Race Result

Racer:	Craig Ellis
Race:	Half Iron Champs
Date:	Saturday, September 15, 2007
Location:	Kansas City, MO
Race Type:	Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group:	Male 35 - 39
Time:	4:41:09
Overall Place:	34
Age Group Place:	7
Comment:	Tough hilly race -

Race Report:

Total feet of elevation gain 9500 feet. I missed the world championship slot by 1min29secs.

This is definitely by far the toughest race (I will have to do Savageman next year to compare). Even the veterans were complaining about the course after the race. There is a big banner as you enter and leave the transition areas that read:
'If this was easy, anyone could do it - this is the US Nationals championships, it is going to be tough'

I drove the course on Thursday and both the run and bike seemed extremely intimidating, esp the run, as I am not a runner. There was no flat section on this course. The only flat section was the swim and that was a bit choppy as well.

The morning started strange when the USAT official rejected my helmet as it did not have a US CPSC sticker. This is a Giro Advantage aero helmet I borrowed from a roadie friend of mine. I didn't have any other helmet with me, there was a local bike shop there that had some helmets for sale. This gave me the opportunity to by my own Giro aero helmet...anyway rules are rules.

It was cold and just walking the 100+ meters (which seemed further) to the lake was painful as the grass was damp and very cold. The water was a refreshing 72F so wet suit legal. Everyone opted to just stand in the water as it was warmer there then on the sand or grass.

I got into the swim quick and found myself feeling much better about my swim than at Reston, I was telling myself the whole time, reach / pull / relax. Not much else I can say about the swim, lots of winter training to be done.
33min

100m run/walk to transition
1min30secs - it is tough running uphill being dizzy with your heart rate at 180bpm.

The bike was 2 loops and the first 10 miles was very hilly and technical. I consider myself a fairly good cyclist and I was a bit concerned about the first 10 miles as there were speed bumps right between descents and the next hill, which meant that you could not use your momentum to carry you up the next hill - YES, that really sucked,but it kept you honest about your training. Once you exit the resort there were ~17miles of constant rollers, sort of similar to the section between Round Hill and Hillsboro on the Reston Century, for those of you that have done that century ride before. There was also a 10mph head wind on the open road so you could even make up time on the roller section.
2h26min - 3rd fastest bike split.

As I started to wind down the bike I was mentally preparing myself for the run as I know it was going to hurt. I got into it quick and got my cadence up to 90 strides per minute. As usual I had my nature break issues as I was really hydrating a lot on the bike. I got into running quickly and ran a pretty good clip on the hills, which really surprised me, I would look at my splits and it was definitely faster than I thought, but I felt comfortable (in an upper z3 lower z4), but I figured it was a race so I should be going harder in any case. There was an uphill section from mile marker 4 to 5 and I think it was as steep as Woodburn climb and it went on for the whole mile. It hurt like hell just trying to keep running and not walking. I figured if I want to compete then I will have to run and not walk. The 1st loop went by quickly and at mile 7 I started to really feel the burn and the pain was really starting to take hold. My
right foot started to blister from the steep descents, and I mean steep (knee paining steep). This was not really a break as my knees were really hurting from the pounding and semi breaking, and I could not really just let myself go as I would fall on my face. I just wanted to make it over that tough hill and I knew I could pick it up afterwards. Overall a good run and I have to say it went by in a flash.

1h38min (7:33min mile - the best I ever felt during a run)

This was a great first year of Multisport racing, loads of fun and what a ride. I have lots of improvements to make esp on my transitions, but I try not to get too caught up in the race as it is just for fun and getting out there and racing. Not like I am getting paid to do this stuf ;-)

Craig