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2015 Race Season

Treeathlon | Wildflower | Morgan Hill | CIT | Fourth of July 5k | Donner Lake Triathlon | Nationals | Low Key Hillclimb - Old La Honda | USAT X-Country Nationals 10k

Treeathlon - March 8, 2015
500 meter swim, 20k bike, 5k run
BMC. Hed 6/Disc wheels. Booties on feet.

Lily and Preston did the relay and won!

 

AG Place Overall Name Bib AG Swim rank Swim T1 Bike Rank Time Pace T2 Run place Run Time Pace Final Time
1 1 Austin Mitchell 663 Winner 7 10:48.2 00:51.1 4 29:17.6 25.40 00:45.3 3 17:23.2 5:36 59.05.4
1 9 Dave Leroy 504 50-54 19 12:01.9 01:08.4 11 30:56.4 24.05 01:00.7 13 19:43.6 6:21 1:04.51
2 13 Gunnar Roll 537 50-54 8 11:03.6 01:02.0 17 31:50.7 23.37 00:54.9 26 21:14.5 6:50 1:06.05
1 14 Ben Kortlang 492 40-44 21 12:14.1 01:00.3 15 31:39.5 23.50 00:55.3 19 20:29.8 6:36 1:06.19
1 15 Twain Mein 519 45-49 18 11:54.6 02:01.1 9 30:44.2 24.2 01:19.6 18 20:24.5 6:34 1:06.24
3 16 Derrill Stepp 622 50-54   13:16.0 01:31.2   31:03.3 20.25 00:50.5   20:08.8 6:29 1:06.49
2 22 Jimmy Dworkin 454 45-49
9
 11:17.6 1;44.9
16
 31:43.1 20.45 1:17.1
68
 23:34.7 7:36

1:09:37
1   Work Weekend 636 Relay 2 12:15.7 01:06.4 1 33:36.0 19.21 01:39.1 1 20:03.5 6:28 1:08.40

 

Wildflower - May 3, 2015
BMC. Hed 6/Disc wheel

 

 

          Overall   Class Gender Swim       Bike          
BIB Name Hometown Age Class Rank Time Rank Rank Rank Time Pace T1 Rank Time Pace T2 Time Pace
5660 Fitzgerald, Brian Northampton, Ma 42 M40-44 94 2:53:02 13 80 627 0:34:14 0:02:16 0:04:26 121 1:22:06 18.1 0:01:59 0:50:17 0:08:06
5682 So, Chang Hollister, Ca 43 M40-44 97 2:54:06 14 82 354 0:29:06 0:01:56 0:05:37 157 1:24:29 17.6 0:01:30 0:53:24 0:08:36
                                     
5816 Baker, Darren Lafayette, Ca 48 M45-49 1 2:13:04 1 1 42 0:21:24 0:01:25 0:03:38 3 1:06:58 22.2 0:01:04 0:40:00 0:06:27
5815 Arters, Shane San Mateo, Ca 46 M45-49 5 2:18:39 2 5 30 0:20:38 0:01:22 0:03:31 13 1:11:43 20.7 0:01:15 0:41:32 0:06:41
5861 Mein, Twain Redwood City, Ca 49 M45-49 15 2:29:44 3 15 61 0:21:59 0:01:27 0:04:59 27 1:13:56 20.1 0:01:25 0:47:25 0:07:38
5825 Dworkin, Jimmy Mountain View, Ca 48 M45-49 96 2:53:50 8 81 49 0:21:38 0:01:26 0:05:14 178 1:25:29 17.4 0:01:35 0:59:54 0:09:39
5855 Chan, Gary Redwood City, Ca 49 M45-49 477 3:55:42 36 325 730 0:38:07 0:02:32 0:10:24 617 1:47:16 13.8 0:03:18 1:16:37 0:12:21
                                     
5875 Stepp, Derrill Sunnyvale, Ca 53 M50-54 23 2:32:27 1 23 218 0:26:30 0:01:46 0:04:27 20 1:12:56 20.4 0:01:24 0:47:10 0:07:36
6187 Weiler, Thorton Alameda, Ca 50 M50-54 24 2:32:48 2 24 46 0:21:36 0:01:26 0:04:38 38 1:15:27 19.7 0:01:48 0:49:19 0:07:57

 

 

Race notes:

 

Morgan Hill Sprint 5/17/15 (3/4 mile swim, 16 mi bike, 5 mile run)
BMC. Hed 6/Disc wheel

408 participants

 

 

Bib Name Swim pace T1 Bike pace T2 Run pace Final Overall Age AG
233 SCOTT KOLOFER 0:14:37 1:06:00 0:00:47 0:39:32 24.30 0:00:30 0:29:02 5:48 1:24:28 1 24 1
204 MICHAEL INGARDIA 0:14:42 1:06:00 0:00:58 0:43:40 22.00 0:00:38 0:31:04 6:13 1:31:03 3 45 1
155 KIMBERLY GOODELL 0:18:53 1:26:00 0:00:51 0:44:31 21.60 0:00:23 0:31:37 6:19 1:36:17 11 35 1
426 DERRILL STEPP 0:19:43 1:30:00 0:01:47 0:41:38 23.10 0:00:50 0:32:44 6:33 1:36:43 12 53 1
304 TWAIN MEIN 0:18:16 1:23:00 0:01:53 0:42:47 22.40 0:00:57 0:33:16 6:39 1:37:10 14 49 2
110 JON ERSKINE 0:23:23 1:46:00 0:01:33 0:41:36 23.10 0:00:45 0:29:57 5:57 1:37:16 15 45 3
180 IAN HERSEY 0:19:41 1:29:00 0:01:24 0:44:06 21.80 0:00:44 0:32:49 6:34 1:38:47 21 53 4
30 JON BALLACK 0:14:44 1:07:00 0:01:00 0:46:34 20.60 0:00:39 0:39:01 7:48 1:41:59 30 50 5
104 JIMMY DWORKIN 0:16:58 1:17:00 0:01:31 0:47:51 20.10 0:01:02 0:39:10 7:50 1:46:34 48 48 6
542 KIRT IVERSON 0:20:34 1:33:00 0:01:49 0:50:08 19.10 0:00:54 0:35:34 7:07 1:49:00 58 45 11
475 JIM WILTENS 0:18:40 1:25:00 0:03:46 0:52:43 18.20 0:01:23 0:42:41 8:32 1:59:15 127 66 1

 

2nd/Age Group, 14th overall. Derrill 1st/Age Group, 12th overall

 

Race notes:

 

California International (1/2 mile swim, 9 mi bike, 3.1 mile run). June 28, 2015
BMC. Hed 6/Disc wheel

 

 

Bib Name Start Swim Swim T1 T1place Bike BikePlc T2 T2plc Run Run Plc Elapsed Div Place Age Age Place Gender Gender Place
847 RICARDO URBINA 7:33:00 0:13:31 8 0:00:45 4 0:21:24 3 0:00:27 2 0:18:46 5 0:54:54 1 36 1 M 1
788 DANIEL RALEIGH 7:33:00 0:14:23 15 0:00:54 8 0:21:51 6 0:00:37 3 0:17:12 1 0:54:59 2 30 1 M 2
626 BRYAN DUNKER 7:33:00 0:12:51 5 0:00:38 1 0:21:56 7 0:00:50 18 0:19:12 6 0:55:28 3 36 2 M 3
823 STEVE SLOAN 7:30:00 0:14:25 16 0:00:43 3 0:21:40 4 0:00:43 15 0:18:11 4 0:55:45 4 18 1 M 4
570 BENJAMIN BEAUDRY 7:30:00 0:12:01 1 0:01:59 20 0:24:02 18 0:00:21 1 0:17:26 2 0:55:51 5 16 2 M 5
909 JEREMY POND 7:30:00 0:14:00 11 0:01:51 19 0:21:48 5 0:00:39 8 0:18:04 3 0:56:24 6 16 3 M 6
830 DERRILL STEPP 7:39:00 0:14:25 17 0:00:55 9 0:20:56 1 0:00:43 14 0:20:24 11 0:57:26 7 53 1 M 7
737 TWAIN MEIN 7:36:00 0:13:40 10 0:01:22 18 0:21:08 2 0:01:00 19 0:20:27 12 0:57:39 8 49 1 M 8
735 KEN MEAGOR 7:36:00 0:13:01 6 0:01:04 14 0:22:23 9 0:00:41 11 0:20:38 13 0:57:48 9 45 2 M 9
843 JEFF TUDOR 7:36:00 0:14:03 12 0:00:52 7 0:23:37 15 0:00:37 5 0:19:43 8 0:58:54 10 44 1 M 10
798 GUNNAR ROLL 7:39:00 0:12:34 3 0:00:43 2 0:22:31 10 0:00:43 16 0:22:24 19 0:58:58 11 50 2 M 11
869 ANDREW WOOD 7:30:00 0:15:01 19 0:00:59 10 0:22:55 12 0:00:38 6 0:19:33 7 0:59:09 12 17 4 M 12
644 ILLI GARDNER 7:30:00 0:12:13 2 0:01:06 15 0:24:04 19 0:00:40 10 0:21:07 15 0:59:12 13 16 1 F 1
851 KONNOR VAN WORTH 7:30:00 0:13:19 7 0:01:02 12 0:24:22 20 0:00:41 12 0:20:06 10 0:59:32 14 16 5 M 13
706 JEFF LAM 7:33:00 0:16:20 20 0:01:19 17 0:21:58 8 0:00:39 9 0:19:44 9 1:00:02 15 37 3 M 14
612 DOMINIC DE MARTINI 7:30:00 0:12:38 4 0:01:02 11 0:22:39 11 0:00:37 4 0:23:06 20 1:00:04 16 25 1 M 15
625 KELLEN DUKE 7:30:00 0:14:43 18 0:01:13 16 0:23:02 14 0:00:42 13 0:20:46 14 1:00:29 17 29 2 M 16
574 DUSTIN BENTON 7:30:00 0:14:15 13 0:00:46 5 0:23:54 16 0:00:38 7 0:21:24 16 1:00:58 18 21 1 M 17
711 DAVE LEROY 7:39:00 0:14:22 14 0:00:47 6 0:22:58 13 0:01:02 20 0:21:58 17 1:01:09 19 52 3 M 18
918 SOLETTE WESTERBERG 7:33:00 0:13:33 9 0:01:02 13 0:23:59 17 0:00:47 17 0:22:10 18 1:01:34 20 38 1 F 2

 

 

1st/Age Group, 8th overall. Derrill 1st/Age Group, 7th overall

Swim pace: 1:31, bike: 25.6, run: 6:35

 

Race notes:

 

Shadow Cliffs is a beautiful reservoir in Pleasanton; it used to be a rock quarry. It has remarkably clear water and a sandy beach. I'd never done it before though Derrill has; he convinced me to do the Sprint Distance race vs the Olympic; he suggested the Sprint would be more fun with less likelihood of injury.
 
Race morning at 6:30AM it was remarkably clear and sunny. The water temp was mid 70’s. The gun went off at 7:30 and I surged to the front swimming beyond my means. That warm water temp actually started to feel uncomfortable with the wet suit on; I was overheating. I slipped back and drafted off of Ken Meagor – he would go on to do the swim in 13:01, fastest in our age group. I finished 39 seconds behind him. Ken got another 18 seconds on me in transition. By now, he is up 57 seconds and I’m in second place for our age group. I was able to claw back 75 seconds on the bike with the second fastest overall bike split (25.6mph), netting 18 sec ahead of him but his T2 time was 19 sec faster. So he left T2 just 1 second ahead. I saw him on the run and thought there was no way I could keep up his pace which ended up 6:35 average. So I tried to just calm down and sit on his feet. Finally there was a little rise and I was able to break free. I very gradually increased the gap; thank goodness he wasn’t closing but the pressure was on for the whole race. In the end I beat him by just 9 seconds overall. So I was able to hang on to win the age group. But what about against Derrill?
 
Derrill was in the next wave, 3 minutes behind. I had a healthy margin of 45 seconds on him out of the water. That was immediately halved as Derrill’s T1 was 27 seconds faster. So just like that my lead was cut to just 18 seconds. Well guess who ended up with the fastest bike split of the day? Yep, Derrill; his split was 12 seconds faster than mine (25.8mph avg!). As he entered T2, I was still up by 6 seconds—which evaporated as his T2 time was 17 seconds faster. Boom, now I’m behind by 11 seconds. He put another 3 seconds in on the run and got me by 13 seconds overall! If it wasn’t for transitions, I would have beaten D-train by 30 seconds. Dang it!
 
In the end, an outstanding day; D & I both got 1st in our age groups and 7&8th overall. I highly recommend this course; a total blast for about 1 hour worth of effort. Next year I’ll be doing some transition training though!

 

Fourth of July Fun Run 5k
Nike Lunar Trainers. 19:37

 

Bib Name City Chip Elapsed Pace Division Div Place Age Age Place Gender Gender Place
538 TAKAHIRO MOLLENKAMP MILLBRAE 0:17:05 5:30 5K 1 16 1 M 1
990 GINA KEHR   0:19:12 6:11 5K 13 45 2 F 5
676 TWAIN MEIN REDWOOD CITY 0:19:37 6:19 5K 17 48 2 M 12
673 JOHN BALLACK REDWOOD CITY 0:19:38 6:22            
883 JON BEHRENS   0:21:00 6:46 5K 32 50 5 M 22

 

 

Donner Lake Triathlon 7/24 & 25/15

 


 

Place  Div/Tot  Name  Bib  Sex  Age  Rank  Swim  T1  Rank  Bike  T2  Rank  Run  Time
1 1/28 Scott Young  283 M  49 4 20:06 0:47 4 1:15:01 0:37 1 41:57:00 2:18:26
3 2/28 Michael Ingardia  147 M  45 3 19:21 1:03 8 1:16:37 0:49 7 45:42:00 2:25:30
4 3/28 Greg Cook  60 M  47 10 22:15 1:12 3 1:14:21 1:07 13 47:00:00 2:25:53
5 1/27 Ciaran Byrne  45 M  43 69 26:38:00 1:32 2 1:13:18 0:53 4 44:02:00 2:26:22
13 1/18 Rune Dahl  69 M  52 93 27:39:00 1:28 10 1:17:19 0:56 11 46:34:00 2:33:54
17 2/18 Thornton Weiler  268 M  50 17 23:17 1:30 16 1:19:17 1:18 50 51:57:00 2:37:17
18 4/28 Twain Mein  183 M  49 41 24:38:00 1:20 24 1:22:08 1:20 18 48:09:00 2:37:33
100 15/28 Jimmy Dworkin 81 M 48 27 23:56 1:35 109 1:34:03 1:19 153 1:02:37 3:03:28
                             
Place Rank Name Bib Sex Age Rank Swim T1 Rank Bike T2 Rank Run Time
1 1 Charlotte Carnahan 24 F 8       7 7:03   15 11:13 11:32
22 22/27 Maggie Mein 116 F 8 23 3:55   24 13:02   24 11:25 23:34
                             
Place Rank Name Bib Sex Age Rank Swim T1 Rank Bike T2 Rank Run Time
1 1 Nina Seemann 154 F 13 4 7:29   1 16:30   6 34:03:00 40:22:00
2 2 Lily Mein 115 F 13 1 5:04 1:37 2 21:29   2 17:28 45:38:00
3 3 Magdalena Frigo 52 F 14 5 8:11 2:06 3 22:59   1 15:13 48:28:00
4 4 Caroline Wynne 181 F 15 3 7:12 1:44 4 23:05   3 25:52:00 57:52:00
5 5 Madelynn Hardtke 65 F 13 2 6:31 2:35 6 30:45:00   4 26:19:00 1:06:09
6 6 Madeline Shimy 156 F 13 6 9:13 3:43 5 28:08:00   5 26:29:00 1:07:32

 

Donner Lake Triathlon 7/26/15
 
We normally plan a week-long family vacation around the DLT.  This year, we convinced Lily (13) and Maggie (8) to do the kid’s tri on Saturday. Lily’s race was  a 300 meter swim, 9k bike, and 3k run. Maggie’s was 50 meter swim, 2k bike, and 1k run.
Lily didn’t want to do the run but, thankfully, Lyndsey, Jimmy’s daughter, agreed to do the run portion. Unfortunately there wasn’t an official “relay” for the kid’s race, so it was a bit dicey figuring out how to do the pass off of the race chip.
Race day was crazy; they had the Sprint (Jimmy got 2nd!), a 1.2 mile swim, 2.4 mile swim, and then the 5 kids events.
It felt so disorganized; we had no idea where the kids would get in and get out of the water. The whole morning was stressful. Anyhow, Lily’s wave is the first to go off. She is standing toward the back, wearing her green swim cap. Gun goes off.  
“That kid is breast-stroking” I heard a guy say. My heart sunk, oh geez, it’s Lily. Well lo and behold, she found her rhythm and started going around everyone, picking her head up to site for the buoy. Suddenly, she was in 3rd place. As the came in to the finish line, she surged past the guy in second – and popped out in 2nd place, first girl! I sprinted with her over toward the transition and, my God, I think my heart rate was hitting 200!  I think I was even more excited than her!
She had a quick transition (we’ve been practicing because I am terrible at them) and then off on the bike. She managed to take 2nd for the girls on the bike and Lyndsey did an awesome job, also taking 2nd on the run. They ended up in 2nd place overall for the girls and would have been 6th in the boys division.
Maggie’s race was nuts; there must have been over 50 kids. The wave was so big and rowdy that the made the boys go after the girls. Maggie hung at the back but had perfect form. For that age group, parents were allowed in to transition. So I raced up to the bike with her and we set out on the bike course. By now, there were a ton of cars on the same street as the kids with very few volunteers around. So I started running, a stream of kids on bikes behind, then quickly passing. Around ½ mile, I was gassed and told Maggie that I’d wait for her after she did the turnaround. Meanwhile some idiot was trying to park his car while all of these little wees were pedaling by. I relegated to directing traffic until Maggie came back through. Finally on to the run, we headed out in to a neighborhood where I’ll be damned but Maggie starts to strike up a conversation about how hard the swim was. I didn’t engage but encouraged her to keep going. Finally on the way back, she passed a girl on a down hill and then put the hammer down, sprinting all the way to the finish! Not sure what her place was but she had a million-watt winner’s smile at the end!
 

My race was a total disaster. 

I’m doing Nationals in 2 weeks so I didn’t want to go too hard, especially in the run. That said, I thought I could hammer the swim and bike. Well, things didn’t turn out that way. We got up early enough but left too late; arrived at 7:20-race started at 7:45. I was too busy with setting up transition and wasn’t able to get a pre-race swim in. I couldn’t even find Jimmy. Suddenly we had to line up for a shore start. It was a huge wave of “all men 49 and younger”. The gun went off and we were jogging through the shallow water; some started swimming while others kept walking; it was chaos. Finally it got deep enough. I was trying to stay calm but was suddenly freaked out and hyperventilating. I could not keep my head in the water. I tried to breast stroke but I wasn’t going anywhere. So then flipped on my back and kicked for a while. If there was a boat or surfer near by I would have dropped out. Finally by the first buoy I relaxed and took it easy for the rest of the swim. Time was 24:38; I should have gone around 22 mins.

Well, on to transition.  We had to run the bike out along a dirt path for around 100 yards. As I was about to get on, someone yelled “you don’t have a helmet on!”. Dropped the bike and ran back to transition, had to take my timing chip off first, got the helmet and ran back. By the time I got on the bike, my heart rate was off the charts. The climb up wasn’t pretty. Though I was climbing pretty well, I got passed early on by my buddy Ciaran who was just flying (he went on to win his AG and get 5th overall). I ended up getting passed by 3 people on the climb; I have never been passed on the climb before! Fast forward to the descent – I was looking forward to a fast descent because I was riding my road bike which has better handling on the down hills than my tri bike. Well on the initial downhill I slammed a pot hole which somehow f’d up my front brake; there wasn’t any play in the lever. Of course I was worried that maybe the wheel was knocked loose. So I pulled over, checked the quick release and fiddled with the brakes. Couldn’t figure it out so I just grandma’d down the friggin hill. Disaster! 1:22 bike split was 4 minutes slower than what I normally average.

Now time for the run. I wanted to be super careful on the run to not risk injury but miraculously the run actually felt good the whole way. I ended up with a 48:09, 7:24 pace. Total time 2:37:33, 3 minutes slower than my previous worst time, and 4th in the age group.  To add insult, my buddy Thornton – who’s never beaten me – edged me out by 16 seconds! Oh well-hopefully Nationals won’t be such a disaster.

 

 

Nationals 8/8/15 Milwaukee 

Results

 

45-49 AG                      
Pos Race No Name Time Plc Age Gender Swim T1 Cycle T2 Run
17 2582 Shane Arters 01:56:57 1 46 17 20:07 01:53 58:00 01:04 35:50
22 2629 Craig Lanza 01:57:21 2 47 22 18:15 02:12 58:57 01:08 36:49
50 2570 Eric Sorensen 02:00:02 3 46 50 22:24 02:00 58:43 01:07 35:47
67 2714 Ken Younts 02:01:11 4 49 67 20:02 02:17 57:52 01:08 39:50
79 2700 Mark Wachendorf 02:02:06 5 49 79 18:52 02:12 59:55 01:10 39:54
91 2532 David Kane 02:02:47 6 45 91 21:12 02:38 59:23 01:04 38:29
94 2626 Steve Bosic 02:02:57 7 47 94 20:37 02:02 59:30 01:14 39:32
98 2705 Mark Hauser 02:03:15 8 49 98 18:07 01:53 59:21 01:06 42:46
103 2668 Todd Shellenberger 02:03:24 9 48 103 20:39 02:42 56:42 01:03 42:16
105 2676 Doug Robinson 02:03:28 10 48 105 22:45 02:28 58:09 01:19 38:44
120 2535 Kevin Hughes 02:04:14 11 45 120 24:23 02:21 57:44 01:16 38:27
125 2675 Andrew Kelsey 02:04:26 12 48 125 18:09 02:08 01:00:02 01:33 42:32
127 2623 James Strain 02:04:38 13 47 127 22:22 02:16 59:24 01:27 39:06
129 2695 Robert Wieland 02:04:45 14 48 129 21:32 02:05 01:00:34 01:05 39:26
143 2662 Rick Mcquet 02:05:34 15 47 143 18:13 02:08 58:58 01:10 45:02
170 2593 John Stroup 02:06:34 16 46 169 23:59 02:09 01:00:42 01:03 38:39
178 2647 Zoltan Suranyi 02:06:45 17 47 176 21:27 02:19 59:31 01:07 42:20
188 2578 John Bye 02:07:04 18 46 186 23:28 02:10 58:49 01:12 41:23
193 2712 Andrew Swanson 02:07:26 19 49 191 22:28 02:11 01:00:03 01:20 41:22
195 2621 Timothy Valley 02:07:37 20 47 193 24:30 02:13 01:01:27 01:14 38:12
207 2701 Twain Mein 02:08:13 21 49 205 22:12 02:27 59:19 01:16 42:56
208 2537 Timothy Newberg 02:08:14 22 45 206 20:25 02:44 01:01:34 01:18 40:11
218 2543 Corey Binnebose 02:08:47 23 45 216 23:24 02:19 01:00:12 01:15 41:33
221 2699 Frank Levy 02:08:49 24 48 218 25:49 02:26 59:49 01:02 39:41
226 2684 Gary Schellenberg 02:08:56 25 48 223 24:12 02:12 01:01:30 01:01 40:00
250 2669 Chris Liou 02:09:46 29 48 242 24:09 02:18 01:00:24 01:18 41:35
1272 2555 Jeffrey Horwitz 02:30:54 128 45 977 28:55 03:34 01:10:38 01:50 45:54
50-54 AG                      
108 1210 Michael Smith 02:03:43 1 54 108 22:36 02:49 01:00:25 01:19 36:33
151 1174 Jason Campbell 02:05:50 2 54 151 20:48 02:04 59:01 01:15 42:39
159 1006 Thomas Emerick 02:06:10 3 50 158 20:27 02:37 01:01:09 01:28 40:27
169 1049 Tony Gerbino 02:06:32 4 51 168 23:51 02:21 01:00:27 01:00 38:51
175 1178 Kyle Welch 02:06:37 5 54 173 21:34 02:10 01:01:13 01:08 40:32
180 1012 Adrian Mackay 02:06:47 6 50 178 20:23 02:03 01:02:54 01:03 40:22
210 1058 Paul Gompers 02:08:20 7 51 208 23:12 03:26 01:00:07 01:43 39:49
215 998 Carl Johnston 02:08:36 8 50 213 21:08 02:26 01:03:17 01:16 40:27
223 1097 William Kelly 02:08:56 9 52 220 23:05 02:04 01:01:43 01:10 40:51
242 1055 Jim Morrissey 02:09:26 10 51 235 21:28 02:21 01:03:31 01:08 40:57
264 1129 Clint Dowd 02:10:22 11 52 256 24:47 02:22 01:01:55 01:10 40:06
269 1144 Kirk Miller 02:10:27 12 53 261 22:23 02:02 01:02:24 01:07 42:29
278 1035 David Lyon 02:10:38 13 53 268 25:51 02:57 01:00:15 01:21 40:12
287 1038 Douglas Marocco 02:11:00 14 51 277 22:22 02:03 01:04:16 01:11 41:06
289 1034 Edward Stern 02:11:04 15 50 279 24:40 02:12 01:00:36 01:20 40:13
295 1002 Brian Emelson 02:11:13 16 50 284 22:20 02:21 01:04:03 01:13 41:14
302 1118 Rick Klutey 02:11:24 17 52 289 21:30 02:24 01:05:37 01:23 40:29
310 1048 Steve Feltz 02:11:40 18 51 297 24:43 02:30 01:02:45 01:19 40:21
358 1017 Thornton Weiler 02:13:00 24 50 339 22:51 02:52 01:02:25 01:47 43:03

 

Last year’s big goal was to compete at Nationals and, maybe, just maybe, place high enough to qualify for the World Championship in Chicago which will be held this September. In that race I had my second fastest swim ever (21:57 – 1:20 per hundred yards) and fastest bike split ever (1:00:28 – 24.7 mph) but fell apart in the run (44:43 – 7:12 pace), ending with a total time of 2:11:15, 40th in the age group. The top 18 automatically qualify for worlds, and though I didn’t even come close, hope flickered for a brief moment as the wait list ended up going down to 39th place. F! One place off.
 
So about 1½ months ago I started to get pissed off about not making Worlds. Did some looking into it and it turns out that World’s next year will be in Cozumel, Mexico. On my 50th birthday no less. Talk about a destination tri! So, somewhat last minute, I decided to go for it again at Nationals this year again. My swimming was good but cycling was off. I’d been seeing a personal trainer to help with running, though, and so far the progress had been good, so I was hopeful for the run.
 
Things didn’t start off that well. I took a red eye from SFO at 10:30PM on Thursday – and landed in Milwaukee at 7:30 Friday morning (I needed to register on Friday at 10AM and race on Saturday). There was a brief moment of panic as the hotel didn’t have me coming in until the next day; luckily they found me a room but I wouldn’t be able to check in till noon. I camped out for a few hours in the lobby then went over to register, did a short swim (water was much colder than last year) and got the bike dialed in. Then came back and chilled for a while. Went out to dinner then hit the sack at 8:00. Woke up at 6AM and headed over to the race. Though we had to be out of transition area by 7:20, my wave didn’t go off until 9:40. So I spent a lot of time stretching and chatting with other competitors, killing time.
 
Finally it was go time. My prediction was that I’d have a faster swim than last year, slower bike but, hopefully, a faster run.
 
On to the swim -- we all had to string out along the side of the pier for the swim start.  The weather conditions were very good. Though a bit humid, it was cloudy and mid-seventies.
The water was brisk—about 63 degrees and the way we were dangling off the side made it difficult to get a good start. Gun went off and I was immediately kicked in the quad. Otherwise it was fairly uneventful. I thought I was having a PR swim but, perhaps because it was colder and the water was choppy, actually went a bit slower this year with a 22:12 effort, 14th in the age group.  Shaved 9 seconds over last year in T1 (transitions have been a weak spot) then headed out on the bike. I guess familiarity is important because I didn’t think I had great bike fitness. But the course felt good and predictable and fast. Only one guy passed me (vs 3 last year) and I had another guy who kept drafting me which kept my head in the game (don’t let him pass!). I kept a high heart rate (around 162) and mashed the pedals, snotting up the whole way. Ended up with a 59:19 bike time, 25.1 mph, a lifetime PR and 10th fastest in the age group, 68 seconds faster than last year.  Shaved another 14 seconds vs last year in T2 then headed out on the run.
The run felt good at first but I was soon passed by other guys in my age group. I maintained around 172 heart rate and was doing sub 6:50/mile for the first two miles. Everything started to hurt though I kept up my form and tried to not daydream. I got passed by another guy in my age group and then another and another. Tried to hang with them but just couldn’t. In the end, finished the 10k in 42:56 (6:56 pace) – but nearly 2 minutes faster than last year -- and 25th in the age group.
 
In the end, I placed 21st place with a 2:08:13, 3 minutes faster than last year and the fastest Olympic overall time ever, doing this since 1987. I ended up 207 of 2613 overall participants.
 
So what does that mean for World’s? The top 18 qualify automatically. However, there is hope. There is an “age up” rule whereby racers on the cusp for the next age group (like me) are actually competing for the next age group. According to the results, I would have placed 7th in the 50-54 division. So hopefully I’ll get a slot for World’s since this is top 18. Unfortunately, no final word yet from USA triathlon. I hope to find out this week.
 

FINGERS ARE CROSSED!

 

From USAT this morning:
"Hi Twain,
Great meeting you this past weekend! You have qualified for Team USA Cozumel. Congratulations! I will notify all award slot athletes of the next steps early next week at the latest."
 

Sweet!

 

Stats

HR: avg 162, max 181. 2319 cal

 

Overall Placements

Swim: 264, 1:21 pace

Bike: 96, 25.1 mph

Run: 544, 6:54 min/mile

 

HR: Swim 138, 22:04

T1: 163, 2:59

Bike: 164, 58:47

T2: 165, 1:06

T2.5: 164, :20.69

Mile 1: 170, 6:47

Mile 2: 172, 6:57

Mile 3: 174, 6:55

Mile 4&5: 174, 13:58 (6:59)

Mile 6.2: 176, 7:09 (5:58 pace)

Finish 180; 2:08.10

 

Low Key Hill Climb - Old La Honda, 11/14/15

Results

 

 

 

Bike time: 19:11; 30th overall. Heart rate. 174 avg, 185 max.

Run time: 29:17, second fastest. Heart rate 169 avg, 183 max

Run descent: 22:19, PR. Heart rate 144 avg, 160 max.

 

 

USAT Cross-Country Nationals - Masters 10k

Results

 

Place Name Bib# Age Time Pace
1 Kevin Castille 2238 43 31:00:00 5:00
320 Twain Mein 2246 49 41:39:00 6:43
323 Derrill Stepp 2235 53 41:51:00 6:44
351 Kirt Iverson 2228 45 42:58:00 6:55
416 Heriberto Medina 2200 59 1:01:59 9:59

 

Splits:

6:16, 6:39, 6:48, 7:09, 6:25, 7:11, 6:02 (.02)