From: roat@rrc.chevron.com (Suzanne Roat,Chevron,(510)242-5313)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.triathlon
Subject: World's Toughest Triathlon
Date: 31 Aug 92 16:37:18 GMT
Reply-To: roat@rrc.chevron.com
Organization: Chevron, Richmond, California


We should of known things were foul when the weather turned rotten Friday afternoon at the race site leading to utter chaos at registration.  It didn't help matters that I arrived at 4:45 when registration was supposed to end at 4:00.  Sorry, I work for a living and don't have any vacation left for '92.  Only had a week to start with.  Anyway, I got registered as did the relay team I traveled up with.  My SO got checked in as part of the medical crew as we all huddled under one of the two tents they had ma

naged to get built before the rains came.  What a mess and what fun.  In all my years of doing tri's, I've never seen such chaos.

Race director Charlie Lincoln and company managed to get things set up by the next morning although it still seemed quite chaotic by race time.  It was pretty chilly Saturday morning and I debated whether or not to wear a shirt on the bike leg.  I opted not too.  The Toughest Triathlon individual competitors took off first promptly at 7:30.  Much to my amazement.  I timed to start perfectly arriving at the water's edge just as Charlie was trying to get everybody out for the beach start.  Last year the race

 started from Camp Richardson resort where the bottom drops off very gradually.  The swim started about a quarter mile out.  This year the race was staged at Baldwin Beach where the bottom drops off much faster making a beach start feasible.  

I had trouble at the beginning of the swim.  I couldn't relax and had trouble breathing.  At one point I thought I was going to have to bag the race.  I finally got relaxed and started getting a good stroke going.  I found a group of 4 other swimmers to swim with and let them keep me going straight.  I'm a pretty good swimmer so I was not too suprised to pop out of the water in 45 minutes for the 2 mile swim.  Give me a wetsuit and I can fly.  I ended up 9th overall out of the water.

I took off on the bike at a smart pace and was still in the top 20 overall by the top of Monitor Pass (47 miles).  Heading back down Monitor gave me my first view of my competition.  One women wasn't too far back but she still had a mile to go to the top and I was flying at 50 mph down the hill.  Up until this point, the weather had been off and on cloudy with some sunshine.  I never really broke a good sweat on the bike but up until the last climb back up Luther Pass, I was never cold either.

At 70 miles, all hell broke loose.  The clouds started converging and forming thunderheads.  Heading back up to Luther we could see the rain coming from the south.  By the time I got back to Woodford, thunder and lightening were crashing all around.  I hoped that I could make it up to the top of Luther before it started to rain but it was only wishful thinking.  With rain now pouring down, the lightening seemed even closer.  One racer reported that a tree was struck on the side of the road as he rode by.  

It was so close that he was pelted with a shower of bark.  The lightening was so intense that it started several fires along the course.  Later bikers were "treated" to the sight of airborne firefighting helicopters and planes dumping water on the burning areas.  Despite the rain, the area is still very dry.

As I progressed up the last climb along 89 to the top of Luther, the temperature dropped.  By the time I got to the top, my hands were frozen.  Upon reaching the top, with rain still coming down, I glanced around because things didn't look quite right.  In the storm, the mountain passes got frozen precipitation in the form of hail and 2 inches of snow!!  After the aid station, the road had two ruts filled with water in the slushy mass of frozen stuff.  I didn't stop at the aid station because I had plenty 

of water and Gatorade.  I hadn't taken anything to drink since just after Woodford.  My hands were so frozen, they couldn't grab the bottles.  I wasn't thirsty anyway.

I did end up stopping about a quarter mile down from the aid station.  My whole upper body was so cold it hurt.  I stopped to see if having no wind would help get me a little warmer.  Somebody ran up from the aid station and brought me a wind shell.  I gratefully put it on and started rolling on down the hill.  I rode my brakes the whole way down just to keep them somewhat dry and working.  I thought I was going to shiver right off the bike.  At one point I was shaking so uncontrollably I thought my feet w

ould pop out of the pedals.  I let up on the brakes at a somewhat level part of the descent and reapplied them when it got steep again.  I couldn't figure out why I wasn't slowing down like I was before.  I glanced down and saw that my left hand, although mimicing the action of squeezing the brake lever, was actually nowhere near it.  I couldn't feel a thing.  I finally made it to the bottom and figured I was home free.  I had a hard time shifting gears since I have GripShifts.  Hard to shift if you can't 

grip.  I blew off the aid station at the intersection of Hwy 50 because I still couldn't grip a bottle hard enough to pull it out of the cage.  Wasn't thirsty or sweating anyway.

I rolled into the transition area right on the original schedule I set for myself.  I wanted to do the bike leg in 6 hours or less.  By some miracle, I made it in 5:58.  If the race ended there, I would have been in good shape.  I was still first overall woman at that point.  Things went downhill rapidly though.  It took me more than 5 minutes to get out of the transition area.  I couldn't get my helmet off because my hands were still frozen and I couldn't squeeze the plastic clasp.  Then I couldn't get my

 shoes tied - I opted for a pair of sturdier training shoes as opposed to racing flats with elastic laces and spring thingy.  I finally headed out feeling like I was running on two bricks - my legs ended at my ankles.

Things didn't go too well on the run.  The trouble I've been having with my back caught up with me and it seemed like my legs were responding a couple ticks behind the brain signals.  I was able to get a reasonable pace going but nothing spectacular.  I heard later that I had a 20 minute lead on Rebeccah going into the run.  She tracked me down with 2 miles to go.  Oh well.  Despite the trouble I was having on the run, I really enjoyed it.  I like hilly trail runs (I'm an ultra-runner in the winter and spr

ing) and found Charlie's course very much to my liking.

I was shooting for a 10 hour finish but it was not to be this time.  I ended up with a 10:32 behind Rebeccah's 10:28.  I was actually somewhat relieved that she caught me - I wouldn't be faced with the dilemma of deciding on the Ironman (or, at least I thought so).  Since I ended up running so slow, I really didn't do any significant damage to my muscles.  I was suffering from nerve damage though so my back did not feel very good and I had shooting pains down my left leg.  A chiropractor in the massage ten

t worked on me for a bit and got things feeling a little better but I think more serious treatment is needed now.

At the awards ceremony on Sunday, I found out that Rebeccah was already qualified for the Ironman - I was faced with the dilemma.  I decided it would be in the best interest of my body not to do it this year so I turned the application over to the third place woman who finished in 11:05 or so.  Yeh, call me a wimp.  But I do have a slipped disk and obviously it is aggravating my sciatic nerve again.  This seems to happen every 7 years.  I think it is the long rides on my tri-geek bike that sent it over the

 edge this time.

Despite the weather problems, Charlie and company put on a good race.  I just wish a better plan for parking could be arrived at.  Parking was bad enough at the Camp Richardson race site.  At Baldwin Beach, it was non-existant.  And he may be a masochist, but Charlie does take care of the racers.  I've never been to a race with more massage, physical therapy, and chiropractic people available.  And they had a large medical tent with heaters going and hundreds of blankets.  The aid on the course was copious

  I blew off more aid stations than I hit.  

For my efforts, I got a set of solid tires and a wetsuit.  I'm looking forward to trying the solid tires.  They are actually quite light - I was surprised.  And apparently they are very durable.  The guy who designed them was on hand to talk about them.  He had a set on his mountain bike that he molded 7 years ago and they still looked great several 10's of thousands miles later.  I won a set of 700x20's that emulate inflation to 140 psi.  You can get 110 psi ones also plus mountain bike and hybrid bike ti

res.

The wetsuit is a Quintana Roo Quickjohn.  I assume it is the type to be worn in warm water swims for bouyancy and speed only.  I have no use for it.  If anybody is interested, let me know.  I'll sell it for $20 under the going rate to someone in the Bay area (SF Bay that is).  I have the form to fill out with size and all so size doesn't matter - I'll get your size.

All in all a fun event.  I'll do it again next year and shoot for 10 hours.  By the way, the t-shirt for the race is the most beautiful piece of artwork I have ever seen rendered to a shirt.  Everybody was saying the same thing.  I met the artist on Sunday and got him to autograph a race poster.  I think I may also buy a signed lithograph - I could have won one if I had finished first.

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Suzanne Roat				Phone:	(510) 242-5313 Voice 
Chevron Research and Technology Company		(510) 242-4647 FAX
100 Chevron Way				Email:	roat@rrc.chevron.com
Richmond, CA  94802-0627

Newsgroups: rec.sport.triathlon