HITS Palm Springs Full Race Review

Triathlon Forum
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Finished the HITS Palm Springs Full yesterday. I thought I’d do more of a race review then a report of my own race as I was looking for reviews of HITS races before signing up and there wasn’t a lot out there. Just for a frame of reference, this was my first full and I finished in 13:21 (1:10/6:41/5:23). I was aiming for sub-13, but lost steam on the run big time. Back to the drawing board on figuring out what went wrong in my training! So, I’ll just go through each phase of the race and try to give info that isn’t on the HITS website etc.

Packet Pick-up: At the race site, plenty of parking. Started on time, well organized. They had a pre-race meeting that was useful to attend as they gave out info that wasn’t in the race packet. According to the results, they had 57 people for the full, 220 for the half. They said at the meeting they were expecting 80-ish for the full; I don’t know what happened to the rest of the people.

Swim: They said the water temp. was 62. The water felt very comfortable to me. By the end, I was starting to feel hot in my full sleeve wetsuit. 4 loop swim for the full, 2 for the half– you had to do a very short run along the beach at each loop. Some people grumbled, but I didn’t think it was a huge deal. It was a mass beach start for full and half. I had company on the first two laps, but swam solo the last two laps.

Bike: 3 out and back laps for the full. I might be spoiled, but I thought the roads were pretty rough for about 50-60% of the ride. It was chip/seal and rutted farm roads. Not scenic at all - ramshackle homes/trailers, trash/junk along the roads and sad looking agricultural fields. Also, it smelled bad. Some of it was fertilizer; I’m not sure about the origin of the other smells, but it was not pleasant. They said at the meeting that roving dogs could be an issue, but I only got chased by one dog (who gave a rather half-hearted effort to get me). They said they had the dog catchers out prior to the race. On the plus side, the roads were free of debris, very well marked, police at every intersection, aid stations every 10-ish miles that were well stocked with everything you could need. Aid station volunteers were awesome. They had special needs at the turn around so you could visit your SN 3 times. Once the half racers were done, it was a pretty lonely bike ride. Virtually no spectators, few other racers.

Run: 2 out and back laps for the full. The run was through a very nice neighborhood, very pretty. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset over the mountains. Aid stations were every 1.5 miles, well stocked with everything you could need and with seriously awesome volunteers/hits staff. Only 2 bathrooms (so you passed one every 6 miles) on the course. If GI issues presented, it would be pretty bad as there were not really any places to step off the course either. The run was all on sidewalks, which were meandering and had those little rollers landscapers add in to make the sidewalks look nice. Mental torture!!! There was a very nice, flat/straight bike lane but they asked that racers not use it. After the first hour of my run, the sun was down and it was pretty dark out there as there weren’t many street lights. They did have head lamps for racers at the aid stations, which was a life saver. Basically, it was running alone in the dark, unless you were passing another racer. If you need crowd/fellow racer support, this is NOT the race for you.

Misc: The race director was SUPER nice/friendly. He walked around transition and greeted people personally. He remembered my name and cheered for me by name during the race several times. I can’t say enough about how nice and friendly the HITS staff and volunteers were. Fellow racers were also very friendly – seemed to be some camaraderie in the mental suffering due to lack of racers/crowd. The course itself was not my favorite, but I imagine they are financially/logistically constrained by trying to put on a full/half for a pretty small field. I will definitely try to do another HITS race; I hope these guys are successful because they really seemed to be making an effort to put on a good race.

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Now this if funny: “they had the dog catchers out prior to the race”

Congrats on your race! Had to be mentally tough to be solo for so much of it. Also glad to hear that Hits might be figuring a few things out. About time! Hopefully they continue to get their act together next year.

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Thank you for the review. I have been looking for feedback on the HITS races. I hope to do their full in Colorado in July. I’m a little nervous as the exact date and location has yet to be confirmed. I hope they make it. I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and stop whining about Ironman and do something about it.

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No problem, hope it helps people on the face decide to give them a try. I just went into with the mindset that it might not be a perfectly orchestrated race and that would be ok…more like an adventure! As long as your realize that, I think you won’t be disappointed with HITS. I am signed up for a “real” Ironman next year so I’m interested to compare the two experiences.

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Congrats on your finish. I did the Sprint earlier today. I had fun on this course. Few people from my tri club did yesterday’s half. One of my buddies that I saw this morning was telling me about the dog that was chasing him. Probably the same dog. It was a warm too yesterday, dont forget that. There was also the blunder of the half run being 14.1 miles and the RD was told about it and it was changed for you full people. When driving home last night, i saw that the turnaround had been moved. I think the running in the street issue was due to insurance. This was the 2nd HITS I did (Palm Springs 2011), I dont have any real complaints. Again, congrats!

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I thought the roads were fine but I agree with most of what you said. I think the RD really was working hard, so were the other workers and volunteers. I am rooting for these guys!
Aside from my poor performance and suffering due to being sick, I had a great time.
I will do it again and probably the Havasu half also.

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On the roads, guess it all depends on what you are used to - I live in Vegas and the roads here are all new pavement/super smooth. I guess I might be spoiled! :slight_smile:

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Great job! I did the half last year and the Olympic today. Driving in last night around 6:30pm I could see several of the full racers out on the course and man, that was one dark, lonely run you guys had out there! Hats off to you!
I concur that Mark, Tom, and the rest of the HITS staff went out of their way to make sure everyone was treated with enthusiasm and had all their questions answered. Weather today was pretty flawless…just a touch of wind on the bike and sunny with temps in the high 70s.

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Thanks for your review. I did the full length course (my first) in just under 13:30, which included bike breakdown and having to run it with bronchitis (not ideal, but oh well).

Here are my thoughts on the race/organizers/course, since I too had a hard time finding reviews before I signed up:

Swim: Fairly easy conditions compared to ocean swims. Water temp was said to be 62, which seemed right. I swam with booties and a neoprene cap, which kept me warm the whole swim. Not too choppy. Fairly crowded start with 350+ starting at once, but probably not nearly as crowded as an IM-brand race start. I enjoy swimming in a group (for the draft opportunities), so I enjoyed a 4-loop course that kept us all close. Also, swimming close to the shore for 1/2 the loop likely helped those folks who are not strong open water swimmers. I actually liked getting out of the water at the end of each loop to cross the timing mat since it broke up the monotony of an 80-minute swim.

Bike: Mostly rural course through some not very picturesque farmland. There were some nice views far off of the mountains. The roads on 66th St. and Pierce St. were very bumpy and wore my body down after 70+ miles. The land is wide open so there’s no shelter from the wind. Again, after 70+ miles, 10mph crosswinds and headwinds started to wear on me mentally. But this would likely happen on any course in the country, I guess, though I consider myself a fairly strong cyclist (typically 4k-5k miles a year). Aid stations were well spaced and well stocked. Police cars at every major intersection was great. Note that there are dogs out on the course as you go through rural farmland. They did clear the course fairly well (I was chased the week before when I biked the course in preparation), but If you are truly afraid of dogs, this may not be your race.

There is almost NO elevation gain, which sounds good, but also can make things more difficult than you’d think (check out the split time analysis of flat ironman bike courses at http://www.runtri.com/2010/07/runtri-benchmarks-easiest-ironman.html).

Run: I’m torn on whether I loved the run or hated it. Admittedly, I was not in a good state of mind by the time I got to the run, so my views are skewed.

First, the good. You run along the outside of some beautifully landscaped gated resorts. I stayed on the road’s bike lane when going against traffic (rather than on the rolling sidewalks), so for half the run I was on a dead flat, dead straight course. I LOVED having a flat run. Also, the temps were very moderate. This was especially nice after having done two 70.3 races the past few years with run temps of 102 and 90 degrees. The sun set at 5pm (about 90 minutes into my run), which gave us cool and dark running conditions. Running in the dark was kind of nice for me, as it let me zone out a bit. I could see it being mentally difficult for people who never do long runs at night.

Then there’s the bad. FIRST, the aid stations were slightly too far apart. It’s only 6.5 miles out to the turnaround, so there’s no reason they couldn’t have 6 aid stations along the way (one at each mile and then at the turnaround). That’s not too much to ask for a full distance race. I also, I did notice there was NO place to use the restroom along the way. I was lucky and never had to go, but I actually spent some time contemplating the poor folks who would no doubt have issues along the way. SECOND, running in the dark posed a few potentially serious problems. When running against traffic, the cars headlights were constantly blinding (especially those who would turn up their high beams, as they were out on some empty roads). This made it sometimes difficult to run on a sidewalk that had lots of cracks and seams and that wound over tiny rolling slopes cut into the landscaping. With good lighting, it was no issue, but running in pitch black with cars headlights at your face made this difficult. THIRD, there were no spectators on the entire run except at the start/finish if the loop. Literally, zero spectators. Even the race participants’ families couldn’t go out on the course because the course travels major roads (with no parking allowed) that ran alongside gated resorts. So there’s no parking for someone who’d even want to go out and sit along the course. I’m sure this never occurred to the organizers. However, I had 4:45 hours to consider it (and the fact that my wife and kids couldn’t stop along the course to cheer me on).

Overall: I can only think of one minor to improve other than the course-specific items above. The shirts and medals were generic to the entire HITS series (all 5 race lengths for all the races around the country). After training for 6+ months and paying several hundred dollars, I’d like them to have had a least a medal and shirt specific to the full-distance race. Or perhaps they could even offer them for sale.

Then, there’s the good. The race director (Mark) is amazing and responsive. I think he actually memorized every full course participant’s name and he gave us his cell phone number to call at any time. Parking was the easiest I’ve ever experienced for a race. But this could change as more participants come out in the future. The field/park located next to the transition area made it very nice for families with kids to play and wait for their participants. The transition areas were AWESOME. The full course participants got assigned stalls, so there was plenty of space for everyone and we each had our own seat (!). There were plenty of volunteers and all the aid stations were well-manned with lots of nice quality food and drink options. Also, I liked being one of only a few hundred racers (and about 75-80 full-course racers), rather than 1 of 2-3,000. For instance, I had a minor bike issue to fix before the race and I walked right up to the bike tech tent and had it fixed in 45 seconds without even having to wait in line. I think with a large crowd of racers I would have been a bit overwhelmed in such an instance and also during the race in both transitions and the swim start. But that’s just personal preference.

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Like Jay above, I checked in for the Oly about 5:30 or so, just after it got dark. Real dark. I’ve done the WTC hoopla and gotta give you LC guys credit. You were, quite literally, out there entirely alone for that run. Driving back to or hotel we’d come across a lonely little bobbing light and I’d tell my wife, “there’s another.” Man, you had to REALLY want that finish, I can see being disappointed in getting the same shirt and medal as those of us that raced the Oly etc.

Well done

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Congrats on your finish as well! I agree with everything you said in your review. The headlights of the cars in the street really took a mental toll on me was well; it was just impossible to see anything at times. But, hey, we made it!! Awesome accomplishment! :slight_smile: Hope your bronchitis is getting better. By yesterday afternoon, I started coming down with some sort of really nasty upper respiratory infection and have spent the last 24 hours basically feeling like death warmed over.

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Great review, thanks.

I’m actually ok with the generic T shirt and medals - heck, I’d go with zero of that without even a grumble, given how low the pricing is for early entry. ($75 for a half is pretty insane!)

I’m in for the Napa valley HITS. That’s a pretty picturesque area in CA, so I’m curious to see how it’ll turn out. I actually much prefer the low-key atmosphere of low-spectator races, as I find I focus better, so as long as it’s not a complete zombielike dead zone of nobody on the course, I actually prefer it.

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Great review, I too was looking for one before the race and found little info so I appreciate this.

I completed the Half and had very similar thoughts about the roads and the course overall. I was one of the people who pointed out the error in course length to the RD when I finished and he said they corrected it before the Full got there, glad to hear that was true as it would have made for an even longer dark run.

I did see a bunch of the Full athletes running in the dark as I was driving back to the resort, as mentioned by many it was really dark and I felt for you.

I hope the HITS guys continue to improve and that this race keeps going, I will definitely be back for 2013.

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I also did the full on Saturday. It was my first ever triathlon, so I have nothing to compare it too. I came in at 12:00:06. Six seconds over my goal. Oh well. Mark, the RD is a great guy. Goes out of his way to make you feel welcome as others have mentioned. That alone will get my business again. He said about 85 started the full, but they had about 25 or so DNF’s, so it doesn’t show them in the standings. I thought the swim start was a little tough, as I felt like I wasted a few minutes sitting on the beach waiting for the crowd to eventually get moving. It was kind of tough pushing yourself mentally with no spectators in the dark on the run, with pretty much no other competitors around. That will come in time as the series grows I imagine and more people show up. All in all, I had a blast and will definitely give them my business again. Josh