I just found this site today, you guys seem cool!
I live here in Girdwood, Alaska. Back in July 2017 a friend told me about this crazy race that was coming through town that day. I hadn't heard anything about AlaskaMan before that. I walked a block from my house out to the Seward Highway just as the bike leader was coming by all decked out in aero gear.
Late that afternoon I decided to go hike up on Alyeska to watch the competitors make their way up the mountain. I ran the trail building operations at Alyeska for 5 years and actually built all the trails used in the race. Those horrible long steps on Stairway to Heaven... that's all me, lol. (it was a pain the arse to build those by the way. Had to rappel all material out of the Tram).
So I'm cruising down through the Silvertip area as racers are struggling to keep moving. Serious zombie action. I was stunned to realize that they had already swam and biked from Seward... now this slog up the mountain. I was intrigued.
I'm just another typical Alaska mountain guy who likes to get after it. Never done a triathlon or really thought about it. Spent a lot of long days in mountains. Did a few mountain races, used to run cross country in high school.... I was 37 at the time and figured time to step up my game.
Signed up for 2018 AlaskaMan and started training in earnest. I work in commercial construction. I timed the ending of a job in November rented the house out and moved to the Big Island for 6 months over the winter to get after it. What better place to 'train for Alaska' then Kona, I reckon?
I filmed the process of homesteading a piece of raw property with wife and two girls, 3 and 8, on top of my self imposed training schedule. Fun times... you can dig through all the videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/jvmovie
Or if you want to jump straight to race day go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbUmiDvJDBM
In summary the day was calm and clear and hot as hell on the run. Thank god I'd done a bunch of heat training in Hawaii or I would've actually died I think. In the video you can see that I am at death's door on the final ascent #stairwaytohell.
By far the hardest thing I've done in my life. My heart was speeding up but my legs were slowing and I was getting tunnel vision and almost passing out. I think I nailed my nutrition as best possible but it is hard when you are sweating so much for so long.
I was 40th out of the water then gained 20 spots on the bike. Then lost 20 spots on the 'run section' of the run and gained 20 back on the 'climb section' of run. 20th overall in 15 hours and change. I was most worried about the swim but it was actually quite pleasant. The bike was fun. The run... the run was bad... but like a good bad, you know what I mean, lol
Yes, I'm signed up for 2019 coming up in 2 months. This year it is 3 weeks earlier than last year and it looks like they shortened the swim portion?
You guys ready??
I live here in Girdwood, Alaska. Back in July 2017 a friend told me about this crazy race that was coming through town that day. I hadn't heard anything about AlaskaMan before that. I walked a block from my house out to the Seward Highway just as the bike leader was coming by all decked out in aero gear.
Late that afternoon I decided to go hike up on Alyeska to watch the competitors make their way up the mountain. I ran the trail building operations at Alyeska for 5 years and actually built all the trails used in the race. Those horrible long steps on Stairway to Heaven... that's all me, lol. (it was a pain the arse to build those by the way. Had to rappel all material out of the Tram).
So I'm cruising down through the Silvertip area as racers are struggling to keep moving. Serious zombie action. I was stunned to realize that they had already swam and biked from Seward... now this slog up the mountain. I was intrigued.
I'm just another typical Alaska mountain guy who likes to get after it. Never done a triathlon or really thought about it. Spent a lot of long days in mountains. Did a few mountain races, used to run cross country in high school.... I was 37 at the time and figured time to step up my game.
Signed up for 2018 AlaskaMan and started training in earnest. I work in commercial construction. I timed the ending of a job in November rented the house out and moved to the Big Island for 6 months over the winter to get after it. What better place to 'train for Alaska' then Kona, I reckon?
I filmed the process of homesteading a piece of raw property with wife and two girls, 3 and 8, on top of my self imposed training schedule. Fun times... you can dig through all the videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/jvmovie
Or if you want to jump straight to race day go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbUmiDvJDBM
In summary the day was calm and clear and hot as hell on the run. Thank god I'd done a bunch of heat training in Hawaii or I would've actually died I think. In the video you can see that I am at death's door on the final ascent #stairwaytohell.
By far the hardest thing I've done in my life. My heart was speeding up but my legs were slowing and I was getting tunnel vision and almost passing out. I think I nailed my nutrition as best possible but it is hard when you are sweating so much for so long.
I was 40th out of the water then gained 20 spots on the bike. Then lost 20 spots on the 'run section' of the run and gained 20 back on the 'climb section' of run. 20th overall in 15 hours and change. I was most worried about the swim but it was actually quite pleasant. The bike was fun. The run... the run was bad... but like a good bad, you know what I mean, lol
Yes, I'm signed up for 2019 coming up in 2 months. This year it is 3 weeks earlier than last year and it looks like they shortened the swim portion?
You guys ready??