This past September, World Triathlon Corporation, owner of Ironman announced Ironman 70.3, Boise. The inaugural event is to be held on Sunday, June 1, 2008. With the announcement come questions from regional athletes regarding Sunday events. Some athletes within the Intermountain West choose not to race on Sunday’s due to religious convictions.

While the number of athletes choosing not to race on Sundays may not “make or break” a race, the small group of faith honoring “tri geeks” is not afraid of letting their voices be heard.

“…yes I’m excited about a new Ironman event close to home, but yes I’m irked it’s on Sunday,” stated Leslie, a writer on the Desert Shark Triathlon Club forum. She continues by asking “…why the Half in California is on Saturday and Boise is not? Maybe they really haven’t noticed, but Spudman seems to do great on Saturday selling out, and I predict Vikingman will certainly sell out early next year.”

Serveral months after the Boise announcement came an announcement from North America Sports (NAS), the license holder to all but one of the Ironman events in North America. NAS unveiled a second Ironman Arizona in ’08, which will completely erase the April event in ‘09 and beyond. Ironman Arizona has exclusively been held on a Sunday despite the regional religious influence. Rumors of the move to the fall had been prevalent throughout the triathlon community for a year. Some athletes in the intermountain region had hoped a move would place the event on a Saturday. Ironman Arizona’s date was announced as Sunday, November 23, 2008.

Chris Bowerbank, one of the master minds behind Utah’s largest triathlon producer, TriUtah, shared his Ironman planning experience with readers of the Desert Shark forum. Bowerbank recalls working on the Ironman Utah planning committee for the event held on June 8, 2002 in Provo, Utah. “When Ironman North America awarded Utah a full Ironman event, they also initially wanted it on a Sunday. However, most of us on the planning committee knew the local demographics of Utah County, and it was HIGHLY doubtful they could get enough volunteers on a Sunday to staff even an Ironman event. They subsequently moved it to Saturday.”

TriHive spoke with Helen Manning, NAS communications director about how NAS chooses the day of an event. Manning stated NAS considers many different variables, including but not limited to historical weather data for the proposed area, how the event fits into the NAS event calendar and local calendar, what day will cause the least amount of disruption to the community, and support by the local department of transportation and police agencies. Manning further suggested that Sunday is generally the day with the least amount of traffic, thus is the most common race day on the NAS event schedule.

Traffic appears to have road blocked Ironman Arizona as a Saturday event. Sources close to Ironman Arizona have stated that for the 2005 event, organizing members hoped to have the race scheduled on a Saturday. The bike route became an obstacle committee members could not overcome as an important portion of the route travels through a major artery to the Tempe City dump. Having this high traffic road closed for even one Saturday in the year would not be acceptable to the community. This resulted in a Sunday event.

Manning suggested that athletes wanting to race NAS events are not shut out from their series of triathlons. Ironman Florida and California 70.3 events are recommended to athletes seeking an Ironman experience. Both events are sold out for ’08.

Other opportunities to race the distances are available through independent race directors. The Full Vineman is embarking on its 19^th year, and is the longest running Iron distance event in the U.S. And, some of the independent events have a proven track record of supporting athletes. Below are other Saturday options.

70.3 (Half Iron)

04/19/08 – Rage in the Sage (Las Vegas, Nevada)

6/07/08 – VikingMan (Burley, Idaho)

08/09/08 – Utah Half (Provo, Utah)

10/18/08 – PumpkinMan Triathlon (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Iron Distance

8/02/08 - Full Vineman (Santa Rosa, California)

09/13/08 – Grand Columbian (Grand Coulee, Washington)

09/20/08 – RedMan Triathlon (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

Visit the TriHive calendar for a complete listing of regional triathlons.

Popularity: 15% [?]

My last two Half Iron events were done in 5 hours and 45 minutes. It was nice to finally break free of the time. I improved by finishing in 5 hours and 20 minutes (25 minute difference). The improvement was a result of several things— the biggest being consistency. I also added a healthy dose of intensity into my running program and nutrition was the icing on the cake. I thought of nutrition as “taking care of myself.” I knew that if I took care of myself and kept my body in balance, I’d be strong throughout the race. It worked!

I have to admit that as I entered race week, my motivation to suffer through a half was low. The pain of Vikingman was still fresh on my mind. It seemed to soon to revisit the brutality. Race week progressed and I started to come around.

Race Morning

I ate one yogurt and two pieces of toast before we left the house. Everything went smooth at packet pickup. My bike was racked and gear was laid out. I gulped two bottles of Ensure Plus (700 Calories) about 15 minutes before the gun went off.

Swim

I initially seeded myself off to one of the sides and in the middle of the pack. This would keep away from the aggressive swimmers. However, I found my friend Matt Marriott front and center and I thought it would be fun to join him. There were only 150 or swimmers. “I won’t be that bad,” is what I thought. It turned into the craziest swim start I’ve ever experienced. It was violent until we turned at the first buoy. Things started to spread out and I forced myself to take it easy and get in a rhythm.

It turned out to be one of my best open water swims to date. My swim fitness is improving and it was definitely a strong point today.

Swim Time = 36 min 39 secs

T1

I felt rushed but forced myself to remember that an extra minute in transition will not likely change my place in the standings. A Half is a long day. So, I took my time and took care of business.

T1 Time = 1 min 44 secs

Bike

I went out feeling great and flying. On the bike, I had one bottle of Ensure Plus (1050 calories), a bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of water. It seems like a lot, but I feel it’s better to be safe then sorry.
The first half of the bike was pretty smooth. I hit the turnaround in 1 hour 15 minutes. “Perfect,” I thought. A PR was on the horizon and I knew that if I could maintain my pace I’d ride a 2 hr 30 min bike. It wasn’t to be. I faded incredibly badly early on the second half. This lasted throughout the second half. In training my bike was the most neglected discipline. This was revealed during the race. I was able to ride, but I wasn’t able to get the volume in that I would have liked and it showed. So I conceded my 2 hr 30 min bike split and took it easy as I headed back to the transition area. There was a solid female rider playing “cat and mouse” with me. I needed her help to LEGALLY pace back to T2.

As I finished my ride, my Ensure bottle was nearly empty. I couldn’t finish the whole thing. My stomach was pretty full. I drank approximately 2.5 bottles of fluid (excluding the Ensure).

My split was not nearly as bad as I thought, considering the suffering I went through on the second half. I managed to get off the bike with PR bike split for the distance.

Bike Time = 2 hours 38 Min 34 Secs (21.2 mph)

T2

Pretty standard T2. I decided to bring my Amphipod hydration belt with me during this race. I am planning on using it during Ironman Florida in November, so this would be good practice. The belt had 4 bottles of Gatorade (32 ounces total). I also packed four gels with me for the run too. It is also important to mention that I had a lot of Thermolyte salt tabs with me. The heat is tough on me and I thought I focus on keeping my sodium levels in balance.

T2 Time = 1 min 9 secs

Run

For me, nutrition is everything on a Half Iron run. I took four Thermolyte tablets chased by an eight oz. bottle of Gatorade every three miles (just under 30 minutes). At the aid stations I would take two water cups—one to drink and one thrown over my head. I never worried about dehydration. It was great and I’ve never felt so good during a Half Iron run. I managed to keep this up throughout the whole run. My nutrition on the bike kept me fueled for the whole run. I never came close to bonking. I did take some soda from the last two aid stations.

My pace on heading out on the first section was solid. I felt fine but looked forward to the turnaround. Heading back from this section was tough, because it was getting hot. I was working hard to get back towards the shade. The suffering was starting to set in as I passed the transition area to get to the second stretch of the run. But eventually everything clicked. I was pushing my pace, but could sense when I was crossing into the “red zone.” It was nice because I would do interval work to catch the person ahead of me.

Getting to the back end of the final out-and-back was tough. It took forever, but once I made it I tried to push it back hard (5k). Things didn’t quite workout like I had hoped. I could only keep the pace I had been running. I thought that I had easily broken the 2 hour run mark. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull it off. But, it’s a PR run split for the Half distance so I can’t complain.

Run Time = 2hr 2 min 31 secs

Finishing Time = 5 hours 20 minutes 19 seconds

Huge PR for me. I secretly wished that I could get to the five hour mark. That will come with time but a 25 minute PR will do. I figure that ten minutes off of the bike, ten minutes off of the run and a few minutes off of the swim will put me there. I think that is a conservative goal and achievable considering I’m still pretty slow compared to the top guys and gals. They run soooo fast!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Popularity: 23% [?]

Editor’s Note from the June issue.

****************************************************************

It has been long over due for us to have a Half Iron event back in Utah. Two years have passed since the last Half, TriUtah’s Echo Challenge Half came and went. TriUtah has unsuccessfully tried to keep the distance in town for several years, beginning with the Kokopelli Half. The events never had the athlete attendance needed to keep a race of its magnitude in town. Half’s require more volunteers to stand in the sun for hours on end, more roads to navigate athletes through and a lot of time, especially on race day. Some would say that there are not enough long-course-minded athletes in Utah to support the events. Maybe TriUtah was ahead of their time. At least they tried.

Fast forward to 2007 and we welcome the VikingMan and Utah Half. While not in Utah, the VikingMan is now the closest regional Half for Utahn’s to attend. Plus, if you are not a strong swimmer you know that nothing beats swimming down the fast moving current of the Snake River. Burley, Idaho is officially a triathlon town. 350 athletes signed up for the inaugural VikingMan event, forcing the race director to close registration well before race day. Burley’s Spudman Tri, a favorite for Utahn’s sold out in a day (over 1,000 athletes). VikingMan’s inaugural event went off without a hitch, and has momentum heading into 2008. I wouldn’t be surprised if they doubled their attendance next year.

The Utah Half has been looked at with some doubts. As the raced was announced last winter, many wondered if organizers had permits and/or the support of the city. And, athletes have to ask, “what makes Utah Lake safe to swim in now?” Ironman Utah and Half Ironman Utah failed due to two consecutive canceled swims in Utah Lake. As it turns out, co-race director Travis Snyder has assured TriHive that a recently built jetty will protect swimmers from the waves that caused Ironman to pack its bags in 2002.

Interestingly enough, TriUtah announced a Half Iron distance event for August of 2008. The race was announced when their 2007 triathlon schedule was unveiled this past winter. It seems race directors are noticing that Utah athletes are ready to take on new challenges. Maybe we’ve always been ready, if the venue and time was right.

Now, if all three of the Half’s stick around for 2008, we’d be approaching the saturation point. One Half is great. Two is a luxury. Three are more then enough. Recent rumors state that two more Half Iron distance events may pop up in 2008. Yes, there MAY be five Half’s in our area in 2008. When it rains it pours. Better late then never, I guess. Where was the enthusiasm to put on a Half last year? Does my bitterness show? In my ideal world, these race directors would work together and produce one amazing event, attracting a national audience. Ego and money won’t allow such a thing to happen.

Let’s hope that one of these Half’s will survive the competition, and give long course triathletes a race to look forward to year-after-year. It would be a tragedy if they end up sinking each other. VikingMan looks to be the one that could survive the flood. They’ve already beat everyone to the punch and hit a home run in its first year. Also, land lovers looking to jump up to a longer event will appreciate the Snake’s current. Can the Utah Half generate similar enthusiasm? Will we see three more Half’s in 2008? Time will tell. Just keep one going!

Alex McKinley

Popularity: 32% [?]