Death Valley Trail Marathon

I initially signed up for this race with the soul intension of having fun and seeing one of the most unique areas on the planet. I had no time goals, no goals of placing first in my AG - just to try something totally different and have fun. The race is normally run through Titus canyon on the north side of the valley - at an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level. It is small boutique type marathon that is extremely unique and that draws athletes from all corners of the planet. Unfortunately the weather gods didnt cooperate as the temperature in the park over the past week plumeted well below seasonal and the area recieved 2 times its anual rain/snow fall in the 72 hours prior to the race. As a result, most of the park was closed because of flooding - most notably Titus canyon. So the race orgainizers were forced to resort to plan B - running the race at the lowest point in the park through the salt flats and sand dunes that are the reminants of an ancient sea bed. Also a very unique area and cool to view from the mountains that surround it - but a area which loses its appeal rather quickly when running a marathon through it.

In addition i had to drive to the race by myself and sleep in my car the night before the race as the area as virtually no places to stay short of a few cabins which were booked up long before i ever thought of registering for the race. Fortunately things worked out better than i expected. I had purchased a inflatable mattress just before leaving, but never measured the exact dimensions of the truck so had to just wing it and hope for the best. My initial idea was to just put blankets down as I thought the truck was too short for a regular sized mattress, but thought i could cram it in if it was at least close. When i arrived at the camp site it was pouring rain, and getting dark fast. I quickly found my water logged site and ripped open the box for the mattress and started to blow it up as fast as possible - which unfortunately wasnt too fast as the valved was huge and didnt fit my bike pump. At first i thought it was hopeless, but quickly it began to take shape. After about 15 minutes of hyperventilating it was done. I quickly shoved all my bags and crap into the front seats and moved them as far forward as possible and to my delight and surprise the mattress fit PERFECT. I through on the sheets and blankets i brought - SOO classy. Shortly there after the skys opened up and it began to rain even harder. And as i sat in my comfy little RV i couldnt help but thank god i didnt plan on sleeping in a tent.

And despite the freezing tempuratures outside I slept very well, and really never felt cold at all while under the covers. The next morning I woke up early as usual, and tried to figure out what the hell to wear. It was overcast and freezing out, and the forcast was for rain and t storms all day. I opted to put on everything i brought and figure it out later. Needless to say I wasnt cold waiting around for the start this time like i was in tucson.

The race itself was rather uneventful. After registering and being bused to the start line, the race was started with the blink of the tail lights from the official race SUV.

The Tucson Marathon

Ok I am a little tardy with my update, but I was hoping to have pics to post with my update. Unfortunately I was unable to steal them like I have always done in the past with ASI - damm marathonfoto.com and thier security encription.

As with all races, in hindsight there are many things you might have or could have done differently that would have made a big difference at the finsih line (hydrated better, tappered, trained smarter, wore tighter socks, ....). All those excuses aside the race went very well - infact better than expected. I did managed to qualify for Boston (although it is sold out for this year dammit!!) and beat my goal time of 3:14:59.99 by 7 whole minutes !! Finishing in a time of 3:08:22 !! My PB - not that amazing since I have never run an open marathon before so any time would have been a PB.

Anyway, the day started early after a night of very little sleep - not a very good sleeper at the best of times, but this was a particularly bad night. I ended up getting up before my alarm. As per my usual OCD self I have everything orgainized at the foot of my bed so that I could be up and out the door in seconds flat (always worried I will be late and ALWAYS end up getting to the race and set to go with tons of time to spare - you think I would learn by now but I guess I am a slow learner). I was worried about finding the pickup spot for the bus to the start line so gave myself even more time for error. So between getting up earlier than expected and the additional margin of error factored in for finding the pickup spot I ended up being the first person there - snagging the prime parking spot !!

The benefits of getting there early ended there however as I got the distict pleasure of sitting for 30 min on the first bus waiting for it to fill up so it could go. And once arriving at the start line (after what definately seemed longer than 26 miles - more like 36 or 5o or something!! as i sat in my seat looking out at the course I was more than a little unnerved at how long it actually took the bus to get to the start doing 45 mph on the highway!! YIKES!!) I also got the pleasure of standing around in the FREEZING cold and darkness for an hour and a half. The only good thing was I managed to beat the lineups for the portapotties. Always a stress before a race and definately worth getting up a little early for, as the lineups 2 minutes before the race were still 20 people long.

I lined up about 4 feet from the front of the pack, and just ahead of the 315 pace bunny. My goal was just to finish in 315 to qualify for Boston (im an old man now so 315 is good enough to get me in - one of the few benefits of getting older). After a friend of mine missed out qualifying last year in Ottawa bc the pace bunny was off by 2 minutes at the end of the race, I decided I would err on the side of caution and try and stay a little ahead of him, but to not go out too hard and the start. The profile of the race is primarily all down hill, but the first few miles were by far the steepest, as you had to physically slow yourself down to avoid tripping or having to run a 4 min mile to keep upright.

I ran very conservatively for the first 4 or 5 miles until i got into a rhythm and in a group of runners i felt comfortable with. i was holding about 7 min miles - a little faster than i had planned - but i was feeling good. Things went very smooth for the first 11 miles. Then for some strange reason my right knee began to really hurt just below the jointline on the lateral side. I began to get worried I was getting ITB problems, but it just seems soo unlikely and certainly wasnt in the classic spot for ITB pain. As it gradually got worse I began to fear the worst - a stress fracture ?!?! seriously ? I was almost at the point of limping. I tried to change my stride a little, lifting my knees more, and kicking out my quads to get them to relax. To my surprise and delight, the pain eased almost as quickly as it came on.

For the next 6 or 7 miles I ran stride for stride with these two girls that caught me was I tried to work out the pain in my knee. The one girl was obviously a very experienced marathoner who was pacing her friend to what was initially to be a sub 3 hr marathon. They were running perfect splits, as the pacer kept things smooth and even - something my pacing is not. As an added benefit I managed to get at least some benefit of their draft (they were both 5 foot nothing and 89 lbs soaking wet - so really didnt get too much of a draft, but if i managed to angle myself just right behind both of them they almost added up to one person!!LOL).

This went on till about mile 22 when the girl being paced had to slow down. I was getting excited at this point as I tried to do the math - if I kept this pace I could go sub 305!! This combined with the fact I was now finally catching some of the faster runners that were cramping or had blown up, as well as some of the slower runners in the half marathon I managed to keep the pace up for about another 2 miles when my quads began to ache horribly. All that downhill running was finally catching up with me. My legs felt like wood. It was all i could do just to hold on to the finish. With one mile to go there was a nasty little hill just before the finish. Its not very often i look forward to running up hill - but the change in muscle use from running the previous 25 miles all downhill was a very welcome surprise.

The last half mile felt like it took forever. I was still holding a pretty decent pace - but video of me crossing the line shows that my technique was anything but. I definately had the IM shuffle going, as I barely bent my knees, taking short choppy strides with my weight barely ahead of my toes - if at all.

As I crossed the line, happy it was over, I couldnt believe how sore my legs were. They felt like they did after my first IM 4 years ago. Dont get my wrong, my legs were sore after all my other races, but nothing like these 2. I was having trouble walking, and getting up and down from sitting was rediculous. I looked like one of my 89 yr old patients with a broken hip !!! Which to my delight gave me very little trouble at all in the race aside from a few jabs of pain in the last few miles!!

Although this was not on my top ten races to do i am glad i did it. It helped boost my confidence for next seasons IM and put behind me the many doubts i have had about being able to run that far on my hip without damaging it further - and at a reasonable pace. It also taught me how to pace myself a little better and to get back to the point where I can push myself through the pain while racing at competitive level. Something I havent been unable to do up to this point since breaking my hip 13 months ago.

All in all it was a good finish to an otherwise very stressful year both personally and athletically as I struggled to get back to racing. I am now looking forward to next season with a much brighter outlook.

2009 Race Season Recap In Pictures

My last entry was from my first bike race at the Valley of the Sun stage race. It was a good introduction to the world of bike racing.

Next it was off to Vegas (well technically Henderson NV) to meet up with everyone from London down visiting and to watch them race the half marathon called the six tunnels half. It was a lot of fun.

Biked through the desert.

Had a few drinks with good friends at the local biker bar at the top of the mountain Good thing we blended right in with the locals !!

We cleaned house at the race - they may not have known where London Ontario was before the race, but they certainly do now !!

Hit the Hover Dam on the way home. Pretty amazing. Pics don't do it justice.

After Vegas it was on to the Arizona State Road Race Championships in Globe AZ !! Unfortunatley no pics available - but i did manage to come in 2nd in the Cat 5 mens race. Despite having a great day on the bike and just narrowly missing out on the win in a 2 man break away and then sprint for the line - i still ended up chicked, as Christine managed to out sprint the competition for top honours in the Womens Cat 4 race in her first season racing. Damn it ! Just kidding, great race babe. Sorry no pics, but if you want proof, check out the link below

http://graskyendurance.blogspot.com/2009/06/arizona-state-road-race-championship.html

Next came The Dueces Wild Triathlon Festival where I did the Aquabike - 2 km swim, and 90 km bike. Despite having a slower than average swim after being out of racing for over 8 month I managed to pull back the leaders out of the water on the last hill coming back into town, and to hold off a very hard charging NM TT Champion to hold on for first place. It was a good thing I didnt have to run, as I went way too hard on the bike to be able to run.

There was a bit of a long break after Show Low involving lots of training and catching some rays - and a VERY long drive back to Canada to return my leased Mazda 3. Awesome trip - but NEVER again.

I didn't end up racing until mid August when I did my first full half IM in Utah since breaking my hip. It was an amazing trip - the drive there was a little long, but the scenary was AMAZING.

The race itself was HORRIBLE. First off I thought camping the night before would be a good idea. NOT a good idea. Between the bugs, rain, and lack of decent light trying get ready for the race, it was a complete disaster. The ground surprisingly isn't that comfortable either - and the regular campers have a tendancy to stay up late drinking around the campfire. Not the best for sleeping.

The weather for the race was cold (actually FREEZING - as snow fell on the near by mountain at Sundance) and rainy as two separate storms came in at the same time, bringing 50 mph winds soo strong it nearly blew me off my bike several times. In addition the swim was shortend b/c they couldnt get the bouys to stay in place with the waves stirred up by the storm. The bike was brutal - after suffering 2 mechanicals, and heading off course I was way off the pace, and just tried to hang on to finish and start the run. The run was HARD - as i tried in vane to catch up to Chissy. The course was pancake flat, but felt much harder. Not having run more than about 12 km before the race, I managed to hold on to finish in 5th in my AG - and about 15 minutes behind Christine. Chicked AGAIN !! (this is a bit of a theme)

After Utah I decided to head home for a little visit with the family and friends.

While there I did the Muskoka 70.3 race in northern Ontario. Luckily the weather was much better than expected - as was my race. The course and scenery in nothern Ontario were amazing. The course was much tougher than I expected with the bike being about 4 km long, and both the bike and run hitting you with a seemingly endless array of hills.

I had a pretty good swim and bike - coming into T2 in 2nd place in my AG. And managed to hold on on the run to take 3rd place in my AG. Lucky for me the competition was a little weak. And thanks to a flat tire on the bike I managed to avoid being chicked yet again.

After Muskoka came the Soma Half IM in Tempe Arizona. The course is flat and very fast (not really a great course for me), and used as a tune up race for many of athletes doing IM Arizona in November. The swim is a simple rectangular swim - almost exactly the same as IM. The sun shinning off the water however made sighting almost impossible. Navigating through the slower swimmers in the earlier waves also proved a bit of a chore. The bike course was 3 laps, and VERY technical with lots of tight turns - and with 1200 athletes of all levels racing at the same time, it was also very nerve racking. Usually the bike section of the race is usually my strength, but still a little nervous about crashing again, I was a lot more cautious than most, and lost a ton of time on the corners. I did however manage a decent run (1:35 !!) - pulling back several of the faster bikers to take 4th in my AG. Despite my improved run leg, I was badly chicked yet again (I was beat overall by 2 minutes as Chris beat me out of the water by 30 secs, and on the run by almost 4 min - and I only managed to put 2 minutes into Chris on the bike - YIKES !!), as Chris destroyed the womens field, taking first overall AG and beating the top female pro by 8 seconds.




Next up the Tucson Marathon in December. Should be interesting. Never done a open marathon before. I will keep you posted.

Tour of the Valley of the Sun

Well this weekend I participated in my first true road race and stage race. The race put on by the White Mountain Cycling club here in AZ consisted of 3 stages - a 22km TT, a 41 mile road race, and a 25 lap criterium.

The first stage - the 22 km TT took place early Friday morning in a tiny little town called Buckeye Arizona, about 50 miles west of Phoenix. In an attempt to avoid having to get up at 4:00 in the morning to get there on Friday morning tired and stiff, we decided to head up to Phoenix the night before and grab a hotel room on the edge of town so we could get a good nights sleep. My race number was 719 and my start time was 9:27:30.

We arrived at the race site at around 8:20 am - after a 25 minute detour to starbucks !! Thank god for GPS. When we got there there were already several hundred of cyclists set up along the cross street from the start line setting up their bikes and warming up on trainers and rollers. It was an amazing and indimadating specticle. Most of the riders were on state of the art carbon bikes, and dressed in prefectly matching team uniforms. A little intimidating to a guy doing his first bike race and wearing a mismatched uniform with NO logos. YIKES !! Think I may be out of my league here !!

Nervous and scared about racing on my TT bike for the first time since my accident 4 months ago, I quickly got changed and began to warm up ASAP. I managed to get about 25 minutes in on the trainer between running to the porta potty and jumping off to get something I forgot or thought i needed (like gels - which i carried in my back pocket but never in a million years risked taking my hands off the handle bars to try and get out of my back pocket).

I arrived at the start line about 10 minutes early to ensure I didn't miss my start. As I stood in line watching each successive rider go off in 30 second intervals I began to feel a little better as many of the riders were also doing thier first road race.

As I lifted my bike up onto the start ramp, I kept reminding myself to start easy and build into the race. Unsure how hard to go on such a short ride with no run to follow, I started off focusing on keeping my cadence high and turning over the pedals at around 100 RPM. My legs felt great. With a slight tailwind and only a slight incline on the way out, by mile 2 I was flying and already reeling in the riders ahead of me. By the turn around I had caught 4 riders and was feeling good. I made the turn for home, looked up the road at the rider about 500m ahead, put my head down and dropped the hammer. Unfortunately it was a lot tougher catching riders on the way home and managed to just pass my 7th rider about 500m from the finish line. I crossed the line in 35:43 - 7th in my division and 1:30 behind the winner. And as usual, after finishing and checking the results an hour later, I wondered if I could have gone a minute faster if I knew I would win ... sure I could have... but as the old saying goes, if I could have, I would have. Regardless, I was happy with my results.

The next day was the road race which took place a little closer to home in Casa Grande - about an hour and a half from home. We left home shortly after 5:00 am and arrived at the race site around 6:30 am. Even before the sun was up - and it was FREEZING !! In fact it was soo cold, despite having plenty of time, I bypassed the warmup on the trainer to sit shivering in the SUV with the heat on full blast.

The New Machine

Well its been 3 weeks since I finally got my new machine - and I have to say I am in LOVE. I figured after breaking my hip I needed something lighter and more responsive to compensate for the extra weight of the added hardware in my hip and the trauma that has weakend the muscles around it. I thought of getting a titanium bike to match my hip, but decided instead to go all out and get the full carbon Kuota Kreedo Ultra(with Carbon bars and everything baby !!) all decked out with Sram Red, and all the extras. I even managed to get Ti Speedplay pedals !!

So to say this machine is light and responsive is a mild understatement. It rides and climbs like a dream, and fits perfectly. I was a little worried at first as I had ordered a size larger than my Giant - but it was definately the right decision. The seat has taken a little getting used to - needless to say the seat looks better than it feels.

The Comeback Starts NOW !!

Well its official, the comeback has begun.

Today i ran - ok jogged - for the first time since my accident. It wasn't pretty - i have to admit. My form and stride length looked like many of the 16+ hour finishers in Hawaii after swimming, biking, and cramping at about mile 20 !! As amazing as it is to be back running, given how poor my form was before the accident, it should be interesting to see what my form looks like in 6 months.

As usual, i probably over did it, and will pay for it tomorrow. But regardless it was definately worth it. So despite my overwhelming fear of my hip snapping off mid stride I managed to run a 6 times 5 on and 2 off on the treadmill at a blistering 13:45 pace. Thats about a 7 hour marathon !! Well I guess it can only get better from here.

This is about how I felt by the end of my 50 minute JOG !!

I CAN WALK !!! AND RIDE !!

Well I saw the orthopod again this week, and finally got the OK to start walking on my new titanium reenforced hip. needless to say, I wasted no time getting rid of the crutches which i quickly traded in for a snappy single point cane. its really very stylish. i think it will be the in thing this season. and as usual i will be leading the trend. NOT. at least not after about a week. as for the crutches i plan on burning them or smashing them into a million pieces.

So there is the good news. the bad news is that he doesn't want to repair the hernia in my IT band, and wants to wait 2 more months before fixing it - removing the locking screws at the same time. he feels the screws are sticking out too much and that they will EVENTUALLY cause a problem. in the mean time, i am stuck with this thing growing out of the side of my leg, which at the moment is really the only thing that is hurting. the hip itself is still very weak, and i walk like i have been shot in the ass (as i lack any stability in my core ) but for the most part it is pain free. the only thing that really hurts the hip is trying to stand on one foot to put on a pair of pants or shoes. a fact i find very annoying.

the knee however hurts all the time - especially when standing on one foot. on the positive side, both my knee and hip are pretty much totally pain free while biking - even climbing. I have managed to go biking the past three days straight - and today managed to bike 3 solid hours, although not at my usual pace. i started out strong but quickly faded when the road turned upwards. none the less i was VERY happy to be outside and on my bike again. now all i need is a nice new shiney bike !!

guess i have no excusses to stay off work any longer - and just when I was getting into daytime TV !! I will fill you in on all the fun and teasing I get when I start back next week. should be fun !!