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Silverman - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 33m 3s
Overall Rank = 8/174
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 1/20
Pre-race routine:

I drove into Vegas on Thursday evening and relaxed at the hotel. On Friday morning, Jim (Crusvegas) was kind enough to give me a tour of the Three Sisters and the following bike path. The ride wasn't difficult, but I didn't know exactly what was in store for me leading up to that point. On Saturday, Julia, Chris, AJ and I went out to the lake to drop off our bikes, take in a swim and drive the bike course. We arrived at Lake Mead around 9am, checked out the swim start and T1, then headed down to Boulder Beach to swim. The weather was gorgeous - not a cloud in the sky and virtually no wind to speak of. Needless to say, I was pretty confident I would have a good swim. The water felt great and was crystal clear. After the swim, we dropped off our bikes. That was a good call as we got really good transition spots. I was a little worred about the fact that I couldn't take some of the air pressure out of my tires, and that would be an issue with sitting out in the sun all day. It wasn't. We then drove the first 2/3 of the bike course and all I can say is the hills never stopped. There is nothing too steep for the first 35 miles, but they just keep coming. We then checked out T2, got something to eat. Chris McCormick caravanned to Vegas with Julia, Chris, AJ and Courtney, so I got the chance to meet him in the parking lot. I got back to Caesars around 4pm and relaxed for the rest of the night. On race morning, I got everything together and headed out to Sunset Station to catch the bus. I sat right behind Dave Scott. I wondered if Macca was going to get picked up by limo service from the Wynn. There was a small breeze when I first got there, but the lake was relatively calm. But the wind just kept getting stronger, and by 20m into the full, it was pretty rough.
Event warmup:

Not much, but loosening the arms for the swim. I tried to keep moving because it was pretty chilly before the start.
Swim
  • 41m 32s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 58s / 100 yards
Comments:

Rough. By the start of the half, you could see white caps beyond the marina. The first 2/3 of the swim out was fine, as the breakers sheltered the wind. I positioned myself near the front and towards the middle. There was some bumping in the first 200 yards, but nothing too bad. All hell broke loose after I found myself in open water. There were probably 2 foot swells in the open water. It sucked. At the first buoy, things got a little better as you were able to ride the swells. As I turned the last buoy, I knew I was in for trouble. I still haven't mastered breathing on my ride side, and I could have used it coming back in. I swallowed a ton of water and had to stop a few times to catch my breath. The waves were pushing me all over the place. By then, the swimmers were really spread out. With about 4-500 yards left, the waters calmed down as we were back behind the marina, but it was still fairly choppy. I was glad to see the finish and swam until my hands touched the bottom. I ran up the ramp, dropped for the wetsuit strippers, grabbed my bike bag from the volunteer and ran into the changing tent.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I was hoping for a little better time, but given the circumstances, I am glad to even finish that swim. And to think, the race organizers commented on the fact that the swim was 5 times worse than that last year. Wow!
Transition 1
  • 01m 51s
Comments:

T1 went pretty smoothly. I put on socks and my bike shoes in the changing tent. I forgot to put my running number/belt in my T2 bag so I had to wear it on the bike, but it was no big deal. My bike was in the rack closest to the changing tent, so I had a little ways to run before the mount area. I decided not to have my shoes clipped in as there is a good mile climb leading out of transition.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Bike
  • 2h 58m 26s
  • 56 miles
  • 18.83 mile/hr
Comments:

Wow, what a course. I left transition and proceeded uphill for a mile just leading out of the marina. We then took a right on the main road around Lake Mead. At this point the wind was at our back, so I pushed it pretty hard for the first 10 or so miles. There was rolling hills and then a good climb up to the right turn on Northshore Drive (?). I was able to pass a number of people here. The 10-12 miles from the turn on Northshore to the half turnaround was a net elevation gain with several good sized hills. I did a good job of keeping a good pace on the uphills and holding on for dear life on the downhills. There was a cross wind for most of this part and the wind was blowing me around a bit at 35-40mph - fun stuff. I passed Julia just before mile 23, gave her a little pat on the back and she uttered some words of encouragement. :) More hills followed and I played cat on mouse with one guy for several miles. Then came mile 38-40, the now infamous Three Sisters. Given I had ridden this part of the course on Friday, I knew what to expect. But today, they were much harder. I finally dropped that one guy on the last Sister and never saw him again. I thought, now I am finished with the tough part of the course, whew! Boy was I wrong. What I thought was going to be relatively easy turned out to be just as tough as the hills. There is about 10 miles of a bike path to ride and it's a false flat. Combine that with a stiff headwind and you get spinning in your smallest gear trying to maintain 11-13mph. That was a little demoralizing. I was hoping to use this section to bring my avg speed up. That was not to be the case. Once off the bike path, you were a little more sheltered from the wind and I was able to pick up some time. The last 10 miles were OK with a big downhill section and a couple of small rollers right before T2. I passed a number of people on the bike course and didn't get passed by anyone. It was a little lonely out there at times. The one good thing about this race is the smaller field and the one bad thing about the race is the smaller field. There were times when you were all alone on the course and no other competitor in sight. I pushed the last 5 miles as much as possible as I wanted to be under 3 hrs. I made with not much to spare. Overall, a really tough course. I was happy to be off the bike. My nutrition was spot on. I had 3.5 servings of Clif Blocks and took in 4-5 bottles of Gatorade Endurance. I also had Enduralytes at mile 10 and mile 50. I had some very, very minor tweaks/cramps in my butt, but nothing too significant.
What would you do differently?:

I felt pretty good on the bike, but with this course, you can't do enough hill repeats in your training.
Transition 2
  • 01m 40s
Comments:

The volunteers were great. I got off my bike, handed it to a volunteer, then another handed my run gear bag to me, and I headed into the tent to change.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 1h 49m 36s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 22s  min/mile
Comments:

My legs felt good coming off the bike. The beginning section was downhill and at mile 1, I looked to see 7.10 on my watch. Not too bad. Then the hills came and so did some cramps in both quads. Fortunately the cramps went away quickly. I guess it was just the pounding on that downhill section. Mile 2-4 was a sustained climb and I could see two guys up ahead. I don't say this too often, but I was able to pick them off and never saw them again. There was a flat section as you came back to the T2 area on Green Valley Parkway and headed out on a bike path. It was there where I saw Macca coming in the finish area. We crossed each other, said good job, and gave each other a high five - pretty cool. As I left the bike path, Dave Scott came running past, but he had another 4-5 miles to go, while Macca crossed the finish line by now. Then came another long uphill climb until the turnaround. One guy caught up to me and we ran together for a long time. He would push ahead for a while and then I would catch back up to him. I was also counting the runners on the back portion as I could figure out where I was. I was pumped when I got to the turnaround and only counted what I thought was 10 or so people. Now that we were going back, we had downhill section. That was nice. I saw Julia at roughly mile 9 and let her know she was about 2 1/2 minutes behind the 1st place female. The last part of the run was pretty cool. The course ran through the middle of the Green Valley Ranch Station, a outdoor shopping/food court. It was awesome to have a big cheering section by then. I was finally able to drop the guy I was running with at mile 11-12. Mile 12 was tough. It was the last uphill section before turning back on the bike path. I still felt good and kicked it up a notch for the last half mile and into the long finishing chute. I thought there were a couple of mis-marked miles, but I kept a fairly consistent pace. My last 2 miles were 8.30s.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Post race
Warm down:

Just walked around, grabbed some food and a space blanket to keep warm.

Event comments:

This race is top notch. I don't think it could have gone any smoother. The volunteers were great. Tons of stuff on the bike and run course. On the run, someone would meet you ahead of the station to ask what you wanted, then they would yell that out, so you wouldn't have to scramble to get what you needed. The schwag was awesome, a felt blanket, water bottles, nice transition bag, visor, t-shirt and other goodies. Age group winners also received a free round trip ticket on Allegiant Air to/from Vegas, along with a plaque and gift certificate to Tri-sports.com. I would highly, highly recommend this race to everyone.

One last story. So if anyone was at the banquet, you know we were treated to a talk from Dave Scott on his race. He commented on how Macca couldn't pass the "Old Man" on the swim and just drafted instead up until the last possible second before racing out of the water to get the swim premium. So Dave Scott threw Macca his swim cap. He also talked about how he didn't know how he was given the number 451, as he always had number 1 or number 2 or so other low number. But not 451. It was a little joke that got the crowd laughing. So after the banquet, Macca comes over to our table to sign some stuff for Julia and to talk to AJ. Long story short, Macca wasn't too thrilled to have Dave Scott's swim cap, so he gave it to me. So if anyone is interested in putting a bid for it, I'll listen to offers.....

Fantastic race


Profile Album


Last updated: 2007-01-08 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:41:32 | 2112 yards | 01m 58s / 100yards
Age Group: 8/20
Overall: 71/174
Performance: Average
144 AVG 154 MAX
Suit: QR UltraJohn
Course: The course was an out an back rectangle shape.
Start type: Wade Plus: Shot
Water temp: 68F / 20C Current: High
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:51
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:58:26 | 56 miles | 18.83 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/20
Overall: 8/174
Performance: Good
154 AVG 168 MAX
Wind: Strong
Course:
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:40
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
01:49:36 | 13.1 miles | 08m 22s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/20
Overall: 15/174
Performance: Good
154 AVG 162 MAX
Course: Winding, hilly course around the Green Valley Ranch area in Henderson.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2007-11-13 11:40 AM

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Expert
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Highlands Ranch, CO
Subject: Silverman - Half Ironman


2007-11-13 7:49 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman

Great job Scott!!

An outstanding performance.

2007-11-13 9:55 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Westminster, CO
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
great race!  sounds like a fantastic weekend all around.  Wow!  1st AG.  8th overall.  very impressive.  great end to the season
2007-11-13 9:55 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Regular
82
252525
Madison, CT
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
What a great race!  Your swim was really good for those conditions and it looks like you had the 8th best bike out of everyone and finished with a strong run.  That's also cool you got round trip airfare to Vegas.  I'm sure that will come in handy.  Maybe to do it again next year?  Fantastic job!
2007-11-13 11:40 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Master
1873
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Colorado
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
YEAH BABY!!!  Nice way to win your AG!!  Impressive bike time there too.  I'm not worthy!!  You can keep Dave Scott's cap though   Hope you had as good a weekend as we did.  I just want to know when we're using our tickets to go back!
2007-11-13 11:53 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Mesa
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
Great job! You smoked that bike ride. It was a tough great race!


2007-11-14 8:32 AM
in reply to: #1050998

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Official BT Coach
2210
2000100100
Englewood, CO
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
Great report Scott!  You did awesome.  Winnig first place must have felt great since you have really put in the time and did very quality workouts.  Congrats!
2007-11-14 11:05 AM
in reply to: #1052525

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Master
2249
200010010025
Colorado
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
Great race!  I'm so impressed! 
2007-11-14 11:47 AM
in reply to: #1050998

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Expert
683
500100252525
Denver
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
Not really sure how you kept up the training motivation to stay strong through this race, but it obviously paid off. I'd guess that you'll be saying you saw a couple guys ahead of you and were able to catch and pass them more and more in future RRs. Congratulations on a great day!
2007-11-14 3:12 PM
in reply to: #1050998

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Master
4101
20002000100
Denver
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
Congrats! Like Ryan said, you've been putting in a lot of time this season leading up to this so its gotta feel good to have it all pay off.
2007-11-14 5:26 PM
in reply to: #1050998

Expert
1113
1000100
Las Vegas
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman

Awesome race! Awesome report!  I can't wait to join you guys out there next year.

Shooting to achieve your times might be unrealistic for me...so I am going to shoot for cruisevegas times.

Again, good job! 



2007-11-15 11:48 AM
in reply to: #1050998

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Master
1924
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Denver
Subject: RE: Silverman - Half Ironman
This is the "AMAZING RACE", not that crap on tv! I love your story about the run...it must have been surreal to be crossing paths with those guys, while running away from the field. CONGRATS SCOTT!!
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