James Harrington's Kona Experience Reprint

James is one of Las Vegas's premier athletes, and club member. I believe he is a sponsored athlelte and I will post the names of his sponsors when I get them ( I think Hammer Nutrition and Red Rock Runinng). This year the conditions on Kona were very difficult, even for Kona as I understand it. That makes James's performance even that more impressive. Congratulations. Here is his race account which which appeared in the "Lab Report"

"The field here is absolutely amazing! I cannot believe all of the strong athletes from all of the world here to compete. I feel very privileged to be a part of this and experience it. The day started out beautifully with the clearest skies we have had all week. The winds were kicking up a little bit which added some chop and swells to the swim…not good for someone who is a poor swimmer. With all of the strong swimmers in the field it stayed very packed in which made it difficult to get into a rhythm. Unfortunately my swim time was a couple of minutes slower than I wanted, but in all it was a good swim.

The bike starts out with a couple of loops through town which were very congested! Once out on the Queen K highway though that all changed. We had a little bit of a tailwind on the way out to Hawi, but this quickly changed right after the turnaround. What was a slight tailwind turned into the nastiest crosswinds I have ever experienced. To top that off it was a downhill sections so as you reached speeds in the mid-20s to low-30s you were getting blown from side to side. After we made the turn back onto the Queen K for the final 30 miles back into Kona the crosswinds turned into headwinds! This stretch of road was rough since we were now 80 miles into the bike. I did have the marathon to look forward too...I always enjoy the run!

After getting into a nice rhythm on the run I was able to run my best Ironman marathon with a 3:15! I finished 273rd overall with a time of 9 hours 56 minutes and 37 seconds."

Coach Jackie Acana: Observations

Jackie is one of our most experienced and sucessful coaches. After returning with her athletes from Kona I asked her to give us her perspective.



I thought it may be beneficial to tri group members for me to list out what skills were most associated with the athletes I coach and who I have watched over the years who experience the most success. These athletes include not just “winners” of the race or their age group but the true ambassadors of the sport. I am sure you must have come across the athletes who exude excitement about our sport and perhaps even motivated you to give it a “tri”. This also includes those who have met their goals for their race or season. This most definitely includes those who decided to increase their exercise, give up a bad habit, improve their food choices and enjoy a more vibrant lifestyle no matter what their place was in the race. The athletes I have witnessed with the most success have shared the following traits:

Stick to the plan – Successful athletes do not make arbitrary changes to the plan of action that was established to support their goals. Naturally, any good coach or self coached athlete will make adjustments based on major schedule changes, injuries and illness. However, the most successful athletes do not change their minds about where they are headed. They do not second guess where they were going or why. They put their faith in the path that was set out and don’t waiver. I once met an athlete that thought nothing of changing direction mid-season and even during taper to follow what the latest article said or some tip picked up from a guy they met at a party. They ended the season frustrated with their results. Be a diligent goal setter so every step you take is getting you closer to your dream. You need to break it down into manageable pieces and start tackling them one by one.

Be consistent – The most successful athletes do most of their workouts most of the time. Sure, there are legitimate times you should miss a workout. For example, when you are sick you should skip it. However, most other reasons do not take the entire day and night. Most successful athletes find a way to be creative with their schedule so they can get it done. It may not be their favorite time or location. Perhaps they’d rather run outside in the morning but had to go into the office early. The creative athlete will run at lunch time on the treadmill or after the kids are in bed at night if they have to. They may not like the alternate workout as much but they will do what they have to do within reason to achieve their goals. This also means they are consistent on not just a weekly basis but on a daily basis. Missing 4 days and then doing all missed workouts in one day is not how the highly successful athletes do it.

Be realistic- Setting your sights high is a good thing....to a point. Expecting to be vastly improved in a short period of time will generally lead to disappointment. I know many of you as children were told you could be anything you set your minds to. Well, at 5’3” I am probably not going to play basketball at a competitive level no matter how bad I want it. Keep your goals high but achievable with some reaching. Keep in mind this includes a realistic time table. It may take years, not weeks to reach more difficult goals. In our society the desire to do nothing or the absolute minimum and get something for it quickly is widespread. I am not sure why since it does not work in the long run, ever. The athletes who are very successful do not follow this popular bandwagon. They do not expect it to be easy or without sacrifice.

Be Patient and Persistent – While this often ties into being realistic it is also about not giving up. Yes, it is hard sometimes. That is what makes it so rewarding. It may take years, not weeks to reach more difficult goals. Did it take you 20 years to gain that extra 20 pounds? Well it will probably take more than 20 days to lose it in a healthy way. Be patient with the process. It is easy to backslide into old habits. The important thing the most successful athletes know about pursuing difficult goals is that they will fall off at times. Their success comes from getting back up again over and over again.

Be Flexible- Anything can happen on race day. Things can go wrong and frequently do. Many things are beyond your control. If you enjoy the disciple and like seeing the results of your hard work, it really isn’t as important what happens on race day. Many talented athletes have lost my respect by having temper tantrums at the finish line because of this or that perceived unfairness. You need to be able to go from plan A to Plan B or even C or D. This is the best way to ensure your “success”. In advance I like to think of my best case goal. If everything is just right, what am I capable of achieving? Next, I have the “What is most likely to occur” goal. This is the one I will tell my friends and family about. I never tell them the best case goal so I can keep the pressure off myself. Next is the “what if things go wrong “ goal. This is the goal I go to if I have a mechanical or a stomach problem. It is the goal I can live with if things out of my control start to happen. Finally, the main goal I have had since I first started and is still very important to me which is simply to finish. Finishing is why we start. It is for the glory and bragging rights after the pain goes away. Finishing is the only goal I encourage my beginner to have. One caveat; I do not encourage anyone to try to finish if it would cause permanent damage. Bad injuries and illness fall into the category of “Let’s not be stupid, we can always do another race if we handle this problem now correctly”. Being able to move between these goals go a long way toward making you a successful athlete.

It is not just about the workouts – When I first started in this sport I thought if I just did all the workouts in my plan, I would be on the podium. It took some time to realize it takes so much more than that. The best athletes have dedicated themselves to a whole lifestyle approach which includes flexibility, nutrition, stress management and core strength. The athletes who stay in the longest also include rather than exclude their families and important non-athletes in their lives. These are all important aspects you should include if you want to stay in the game for more than a season or two.

Have Fun- In the final analysis, this is a hobby. It is supposed to be fun. The most successful athletes do not forget this. While they may have on their game face during the race, they are in it for the joy of the sport, the camaraderie and the lifestyle. Enjoy the journey. Granted, I do not enjoy every hill repeat on the bike, every minute of every long run and surely not every lap in the pool. Generally, however, I find it worthwhile and rewarding when I finish. Find joy in your training by sharing it with others or find serenity in training alone. Do what works for you but have some fun doing it.

Everything counts and it is all worth it.

jackie@xcellperformancegroup.com
702.376.0437
2033 Hobbyhorse Ave.Henderson, NV 89012

Quest for Kona: by Jay Watson

Quest For Kona, an Ironman Arizona Race Report
by J.A. Watson

As many of you have probably done, I started watching the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona on T.V. a couple of years ago. I was captivated by the Hoyts, Blazeman, the parade of nations, the underpants run,etc. and thought Kona would be a pretty cool thing to do. I've been doing Tri's for 3-4 years, did the bike portion of Silverman the first two years, and have been somewhat successful in OLy-1/2IM races. But I've never done a full ironman or even a marathon. So I figured I had an outside shot of qualifying for Kona when I aged up in 2009. My plan was to volunteer for the spring 2008 IMAZ and register for spring 2009. When they changed the date to fall 2009 and I could register online, I went ahead and signed up for this years fall race.

Looking at past results, I figured I would have to go 10:30 in M45-49 to have an outside shot. OK, that's doable: Swim 1:15, Bike 5:15, then run my first marathon in$;00 with transitions thrown in there somewhere! I've had issues with pulling calf and hamstring muscles when I run, and I only run with compression sleeves on my calves now.(even though they look hideously ugly!) I'm an Ob/Gyn doctor and have a 10yr old daughter and 8yr old son, so my training schedule is usually 2-3 swims, runs, and bike rides per week. Masters swimming at 5:30am for the past 2 years, longest run 16 miles, and longest bike 81 miles.

I tapered for 2-3 weeks and drove down to Tempe on Thursday night. Friday morning I did the Gatorade warm-up swim at Town Lake. 65 degrees, choppy, murky and swam for 35 minutes. I was surprised at how many foreigners were there and there wasn't a lot of body fat to be seen, so I was a little bit intimidated. I took advantage of the free massage and told the masseuse that I had problems with my calves and hamstrings. So he proceeded to give me an A.R.T.(active release technique?) massage, which left me feeling like I had charley horses in my calves! I spent all day icing and compressing my calves, and the next day heating and trying to massage and roll out the knots in my calves. NEVER try anything new on race day, or 2 days prior to race day for that matter! I felt much better by race day though.

Race Day: My day started at 3:30 with my typical pre-race banana and oatmeal breakfast, then drove from my sisters house in east Mesa to the race sight. Calf sleeves and trisuit, lots of chamois cream, got body marked, checked out my bike, loaded up aerobottle with accelerade and velcred 2 flasks of powergel and accelgel to my bike. Suntan lotion and then tried to relax till wetsuit time. Surprisingly I fely pretty relaxed at that time. I spoke with a guy who was doing hios 16th IM of the year!Don Hennesy? I want his job!!! I jumped in the water 14 minutes before the start, and set up about 2/3rd the way over to the bouys-away from shore. I started my watch when the pro's started 10 minutes before us and positioned myself about 5 people back from the front and waited for the cannon to go off. My swim going out was very uncrowded and I got bumped more coming back in, but also caught a good draft on the inward leg. I felt good the whole swim and checked my watch after my wetsuit was pealed off and was pleasantly surprised with a 1:05:35. (37/247 in AG) WOOHOO 10 minutes ahead of schedule!

I put on a TT suit over my trisuit for the bike and had a decent T1 of 5:49. I headed out on the bike and started reeling in the faster swimmers. I tried to keep my pace steady and not get overly excited, but I know the adrenalin was running high. I got passed by the first and only pack I saw about 10 miles into the bike, but they thinned out going up the hill to the turn around. I didn't see any penalties get handed out, but I did see a few people in the penalty tents. The marshalls did seem to be ever present on Beeline Hwy, but nowhere else that I saw. I was surprised there was a headwind going out on the first 2 loops, then it shifted to a tailwind for the 3rd loop. First loop
22.19MPH, 2nd 21.64MPH, and the last loop 22.09MPH. I didn't bother to pick up my special needs bag, since the volunteers were AWESOME! Every high speed handoff was like they'd been practicing all week long! The only glitch I had was when my TT suit zipper broke as I was trying to zip it down in the last mile. I ended up just tearing it open. I'm glad I started zipping it down well before T2. Bike:5:05:50.....SWEEEET! T2 1:14 and headed out to do my first marathon at
6:18:27.
I put on Desoto arm coolers on the fly and tried to take in water and
gatorade at each aid station. I kept telling myself to run the whole marathon-NO WALKING! First 2 miles I did at 7:30pace, but it felt like 8:30 and I thought the markers might be wrong. Probably oxygen debt! I knew I had a long way to go. I didn't know where I stood, but saw 1 guy pass me on the bike in my AG and 5 on the run. No muscle cramps or pulled muscles, maybe that ART was a good thing?! My pace started to drop on the second loop. I had to stop to use the facilities twice, so maybe I was drinking too much. I bonked slightly at 20-21 until I got
a gel at the next aid station. I kept pushing it and caught back up with 3 guys in my AG in the last 3-4 miles and pushed hard the last 2 miles as I was still unsure how I stood for Kona slots and didn't want anyone passing me coming in.

Finished at 10:12:43(run: 3:54:17). My race couldn't have gone better, but I knew qualifying times would be lower on such a perfect day. Turns out I was 13th in AG and only 7 Kona slots. I still had to go to the rolldown the next morning just to make sure. I felt bad for the guy who finished 8th in under 10 hours and still didn't get a spot. YOu actually had to be faster in M45-49 than M40-44.(9:53 vs 9:54) My time would have put me in 3rd M50-54 which would get me to Kona, but I've decided not to pursue that next year as family and finances take priority.(Maybe!) Maybe Silverman will be my Kona. No Kona spot for me this year, but I had fun trying! I'll just have to experience it vicariously through Michael Sullivan for now!

Las Vegas Tri Club wins Silverman Award!!

The LV Tri Club won the best aid station at this year's Silverman triathlon. The award was claimed at the banquet for the volunteers held on Sat, Nov 15 at 6pm, in downtown Henderson. Dinner was provided by the Outback Steak House who cooked us a fantasic array of steak, chicken, salads and wild rice.........

Nestled at mile marker #7 on the run course, Nich Ghallager and company went beyond the call of duty to provide every athlete with the proper hydration and nutritional needs required to finish such grueling event. Not only did they have all of the goodies but they were dressed as chefs and ran along side the athletes generating adrenaline to the weary runners. They even had a young lady singing and playing guitar just to make evryone that much more comfortable. When I went through, they overwhelmed me with cheers, encouragement and every possible nutritional need, needless to say, I was fully energized!!!
Congratulations to Nick's gang, they had tough competition from numerous aid stations but came out on top!!! I will mention again and again that without the dedication, hard work and countless hours these volunteers spend out there, we wouldn't be able to race.

I was honored to be a guest speaker in front of these wonderful folks who unselfishly dedicated their valuable time and effort so we can race. I also tip my helmet to the Henderson Police Department (it was great running red lights!!!) who did an splendid job holding traffic and making the roads safe for the racers. The City of Henderson and its officials who went all out to make this event possible, providing road closures and needed permits. The Henderson Multi Generational Complex where the expo and finish line took place. And last but not least, Frank and Megan Lowery and their fine staff who have worked so hard to bring us the finest full distance triathlon for the last four years.

It's been a great year for the Tri Club members, finishing the year with Silverman was a special treat. We've had a great time this season and it's time to relish in our results and take a well deserved break. Looking forward to the year-end party coming up soon where we can unwind a little and aknowledge the fruits of our efforts. 'Till then, take care and, thank you for reading....................Victor
I'm just lookin' for some TUSH............ZZ Top

Silverman Report 3: Stefanie

See Stefanies post on her sidebar blog

Silverman Report 2: Susan

this will read more like an adventure race than an honest-to-goodness ironman distance race. i guess i like to add all sorts of drama to my race day antics in order to get the most out of the experience...but here, i added too many. and man, do i regret it. well, really only that this was my race to lose.

i did the race and finished in 16:43 ish....but i missed the bike cut off by 9 minutes and they took my chip...... so i finished unofficially to NOT take 3rd place. i am totally hacked at myself and disappointed. and i totally totally loved loved loved the cool award...i so wanted one. wish they had a "she stuck it out like a fool" award.

but i am a warrior!!! if a foolish one.

Silverman race in Las Vegas is very difficult - i say this simply b/c it IS. every single finisher has my utmost respect.

the race claims it is the HARDEST ironman distance race...with 10,000-12,000 feet of climbing on the bike. it always challenges me. maybe cuz i am a Floridian, maybe b/c it is so late in the season, maybe b/c i do way too much athletically before i arrive in Las Vegas to tackle it...whatever, it just wears me out from start to finish. the whole thing.

and, as usual, conditions at the start were not cooperative....and my friend Barb who has been on Team USA with me every year was talking about not making cutoffs at World Championships this year as we made the bus ride over to the swim start....apparently for me, that was bad juju and of course, i failed to eat at my fave sushi restaurant like i do before all my other ironmans...! dang, i am good at compounding mistakes...but Barb also did not make the bike cut off...dang the foreboding.

but back to the race report...the swim started out nicely...however, the wind and rain were coming in and struck with about 1/3 - 1/2 of the swim to go...the 2-5 foot swells during the last 1/3 really took it out of me. i used literally any stroke i could to get in. the water really churned up and i struggled to make it back to T1...several folks gave up...but i didn't. i kept being blown off course and could not see the buoys as i would have to struggle to site...you would look up and take water straight in the face. i had to spin around several times to gag after taking in a breath of water...

i used up some time i would later determine i did not have.

and i feel really bad about this: i had CONNED my friend Blaine into doing the full race. he beat me out of the water by 1 minute, and even tho i had to really suit up for the cold weather and wind, i was thru transition faster than he was.

i had on a skull cap under my helmet, i borrowed some additional bike shorts from my friend victor (cuz i rented a bike to save myself some money on the flight charges for the bike and i knew this race would probably just be a survivor-athon).

the bike was a specialized but it was a road bike and the seat was really really really hard. victor gave me the bibs and since i have never used them, i put my jersey on then had to take it back off since i forgot to put the shorts over my tri shorts first :) and i had on a vest and arm warmers. i even shoved gloves into my back pocket.

i chose, as a neighborly gesture, to wait on Blaine after i came out of the T1 tent. this might have been another strategic error. i again lost some valuable time since he also took a bathroom break after we got past the timing mat.

...then we headed off - always 3 bike lengths apart - on a really hard bike course. in the beginning, i struggled in the wind and rain and cold weather. i am sure that having Blaine in my sites helped with the mental game of gutting out the bike. but he soon petered out and i went off and left him to struggle, thinking he would always have me in his sites. maybe i could return the favor for him.

i did not see him again until the turn around of the bike and he was about a mile back. i was coming undone on the false flats heading into special needs around mile 52. i really could not believe, in my fave sport of biking, that i could literally be going as slow as i was and still be upright. but i just could not get the bike to go any faster and i was starting to get dizzy and coming outside of myself. i kept lulling myself into continuing to go by saying, don't stop now and rest on the side of the road like you want to, but keep going to your McDonalds burger at special needs...

overall, i really don't think i could have gone faster on the bike. if i ever developed some energy to "attack" the climbs, it petered out pretty quickly as i climbed the next hill...check out the bike profile on www.silvermannv.com and understand that there is very little way to practice for this in pancake flat florida...

at special needs i came in and got some assistance getting off the bike and i immediately sat down to "get right with the world"..i was shaky/shivering and kinda dizzy. i ate my burger and drank my red bull and made my second drink of sustained energy. on the first 50 miles, i had had one bottle of that and 2 gus. i only had a green acai drink for breakfast. maybe another foolish mistake?

also, my nether regions were so sore on this bike. i had borrowed some aero clip on bars that were WAY TOO SHORT for me which changed up my whole posture. and the shifting on this bike was so different from mine...mine are bar end shifters. this road bike posture sat me on the seat differently so every angle of my sit bones were annoyed with me...thanks victor for the additional padding.

i also found that having to come out of the cramped aero position (altho it was windy so i was grateful that i had some other posture to reduce the head wind resistance) to push the brakes levers left or right or use my thumb to move the gears the other way. i think it took me (since i rented it the day before and only rode it around transition a bit before "checking it in") 10 miles of the race to figure out which way to move them to go easier or harder.

that couldn't have helped me with speed. and if i was down grasping the gears and went to shift, i would accidentally squeeze the brake lever as i shifted, slowing myself down accidentally. and of course, since it was not MY bike, the derailleurs were not working perfectly and i had to finagle the shifter every time i shifted - which on this course, is about every 15 seconds - to get it to move to the middle ring. altho i was extremely grateful for the third ring.

i did feel really badly as i had convinced Blaine to do the full and he was also sick with a head cold. with the conditions, it was not the year the course was forgiving. he struggled mightily. i saw him at the half way point and he was going to give up :) he later sagged in from the special needs area (stopping once as they passed me in the van to cheer me on)...i really needed that!

after my special needs short stop, i headed back out and felt much better...the rest of the course was difficult in that there were a lot of climbs...but all of them doable. i never set land speed records, but i thought i was consistent. i climbed out of the "bowl" and at mile 90 started to come undone again. i was racing to make the first bike cut off at the tunnel at 3:45 at mile 92. i made that by a half an hour and assumed i was home free...but here is my rookie mistake.

i had been biking with the thought that the total bike cut off time was 5:30 (like all ironmans - but this race started at 6:30 so i only had til 5 pm, even tho race director here gives folks til midnite, which allows a total of .5 hour over normal ironman times - but i needed the extra half hour on the bike) ...

so on the bike path with the "3 sister" short steep mountains of 20 percent grade at times, i biked 1.5 of them and walked the bike up the other ones to save my legs. this bike trail appears to me ALWAYS to be a false flat and the little downhills are short and quickly over. i just put my head down and gutted and gutted and gutted it out. but at mile 102 when i came off the path, i was just so undone and had no energy (i had only had one more gu and my sustained energy drink). i made a huge compounded mistake and i stopped to get some sustenance and sat in a chair eating broth with noodles and some nuts and some power bar...wonder how much time i lost then?

b/c then i got back on the bike and with more energy, pedaled faster. and there are a bunch of downhills on the way back into town except for a few quick climbs to the down hill and a long uphill into T2. you can really make up some time...but not when you are focusing on the WRONG time.

and here is where the story gets sad.

i was 9 minutes late getting back when i came into T2 and the race director Frank was waiting for me. he said that he was sorry but he couldn't let me go on. i have known Frank since i did the inaugural race 3 races ago and he knows i always struggle here. i really thought he was kidding.

i had worked so hard to get up the hills into transition and i just stared at him waiting on him to say, "just kidding, go girl and kick some course butt"..but he didn't. i just stood there. then i said "you are kidding, right?" and he said, "no". and i said, "but i made the cutoff" and he said, "no you didn't", and i said, "well, when was it?" and he said, "5". and my watch said it was 5:09.

i was absolutely devastated. i couldn't even respond, i could only stare at him. but he said he had to take my chip, so i grudgingly handed it over like it was a dream sequence. i have NEVER not made a cut off (altho i have always come close here) and i asked if i could go on to do the marathon since i was not thru and i KNEW i could do it in under 17 hours...i don't recall Frank's response, but i don't recall hearing NO. my friend Blaine said he had been fearing this as he waited and he wondered how i would handle it...guess i passed.

and to make matters worse, i had been chosen by the film crew to be interviewed for a show they are making for NBC on the silverman race to be aired later this year. i guess my race resume of pure-extreme-athletic-nuttiness made me stand out. and Spencer, my new friend, was there to capture MY FAILURE on the camera and i was so taken aback with the news that i teared up a bit since i literally could not believe this was happening and i was "interviewed" saying, thru tears, that "i came here to do 3 ironmans in 3 weeks and i was going to do it!" and so i, with my head still not wrapped around "this failure", headed off to the changing tent....

but in all my chaos, i grabbed the wrong bag (84 and not 64) and tried to go into the men's tent. i was directed into the right tent and came back out when i opened the bag and wondered why there were different clothes in it...so Spencer was right there and helped me find the right bag and back inside i went. i made the same "bib" mistake again as i took my jersey off and put some long sleeve underarmor on over my arm warmers cuz it was really cold out and then realized i had to take my shirt off again to get the bibs off since i did not want to run in them...and then put on my compression socks and shoes and put my vest back on and got ready to head out.

there was a young girl who walked in the tent when i was in there and she had tears on her face too. i asked what happened and she told me that she too had missed the bike cut off by 2 minutes. (Blaine later told me she was also devastated when she came in and threw her helmet down...guess i missed that option) i told her that she was still an ironman waiting to happen and to lace up and come out with me. i thought maybe she would, but i headed out and never saw her again.

Blaine was waiting and he was kind enuff to accompany me for the long hours ahead. i drank my red bull and was quite cold but just started running. i ran the down hills and the straight aways and then walked the uphills. it is a 2 looped course that i have done 3 other times - though always with positive results. i felt like a fraud out there since i had been "banished" from the race for the inability to do things in the time constraints...

but i knew i could do a sub 6 hour marathon to get in under 17, so that is just what i did. there were no heroic attempts to run up hills or run faster or pass people or anything. i just tired to remember why i loved ironmans and why i loved seeing new places, meeting new people and putting myself to athletic tests. and maybe learning something new about myself....and so i did.

i encouraged folks along the way, thanked the volunteers and tried not to feel too chagrined when others would encourage me - as i still felt like a silverman fraud -- even tho i had done it 3 other times successfully (which i had to keep reminding myself). i saw Spencer at the rock quarry on the course and tried to be upbeat Susan but i was still feeling sorry for myself a bit and still disappointed in what was clearly mine to have thrown away. he said he would see me at the finish and i knew he was a man of his word. therefore, i would be a woman of mine.

i ran when i could and walked really fast when i couldn't. i really appreciated Blaine's company and liked showing off the silverman course to him...esp. the views of the strip as you came back down the big long hill after the little quarry out and back.

we made the turn around and headed out to do the 2nd loop and there was Spencer waiting to cheer me on and get some good stories. we told him that i had passed 2 half iron athletes so i was making good time :) and we chatted a bit before sadly, i had to head on back out.

i was not too hungry so i had only a few gus and some liquids but i skipped many stations as i felt i was not working hard enuff to warrant food. i would finish later regretting this decision as i felt poorly starting at mile 20.

Blaine's hip started bothering him and so on 2 sections, i went it alone and it was one of those sections where i got a little teary again at just how foolish i had been. but i snapped out of it and ran with 2 women that i passed and cheered them on.

Blaine and i ran the little walking path back and ran right thru the finishing chute to make 16:43...and to complete my 3rd ironman distance race in 3 weeks. and i was so glad to see my friend Victor who was kind enuff to come back out near midnight to find his friend who has rocks for brains.

dang you, silverman!!! i shall return victorious!!! see ya next year!

Silverman Report 1: Victor R

The Silverman full and half distance triathlon took place on Nov 9 in the beautiful city of Henderson, NV. As always, race director Frank Lowery managed to put together the finest full and half distance event in Nevada and the southwest as well. This was the 4th year Frank has provided SoNev with such fine event.

There were upwards of 700 athletes from abroad and the states, topping the number from previous years. This year we were honored to have OPERATION REBOUND athletes participate in the event. O. R. is a group of military personell who have served this great nation in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the Middle East. These brave soldiers came back home with life-long injuries, most of whom were injured on the line of duty. I got to meet most of the brave men and women of O. R. These folks, most of them amputees, are being helped by an organization called CAF, Challenged Athletes Foundation. I spoke with a young man who lost his right arm on a road-side bombing and asked him how he could swim with one arm. He replied by saying that he uses his left arm for propulsion and kicks his feet as rudders to proceed in a straight line, simply amazing!!! The other gentleman I spoke with lost his left leg below the knee in a similar fashion, I saw him pedal his bike and run with no trouble at all. These men and women refuse to let their misfortune slow them down, their will to succeed and spirit is unparalled. I feel very fortunate to have raced with these brave personel and hope to see more of them next year....................

If you live in SoNev, you know how the weather can be unpredictable from day to day. We were hoping for some good news from the weather service but no cigar, a storm is brewing in the Pacific and it's heading this way. The previous days were gorgeous, sunny and warm, no wind, just perfect. On race day, things were a bit different. At 6am it looked like we were going to get lucky and enjoy a fine day. The full athletes took off on their swim at 6:30am, things were calm until they were half way through their 2.4 mile splash. It suddenly became very windy causing the lake to churn up two-foot waves and white caps. Some of the kayakers were blown off course and had to be rescued buy boaters.

At this time, the half iron athletes were sitting in the water waiting to start. The wind was trecherous but everyone was anxious to begin. The park rangers, along with Frank, decided to delay the start, we sat in the water for 45 minutes waiting for the storm to pass. Eventually, we were asked to exit the pond and corrall inside the changing tent. The main concern wasn't the windy conditions, it was lightning!!! At around 9:10am, the storm had passed and we were allowed to start our swim. It was very interesting out there, you could hardly see the bouys, it was difficult to navigate. We all managed to make it through the "washing machine" and now it was time to deal with the wind.

The bike course was very hilly and cross winds played havoc with the riders. Fortunately, just about everyone made the time cut and by then, the weather had calmed down. The run course was hard as we all know but at least we didn't have to deal high winds and rain. After all was said and done, it was a great day of racing, many athletes achieved their goals and dreams of being an ironman, what a feeling!!!.....................

Silverman may not be the most famous or largest triathlon on the schedule but it certainly is the most down to earth. Frank Lowery and his fine staff always manage to engage that "Ma and Paw" atmosphere and everyone involved feels like they're at home. I've been to other events and the feeling is that you're a number racing from point A to B. This is my fourth year racing Silverman and I will keep on participating for as long as I'm able and Frank allows me to do so. Next year, Frank promises to provide us with another stellar event and I heard him clearly say that he guarantees perfect weather unlike what we experienced this year. Also, he promised to remove about 8 or 9 thousand feet of climbing from the bike course!!! Wow!!!................

There were numerous LV Tri club members as well as many SoNev locals racing Silverman, too numerous to mention so, please go to: www.silvermannv.com and click on results, there you will see your favorite athlete's number and placings. Again it's a pleasure bringing you a short romp of Silverman, thank you for reading and it's time to rest and recharge the batteries for a couple of weeks then, back to the grind!!!.............Victor