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The above photo is a great reflection of both the fun I was having at the S.O.S. Triathlon and also being a little bit freaked out that a bear had just crossed the path a few seconds ago. The S.O.S. is eight stages of mountanside awesome, where you bike up a mountain then run-swim-run-swim-run-swim-run for a finish atop a mountain peak.
This podcast has lots of audio about the race, interviewing people involved, and a review of how I got it done. The S.O.S. is considered one of the most difficult half-ironmans around, especially since you have to carry your run gear on you through the three different lake swims. This event and the Escape from Alcatraz are one of the few that I know of that are so difficult, you have to qualify to get in.
You can see in the photo that I'm carrying a ziploc bag wedged in the front of my shorts (suppliments), my goggles and swim cap are hanging out just to the right of that, no jersey (took it off after the bike ride to reduce drag in the swims), a SPOT GPS tracker on my right thigh, and I'm running with socks on. With 18 miles of trail running in wet feet, I wear socks to reduce the chance of blisters. Even though those are soaking wet as well, it works great. I jam my running shoes into the fronts of my shorts at thigh level while swimming.
I was honored to be allowed to race the "open" category instead of age group, where I got 3rd out of the four guys. You can see how excited the wiry guy next to me is that he gets to race a lumbering Viking in an event that goes up a mountain twice.
I ate too many gels during the race and faded too much at the end, but that's mistakes you make in racing. It was still an incredible time. And I definitely wanted to share a pic of my swim training facility that helped me swim faster than last year -
This is a 25 meter pool that has no lifeguards, no lane ropes, and no time restrictions. If you want to swim sideways, backwards, at night, whatever, go for it. And the harder you go, the more chop it creates. I love the thing for OWS training. Sometimes I'll swim in circles and figure 8's to simulate going around bouys and no walls. I trained this way for the swims for about 2 months before the race and it paid off big time.
Lastly, I was honored to have pro triathlete John Hirsch and his giant dog Coraline as my crew for race day. You can check out the valuable strategies we used in the podcast, as well as how she got so excited that she actually bit me during the run. Shepards like to nip when things get going fast, so it was a love bite.
Coraline is an imposing beast, and very much involved with whatever is going on around her. I shot the above photo when I woke up to the sound of heavy breathing down my neck in the middle of the night at John's apartment. There she was, in total werewolf mode. I might have been better off facing the bear. At least it wasn't John.
I mix in a lot of talk about the Zen view on rebirth/reincarnation in the podcast. Check it out - it might not be at all what you think!
Lastly, here's links and news from the top of the show -
- Macca out of Kona
- Vegas worlds
- Will Huffman got fastest American at U23 Worlds, 22nd overall. Olympics?
- Rapp windtunnel photo series.
- TrainerView added Kona and Destination feature.
- New iphone is out. Will the fingerprint reading suck for sweaty fingers? Yes, it will.
- I'm on the latest Du You Tri and Vinnie Tortorich podcasts,
- Next to Mark Allen on Vinnie's!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 1:50PM 
