Auburn Triathlon - Part 2

Before I let you know about the race here are some terms used:

• T1 - transition 1 - this is where you come out of the water, get on your bike soaking wet and ride for 56 miles

• T-2 - transition 2 - you get done with your ride and come into the transition area, rack the bike, get your running shoes on and take off for a half marathon on tired legs

We dropped off the car and had a nice 20 minute – downhill – ride to the swim and T-1. The country side here is rolling hills with horses, cows, goats…………..it is nice scenery to ride through.

The swim started at 6:35 AM for me. The water was about 74 degrees – perfect swim water and the lake was calm.

So about 4 hours and 15 minutes into the “DAY OFF” here in Auburn – I completed the ride. There was nothing particularly grueling on the ride – just a bunch of climbing in the rolling hills of Auburn and beyond.

Off the bike and onto the run. NO – this was NOT a road course with nice FLAT payment where one can run until the cows come home and just worry about getting ‘er done!

This was... start off with a flat, narrow, rock filled trail for 1.5 miles. But, that was OK. Then come out of the woods and go up a hill, on payment, and into a neighborhood and back around a school with yet more off road. Then go back and go down the hill and get onto some god-forsaken road that goes to a dead end, somewhere…but I see people coming back up so it means ALL downhill…………..to nowhere, only to come back up. After coming back up – I hit mile 5.

But – that was OK.

Then we run to the start-finish line and get to turn around about 50 yards from the finish and do it again. Did the narrow trail run with rocks – again – and came out of that and I think it was 7 miles.

I was doing more walking than I wanted to – I was hot – my legs were like lead – no matter if I walked or ran - EVERYTHING hurt ......and I had to go to the bathroom --- but that was OK – I was on the second loop! Life was just a hair above dismal!

After almost face planting on one of the trails – I found the bathroom! – life was good – then started up the hill to the school again. I should say WALKED up the hill to the school.

Then came back down and there was this special little loop – 1. 2 miles that we got to do to get the run to the full 13.1 distance. The loop started out in open fields – nice dirt – heard rustling in the grass – looked over and a deer was pacing me (that was a JOKE!)

Then the run through the field morphed into the rock trail from hell that was about 6 inches wide with steep drops off. In more or less words…………this was not a run at this point – it was a lesson in survival!

But that was OK – because when I came out of the woods I only had 3.1 agonizing miles to somehow manage to get through. We have all been on training runs – 3.1 mile even after a brick is pretty doable.

I thought before the race – 50 minutes on the swim – 4 hours on the bike – 2.30 on the run.

As the day deteriorated.................................

– and I looked at my watch – I was at mile 4 and my watch was around 6 plus hours, I started to “rethink” what I could do. And the “rethinking’ gave me much opportunity to get my mind off how shelled I was and how I was starting to look at a time that was even greater than my first half ironman – 9 half ironmans ago!

OK – I finally had a time I thought I could do – come in UNDER 8 hours. I was about a mile from the finish – yes there was a big hill in the way – but my watch said I had 18 minutes to do it in.

That should say ALL you need to know about what was happening in my race.

18 minutes. One mile.

Finished – approx 8:04 O U C H !!!!!

Came in second in my age group – got a plaque and a medal.

So, do you want to know what I think about the Worlds Toughest Half?

I got my butt kicked today.

I WILL come back and beat this course. AND…..I will be bringing my friends!

You can not end a race getting your butt kicked – if you do then you need to come back and return the flow!

So the above is my story....................will look forward to next year when it is just not me, Bill, Luis and Neil who have braved this race and lived to tell about it!

And for those of you who have done it before -- at least you will know what we will all be needing to train for!

Auburn Triathlon - World's Toughest Half

I ended up doing this race because Bill, my husband, wanted to do the Long Course Duathlon (basically Half Iron with 3K run put where the swim would be)

I know “others” had said it was hard. Really hard. But I have also done St Croix 3 times and St Croix is suppose to be the hardest half “Ironman”

This race was a USA Triathlon race. You can visit their website at Auburn Triathlon.

The 1.2-mile swim is in Folsom Lake at Rattlesnake Bar Park.

The bike was suppose to be 6,000 ft of climbing with the last 10 miles of down hill... Hey – after Dr. Susan Owen got us to do the King of the Mountain series,

• Mullholland: 4-11-09…… 100 miles – 12,000 ft of climbing
  

• Breathless Agony: 5-2-09….114 miles – 12,000 ft of climbing (in the first 74 miles)

• Heartbreak Hundred: 5-23-09…..– 100 miles – only 8500 feet of climbing

Which is why I missed day 1 of PTC Man, a 3 day event put on by the Pasadena Tri ClubP:

• Day 1 - 80 mile ride to Long Beach

• Day 2 - 50 miles of hills followed by a mile swim in the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center *immediately* after you get off the bike

• Day 3 - 9.5 mile run from the Rose Bowl beyond JPL in the hills

So – what is 56 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing……..almost…….a DAY OFF!

Before going into the “disaster” aka the “run” (more on this in a bit) -- I will admit that I did have some concerns. In January I fractured my foot – so when the Oceanside half Ironman came along, I had run 2 hours in 2 months – but that was OK and the half marathon part of the Half Ironman in Oceanside was doable.

Then in April I started easing back into running. About 3 weeks ago, May 7th, the pavement had a rather harsh encounter with both of my knees (don’t ask – I have already been ridiculed to the very depths of the sea for being so dumb...that’s OK – it was well deserved!)

So, I go into this race with tons of bike fitness – 100 mile ride last Saturday (which I treated like a race rehearsal) – 25 miles on the Tour of Glendale with Pasadena Tri Club and the next day an 8 mile run to JPL.

UGH…..yeah, I am not entirely stupid………..I was pretty sure that my recovery time was on the bleeding edge of being sufficient for this race.