Ultramax 50

Yesterday was the Ultramax 50 triathlon - 1 mile swim, 42 mile bike, 10 mile run. The was a first time event at this location (Hillsdale Lake) and for this distance, which is in between an olympic and 1/2 iron distance.
As always, the Ultramax crew was well organized, course well marked and manned, etc, etc...all that you would expect for these guys. They put on a great race, including the sarcasm over the PA system to lighten the mood.

After my bad swim experience at the Innsbrook tri, I was determined to do better this time. I wasn't looking for shark like speed, just not to embarass myself. I am convinced that the swim is physically the easiest part of the race, but mentally the hardest. The violent start, getting kicked, bumping into people, murky water, fogged googles, muffled hearing, and always wondering "am I swimming the right direction?" Knowing what to expect, (and training at 2.5 times the distance) I actually had a great swim this time. I freestyled the entire distance, remained calm, and really enjoyed this part of the race. I had plenty of contact with other swimmers, practically swam over a guy that had slowed in front of me, got a little of course a couple of times, but managed to swim the mile in 34 minutes. Certainly not record setting, but for a guy that was taking swim lessons 6 months ago, I was pretty pleased.

I got through T1 fairly well, not blazing, but good improvement over the last race. I was just happy to get in the area and see there was still a lot of bikes in the rack, confirming that that swim had gone well. I rolled out onto the course and saw Mendy and the boys cheering for me which is always nice. Mendy is great at encouraging and cheering. Within a few miles, Brad caught up to me and then pulled ahead. He is a little stronger on the bike than me, so I made it my goal to keep him in my sights, which I managed to do for most of the 42 mile course. The course itself was good, long rolling hills but nothing to steep. The only downside was some pretty strong winds that made for some tough pedaling in a few spots. I was glad to have my aerobars and hydration system newly installed on my bike, they both worked great. I was envious of all the fancy triathlon specific bikes on the course, and a little intimidated at the start of the race looking around at all the fancy gear - aerohelmets, wetsuits, zoot shoes, TT bikes with disc wheels, and on and on. As I passed a few of these bikes on the course though, I reminded myself that gear does make the racer. (don't get me wrong, I was passed several times too.)

The transition to run went fairly well, but I made a fatal error here without even realizing it at the time. It was mid-day by the this time and temperatures were hovering around 96-97 degrees and we still had a 10 mile run in front of us. Fuel and hydration is critical. Knowing that I perform best with solid food when going longer than 2 hours, I had laid out a banana and some fig newton bars to grab and eat as I started the run. I looked at the banana as I was slipping my shoes on and the thought of eating a banana that had been laying out in the heat all morning sounded disgusting, so I grabbed just the fig newtons and threw them in the pocket on the back of my shirt. Grabbed my garmin and ran out of transition while getting it strapped to my wrist. I fiddled with getting the garmin set and satellites located while beginning the run and just totally forgot about eating! Brad had left the transition area just 30-40 seconds before me, so it wasn't long before I caught up to him on the run. It became quickly apparent that we would not be setting in PR's on this run course - the heat was insane, so we maintained a slow steady pace and stopped at each of the aid stations to drink and dump water over our heads. We had enough enough energy to flex and be silly for photo around mile five, but I started fading not long after. Normally, this should have been my best leg of the race, but today was proving otherwise. That said, there were a lot of beat up looking people out there, the heat was taking it's toll on most everyone. Brad and I ran together until about mile 8 when I really crashed. I was overheated and running on empty and could keep up anymore. I was having to take frequent walk breaks, telling myself that I would walk for 20 seconds, but my count would go ...17, 18, 19, 19, 19, 19...I had a hard time ever saying "20". Eventually, the finish line was in sight and I was done! Brad was already done, gaining six minutes on me over those last 2 miles. He did really well throughout the heat and I was glad we was there to run with for the majority of it.

After the finish, I made a beeline down to the lake to try and get my body temperature down, knowing that I was in dangerous territory. Mendy and the boys joined me in relaxing in the water for a bit. After a few minutes, I headed back up to the finish area to get changed. I kept having spells of naseau, dizziness, and getting chills. I knew I needed to eat and drink, but I couldn't stomach food so water was it. I had to just sit in the shade for a while to get my bearing back.

All in all, it was a good race. I was pleased with my bike and swim, the run sucked, but I was reminded h0w important nutrition and proper fueling is especially over long distances and heat. I was 64th out of 142 finishers, not sure how many started, but I know know several people dropped out for various reasons.