Marathons, Triathlons, Ultras

I have already spent considerable time on long rides and runs thinking about what kind of events I want to do in 2009. The plan includes marathons, triathlons and ultra marathons. I'll probably throw in a century ride or two. But in talking through this with some training partners, I now have a better understanding of why I choose this combination of events.

For me, the triathlon is the ultimate challenge. Nothing tests your physical conditioning, endurance, and mental fortitude quite like the tri. The amount of training required to perform respectably in three disciplines is so much more physically demanding than a single sport. The effects of sleep, stretching, rest, and eating habits are exacerbated. And so many things can go wrong in a tri. So when a race goes well, it is incredibly rewarding.

I've been a runner for over 30 years and the marathon represents the pinnacle of the sport for many runners. The lore and lure of Boston alone makes the marathon a must do. But I avoided it for years. It is a test like no other. The training is hard...really hard, and it keeps you honest. For most runners, it's the longest distance you'll ever try to run as fast as possible. I have learned to always respect the marathon.

I am really glad to have found ultras last year. Through many long hours of training with friends and running events in incredible places, the ultra represents the pure joy of running. You only take on the ultra if you really love to run. Family and friends can't appreciate the ultra distances (most have never even heard of ultras). You don't run 6 - 10 hours or more for the recognition. I've never even seen a finisher's medal for an ultra. You do it for yourself, and the satisfaction in an ultra comes entirely from within. I got into ultras because I love to run, but I found training for ultras all winter took me into tri season in great shape.

I don't know if this is just my twisted way of justifying what I love to do, but it works for me.

Mt. Madonna Challenge -- Runners In The Mist

This one is for serious trail runners. I ran it two years ago and took second in my age group, so I wanted to do it again this year. In it's 33rd year, this trail run for locals draws a small crowd, probably due to its punishing course. The 1100-ft. climb from the start of the 12K forces all but the few front runners to walk less than a mile into the race. Just a few minutes into the race my heart rate was easily at 175.

Mt. Madonna is my favorite place for trail running, and today's race was absolutely pristine. Winding through troves of oak, sycamore, manzanita and redwoods, there was a two-mile section where we ran through thick fog. At the top of one ridge the fog spilled over the trail like smoke, the same way you see it in San Francisco as the ocean winds push it over the mountains. Sounds are muffled, trail shoes brush along a thick carpet of mixed foliage, and the scent of redwood seems to fill your body. I sort of lost myself in this space a few times, hardly aware I was running a race, mesmerized by finding myself in this other world.

I knew my Garmin wasn't going to track the distance through the tall forest, but I was surprised how well I remembered the course. I knew where the steep climbs ended, and I was ready for the downhills. The county had poured a fresh coat of gravel on the fire roads earlier in the year, and that made the descent much easier this year.

I highly recommend this event for any avid trail runner. It is breathtaking (and literally takes your breath away), challenging, and rewarding. It was also a good reminder for me to do more hill work in my triathlon training.

I had done almost no trail running recently but still managed to finish less than a minute behind my time two years ago. I was 15th overall but 8th in my age group in the smallest of races, reminding me once again I need to wait until I turn 60 for a shot at the podium.

Should Triathlon Be An Olympic Sport?

Consider Olympic sports of the past. Golf is one of the world's most popular sports, being played in well over 100 nations worldwide. Yet it has only been an Olympic sport twice, in 1900 and 1904. Polo is considered the oldest mounted team sport, with a history reaching back centuries, when it was played in the plains of Asia, ancient Persia, China and India. Polo was on the Olympic program five times, but not since 1936. Cricket, croquet, lacrosse, power boating, rugby, and water skiing have all been Olympic sports.

Then consider some completely obscure and unknown events that have made it to the Olympic arena. Jeu de paume was an event contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Pelote basque has elements of handball, tennis, squash, and the gambling game known as Jai Alai. It was an Olympic sport in 1900 in Paris. Roque, a version of croquet, was played in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. How did these sports ever make it to the Olympics? The same way tug-of-war made it on the Olympic program not once, but six times!

The most endearing Olympic sport is probably curling, where since 1924, a "skip" can use a broom to win the same medal they gave Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis. Are curlers really athletes? Is curling a sport? At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy, more people in Italy watched curling than ice hockey or figure skating.

But the weirdest sport of all is race walking. It has been an Olympic event for over 100 years. Current NBC Olympic host and commentator Bob Costas said racewalking, "looks like a person who has to go really bad. 'I gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now' --except they just don't break into a full-scale sprint. Having a contest to see who can walk the fastest is kind of like having a contest to see who can whistle the loudest. If you're really in that much of a hurry, run. And if you really want me to hear you, shout."

Demonstration sports at the Olympics ended in 1992, as there were too many events in the Summer Olympics for officials to handle.There are many other sports like karate that have been around for hundreds of years and practiced in most countries of the world but have never made it to the Olympics. Lawn bowling, ballooning (yes, hot air balloons), surf lifesaving--a sort of BayWatch, glima, korfball, pesapallo (a.k.a. Finnish baseball), and roller hockey have all made their bid to be in the Olympics but failed.

Britain has already claimed fourth place in the national medal count when they host the next Summer Olympics in 2012. They plan on doing it by entering more athletes in obscure sports like flatwater canoeing and team handball.

So I say, on this eve of the Olympic triathlon in Beijing, does triathlon have it's rightful place in the Olympics since making its debut at the Sydney Games in 2000 and will it stay? What do you think?

I am Aluminum Man!

Today, I did the Maui Aluminum Man at Kahekili Beach Park. The beach is named after the last king who ruled Maui and O`ahu for 45 years until 1794. King Kamehameha fought long and hard to defeat King Kahekili, who turned out to be his father (had to throw that in...makes it sound all native). Anyway, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had been told "no timer, no T-shirt, no medals, no fee, just fun." Fun and free sounded good to me.

There may have been 45 people at the start. No registration, no packet pick-up, no race bibs, no timing chips, no body marking (but plenty of tattoos). All participants, family and friends were asked to form a circle on the beach for a sort of spiritual-aloha-kumbaya thank you to the universe moment. Actually, it was kind of nice--made the event feel very local and home grown. Reminded me of the now defunct Redwood Trails organizers who used to ask a racer to sing the national anthem before every race.

Anyway, the start was very inauspicious. The organizers, a husband and wife team, also participated in the event. We were reminded once again to leave our egos on the beach. This event was purely for fun. We were led out from the beach where a fantastic reef begins just a few feet from the shore. I kind of wanted to look around at the marine life, but with an encouraging "OK, let's go!" we were off. Some people were wearing snorkels, others chose to wear fins; I even noticed someone wearing webbed gloves, but anything goes, brah.

This was my first time racing in the ocean without a wetsuit. I don't know what I was thinking even bringing it. I would have looked like a complete fool. But I couldn't believe how much harder it is to swim without it. I finished near the back of the pack completely "pao" but I knew I would make up time on the beach (not that I was racing or anything). When I stepped onto the beach, my wife and kids were standing there to greet me. I was so surprised to see they had walked a half mile from the start, I didn't know what to do but managed an exhausted pose for the camera.

The beach run was seven lengths of the distance we had just swam. They said it was 3.5 miles, but it was much harder than it looked. The sand was soft, it was already 80 degrees, nobody bothered wearing shoes, and the tide was coming in, leaving little room to run in some places. Ah, but where else in the world would I ever run a race barefoot?

I estimated 1/3 of everyone who started didn't finish the event, pulling out at different places. I have no idea where I finished in the standings. There was nobody taking times at the finish since the race directors were also racing. I clocked myself at 54 minutes and change, including all the times I stopped to pose as Aluminum Man for my kids to take my picture.

If you are ever in the Hawaiian Islands, don't miss this one. These events are held about seven times a year on different islands. Some include a bike; this is the only one with a beach run. Every once in a great while I go for a run just for the pure enjoyment of running. You will find Aluminum Man is a celebration of life.

Training in Maui

I'm in the middle of two weeks in Maui with my family, enjoying every minute. I'm officially training for the Slicon Valley Marathon where I want to qualify for Boston but I'm still considering the Big Kahuna 70.3 this year and another Olympic distance or two, so I am still tri training in Maui. It was going to cost $300 to ship my bike here and $300 to rent a decent bike for 2 weeks, so I'm just swimming and running.

Napili Bay is often voted one of the best swimming beaches in America. It's the perfect place to train for open water swimming. It's just over 1/4-mile from end to end with several reefs that keep it almost always calm. Visibility is great, so I can follow the lines in the sand created by the surf and can swim straight with very little navigation. Maybe I'm actually improving a bit. I swam once a few days ago in my sleeveless wet suit just to get the practice in, but it gets really warm in tropical water, not to mention I probably look like an idiot in a wet suit in Hawaii in August.

Running is always more punishing in Hawaii due to the heat and humidity. The pace is slower and I am always dripping in sweat, but the views are breathtaking. I have a favorite 3.5-ml. loop through Kapalua Resort I have been running for many years. Everything but the last half mile is hills. Today, I decided to run to Kaanapali and back, an 11-mile out and back run, but I take the upper highway on the first half and the lower road along the coast on the return. I forgot to bring salt tablets for the long runs in Maui and sure enough my right calf cramped up.

On Sunday, I will do the Aluminum Man, billed as a "not so serious series." I called the race director before I left California and was told to leave my Ironman ego at home. Oh, there is one other fantastic serendipity of training in Maui. Yesterday, I went for a quick snorkel on Napili Bay. Within two minutes, I found myself face to face with a giant green sea turtle. I had seen turtles in the bay for years, but had never come so close. This turtle let me swim right up to it, put my hand on it's huge shell, and swim by its side for about five minutes. It was at least 5.5-ft. long...had to be over 100 years old.

Sandman Triathlon Results

It was the first time I had heard a race announcer say, "And in first place, from Morgan Hill, Lynn Astalos!"

In 20 years of living in the Bay Area I had never been to Seacliff Beach where the Sandman Triathlon is held. It was a perfect day at the beach. I left home early so I could drive the bike route. I'm glad I did...the Aptos hills proved to be much steeper than I had anticipated.

The water temperature at the start was an unexpectedly comfortable 62 degrees. But the surf was not nearly as calm as it appeared from the beach. I thought I was going to be sea sick a few times but I kept a steady stroke and focused on my swim. I stepped onto the beach in about 21 mins., just ahead of my plan. The run to T1 was long, and the soft sand just made it harder. The bucket of water I had seen in T1 before the race had disappeared, so I had to take some extra time to get the sand off my feet.

I felt good jumping on my bike and immediately started passing people. I knew the first three miles was a pretty good climb, and I only managed to average 15.5 mph. That just meant I would need to fly to make up some time. I hammered the downhills at 35 - 40 mph, passing lots of riders. I had forgotten my water bottles, so I was hoping the only aid station on the bike was handing out bottles. I was disappointed to find one guy standing there with tiny paper cups. I finished averaging nearly 17.5 mph so I felt pretty good about the ride coming in to T2.

I ripped through T2 but quickly realized the run was not going to be fast. Over three miles of the 4.2-ml. run is on the beach. There really isn't any hard pack and the first 1/2-ml. is entirely soft sand. I chose to walk the steep stairs to New Brighton Campground. Once at the top, I was able to find a new gear and managed to accelerate through the second half of the run, finishing the race in 1:46. I was very happy with my time no matter what division I was in. I think I finished 78th overall.

I weigh about 205 lbs. but have never entered the Clydesdale division of any race. But J&A Productions offered no medals this year at Uvas and San Jose Int'l; there were no medals at Way Too Cool 50K, even after finishing but bonking and going to the hospital with an IV. Even after running 50 miles at American River there were no medals. Ultra runners don't do it for the medals, but I wanted some hardware, so I entered the Clydesdale division.

When the race announcer called my name, I was offered a choice of prizes, all designed by a local artist. A plastic dolphin fixed to a 5-inch trophy covered in sand (hence Sandman?) or a plastic dinner plate with a painted beach scene, adorned with plastic seashells and other nautical items, covered with more sand. I gratefully accepted the dinner plate. My 7-yr. old son doesn't believe I won my division. He said mom "fell for it" when I told her I won. He also said I probably bought the fancy dinner plate on my way home. I don't care what he thinks. I proudly hung the dinner plate in my office.

Sex and Triathlons

The only purpose of this entry is to find out if using the word "Sex" in my title delivers a spike in traffic to my blog. Search is king these days, and part of the reason I started blogging was to find out how much traffic I could generate starting from nothing. Do you really need to write compelling and thought-provoking material to attract attention, or can you write like a moron and still generate traffic through key words, meta tags, search engine optimization, and all the tricks?

I think most people would still like to read something about sex and triathlons, or maybe find a how-to video link on this site. The idea itself conjurs up some interesting scenarios. For now, if you are a porn addict who stumbled on my blog by mistake, thank you and good-bye.