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Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today
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I was there today and wanted to say congrats to everyone who raced with the thunderstorms, hail and wind on the bike and run! Certainly tough conditions for Bay Area triathletes - the medical team did a great job helping all athletes I saw in the tents, and the race director was smart to move the start early to avoid any thunderstorms on the swim.

Any other Slowtwitchers race today?
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [aeroyoost] [ In reply to ]
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I was there.. running late forgot my helmet and wasted 20min of road time... would have made my initial start time by 2min despite all that. Ofcourse it was pushed up 14min and I missed the last group because well I didn't know it was the last group. Official on jetski didn't let us start behind the group that literally went out 1min before I reached the shore. There was like about 10 women who also missed the last group (poor race director got an earful).

I calmly asked for a deferment to another race and he said no problem. You are right about the weather... It turned way south in an instant as I was loading my car up to leave... raining sideways, hail, flashes, thunder.. nasty. I was given the option to ride/run and still defer, but glad I said no thanks.

I probably could have made the last group... but damn loud speaker talk is a foreign language.. I had no idea what the guy was saying.
Last edited by: spntrxi: May 19, 19 15:29
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [spntrxi] [ In reply to ]
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Ah sorry to hear you couldn't make your start, but glad you got a deferment :)

Agree on the speakers, I couldn't make out anything they were saying in transition or at the race start. Got down to the start for a warm-up swim only to realize my wave was about to start! Was a good move though to start early, wouldn't want anyone out in the water when that storm came.
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [aeroyoost] [ In reply to ]
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That was certainly the most intense race weather I've experienced as a Bay Area triathlete! I'm glad the race directors did not cancel, allowing people to choose to race or not, but I'm even more grateful for the volunteers. They were SO GOOD on the bike course (at least for me) and I was so happy to see them every time I did. This was my first time doing this race, I can't imagine how gorgeous it is when you can actually see the course!

Some other people racked near me did not go out on the run (which was honestly fairly mild rain, but still cold) and the RDs allowed them to drop to the Aquabike instead of DNF - it mattered to them because they wanted their medal. If I had decided to skip the run, I wouldn't have cared about the medal - but I thought that was a nice gesture for the folks that do care.

I don't know of any bike crashes, so I'm crossing my fingers everyone stayed upright. Lots of really cold folks post-race, though.

KJ
Swim and Triathlon Coach
AllTerrainEndurance.com
KJ@allterrainendurance.com
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [swim13] [ In reply to ]
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I was out there. I started the run and stopped about a mile in because I was shivering uncontrollably. I walked back to transition grabbed my stuff and left so I could warm up in my car. I gave my chip to a volunteer in transition.

My buddy texted me when I got home about the Aquabike. As far as I’m concerned, I did not finish. First time ever I couldn’t finish a race in over 30 years of racing.
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [BlairV] [ In reply to ]
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Ah. That's a bummer. I'm sorry :( if there's a race for a first DNF, at least there was some epic weather to cause it.

KJ
Swim and Triathlon Coach
AllTerrainEndurance.com
KJ@allterrainendurance.com
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [swim13] [ In reply to ]
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I had two friends who did the race, and opted for the aquabike option in T2. Both have competed at worlds, so it must have been pretty atrocious out there.

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [aeroyoost] [ In reply to ]
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I raced the MHST. The weather was absolutely crazy! Raining, Cold, windy, thunder and lightning, hail, rainy, did I say rainy???? I did this race in 2011 when there was a hailstorm that passed through about 30 minutes after the swim start, but it was nothing like yesterdays weather!

I feel for the people that didn't make their start, for whatever reason. I did see some people just making into transition to setup at 6:40, which transition typically would have "closed" at 6:30, felt a little less sorry for them :-) Yes, the RD might have done some things better, but they were adjusting on the fly, and I felt like they did a great job overall.

I'm in the over 50 crowd, so was next to last wave to start, and rain started just before we did. About 10 to 15 minutes into the bike, there was 2 or 3 flashes of lightning, followed by probably a 5-8 sec gap before the thunder. The volunteers at each of the major turns (and two of those at the bottom of a hill) were awesome and were really on people to be careful. Air temp according to my Garmin was avg of 45, with a low of 42. I only wore my sleeveless trisuit on the bike and run, and was cold but never felt in danger of the cold. I had a hard time getting my running shoes on my frozen feet though! About 2 miles into the run, the rain stopped and was nice from then on. Certainly a race that we will remember for a long time.

Was my second or third slowest time at this race since 2010, but all things considered, who cares :-)
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [aeroyoost] [ In reply to ]
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Am I reading this correctly? They allowed the race to continue with an active thunderstorm cell in the area?

Never hear of that, and having grown up in tornado alley, would never consider staying on the course (even if it was the bike or run) in those circumstances.

"...the street finds its own uses for things"
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [AutomaticJack] [ In reply to ]
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AutomaticJack wrote:
Am I reading this correctly? They allowed the race to continue with an active thunderstorm cell in the area?

Never hear of that, and having grown up in tornado alley, would never consider staying on the course (even if it was the bike or run) in those circumstances.

everyone was out of the water by the time I heard thunder... or within yards of being out from what I could see... I think the practice is normally cancel the swim if anything. The forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [AutomaticJack] [ In reply to ]
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AutomaticJack wrote:
Am I reading this correctly? They allowed the race to continue with an active thunderstorm cell in the area?

Never hear of that, and having grown up in tornado alley, would never consider staying on the course (even if it was the bike or run) in those circumstances.

Thunderstorms in the San Francisco Bay Area arent of the size of those in the mid-west or tornado alley, or some of the desert areas. I know it only takes one strike to cause damage, but there were "only" three, and from counting before the thunder clap, they were relatively far off. I did start thinking what will I do if it continues though! I've even looked on some weather sites with historical lightning strike info, and none of the strikes from yesterday, show being anywhere near the course.
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [clydecat] [ In reply to ]
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clydecat wrote:
Thunderstorms in the San Francisco Bay Area arent of the size of those in the mid-west

This thread reminded me of an "epic" race years ago w/thunderstorms:

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ing=rockman#p6071877
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [aeroyoost] [ In reply to ]
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I was out there. Boy was that a mentally tough race. My head unit showed 41-50º on the bike with an average of 44º, can only imagine the windchill had it in the 30s. The hail stung until everything went numb 😂. After it cleared up I dare say that run was quite pretty though!

After getting more serious about training in the past year my only goal going in was to beat my previous time. I got about the same, but was faster in the water and on the run. The bike had me extremely cautious as I had been fiddling with my brakes two days before, thankfully I kept the rubber side down, hope there weren't too many wrecks!
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Re: Crazy weather at Morgan Hill Triathlon today [swimbikejon] [ In reply to ]
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I was there, it was my first race in wet conditions with Rim Brakes so I was definitely slow through the corners. It was probably the coldest I have ever been on my bike but once I got onto the run even in the rain it felt nice. I did end up helping quite a few people with their helmet straps in transition due to numb fingers.
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