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Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR
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Did the Mountain Fountain 1/2 Ironman yesterday (10-1-06). If you like a challenging course this one is for you!

The swim...The swim is in Saguaro Lake. It starts at Keyhole and finished at Butcher Jones Cove...point to point. It was relitively non eventfull. The water temp was said to be 72 but felt a little warmer. Lots of sun in the face made sighting a bit difficult. Exited the water in 36 minutes and change. Looking at everyone elses times the swim was a little on the long side. (Pro men came out in 32). I was 5th out of the water!

Straight out of transition you climb for the first 2 miles. The rest of the bike course is steady up and down. Nothing steep, just continuos slight climbing followed by quick downhills x2 loops. 3/4 of the way through the 1st lap I hit what was probably the only large rock on the road while going down a hill with my head down and flatted! 5 minutes later and I was back on the road. The roads were open to traffic. The local Law Enforcement did a great job controlling the traffic and for the most part the traffic gave enough room when passing. Came off the bike in 9th.

Stretched out a bit in transition and it was off for the run "adventure". 5 miles of the run is on trails. The run starts with 2+ miles of steep switchback climbing. OUCH...the cramps begin! I had to stop 4-5 times to rub down my legs and walk to get rid of some pretty bad cramping. This was in just the first 3 miles. The cramps finally gone I was able to start running again, though not anywhere near the pace I was hoping for. I ran with another racer for about he next 4 miles. I would walk the aid stations to get in maximum liquids then catch back up just before the next aid station and peat x4. By this time the temp had risen to the upper 90's closing in on the triple digit mark. I continued to tredge on. With about 5 miles to go my legs started to feel good. I picked the pace up on a rolling uphill finish that for the last mile dropped down into a final trail section that had a nice little sandy stair climb a quarter mile from the finish. Final time 5:42 and 8th place overall.

The race was won by Viktor Zyemtsev in 4:30:59 followed by his training partner Andriy Yasterbov in 4:31:05 (both from team Timex).

Now its time to recover...Tinfoilman sprint tri in 2 weeks followed 2 weeks later by the Soma 1/2 : )



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B.Oliver -My Blog...triguywithavx.wordpress.com
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [115InTheShade] [ In reply to ]
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Great race, the only "regular" part was swim - flat/wet, too long so - I would say 5 min longer, we got lost ones - 15 min earlier start would probably avoid the sun in the face : ), but that was great for me actually - I lost Viktor's legs at the start, but then recover because of that. No wetsuit for us was perfect for water temp and Kona tune up.

Bike course was nice, not boring at all, challenging. Great job of organizer - well marked and protected from crossing traffic.

Run - most spectacular - XTerra should be jealous )). As they sad if you care about personal best time you better go to somewhere else, but real Tris should be there : ) Well marked as well - we were worry to get lost when you are fast that may happen with greater chances, actually ones we (me and Viktor) did, seems like at the most crowd point crew didn't expect Halfs so soon and send us to the finish of International distance - glad they figure it out not too late - maybe just 2 min was lost for overall time, but we didn't care

Sure, if that would be 70.3 (read: price money race) for pros that could be different view post race, but since we did it as tempo training we enjoy it a lot

Andriy, Viktor

Hare Krishna
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [115InTheShade] [ In reply to ]
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I knew the run was going to be challenging, but I had no idea! It was relentless...If you weren't climimbing up switchbacks through a narrow/uneven water runoff ditch, you were running through sand the was 3" deep for miles at a time. It was crazy...what an adventure. Great bike course....it will make Soma seems very boring. And I loved the point to point swim along the cliff....definately the most beautiful swim venue I've seen.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [tri4him] [ In reply to ]
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[reply]climimbing up switchbacks

running through sand the was 3" deep for miles at a time

point to point swim along the cliff....definately the most beautiful swim venue[/reply]

This sounds like the coolest half ironman in the universe!

My question is, are there some years when it gets pretty hot outside? Arizona, end of September - I guess the heat is going to be unpredictable?
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [Oleander] [ In reply to ]
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It's still pretty hot at the end of Sept. in AZ. Triple digits are common.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [115InTheShade] [ In reply to ]
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Looks like you had a nice race Billy. Congrats.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [115InTheShade] [ In reply to ]
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Nice race! -- good to hear the bike course worked well - wasnt sure when I saw it on paper -- and good job tearing up a tough -- and HOT run.

-Ron

I have deceptive speed...I'm slower than I look.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [115InTheShade] [ In reply to ]
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Did the run course seem short to anyone? It seemed like it was 5 mles of trail (although I thought that seemed short), 6 miles of highway, and 1 mile of trail. = 12 miles.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [robin314159] [ In reply to ]
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Honestly, why is it so friggen difficult to find an accurate race course?????? I'm really getting tired of the typical long swim/short run. Get a damn GPS, then get a damn wheel.
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Re: Mountain Fountain Triathlon...Brutal course...RR [robin314159] [ In reply to ]
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Short or not...it still hurt like hell! : )

This race is great if you DON'T care about a PR!

After the race the RD was talking with some of us and was already planning on improvements for next year. Even though there were no complaints about the bike he was talking about a differant bike couse because he wanted to try to find a route with less traffic/more safe but just as challenging.



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B.Oliver -My Blog...triguywithavx.wordpress.com
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Last edited by: 115InTheShade: Oct 3, 06 9:41
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