BlogJune 11, 2007 Just what I needed: A pleasant tri It's now blistering hot in Phoenix, AZ. and it's a tough time of year to train. For all of July I'll be in California, France, NYC, or Canada, but for the first few weeks of June I'm roasting like a marshmallow with all my other AZ triathletes. Thankfully, there are couple of cool events to compete in out here this time of year. The Zoot Triathlon was this past Saturday, and this had to be the most awesome sprint triathlon I've ever competed in. The Thursday after Alcatraz I was sensing my cold-like symptoms evaporating and I began to consider doing another event... The race had a 1000 meter Lake Pleasant swim, a rare opportunity for people around Phoenix to race a local triathlon outside of Tempe. The bike was a hilly 14 miles, and the run was a 3.5 mile technical trail that I was a little familiar with. My training partner Alex lives right down the street, so I wouldn't have to venture out there alone either... I was in! Perhaps because it's an outdoor sauna around here this time of year I assumed that wetsuits wouldn't be legal. Surprisingly, the lake is pretty big, and deep, and the water was fairly cool. I didn't bring a wetsuit with me so I would be swimming without one. Of course I didn't mind this as I'm all ready thinking about the Ironman in Kona and all the practice I can get without a wetsuit is money-in-the-bank. The swim started and I raced hard to the first buoy. Here, I was near the front and drafting somebody. Somewhere around 300 meters in the guy in front of me really slowed down, opened up a gap, and I was on my own! I chased the front couple of people the rest of the swim and ended up exiting around 30-45 seconds down. Not bad considering it was tough swimmer Alex Manessis up there pushing the pace. He and Gerald Kirkpatrick were both swimming well, a little in front of me, with wetsuits. On this day Lake Pleasant was, well, pleasant. After swimming through intense chop at Alcatraz last week I welcomed this perfectly smooth, clear, fresh-water swim. Onto the bike, at transition I could see Alex mounting his bike so I wasn't far behind. He was wearing Tri-Scottsdale clothes which really stick out among other competitors, especially to my biased eyes. On the second big hill I passed Alex and was now leading the event. He was pretty cool about it, thought. During the turnarounds (there were two) we started taunting each other with various gestures and that went on for the remainder of the bike. I'm sure the lead police were wondering what these crazy shaved-legged dudes were thinking. I guess at the time it seemed like a good idea. The Zoot Tri was point to point, so at the end of the bike we climbed a hill and got a race bag with our T2 gear in it. My bag contained my running shoes, and race belt, and, that's about it... I put on my shoes and took off down the running trail opening up my stride. Within a mile we climbed a fairly tough hill, a super steep one, which seemed to go on for quite a while. I crested the summit and could see the winding trail go downhill through the desert for a mile until it went out onto the road. From there, it was another 75 meters to this distant inflatable finish line. I figured it was time to open up for the finish and let loose on this downhill. I almost slipped on a couple of the switchbacks but luckily caught myself and made my way down and then out onto the road. Now I was hearing Chariots of Fire on my internal cerebral iPod and was sprinting toward the line, when I was directed to the left. About 50 meters before the finish line I realized I had about another mile to run. Down the road to the top of this hill, turn around, back down the hill, left turn, now finish. This was cruel trickery on Dave Benjes part and typical of his events. He's always trying to make them more challenging and keep races from being just another basic triathlon, he wants them to be an adventure. I thought it was hilarious and after a hard-charging Alex finished we enjoyed watching some of the other competitors begin their all-out-sprints, just to find out it was time to make a left turn and run another mile! I ended up finishing in 1:07, Alex a close second in 1:10, and another fast local Francis Donovan in third. The women's race had a sprint finish with Angela Axmann edging Luisa Bryce by a couple feet on the line! After finishing the race Alex and I boarded our bikes and spun the few miles back to the start line. It was now heating up in the desert, but a nice way to spin the legs out after a tough sprint triathlon. For my efforts I won a new Zoot wetsuit which I was pretty excited about. I needed a new wetsuit! Also, I won a nice set of sunglasses. I wasn't planning on winning anything so that capped off an all around excellent day! My spirits are now lifted substantially for the San Diego International Triathlon in two weeks time. Next Monday I'll be traveling to Idaho to train for the week and help Marc Rubin prepare for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I did my first ever triathlon there about 5 years ago, and grew up only about 100 miles away in Missoula, Montana. I'm looking forward to getting back, checking out another Ironman, and of course enjoying the nice weather. On Friday I'll be making my way to San Diego for Sunday's International race. Logistically it's a lot of travel but these days traveling is so easy. Michelle got me this portable DVD player for Christmas, so I usually spend most flights watching Family Guy reruns. If I become annoyed with this, which indubitably occurs to anybody watching back-to-back episodes of this show, I listen to my iPod or read a book, or do both at the same time, while sometimes chewing gum... Thanks for reading, see you in Idaho, or San Diego! Cheers, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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