Tough Day at Pacific Crest

The Good: Won the masters division and Tri-Northwest long course masters champion (whatever that means..obviously there are faster masters at this distance in the NW that didnt show up). Lucky for me the masters leader had a problem with cramping or something, but not lucky for him as I am sure it was a long run in the heat for him. I am certain he'll be back and win this next year.

The Bad: Conditions were unfavorable. Headwind on the 14+ mile descent from the pass into town and found I couldnt even get into my 54/11 gear most of the way because of the headwind. Ann not very pleased with her 5:06, and especially her run, but it was a tough day on everyone and we both are a bit tired from our 4th race in about 6 weeks

The Ugly: HR Zone 5 final 5 miles at 7:15 pace...what? This is a full minute slower than my Zone 5 pace. About 95 degrees on the run course was pretty extreme mixed in with the 4300 ft elevation. Felt like I was running the final 10k of the ironman for the final 10k of this race. Usually I am fired up and ready to race but not this time. Middle 4 miles tough to break 7:30 pace was dissapointing. Overall not too happy at 4:38 considering my 4:21 last summer on a bike course with slightly less climbing and a run course far more difficult.

OK, I switched out my 808 for my disc on race morning. Why? Matt Lieto has ridden this course 3 times on a disc and he specifically told me I could use it, so I listened to him. He has the knowledge and experience on this course...uhhhh and is vastly faster than me, so I decided to do what he suggested.
Pac Crest is a tough course, and I definately have alot of respect for the difficulty here. If conditions arent favorable the 3200 ft of ascent before the long downhill you can definately blow up the legs. Course is 58 mile bike so is a bit slow as far as times go. I decided on 300 watts on this race because my legs have felt sluggish, and its a nice conservative zone considering my prior 2:08 bike split at 312 watts and a 2:18 at 3:08 watts. This payed off in some respects as at least 5 people passed me on the 4 mile climb, and of course, passed all of them very soon into the downhill, and caught 3 others over the first 8 miles of downhill. I did up my cadence to 90-95 on the steeper sections to hold my watts near 300 and the headwind didnt allow me to spend much time in my 54/11, so had to settle for me 12 and 13 on many sections.

My goal of catching last years Masters winner, the pro Young didnt go quite as planned. I didnt get any room on him on the bike and found myself trying to make up several minutes from the swim. I literally ran past him in T2 with my bike. So, yeah I caught him, and ran out of T2 in front, but he immediately surged past me and gained about 15 seconds on me in the first 800.
When I passed my teammate Varney, he let me know Young was 17 seconds in front. I slowly caught up and he surged again, putting another 15 seconds on me. Have to admit, this started to break me as I knew this guy was a fast runner, faster than me. I slowly got back onto his heels and I realized this guy could break me at any moment. As I approached.....he shut down and started walking. I slapped him on the rear and encouraged him to keep going as I ran by. I was still fearful for another mile but wouldnt check my back because its a very bad habit to race people behind you. Instead, I changed my focus to the next person in front of me, who at 4 miles had a 2 minute lead on me according to a spectator that yelled at me...Dave Campbell.

I got within 40 seconds of Dave at mile 9 and by mile 10 got onto his heels. I took a 30 sec. break and ran behind him, then surged for 30 seconds as I passed, both of us saying encouraging words as we crossed. I timed this surge to a blind "S" turn and got through the S turn to get out in front of Dave far enough so when he came out of the S turn, I would be far enough ahead that he wouldnt challenge me. One thing I dont want is to go head to head with someone as strong physically and mentally as Campbell because it could very well be me who blows up in that scenario. I surged 2 more times around 2 more blind corners, then settled into my low Zone 5 7:15 pace. This is the first HIM I've run in Zone 5 for 5 miles, but the cardiac drift was pretty extreme in the heat. I was frankly suprised to end up 9th overall, as there were several pros here this year, and shocked to be more than 20 minutes in front of the next masters male.

The keys to today's race? Power meter on the bike. I was at 310 watts, high zone 4, for the 4.5 mile climb up Mt Bachelor pass, and was passed by several on this climb. However, when they were all coasting downhill in the headwind, I was able to maintain 290-300 watts pedalling, and passed each and every person who passed me, and passed 4-5 others who were ahead by the 5 mile mark of the 14 mile sustained downhill.

The run? Critical to run by HR and not pace. I realized this soon after the start, as my HR climbed to high Zone 4 in the first mile at 6:50 pace. Typically, this is 6:30 pace for me. I put on a couple of slow sustained surges, 1-2 beats into Z5 to catch Young that first 3 miles, but that was my limit because I know I cant run a 1/2 marathon in Z5. So, I normally get to mile 10, then surge into Z5 for the final 5k. However, for this race I decided to push it a bit to further test what I can do, and I put myself into zone 5 at mile 8. Before this, my pace was 7:30 for 4 sustained miles, at the same HR it was the first 4 running about 7 min pace. This was because of the heat.

So, things worked out ok with a 4:38. I do think sub 4:30 is possible for me on this course, but you gotta have a favorable day, no headwind on the downhill, and a bit cooler on the run.

Matt Lieto ran a PR for this course by 7 minutes with his 4:10, despite his run of 1:25, which is 7 minutes slower than he typically runs here. This guy is the shit....4:10 on this course in these conditions...58 mile bike? He is as fit as he as ever been in his pro career. Matt is a true pro, saying nothing but encouraging words to everyone and is an asset to this sport. He hung around yesterday long after the awards, mingling in the crowd with a few other male pro's, stopping by some of the booths at the expo, ect. Not just bolting off after the awards ceremony. Matt is the kind of pro that will go down the finish at midnight in an ironman to watch those 17 hour finishers, despite his place in the overall standings. A real class act and its truly enjoyable to have such a classy athlete at a small venue like Pac Crest. It's very healthy for the sport. Matt is new to training with power, only a few months out, but already has massive gains in his cycling performace and in fact is now setting personal bests on the bike, even at Pac Crest on a day like today.

This race has a few flaws, but is in fact well run and I must say is a premier event in the Northwest. They do a great job here and the race feels like the calibur of a 70.3 series, but without the over-marketing sense you get from the 70.3's. Alot of crowd support and great to see so many Ironheads out there. Jason Lester did the long course duathlon on a road bike, and in the downhill headwinds, bracing himself on the non-aero bars with his left arm...God that must take alot of strength. Think about riding 58 miles on hills and headwind without any resting on your aero bar pads, just holding on with your left arm, controlling the bike on long downhills, etc. I imagined this after he told me his arm was totally shredded off the bike, and I have another level of respect than before. Jason pulled a 3rd AG and high in overall standings.

Christian Isaakson, ironhead, crashed on his bike and rolled in to the finish with road rash all over his left shoulder and arm (I think left...) Still managed to put together a solid race in tough conditions. Every ironhead out there deserves kudos on this tough day, Trevor (first HIM race), Troy, Greg, Leanne, Ann (5th OA)...I know I'm missing somebody, sorry.

Dont come here for a PR, you wont get it. It's well worth the experience though.