Billed as the oldest running traithlon in the west, the Mountain Man Triathlon is a Sprint, Olympic, and Half IM race around beautiful Lake Mary in the mountains just south of Flagstaff. http://www.mountainmanevents.com/mountainmantriathlon.htm

This was my second of 4 scheduled Olympic races for me for 2006, leading into the Soma Half Iron in October in Tempe. My wife, my two golden retrievers, and I drove up to Flagstaff Saturday afternoon, about 1:45min north of our home outside of Phoenix. When we left The Valley of the Blazing Perpetual Unending Unrelenting Sun, it was 105 heading towards a high of 115. For those of you unfamiliar with Arizona, only the very lower quarter of the state is in the desert, the rest of AZ is actually at elevation. Within an hour and a half of leaving our home, the temps were in the mid '80's and we were in the alpine forest around Flag, windows down for the first time in 2+ months. Nice. B)

Packet pick-up and the first race meeting was 2:30, and we arrived right on time and had a chance to let the boys frolick in the meadows by Lake Mary...well, they went directly into Lake Mary but such is their nature. Wet dogs in tow, we drove in town to our motel, which I proudly boasted was the cheapest one in town that took dogs! My wife was not amused when I mentioned on Travelocity one kind reviewer of the establishment said they actually think they saw blood on the cileing :o

Wake up call was 4:00am, giving me time for some coffe, a Cliff Bar, pack up the gear and head on down to the Lake for my 6:40 start. It was clear as a bell and a brisk 58 degrees. Now, I've been doing a ton of base training as part of my 10 month build into IM AZ next April with my coach, that's my A race. During the week, I train 2-3 hours per day in temps often exceeding 110. I am VERY heat acclimated, very lean, and very efficient at cooling my body. Staying warm? Not so much. I stood there shivering in my Zoot racing suit desperate to put on my Orca Long John to stay warm. The Half started on time at 6:10, so I put on the suit and felt much better. My coacj was there with me competing in the Olympic race, so together we walked down to the start which was on a boat ramp. I stepped down into the water, which at 72 was warmer than the air, so all was good...until the gun went off!

Lake Mary is at 6,900 feet elevation. Although we live in the upper Sonoran Desert, the metro Phoenix area is actually at 1500ft and my home is around 2200. I do at least 2-3 hikes down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon every year and the South Rim is at 7200 feet and have never had an issue with altitude....until the gun went off! I rounded the first channel marker after 200 yards and felt like I was going to die! I just couldn't get enough air in me. I had one of THOSE moments...'Oh my God, can I make this?' I calmed down, exagerated my head roll to get a deeper breath and finally found a grove, though as always, being a one side only breather, I managed to add about 200 extra meters just going crooked and trying to correct!

I got out of the water clean and ran through T1 which was LONG and skinny. My bike was way up at the front by the bike/run exit. Made a fast transition and got out on the course. Two age grouper my age passed me as I was slipping into my shoes and adjusting the straps, but I caught them quickly. The bike is a great place to take stock of the competition in shorter races. The 2-3 guys near me were much bigger than me and looked like strong riders but I knew that I could toast them on the run as I must have weighed 25lb.'s less and they all had a good 3 inches on me. The bike went from 6900ft up 7200 at mile 10, dropping to 7100 at the turn. A few of the hills were nasty and my stregnth to weight ration paid dividends and I started to move up through the well spaced out front pack. After the turn, I picked off one more Olympic athelete and blasted by the back of the Sprint pack which we had now caught. Slipped out of my shoes while riding towards T2 and jumped off at the dismount line.

T2 was no problem, though I had a hard time getting into my left shoe, causing a quick, searing calf cramp. The run was a gentle climb for the first 2 miles at which point the Sprint turns around and the Olympic climbs a hill....a big hill up a switch back road that climbs almost 500ft in 1 mile. It's the signature feature for this race and hits your legs hard. It also would give me the chance to see what place I was in as the leaders came back down. Just as I started to climb the first switch back, this dude blows by me! :@ 6 ft tall, maybe 160lbs., long legs...and a 39 on the back of his leg! My age group and he's killing me on my specialty, running hills! He puts about 30-40 feet on me and then stays there as we climb.

Now the leaders start coming by and I start counting. My coach goes by in 6th and I'm in 9th heading towards the turn around at the top. Once I turn, I can see the next guy behind is a t least 300 yards back from me, so I know he won't catch up. Now I just have to contend with this dude infront of me, who shows no sign of fadding. Blasting down the hill was fun as we pass the rest of the field climbing up. That felt good but I couldn't pick up any time on the guy ahead, though I did put distance between me and the guy behind. Once we hit the flats back to the finish, i settled into a grove and brought it home. Once I crossed the finish line, I found my nemesis to congratulate him. I tell him I was trying to catch him but couldn't and he said,"dude, I'm in the relay race!" :p

Fianl Results- 8th Overall, 1st Men 35-29
Swim- 26:51
T1- 1:27
Bike- 1:04:03
T2- 1:23
Run- 40:37
Total Time- 2:14:19