So I’m going to start my race report a week and a half
before race day. I had a business trip
to Germany the week before going to Hawaii—leaving Monday and getting home
Friday. My trips to Germany are usually
really packed and I don’t get much time to workout. First time I got a chance to go out for a run
was Thursday morning. I set out on my run and about a mile in my right quad
totally cramps up – I stop to walk it off but have a horrible feeling about
what is going on. I give it a rub, walk
a bit more - -but nothing loosens it up.
I turn around for the painful walk back to the hotel. A couple hours later it finally starts to
loosen back up. On Friday flying back,
walking quickly through the airport causes more cramps. Taking the dogs for a walk on the weekend—you
guessed it, more cramping. I was
supposed to do a cyclocross race on the Sunday but know that I won’t even get
through the warm up without a cramp.
I’ve had this before - -first time in my late 20’s—and until
I figured out what it was (with the doctors help) I was sidelined from doing
any exercise for a couple months. These
particular cramps are mainly caused by a Magnesium deficiency. I am a heavy sweater and I guess my body also
has trouble absorbing this mineral.
Since then I have always had to take supplements and watch my diet. I have gone through several bouts of this
cramping over the last 25 years. The
solution of course is to get my Mg up –but that takes time—usually a couple
weeks to get the cramps to go away—or a visit to my naturopath for an IV of Mg
and other vitamins. On Sunday, Don urged
me to try to contact my doctor on the off chance that she could give me an IV
before our plane left at noon on Monday—it was a long shot. She was great—responding to my message on a Sunday—but
unfortunately she was in New Orleans at a conference. The best she could suggest was to up my Mg
supplements to taking 200mg every 2 hrs of a highly absorbable for of Magnesium
called Magnesium Glycinate (just for reference the daily recommended dose for
Mg is 400 mg). So we left for Hawaii on Monday unsure if I would even be able
to race.
Tuesday we went for a swim in the ocean—getting past the
shore break was enough to cause my legs to cramp—I treaded water for a few
minutes before attempting to get back through the surf to the beach and limped
back home – I was not a very fun person to be on vacation with—this was my A
race for the year and I might not even get to start – saying I was in a
beautiful place on vacation sounded good - -but not really what I wanted. Wednesday we decided to go for an easy bike
ride along the coast - -so no hills—I felt like an old lady—because that is the
speed we were going—the legs were happy to be moving and mentally it really
helped to be doing anything. We managed
to get the 10 miles down to Lahaina without my legs cramping—a few twings but
they didn’t actually cramp. We walked
around Lahaina and checked out the shops and had a wonderful Oceanside lunch. After lunch we got back on the bikes and rode
home—I pushed just a bit harder on the way home (still nothing like normal
riding) to see how they were—made it home soaked-it rained really hard on us
for most of the ride home-but no cramps.
This was my first indication that my body was starting to get some Mg back
- -still not ready to race but enough that I was hopeful I could make it to the
start line.
Fast forward to Sunday—hopeful that I can crank the effort
up enough to at least finish the race.
Given the nature of these cramps (the fact the once the cramp starts it
lasts for 1-2 hrs) I know that getting one is race ending I have to set a very
conservative race strategy – plan is to take it easy on the first half of the
bike (which contains the largest portion of the 3000 ft of climbing they have
crammed into 20 miles), push it a bit more for the 2nd half and then
keep the entire run pretty controlled - -for cramping running down is just as
hard on your quads as running up. So I
know this will not be an ‘A’ race effort – but I really want to finish.
Race morning seems pretty typical on DT Flemming Beach—it’s
more of a surfing beach than a swimming beach and the waves are not
disappointing. The race director
promises that they will start us when there is not a large set of waves coming
in—the plan was Pro’s at 9, men at 9:02 and women at 9:04—subject to the size
of the waves. I am glad I was not a guy
as they did not seem to give them mercy and the cannon goes off for them with
some pretty large breakers
The women get a surprise
start—we are standing there thinking we have about a minute to go—when boom,
the cannon goes off. Upside—they timed
it so we were not running into a wall of water.
I still did not execute getting past the surf very well and got pushed
back a bit after I got through the first set of waves. Eventually I got going - -man was the water
rough—it was not the smoother swells that you often get once past the
shorebreak—it felt like you were being beaten up the entire swim. There was also a pretty strong current so you
had to adjust your sighting so that you did not get dragged to far past the
turn buoy. Don said that the men’s wave
swam a huge C out to the buoy as they got dragged down the coast. Because of the closer wave start, it didn’t
take long before I also had to navigate around the obstacle of the slower men
swimmers. 
The swim course is an
M—meaning you have to get our halfway through the swim and do a little beach
run and then into the second half - -meaning you get the joy of going in
through the shore break and out of the water onto the beach twice in the
race. Eventually I got space to swim and
settled into as much of a rythmn as I could given that the entire swim felt
like you were in a washing machine. I
get out of the water and look at my watch—31 minutes—probably the slowest 1500
I have ever swum (my usual 1500 OWS time is about 24 minutes)—but then these
were not your typical swim conditions.
I make the long uphill run to transition and grab my bike. Have a decent transition for an XTerra race (so
much more to do than for a road tri). I
jump on my bike at the mount line and start on the adventure. This race is really about the bike—on this
course it takes a disproportionate amount of the time. The first 6 miles are pretty much uphill –
ending up at about 1500 ft—and some beautiful views of the ocean and
Molokai. Some of the climbs are really
steep and at this point there is a lot of traffic—so as soon as somebody ahead
of you loses it—everybody has to get off and walk. I won’t say that I was capable of riding all
of the hills—but there were a couple that I know I could ride that I was forced
to walk because of people in front of me falling. On one steep hill the guy beside me fell over
into me- - pushing me off the trail into a barbed wire fence. Not horrible but there is definitely some
blood running down my arm for the rest of the race. The slick course conditions that occurred
earlier in the week from the hurricane the weekend before are mostly gone -
-there were a couple of low spots with some pretty good puddles (6-8” deep) but
the rest of the course was just damp – much better than the dusty conditions
that can occur here—especially for the long downhills on the second half. As we start the second half of the
course—with more down than up I start to increase my effort a bit—without the
steep climbs there is less chance of cramping.
My friend Ron catches me – he is a great descender—so I try to follow
him the best I can. Now I am starting to
pass quite a few people. The rest of the
ride is really fun—a good mix of ups and downs and twisty single track. Not my fastest bike ever—2:36:54
After a quick transition I’m headed out on the run –
basically a 3 miles up hill (about 1000 ft) followed by a 3 mile downhill—with
a couple of nasty surprises thrown in.
Like the bike I take it conservatively, walking up the steep sections,
running the rest of the time. Mile 3 is the top of the climb—we run around a
small pond and then start the winding trail back down—most of it is fun flowy
twisty trail with reasonable footing - -there are a few steep rocky/rooty
sections that you need to slow down on and be careful. There are also several downed trees that
require scrambling over or under. There
is one paved section near the end - -but there is no celebration for easy
footing—it is so steep that everybody ends up walking it—but we know that the
end is near—a short run down an exposed ridge with some decent views and then
down—to the beach. So just when your whole
body is screaming that its ready to be done—you pop out onto the beach - -and
are faced with about ¼ mile across it before the short uphill run to the finish
line – and they don’t let you choose your line (i.e. any sane person would run
in the hard damp sand at the waters edge), we have to run the whole way in the
deep loose sand. Despite not pushing
super hard—was was definitely hot and ready to stop by the time I got to the
finish line. Run: 1:12:20 For a total time of 4:21:36 And 11th
place. Given how the week started I am
very happy with the result.
This is a beautiful but extremely challenging race—The race
director definitely has it nailed—everything was executed great—from packet
pick up to pre and post race dinners that actually have really good food (you
would hope so with the Ritz Carlton catering) to the actual execution of the
race. The sense of community of the
racers is also much higher than for road triathlons. I will be back again, healthy, so that I can
really test myself against this course.
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