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.