Alta Canyon Triathlon

Jake, dad, me, and Sabrina flexing after finishing the Alta Canyon Triathlon

Last Saturday Sabrina, Jake, my Dad, and I all participated in the Alta Canyon Triathlon in Sandy. We all had a lot of fun and I was impressed with how well everyone did.

We got everything loaded up and made it to the Alta Canyon Rec Center at about 7:00am. We stood in like to get checked in and get our numbers written on our arms and legs and then we got our transition areas set up.

Swim - 400 M
This is an interesting triathlon because the swim in done in a pool instead of a reservoir, lake, or river. Since it would be really crowded and probably really dangerous to start everyone at once in a pool, they have you line up according to how fast you think you are going to swim and start you one at a time. Because the pool was so crowded and people were only started 5 seconds apart, we all passed people who thought they were faster than they really were.

Bike - 9 Miles
A few weeks before the race we rode the course to get familiar with it. It is a two loop course with a big hill going up one side of the loop and a long downhill on the other side. It's a really fun bike course with very little traffic. Sabrina got a new (used) road bike just before the race that she used. She was really able to notice a difference between the mountain bike she had been riding on the training rides.

Run - 5K
The run was also a two loop course and also had a steep hill and long downhill. On both of my loops I saw my dad riding up the hill on his bike. I also saw Jake, who was also running, on my second loop. It was fun to have so many people racing and to see them on the course.

I finished in a time of 1:07:03 which was 4 and a half minutes faster than my time last year. I ended up with second place in my age group and only missed first place by about 18 seconds. My dad, who did awesome on his first triathlon, also got second place in his age group. The swim has always been our strength in my family. Jake was the 6th fastest swimmer overall and I was the 4th fastest. Sabrina, who also did her first full triathlon, also did really well and only came in a few minutes after Jake.

Me, my dad, and our medals

Harrison had a lot of fun with Jod, B, and my mom

Deer Creek 5K Open Water Swim

On Saturday the 16th I swam the Deer Creek 5K Open Water Swim at Deer Creek reservoir. It's a pretty new event that was just started last year by Jim Hubbard. There were several distances available to swim: 1 mile, 5K, 10K, and 10 mile. I'm not sure exactly how many people entered, but I counted at least 20 boats. There were at least three people that tried for the 10 miles.

We woke up at 5:30am the morning of the race after a short sleep (thanks to Harrison) and headed up Provo canyon. It was really cold when we got there and I am glad that we all thought to bring jackets. I was worried that the water was going to be really cold since I didn't bring a wetsuit. Luckily for me the water was much warmer than I thought, probably around 70 degrees.

I didn't realize what a fast bunch of swimmers I was going to be swimming with. At the start they all took off and I was just taking it easy. My thought was that I would catch some of them when they got tired...well none of them got tired and I ended up finishing second to last with a time of about 1:44.

I felt fine for most of the race, but my arms started to get tired on the way back to the start. It also felt like the water was moving against me on the final stretch.

Each swimmer had to provide a "paddler"; someone in a kayak for support, navigation, safety, and feeding. Sabrina was my paddler and did a good job of encouraging me and of giving me gels and Gatorade while I swam. I have never swam with a paddler before so it took me a while to figure out exactly what I needed Sabrina to do to help me navigate.

Jod and B came up to watch me swim and to take care of Harrison while Sabrina and I were in the water. It's nice to have family that comes to support me in all the things I enter.

When we got home, all three of us crashed for an hour or so. When I woke up I had this song in my head by Midlake:



Here is a map of my swim thanks to my Garmin Forerunner 305 and MotionBased.com. You can also click here to watch the satellite view of my swim on MotionBased.

Here are some things that I learned about open water swimming from this event:

Training:
I need to do a lot more. Seriously, I think the last time I swam before this race was the 1 mile swim at Spudman (and that was down river). I wasn't worried about finishing the distance and knew that I would be able to since Jake and I swam about 2.5 miles a month or so ago. I need to work on my speed.

Navigation:
You can't really tell so much from the picture above, but I was zig-zagging quite a bit and I think, besides a serious lack of training, this was what cost me a lot of extra time. We finally figured out where I needed Sabrina to be to help me navigate with about 1 mile to go.

Chaffing:
This is so stupid. I bought a bar of Body Glide the day before and then I didn't use it. As a result I got some pretty nasty chaffing on my neck, armpits, and some other places that I would rather not mention...

I had a lot of fun and am planning on entering again next year. I would like to try for the 10K next time, but we will see how much training I actually do before then...

P.S. Pictures to come...

Open Water Swimming

With the addition of the 10K open water swim as a new Olympic event as well as coming to the realization that I am a much better swimmer than biker or runner, I have been getting really excited about getting back into swimming and especially distance and open water swimming.

Last Saturday Jake, Sabrina, Harrison, and I made a trip up to Jordanelle Reservoir so that Jake and I could get in an open water swimming workout. We ended up swimming a total of 2.3 miles and felt pretty good (not getting run over by a ski boat or hooked by a fisher is always a good thing). You may ask, "how do you know you swam 2.3 miles?" Well, I finally figured out a way to use my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch for swimming. I took the band off and put the actual GPS unit in a plastic baggie in between two swim caps (neon of course so that people could see us). It worked surprisingly well and we had a lot of fun looking at where we swam on the map when we got home. Here is the map of where we swam (thanks to the Garmin and MotionBased):


Jake and I (at least I think Jake is going to do it) are training to swim the Deer Creek Open Water Marathon Swim next month. I have been looking around for a while for a race like this in Utah and I'm pretty sure this is the only one of its type in the State. The plan is to swim the 5K this year and then try for the 10K next year.

Despite our family trying to talk us out of it because of little things like sharks, jellyfish, and sea lions, Jake and I are also planning on doing one of the many Alcatraz swims next year.

Utah Summer Games / Harrison's First Swim

Last weekend we made a trip down to Cedar City for the 2008 Summer Games. We went with my parents, my sister Jodi and her husband Bernd.

Harrison actually did pretty well in the car on the way down, but things took a turn for the worse later in the weekend when he decided that he wanted to start waking up in the middle of the night. I had to spend one night on the floor because he would only stay asleep on the bed with Sabrina. He had a hard time taking naps by the pool because of all the cheering and start buzzers. It was nice to have my family there to help take care of him. My dad even took him for a walk every morning.



Jodi and I entered some of the swimming events this year instead of the triathlon. It has been over 10 years since I swam competitively at Viewmont High School. I entered 7 events including the 200M Free, 1500M Free, 400M Free, 50M Fly, 200M IM, 100M Free, and 50M Free. It was so much fun to be swimming again! I wish that I would have trained a little more (I only went swimming twice before we went down). I ended up winning a few medals in my age group and was disqualified from the 200M IM for making an illegal turn (it wouldn't be a real swim meet if I wasn't disqualified from at least one event!). Jodi ended up with a couple medals herself and also had a good time (even though she didn't think she did very well, she did awesome!). I think we have about everyone in my family wanting to participate next year. Sabrina was wishing that she would have entered a few events too.



Swimming in a 50M pool was quite a bit different than swimming in a 25 yard pool. For one, meters are a little longer than yards. Also you didn't get the boost off the wall because there were half as many flip turns.

The highlight of the trip for me was taking Harrison swimming for the first time. I was so excited to get him in the pool that I forgot to put on sunscreen and got a pretty good sunburn. Harrison loved the water even though he was ready for a nap. We even dunked him under the water a couple of times. Other than having water in his face when he came up, he didn't seem to mind being put under the water. I have been looking forward to taking him swimming for so long and I finally got my wish!