his fitness and preparation.  The weather may prove to be a challenge as the record heat at Denali over the last couple of weeks has created extraordinary conditions.  There is an increased risk of rock fall and a much greater crevasse exposure that they'll need to deal with on this trip....

Over the next few days, as Anders gets situated in Alaska I'll outline many of the logistical challenges and the overall climbing plan that they have.  As the climb progresses, these blogs will be much more direct about what he and his team is actually facing day-to-day.

We hope that you'll tune in daily and provide us your comments as we follow Anders on this significant vision-quest.  Details will follow tomorrow but here are a couple of pics from his preparation and his departure today:

We look forward to your support during this great adventure!!!!!!

We'll get our first update from Alaska tomorrow as Anders flew from Philly to Pheonix today and will land in Ankorange about 4 am EST tomorrow....

Stay tuned...this will be exciting!

St. Andrews Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Paul Schlosser Memorial Sprint Triathlon Race Report

June 16^th, 2013

Background

Location: Middletown, DE

Distance: 0.33-mile swim/15.5-mile bike/2.9-mile run

2013 Triathlon Race Number: 6

Career Triathlon Race Number: 132

Conditions: Low 70s.  A modest breeze, say 10-15 mph.  Clear and nice.  Water temp claimed to be 83 degrees but actually felt about 78-80.

After a two-year hiatus (graduation party and RAAM) I returned to compete in DE’s oldest triathlon—this was to be the 26^th version of the race.  The race had recently been renamed to honor the passing of Paul Schlosser—one of my main competitors in Delaware through the years here.  I’ve blogged about his importance to me in my triathlon career before so I’ll just say that we all miss him and wanted to race as fast as we could in his honor.

This was the ninth time that I’ve raced this race—more than any other triathlon—so I guess you could say this is my favorite triathlon.  I’ve enjoyed some success here in the past with four wins, two seconds and a third out of eight races.  While the swim varies from year-to-year, the bike and run have remained identical so it does offer a good opportunity to see where I stand against prior year performances (which is less attractive as I get older).

The weather was very nice for a change.  It was a bit humid and there was a noticeable breeze but nothing too significant.  There were 210 competitors overall and 14 in my AG.  One of my competitors was Craig Holm, who holds the overall course record for the Caesar Rodney half-marathon, where he did a 64:54 in the 1982.  I knew I needed to have an ample cushion coming out of T2!  Us old boys were up in the 3^rd of four waves and we all jumped off the dock and into the water to await the starter’s horn.

The Swim

Wayne (the RD) was using an assistant RD today and for some reason he announced the water temp at 83 degrees and for the first time that anyone could remember the swim was non-wetsuit legal.  The water felt like it was 78-80 degrees and I’m sure the RD could have justified a wetsuit swim.  Oh well, I knew this would ding me a bit in the swim but I wasn’t concerned given the swim was so short.  On that point, Wayne told me they made the swim longer than usual this year for a reason I didn’t understand and in-fact my Garmin measured the swim at 0.33-miles.

I started to the left away from the buoy line.  There is just one set of buoys and it looked to me that athletes in the first two waves who were right on the buoy line were crossing over and swimming into one another.

At the start I got off well and felt pretty comfortable.  I decided to just dial back slightly my effort to accommodate the lack of a wetsuit.  My goggles were nicked and the right one filled up with water.  This was more of a nuisance than anything and at one point I stopped to try to correct the problem—with only partial success.

After the turn, I drifted too close to the buoy line and ended up having to swim through some of the slower swimmers—this race could really use a second line of buoys!  I finally exited and scrambled up the muddy grass slopes in front of the St. Andrews campus.  I wasn’t shocked, but was still mildly disappointed to see my swim split was just 9:17.  As I mentioned, the swim was 0.33 miles, so this works out to a 28:08/mile pace—pretty slow indeed!  I took 333 strokes, which translates into 1.74 yds/stroke and 36 spm.

Competitively, I had my worst swim of the year as I finished 84^th OA (60.5 %-tile) but I fared somewhat better in my AG, as I was 3^rd.  Again no surprise I was slow without a wetsuit, but I probably should have been a good minute faster this morning—not the best of swims for sure.  Here is where we stood in the AG competition after the swim:

1.  Faccenda                  --------

2.  McHale                      + 1:49

3.  Christofferson            + 2:15

4.  McNaughton              + 2:16

5.  Sungtinette                + 2:48

Transition One

T1 at St. Andrews involves a lengthy run up the grass hill by the lake—my Garmin had T1 at 0.26-miles.  I continue my 2013 pattern of strong transitions and I complete T1 in 3:12.  This is the 32^nd fastest OA (85.2 %-tile) and I’m at least 30 seconds faster than everyone else in my AG.  I see one of my competitors (McHale) fiddling around and I leave transition before him.  I also see that one bike is gone so I know that I’m leaving T1 in 2^nd place:

1.  Faccenda                  --------

2.  Christofferson           + 1:23

3.  McHale                     + 1:27

4.  Volpe                       + 2:47

5.  Carey                       + 3:03

The Bike

I eagerly head down the St. Andrews road and exit the school grounds.  I feel like I’m ready to have a strong bike.  I’m at the end of my second week of my IM build phase so while my legs are a bit heavy with miles I’m also beginning to build some real fitness for the first time in 2013.

Naturally, with my slow swim and with two waves in front of me I’m passing many other competitors and this serves to fan my motivation.  I catch Faccenda just pass mile 2—having made up 83 seconds over those 2 miles—and I can tell by the way he is riding that he won’t be a threat in this race.  I’m able to stay on top of my pedals and I even feel that “pop” sensation I get when I’m having a strong bike.  I power up the hill that leads to the end of the first lap and can see that I’ll have no trouble breaking 40 minutes on this ride.  Here is what the first 8 miles looked like:

Mile 1: 23.9mph/156bpm/83rpm/272 avg watts/273 NP

Mile 2: 22.3/156/84/251/256

Mile 3: 22.4/155/85/249/250

Mile 4: 22.7/156/90/251/251

Mile 5: 23.8/156/86/247/247

Mile 6: 26.3/159/88/265/277

Mile 7: 24.0/157/82/279/282

Mile 8: 26.3/160/88/265/277

I feel very comfortable on my new TT bike and it feels very fast this morning.  I hit 37.5 mph on one of the descents and it feels rock solid.  The second lap is more of the same.  I hit a soft patch from miles 12 through 14 where I probably let my concentration slip a bit—I’ll need to really focus on staying locked in for the whole ride in future sprints.  Here are the last 7.5 miles:

Mile 9: 23.4/159/87/260/261

Mile 10: 22.8/157/89/249/255

Mile 11: 22.5/159/86/252/255

Mile 12: 21.6/156/86/236/238

Mile 13: 25.7/156/87/242/242

Mile 14: 24.9/155/88/237/238

Mile 15: 23.1/158/82/272/282

Mile 15.5: 21.5/159/82/262/276

I finish the bike in 39:16, which for the 15.5 miles works out to be 23.7mph.  This course has some hills and I recorded 433 feet of climbing.  My average power is 254 watts and my Normalized Power is 259 watts.  I average 86 rpm for my cadence and my HR averages 157 bpm.  The later number is surprisingly low and indicates that I have the potential to go a lot faster and that I’ll need to work more on 100-115% of FTP intervals over the next two months.  I have lots of historical data to evaluate this effort with so here goes:

Firstly, here is how my power has improved over the last 4 races this year—all the races that I’ve had my new TT bike:

Bassman (29.8 miles): 232 watts @ 155bpm

Escape DE (9.9 miles): 245 watts @ 165bpm

Genesis (15.0 miles): 251 watts @ 160 bpm

St. Andrews (15.5 miles): 254 watts @ 157 bpm

This is a very promising trend line and I should be able to put up some very strong bike rides over the rest of the summer!

Overall, I have the 3^rd fastest bike split (99.0 %-tile) with only Blair Saunders and his son eclipsing my effort.  This is a very strong result and represents my most competitive bike split of my nine races here.  Here is where I have finished historically on the bike at St. Andrews:

2003: 9^th/97.1 %-tile

2004: 8^th/97.5

2005: 6^th/98.3

2006: 6^th/98.1

2007: 7^th/97.7

2008: 8^th/97.6

2009: 7^th/97.8

2010: 10^th/96.6

2013: 3^rd/99.0

I also have some comparable HR/power data from prior years:

2005: 167 bpm

2006: 165 bpm

2007: 249 watts @ 167 bpm

2008: 254 watts @ 167 bpm

2009: 237 watts @ 164 bpm

2010: 250 watts @ 162 bpm

2013: 254 watts @ 157 bpm

Comparing my splits from year-to-year is less informative as the weather has varied quite a bit but this ride is the 4^th fastest of my nine efforts here:

2003: 39:41

2004: 39:40

2005: 39:43

2006: 39:03

2007: 38:34

2008: 38:12

2009: 41:48

2010: 39:45

2013: 39:16

Lastly, I looked at how I did against three specific other riders who have raced here most times: Saunders, Mulveny, and Holmes.   Saunders is 48 and he always posts the fastest bike split here (he is a former Canadian National Cycling Champion), Mulveny is 42 and a perennial top-ten finisher at this race, and Holmes, 67, is an incredible cycling talent and I hope to equal his times in the years ahead.  Interestingly, when I average the bike splits of these three guys, it is always very close to mine—which means it can provide another measuring stick for my bike performance. 

A fair question at this point is why bother when I can compare OA %-tiles through the years?  Well, I worry that while I had my best OA %-tile this year, that perhaps it was because 3-4 guys who used to race here are no longer racing and therefore that standard has become easier.  Therefore, comparing directly to these three long-time, very strong cyclists gives me another view.  So what does the data say?  It says I nailed it this year!  Here is how I compared (plus means I was faster and minus means I was slower):

2005: +1.1%

2007: (3.7)

2008: (0.1)

2009: (2.9)

2010: (0.2)

2013: +2.6

Anyways, enough of this.  In my AG competition I put 4+ minutes on everyone on this bike leg and here is where we stood after the bike:

1.  Christofferson           --------

2.  Holm                        + 5:48

3.  McHale                      + 6:35

4.  Faccenda                  + 6:51

5.  Volpe                       + 7:17

Transition Two

As I rolled down the final part of the bike course I pulled up my averages page on my Garmin so I was well aware that I had put down an effective bike split.  I was confident that the race was mine at this point.  I focused in on my transition and once again (2013 is the year of transitions for me) executed a very solid T2—I completed my tasks in 46 seconds with an average HR of 158 bpm.  This was substantially faster than anyone in my AG and was the 28^th fastest OA (87.1 %-tile).  With the bike and my transitions I had built an insurmountable lead—even given my run weakness and the strength of Holm’s run—and I knew this was true as I left T2.  Here is where we stood after T2:

1.  Christofferson           --------

2.  Holm                        + 6:04

3.  McHale                      + 6:58

4.  Faccenda                  + 7:27

5.  Volpe                       + 7:55

The Run

I struggled throughout this run—no two ways about it.  I probably could have run faster if I had competitive pressure but my legs where fried right from the start.  I’m not in good enough run shape yet to deliver the (even so modest) runs I expect.  That said I thought I gave it an honest effort.

My Garmin had a lot of trouble in the woods on this run course.  It’s a challenging cross-country run but it’s one of my favorites—a lot of up and downs, leaping over rocks and trees—very entertaining.

I exited T2 in 10^th place OA and fell all the way to 31^st during this run (85.7 %-tile)…pretty disappointing for sure.  My run took 24:22 to complete with an average HR of 162bpm.  At an estimated 2.9 miles this works out to a very disappointing 8:24/mile.  This is also 1:23 slower than I did in 2010, which was heretofore my slowest run on this course—yikes!  The 162bpm is telling as it indicates that I was a good 10bpm lower than when I’m really pushing.  Conclusion—I’m not in good run shape and I didn’t push hard enough today.  Oh well.

I was still fast enough to win my AG rather easily.  While I had the 95^th fastest run (56.2 %-tile), I strangely enough had the second fastest in my AG.  Here is how we ended up in my AG competition:

1.  Christofferson           --------

2.  Holm                        + 2:48

3.  McHale                      + 7:08

4.  Faccenda                  + 9:15

5.  Volpe                       +11:39

Conclusions

It’s easy to conclude poor run/swim and excellent bike from the above.  I think that’s probably more true than not.  Still, the biggest takeaway I have is the progress on my bike and the seeming potential I have for the rest of the year—it’s possible that I’ll have an exceptional year from a bike perspective.

This was my 4^th win out of the 6 races (2 seconds) this year and that is not so bad.  It was also my 42^nd AG victory.  Never a bad race when that happens—quite satisfying actually! 

I for sure did not race well on the swim and run today.  That combined with my poor fitness in those areas makes it pretty clear what I need to work hard on over the next 14 weeks before Lake Tahoe—and so I will.

Next Sunday I’m doing Mont Tremblant-70.3 and I’m excited to do so.  My expectations are modest given my training history and demonstrated fitness levels.  At the very least, it will be a great training day as I build towards my “A” race of 2013 at Tahoe.

Thanks for reading!