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09-19-06, 11:17 PM
The Grand Columbian races (IM, Half IM, and ITU pro and age group) were all last Saturday at the Grand Coulee Dam, in north central Washington. I went there with 2 friends from work - Joerg (this was his 2nd iron distance race) and Olaf (a 30 yr old 3 hr marathon runner, this was his first Half IM). This was also my first Half, and I had been training since April for this race. After talking about it post-race, we decided that it would be hard to say enough good things about our experience. The early weather forecasts called for a high of 60 and 40% chance of rain. I read this the same day that IM Wisconsin was held, with its chilling downpours and hypothermia-induced DNFs. Fortunately, apart from the wind (more on that later), the weather was clear and sunny with a high of 70. The scenery was beautiful in a semi-arid high desert sort of way, with endless wheat fields, rugged mountains and straight rolling roads that stretched to the horizon. With 4 races going on, it was remarkably well organized. T1 and T2 were at separate locations so all our transition gear was in numbered bags - my number was noted as I approached the transition areas and my bags were handed to me on my arrival. Apart from the ITU pros, our bikes were racked for us. There were a few personal touches that were nice - the bike spots at T1 were individually labeled with our race number and names, our race numbers also had our names on them, the finisher medals were actually belt buckles, and the race announcer (Steve King) researched previous races for the competitors.
Swim
We swam in Banks Lake, which was beautifully clear and at 66 degrees, a good deal warmer than the air. The sighting drills I had been doing paid off, since I didn't go off course at all. I felt pretty good during the swim, no cramps, and didn't fade at the end like I did at the Olympic (instead I passed several folks that did). In hindsight I realize I could have gone harder, so I will have more confidence in my conditioning in the future. My swim time was 42 minutes.
Bike
The bike course was tough, with the web site listing over 4000 feet of climbing for the HIM course, and 7000+ for the full. I was originally planning on using my rear wheel disc cover but after talking with a few locals and others that had done the race before, they all advised against it, citing likely strong winds up on the mesa. Despite a forecast that called for light winds, it turned out they were right - there were gusty winds from the west and north, which were headwinds on the last half of the HIM course. They were strong enough that when starting to go down the big downhill off the mesa (for example) that I would slow down if I didn't pedal. I kept power output under control up the hills and just spun up, but low uphill speed on hilly courses is probably a major source of time loss for me - I finished in 3:20. Just prior to coming into T2, we cycled across the top of the Dam, which was pretty cool. Friday and Saturday nights they would have laser light shows on the huge dam surface.
Run-
I started the run leg by walking, then jogging, then running. There was a long steady downhill from T2 to the Columbia River, which we would run up at the end. After that, the course was dead flat heading north on the east side of the river to the turnaround point. My legs felt better than I expected them to. Miles 2 and 3 were at a 9:45 pace and I felt like I had settled into a good rhythym. It was about then that I began to have serious foot problems. I had seen my podiatrist the Monday before the race about a burning sensation in both balls of my feet and toes; his diagnosis was either `jogger's foot' or Morton's neuroma, both nerve compression problems. That close to the race he couldn't give me cortisone injections without risking some serious side effects so he suggested getting new shoes and loosening them around the forefoot and toes. It hurt somewhat less if I moved my weight back towards my heels and lowered my cadence, which had the side effect of slowing me down. The protocol I settled on was to run until it hurt too much (usually less than a mile), stop, take off my shoes, massage my feet until they felt better, put my shoes on and then repeat the process. I figure I stopped to do this 10-12 times. Apart from the foot problems, I didn't have serious leg fatigue until between miles 11 and 12 and then I was too close to the finish to care. Given the circumstances, I was happy with a 2:32 run split.
Swim
We swam in Banks Lake, which was beautifully clear and at 66 degrees, a good deal warmer than the air. The sighting drills I had been doing paid off, since I didn't go off course at all. I felt pretty good during the swim, no cramps, and didn't fade at the end like I did at the Olympic (instead I passed several folks that did). In hindsight I realize I could have gone harder, so I will have more confidence in my conditioning in the future. My swim time was 42 minutes.
Bike
The bike course was tough, with the web site listing over 4000 feet of climbing for the HIM course, and 7000+ for the full. I was originally planning on using my rear wheel disc cover but after talking with a few locals and others that had done the race before, they all advised against it, citing likely strong winds up on the mesa. Despite a forecast that called for light winds, it turned out they were right - there were gusty winds from the west and north, which were headwinds on the last half of the HIM course. They were strong enough that when starting to go down the big downhill off the mesa (for example) that I would slow down if I didn't pedal. I kept power output under control up the hills and just spun up, but low uphill speed on hilly courses is probably a major source of time loss for me - I finished in 3:20. Just prior to coming into T2, we cycled across the top of the Dam, which was pretty cool. Friday and Saturday nights they would have laser light shows on the huge dam surface.
Run-
I started the run leg by walking, then jogging, then running. There was a long steady downhill from T2 to the Columbia River, which we would run up at the end. After that, the course was dead flat heading north on the east side of the river to the turnaround point. My legs felt better than I expected them to. Miles 2 and 3 were at a 9:45 pace and I felt like I had settled into a good rhythym. It was about then that I began to have serious foot problems. I had seen my podiatrist the Monday before the race about a burning sensation in both balls of my feet and toes; his diagnosis was either `jogger's foot' or Morton's neuroma, both nerve compression problems. That close to the race he couldn't give me cortisone injections without risking some serious side effects so he suggested getting new shoes and loosening them around the forefoot and toes. It hurt somewhat less if I moved my weight back towards my heels and lowered my cadence, which had the side effect of slowing me down. The protocol I settled on was to run until it hurt too much (usually less than a mile), stop, take off my shoes, massage my feet until they felt better, put my shoes on and then repeat the process. I figure I stopped to do this 10-12 times. Apart from the foot problems, I didn't have serious leg fatigue until between miles 11 and 12 and then I was too close to the finish to care. Given the circumstances, I was happy with a 2:32 run split.