VIVA Las Vegas!

A big thanks to all those who sent thoughts of encouragment and support!!
They were greatly appreciated.

Here are the gory race day details:

In July, I signed up for the First Annual SilverMan Nevada Full Distance Triathlon. At the time, the website advertised that the swim was in beautiful Lake Mead. The bicycle ride was a leisurely 112 mile thru the dessert with a 1500 foot overall elevation gain. The run was thru the upscale neighborhoods around Henderson on the outskirts of Las Vegas. What a great way to finish the ‘05 race season! All I had to worry about was the endangered desert tortoise.

When I arrived in Las Vegas last week, things were a little different. Race director Frank Lowery had outdone himself. The race was being billed as the most grueling multisport endurance event in North America. The 112 mile bike now had more than 9200 feet in elevation gain. There were only 259 individuals, along with a few relay teams, crazy enough to enter the race. One of the relay teams featured IronMan legend Dave Scott on the swim leg.

The official race results have not yet been posted, but I wanted to record my race report as soon after the event as possible. Any errors in the times given here are my fault and not due to any inaccuracies in the ChampionChip timing system.

This was a point-to-point race (like Vineman). The swim, and swim to bike
transition were at Heminway Harbor (no, this is not a typo) on Lake Mead a few
miles from Hoover Dam. The bike started there, continued for ~90 miles in
the Lake Mead National Park, then on to an ~12 mile bike path back to Henderson
and finally another ~10 miles on city streets to the Henderson Multigenerational
Center. The MultiGenerational Center was the site of the Tri Expo, T2 and the race
finish line.

I scouted the swim start and the 1st 25 miles of the bike course on Friday. It was a beautiful day. The temperature was about 75 degrees and there was a mild breeze. The heat was not to be a factor in the race. The bike course was rolling hills with some stiff climbs and seemed to meander lazily along the lake shore.

My race plan was simple:

• take the swim easy
• pedal hard on the bike - fueling mainly with cytomax, clif bar, crackers, and the occasional endurolyte. Grab the race provided fruit and some amino vital sports drink.
• tough out the run - fueling with endurolytes, tums, clif shots, flat coke, hot soup,
  whatever. I had a stress facture of the 3rd metatarsal of my right foot at the Louie tri in January. No running until ~May, and then only light running. I did not really know how it would hold up on the long run.

Carbo loaded on Friday and Saturday. We checked out Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. I triple checked all gear and nutrition. Had extras of everything I could possibly need. I got about 5 hours of sleep on Saturday night and boarded the 4:45 am bus from the hotel to the Lake Mead.

With a grand total of ~350 racers, T1 was an intimate gathering. I saw Dave Scott. He had all three bags with him. It turned out he was going to do the bike and the run by himself after doing the swim leg for the relay team. Way to go Dave! I can’t wait to see what you will write in Triathlete Mag. about this next month.

I kissed Shirley. Put on my wetsuit. Saluted the flag during the national anthem. Listened to the last minute race instructions … ” and remember you have to swim all the way around the paddle boat out there …” The horn finally sounded and off we went.

The race start was a bit underwhelming. No failing of arms and smashing of bodies. It was a water start from a HUGE boat ramp. No combat swimming like in the channel at Wildflower. I settled in and found a nice body to draft off that seemed to be siting fairly well. The water was clear and clean. No debris on the bottom, maybe 70 years is not enough for it to really start to accumulate.

The swim was a counter clockwise single loop … “remember, keep the buoys on your left shoulder”. 1800 yards out to an island. There was no chop in the water but as I approached the island a power boat must have fired up and gone by because suddenly there were some two foot swells. Yippie! Reminds me of Alcatraz. Saw the paddle wheeler. Went around the paddle wheeler. Continued on. Finished the loop around the island and headed back to the marina. It was harder to site now. Even though we were now heading predominantly west, the sun on the water and buoys was throwing off some glare. I had to site and re-correct a number of times. Kicked hard as I drove into shore. Got out of the water. There were a couple of wetsuit strippers, but there was some confusion so I took off my own suit, got the transition bag and headed for the changing tent. Time was 8:05am.

It was a 10-15 minute transition. Including sunscreen application and then on to the bike. The bike corral was on the boat ramp. Did I mention that the boat ramp was huge? 300 bikes filled a tiny section of the ramp. There was a mile climb off the boat ramp to the 1st part of the road. I had prepped my bike by having it in the easiest gear, that way I did not start the race by falling off the bike when shifting up a steep hill.

Got to the road, made a right turn and started the rollers that were the first 10 miles of the ride. Started taking sips of cytomax and a few crackers to replace lost calories. As I rode along, I noticed that the wind was up today. Unlike Friday, head winds would be a factor. Passed the first aid station. Everything was going well. After 11 miles I made the right turn onto SR147. The next part of the ride would be an out-and-back of ~80 miles.

After 5 miles onto SR147 the climbs started. These were not your garden variety rollers. When we cruised these in the car on Friday, I knew there would be climbs, but their steepness was deceptive. At mile 32 I had to go into my granny gear (smallest chain ring) for the first time. Most races I have done (IronMan or otherwise) I have never had to use the granny gear. There was a 2 mile climb up to the first pass in the foothills. These climbs continued essentially unabated for the next 8 miles. For the 1st two hours I had an average speed of 15.5 mph. I knew this could not last due to frequency of the climbs. I had a goal speed of 15mph overall, but at mile 40 I heard the first whisper that this was one goal that was not to be met today.

I passed a fellow racer at mile 35. He was exhausted already and had that look in his eyes that said he was wondering what he had got himself into. I shouted some words of encouragement and continued on. There was a clydesdale racer with an IMLP bike jersey that I would pass on the climbs and who would pass me on the descents. We traded back and forth for the entire bike ride.

I was also having real trouble with nutrition. I have used cytomax/clif bars/crackers successfully on many races. Today I was feeling a lot of bloat and could not get in enough fluid. I started taking tums to reduce the gas and this provided some improvement. I also started to cramp in my right knee and left thigh. I suspect this was due to not being able to take in enough fluid. I started popping endurolytes to stop the cramps, but I knew I would pay for that later. At mile 40, the course started the steep descents to the turn around point at ~50 mile. The scenery and downhills were spectacular, but I knew I would be coming back up these same hills in a few hours.

As I approached the turn around point I reached my lowest point of the day. I had to get to the special needs and my resupplies of tums and endurolytes and head back out. IM races have a 5:30 pm bike cut off. This race had another time cut-off in addition to the 5:30 time. I had to get back to the SR147 and LakeShore Drive (about mile 91) junction by 4:15 or be pulled from the race. It gets dark by 4:30 this time of year and I had to be out of the National Park by then. I realize now that I was not at any risk of missing the cut-off time, but at 11:30am with another 40 miles in front of me that looked like the Great Divide I was not thinking clearly.

At the bike special needs I reloaded everything. Used the port-a-pot. Saddled up and cowboyed on. The next 10 miles were a righteous climb. I was feeling somewhat better but had to take endurolytes and tums very frequently. I typically take 2 endurolytes an hour on the bike on a very hot and hard day. Today I was taking 6 an hour and it was still not enough. I was in real danger of running out before completing the ride. The cytomax was not helping at all. In an act of desperation, or maybe divine inspiration, I switched to the race provided Amino Vital fluid. This was a real help. It provides no calories to speak of, but was great in clearing lactic acid from muscles.

At ~mile 70, I crested the last of the big climbs back to the Henderson side of the Great Divide. I had 18 miles left until the turn back onto Lakeshore Blvd and the bike path that was there. I was still holding onto to the clydesdale in the IMLP jersey. Not drafting, but we kept in eyeshot. We had picked up another rider as well. As I was cruising along, I spotted a coyote. It was standing in the scrub by the side of the road watching the race. I pointed it out to the rider behind me, but he seemed too comatose to care.

Of course, there was another hill to climb between Lake Las Vegas and Lake Mead before turning right back onto Lakeshore Blvd. I made it to the clanging of cowbells and the shouts of encouragement. I found out later that this out-and-back section of the bike ride was being termed the “black hole” by those spectators cheering at this corner. Bright-eyed, chipper, and confident triathletes would enter but hollow-eyed hardened mountain veterans covered in salt and sweat would return.

And the thrills kept coming. There was a curly-q thru a tunnel and on to a newly paved bike trail. And what was this looming in the already starting to set 3pm sun of Las Vegas? An 18 percent grade!! You bet chum. A couple of 18 percent climbs. I had the bike in the easiest of 21 gears and was still standing to take the last of these brutes. I will say that this last effort did get a cheer from the spectators.

I was no longer trying to pass the guy in the IMLP jersey. Every time I did I would cramp up again and have to take some of my dwindling supply of endurolytes. I was spinning at 95 rpm in an easy gear to climb the last of the city streets to the Multigenerational Center and T2. I did manage to drop him on one of the very last climbs and came screaming into T2 with the volunteer telling me to ease off on the hammer ‘cuz the bike ride was over. I was in at 4pm with an average speed of 14.7mph. 6 16oz bottles of cytomax, 1 16 oz bottle of amino vital, 2 clif bars, 60-70 crackers, ~45 endurolytes, unknown number of tums.

OK. The bike was down and I had time to walk the entire marathon if necessary. I changed and got new loads of endurolytes and tums. I jettisoned the cytomax I had planned to carry and filled up with amino vital. Put on my hat. Left the sun glasses behind because there was not much daylight left anyway. Gave Shirley a hug and went out.

The 1st 1.5 miles were flat along the edge of a green belt in a Henderson neighborhood. I was feeling good and making good time. I was doing ~9 minutes per mile and felt I could keep the pace for a while. The 1st aid station had a Christmas motif and I chatted up the elves and Santa.

At mile 1.5, I rounded the corner and met with the real race course. The next 2 miles were uphill. I continued to run. After another .5 mile of this the 3rd metatarsal of my right foot started to hurt. I started walking immediately. If I was going to finish the race in good shape I would have to be careful. Other racers continued to jog/run. I would catch most of them later in the evening. At mile 4, at the top of this hill, I started running again. This was a downhill run and I took it nice and easy. The course was two loops of a modified figure eight.

At about mile 5, all those endurolytes finally caught up with me. I had to go to the port-a-pot 5 times in the next 8 miles. The 2nd major uphill in the figure eight started at about mile 6. This continued for another 1.5 miles thru some business and residential areas of town. At about mile 7.5 we went thru something that looked like an old gravel quarry.

I am sure it was something else, but in the glare of a couple of blinding light alls, on a broken gravel trail I swear that in the shadows I saw two guys in suits toss a body from the trunk of an ’70s sedan.

I got the GI trouble under control. Took clif shots every 2 miles for the first 10 miles. Was drinking the amino vital frequently. I had to take two more endurolytes to stave off some persistent leg cramps. But otherwise I was in good shape. Part of the course runs thru an open air mall, a lot like Santana Row in San Jose. I ran these parts strong and worked the crowd.

The second loop of the figure eight was more of the same. I continued to monitor nutrition, walk the uphills and run the flats and downhills. I stopped taking any solid food at about mile 16 and was drinking the soup and flat coke as a substitute.

As I came into the finishers shoot I was eagerly awaiting a picture with the Vegas showgirls as much as the opportunity to stop running, alas they must have given me up for dead and left. I did receive the coveted Silverman finishers medal and a smooch from Shirley as a reward! Time ~9:45pm. 2 8 oz bottles of amino vital, 6 clif shots, 2 endurolytes, hot soup, flat coke, and again an unknown number of tums.

I really hope that this race continues. It was the largest field of competitors in a non-IronMan marketed (oops! I’m mean licensed) race in the North America. While the course was extremely challenging, it was also beautiful, the conditions nearly flawless and the community support was outstanding.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2005 at 8:53 pm and is filed under 2006 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.