I Sweat Salt: Mountain Man Sprint

One of my triathlon goals this year is to try and get my All American status back, which meant I needed to race USAT sanctioned events and do fairly well in my age group. There's not a ton of racing in the Phoenix area in the summer, so I decided to head to Flagstaff in July for the Mountain Man Sprint. Unfortunately, Eric had picked up overtime, so I was on my own. Solo road trip! I decided to head up first thing Saturday morning, so I could ride in the cooler temps.

Solo ride around Lake Mary. Beautiful!

Ahh Flagstaff, I heart you.

My friends Angela and Russ were heading up on Saturday afternoon, so we decided to share a hotel room. Since we decided last minute to head up, we ended up in the sub-par Rodeway Inn on Woodlands Village Blvd. I do NOT recommend. I walked into the lobby and wanted to walk back out, but there really wasn't much to do at that point. I just hoped Angela and Russ would still be speaking to me upon their arrival. I can't even describe it well enough. Just the carpet on the way to the room was enough to make you gag, the walkways soiled with dirt. Ultimately, we did survive and yes I wore flip flops the entire time.

Yes, I pulled the covers back to check for bed bugs.

I headed over the packet pickup and was there for maybe five minutes; in and out.

The swag bag is below; if that's what you call it. I do not know why he continues to produce these heinous t-shirts. I'd rather him take money off the entry fee. I was impressed with the Starbucks VIA packet though. I can always use a water bottle and my Dad likes the coffee cups, so I'll call it a wash.

Swag?!

Angela and Russ arrived and we headed over to Lumberyard for an early dinner. Even at senior citizen dinner time, this place was packed! I think everyone headed North to get out of the heat. We did get to sit outside for dinner, which was fantastic. Even a little chilly. After dinner we headed over to Cultured. This is a cozy little yogurt & coffee shop with little bicycles printed on the cups.

Mmmm, beer!

Angela, put the beer down!

No pre-race meal is complete without dessert.

Before I knew it, it was time to race. It was a chilly and dark morning; perfect race weather. I try and keep my transition area as simple as possible. I leave my helmet upside down on the aerobars of my bike and my sunglasses inside it. I put whatever I need on my Muscle Milk towel and everything else goes back in my backpack, which is out of my and everyone else's way. Messy transition-ers are the worst! This race was so short, so I didn't need much. My Zoot's, Sidi's, Tribe Multisport visor, race belt, & chapstick and gum. I had my Tri Scottsdale kit on under my Nineteen wetsuit, turned on my Garmin, and there was nothing left to do. Missing from this picture were the Honey Stinger chews I ate right before the swim. I had one bottle on the bike with just water.

Simple and easy.

The race is so short, you don't have much time to think. You have to red line the best you can and hope your fast twitch muscles show up. I've never had an issue swimming at altitude before, but this time was different. I'd say about 300-400 meters in, I started to feel kinda crappy. My body felt tingly and my legs felt like lead even though I was barely kicking. I'd never experienced anything like that and was worried what was going to happen when I got on land. There was a girl slightly out in front of me and I was working to stay with her, so it's possible I was working outside of my comfort zone and being at altitude, created this odd sensation. Who knows. Lucky enough, I felt better once on land...said no swimmer, EVER. I went 11:43, and the girl in front of me was 11:41, oh so close.

Happy to be out of the water.

The ride was uneventful and nothing to write home about. Those fast twitch muscles weren't coming around and I felt like I was pedaling through sludge. I just kept my head down and focused on turning the pedals over. My time reflected the lackluster performance. In fact, upon review I recall Coach asking if I was having a picnic out there. Better luck next time, champ. I caught the girl in front of me at one point and then she passed me back, coming into T2 just ahead of me.

Coming into T2.

I'm running out of T2 right behind her, we pass over the timing mat, and she runs off to the side and pulls her timing chip off. I can only assume she had some kind of running injury. Anyway, my thoughts shifted from you're going to have to run the race of your life if you want to win...to you're going to have to move your ass if you don't want to get run down. Luckily, I felt most confident of my run. I'd been running a lot and pretty well for me, so I knew I just had to go for it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't running scared because I was. Luckily I was able to hold them off to end up first overall. Thanks Coach Sully for getting me here.