Pacific Crest Weekend

I am confident, and I feel strong. I am ready, and I believe.

Pacific Crest weekend in Sunriver Oregon is a weekend of racing that attracts those from all over the northwest. Consists of a 1/2 Ironman, Long course duathlon, Olympic distance, marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k, 5k, plus a few kids race events.

Ann and I have never raced here because of IMCDA or Germany over the past 4 yrs, which occur around the same weekend. So, finally, we get to race the 1/2 IM we've wanted to race for quite sometime.

The race here is competitive. With prize money to the top 5 male and female, and a top prize of 1000, it always attracts a few pros in both the male and female categories. Last year Lieto ran a 3:58 for God's sake...Even for myself, the masters category of age 40 and over, a pro from Nevada, Young, will be here. He raced to a 4:14 here last year although the course last year was altered to a very fast one due to road work on the usual bike course. Who knows, last year had I run the faster course, maybe a 4:18 or so...I doubt a 4:14. This year, the bike course is back to the original course, with rolling hills and incredible vistas along the cascade lakes highway in central Oregon. The infamous final climb up Bachelor Butte pass, over Mt Bachelor, is about 6500 ft. Then a 2000 foot descent over the final 17 miles to Sunriver, where T2 awaits us.

The swim is in a reservoir up in the mountains, uncertain which river. But, traditionally about 60-63 degrees, cold but not too cold. The swim is at about 4800 ft above sea level, and swimming here in Bend yesterday at 3500 ft, I could feel the altitude. Again, Young will be at an advantage as in researching him, I found he is the masters swim coach at one of the Universities in Reno, and an avid fast swimmer.

The run, 13 miles on paved bike trail, is in Sunriver, a resort town in which I own my second home. So, of course I have run the course many times, and am quite aware of the strategic value of the course. There are several small hills, with sharp hidden turns at the bottom of the descents. This will allow me to surge down and around the corner before the person behind me crests the hill. Getting out of a competitor's vision is a huge advantage on this course and will allow me to gain some time on anyone attacking me from behind. Again, Young comes to mind as I uncovered his 34 minute 10k run in the fall of 2007. This is definately faster than myself in an open 10k by about 90 seconds and will have my work cut out for me.

I am starting (as Ann is ) in the Elite wave at 9am. The age groupers of which will begin 1 minutes behind us, then at increments. I will start about 15 minutes ahead of my M40 age counterparts which I believe gives me the advantage of "out of site, out of mind" racing. I didnt decide to start with the elites for this reason entirely though. The primary reason was to start with any fast male masters that may also be registered as an elite. Looking at the roster, I made the right choice because Young is in the elite wave as a pro. I believe he will be the one to beat and even though by his times he is faster than me, at least I will be starting with him and will know exactly where I will stand during the race. This is far better than if I would have started in my age group, 15 minutes behind young at the start.

So, we'll see. I feel reasonably good on the bike, putting out 470 ave watts yesterday for my final 2 min interval and legs pretty strong and responsive. On my 4x4 min interval session during my run tuesday, I felt strong and responsive, with the feeling like I could have exploded my pace at any moment. The run however will be tough I believe, as I was only able to muster up 3 runs in 26 miles last week, and this week...only one 6 miler.

I hope to be close to Young, who will be the masters winner I believe, unless I can pull off a great race and he has a not so great race. My strategy, because I will have to make up several minutes off the swim on Young, and who is faster than me in the half marathon by probably 3-4 minutes, will be to out bike him. This being said, I think my bike split will have to be about 10 minutes faster to have a shot gaining enough time on him going into T2. If I do this, I will be one of the fastest bike splits on the course so I am not betting on this for sure....but I will definately put the bike as a priority in this race, pushing the hills into Zone 5 and maintaining zone 4 on the downhills, even if my cadence exceeds 100 in my 54/11 gear. The bike course is 58 miles so the 2 mile longer distance will be a few more seconds in my pocket if I can bike stronger than the other Masters. I am rolling the dice by racing my disc wheel, but am betting I can have the power to get up the hills and over the pass, then really hammer the downhill portions and hopefully put some time into some people without discs. I havent totally decided on a disc yet, and have brought my zipp 808 too. However, with the winds predicted at 10 mph, this may be a disc day, despite the 3500 ft ascent over the first 40 miles.

I am not saying that another master wont be in there too, as there are a couple out-of- staters from California and Montana, as well as Washington. However, I do think I will be a top master and will give them a run for their money Saturday. It will be an exiting race for me and I am looking forward to competing with (or near) a few pros.

Ann will have her work cut out for her, as she did her research too. There are 3 girls here, solid pros that are faster than Ann in the Olympic distance...but....Ann has a big advantage in the half marathon, of which I believe she is one of the fastest F35 in the country off the bike at the half and full IM distances. I think if any of these girls did any homework, they will see Ann as the dark horse, coming from behind them and she's not to be ignored in this one. I know she'll race her best and I know she's a bit hungry after her IMAZ event and not being able to race there.

Good luck to all other Ironheads out there racing this weekend, I know of LeAnne S , Trevor D, Troy S, Greg M and Christian I...all racing the 1/2...probably others I've forgotten. Good luck to a few others I am coaching coming down to run, Jason L (long course Duathlon) and Todd B, in the HIM. It will be interesting to watch Jason Lestor on the Duathlon course. Jason got lost on his run here in Sunriver last night, and ended up running 16 miles, 2 days before race day.