Klamath Falls Training Camp

Following my trip to Pear Blossom, I immediately headed up to Klamath Falls, about a 1.5 hour drive east.  I was really interested to check out this area of the country, seeing that is at medium altitude (4200 feet) without having to be in Colorado.  This would be ideal preparation for St. George, which sits at 3000 feet, I reckoned.

My first reaction to the place was how amazingly friendly the people are in Klamath.  Maybe they should get thrown into a competition with the Scots and the Birminghaminians!  I drove up with my little brother Patrick (also my unofficial coach and “soigneur”).  Our first stop was the bike shop, Hutch's Bicycles, to inquire about trails and good road riding and so forth.  One of the staff there, Andrew, not only gave me some great riding advice, but also invited me to stay at his place!  Andrew is a major cycling enthusiast and cyclocross racer, and also very active in the community.  It always pays to know an insider when you are in a new town.  He and his wife Christine made my life very easy while I was checking out the town and training my butt off.  Hopefully Andrew gets that engineering job at Specialized once he graduates! 

I was looking forward to some long rides, but honestly the first couple days my legs felt like death from the 10-miler; I was super sore and couldn’t even run for the next 3 days!  I managed to get in about 3-4 hours per day, with some auxillary running and swimming.  Ella Redkey Pool is an excellent facility there, which is a geothermally heated pool right in town.

The cap off to the trip was the 102 mile Dead Indian loop.  You really need to do this ride if you are ever near Ashland of K-Falls.  Starting in the town of Keno, just west of Klamath, you head north on Clover Creek road.  This runs you into Dead Indian Memorial Road, which is a swoopy backroad, mostly big rollers, which leads all the way into Ashland at sea level.  The last 10 miles or so is an epic twisty descent.  Enjoy the crazy hilltops and varied scenery as you enter Peter Britt country.  From Ashland, you climb back up the 4000 feet you just descended on Route 66 east.  This is a fierce , twisty climb and it was about 80 degrees when I did it; 39 x 23 almost the whole way.  Once you peak out, you assume it will be mostly flat or rolly back to K-Falls.  You assumed wrong, as there are several 500 + foot climbs that you will encounter on Highway 66 as you labor and putter through the last 30 miles or so of riding.  Agonizing but beautiful training.

View from Moore Park in Klamath Falls.

See you at the Pig, Meet you at the Pear

7^th at Duathlon Nationals, 2nd place at Pear Blossom

The Pig

The race season is just underway, and with it my resentment and hatred towards Seattle weather has all but melted away, and in its place is a sense of gratitude and awe on account of the hospitality of people I have met and beauty of our country that I have experienced recently.

My first stop was Birmingham Alabama, for the USA Elite Duathlon National Championships.  Birmingham continues to hold a special place in my heart, with its genuine Southern hospitality, courteous drivers, and a beautiful, hilly landscape.  If anyone can come close to the friendliness of the Scots (where I visited in Fall 2010), it has to be a Birmingham native.  I stayed with Keith Giles of Homewood.  Keith, a biochemist at University of Alabama, was only the 2^nd biggest tri-geek in his home for about a week, as we waxed philosophical about which aero wheels to own, swimming form, saddle tilt, seat tube angle, and various other nauseating topics.

I had a couple good runs during the race, but had zero legs on the bike, and ended up 7^th for the day.  Not to fear though; the race merely opened up the legs, and I had some amazing rides down south.  In other words, the form came on just a bit too late.  D’oh!  Within a week of training in the sun I dropped to racing weight at an alarming rate, and was no longer the doughy, pasty man that ran at Nationals.

After some serious skirt-chasing in Birmingham, as well as my first time to a Piggly-Wiggly grocery store (their slogan is “see you at the pig”- a slogan I don’t think would fly at snooty organic grocery stores in Seattle, just sayin.), the next stop was Deland, Florida, for some warm weather training.  Why Deland, you ask?  Well, my college teammate and longtime training partner, Brendan, had somehow convinced his family that I was a nice guy, and would be someone that could use their vacation home in Florida.  I was floored when his dad called me a few months back to ask me if I would ever like to use it!  Who ever asks you if you would like to use their house, anyway?! Who are these people of high generosity that I keep encountering, you ask?  I can’t answer that question, but I am banking on the statement of theologian William Newell: “to believe, and consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret…to expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth…to testify of God’s goodness at all times…”

After several, now standard 3.5 hour hammer sessions on the bike, not to mention swimming in Delion Springs, AKA “the fountain of youth” supposedly discovered by Juan Ponce Delion, I was far too quickly back in Seattle, but not for far too long.

The Pear (10 mile running race)

Perhaps the juiciest race of the year would be the long-standing and now infamous Pear Blossom race, where “everyone’s a winner.” And in fact it was just what I needed; a low-stress race to test my fitness and enjoy some competition.  I knew pro runner Max King would likely be there, but assumed I wouldn’t have a fighting chance against him.  Perhaps I was a little pessimistic about my odds against him, and ended up finishing in 51:38 for a 10 mile road race, a near 15 seconds behind Max.  Holding 5:10 pace is not bad for an ‘ol washed up triathlete! 

Doing a running race makes me miss the simpler days – all you have to show up with is your shorts, jersey, flats, and maybe a water bottle on race day, and you are ready to go.  Too bad I will be doing an Ironman soon and will have to pack 75 items with me on race day! 

The local newspaper in Medford did a good write-up, so you can get the rest of the dirt here if you like.

1. Max King  51:23

2. Matt Sheeks 51:38

3. Glenn Tucker 53:02

4. Tyler Davis 53:16

5. Chris McIsaac 55:04

Showdown at Soma

Matt had a good placing in his sights, but couldn’t deliver the goods
(he did get to shoot an AR-15 after the race, however)

Last weekend was the Soma Triathlon hosted by Red Rock Co.; it has been a popular local race for Arzionans…Arizonians…Arizonites (there we go), in the past. Durapulse Performance Co. and Iron Gear Sports put up a nice little prize purse for the professionals this year, so I figured I might as well give it a shot. If nothing else it would be a good learning experience to see how well I can do two half-ironmans with only 2 weeks between. Having gotten into shape for Rev3 South Carolina, I figured I might as well give it a crack as the end of the season was approaching, and there wouldn’t be many other opportunities to test my fitness.

Pre-Game – “by delayed you should have known that we meant early”

There was one big surprise on my trip to Phoenix. My 5:45 flight was delayed until 6:10 (according to the check-in counter, arrival/departure screens, everything), so I took my sweet time at Sea-Tac and downed a burrito prior to the flight. I showed up at the gate at 5:43 and to my dismay, the flight had left already! Why delay a flight and then un-delay it? I didn’t even know you could do that! Anyway, Southwest partially redeemed themselves by getting me to Phoenix only 2 hours later than my reservation. A good lesson that the battle of getting to your flight is not won until you arrive at your gate.

Fortunately I was staying with the coolest homestay couple ever, Denise and Dave Jones, and they didn’t mind picking me up late. I met this classy couple the last time I raced in Phoenix for the Desert Classic Duathlon, and since then they have gotten married, gotten pregnant, and moved to the suburbs! My how things change.

Swim – “I can’t believe I was in a pack”

The swim was held in Tempe Town lake, this strange man-made lake in the middle of the city. The pro field was much different than usual in that most of the field was not a super strong swimmer, and most were good runners. Also, men and women started at the same time, so I knew I would have people to swim with. I found myself a nice pack and steadied into rhythm. The pace felt pretty comfortable, so I suspected maybe I should have been up one-pack. Usually I am just fighting by myself in order to not lose too much time, so it was strange to have options! I got out of the water at about 31:15, so sure enough I was a bit slower than last race, but no matter, plenty of time to reel people in, or so I thought.

Bike – “By now I have no pow-a”

I decided to start the bike out conservative this time in order to get the legs warmed up before really putting the smack down. Jozef Major and Kevin Taddonio passed me early on, but I let them go as I was more interested in attempting to grab a gel at the first aid station and somehow they escaped my grasp. I just kept riding consistent and thought things were going pretty well, hitting 27-28 mph on the flats. I was passed by another rider and decided that I should ramp things up and try to stay with him. Unfortunately, this was the exact wrong move at the exact wrong time! I picked up the pace a bit too much, ended up losing all composure, and immediately hit a nasty head-wind section. I floundered for the next 5-6 miles, and struggled to find a normal rhythm. Finally, I came out of my tail spin, but not before my average speed had plummeted by ½ mile/hour. Still, I finished in a PR bike split time of 2:17 thanks to a fast course. The mistake of attempting to ride at a higher intensity probably cost me a top-5 in the end, but hindsight is 20/20 and I have used other riders to pace off of and follow their lines thru corners and it has worked in the past. It just didn’t work this time.

The Run – “I saw the Devil”

Coming into the transition around 2:50, I was about 3 minutes up on my time thru T-2 from two weeks ago. Sweet, I thought to myself, unless you really blow it on the run, you are headed for another PR. Aside from stopping to drain an unusually full bladder at mile 1, the first lap (6.5 miles) went off without a hitch, I kept hitting 5:45-5:50 mile splits and was surprised at how easy it felt. Then, the thermostat hit 90 plus and in the matter of about a mile I went from feeling great to barely moving. My weak Seattle-trained body couldn’t handle the heat! I hit an aid station and decided to walk thru. I dumped as much water as I could and grabbed ice to put in my hands. I repeated this a couple times. By the time I hit the aid station at the eleven mile mark I had sufficiently cooled myself down. The refreshment that cooling the body down has an almost immediate effect, and one can start running quickly again. The heat has another weird effect in that I nearly forgot I was racing, but once I cooled myself off I looked at my watch and realized that I still had a chance to PR. “Oh crap Matt, start sprinting!” I thought. So I hit the gas full throttle, must have hit 5:30 for the last mile. I just missed my PR by around 30 seconds. Looking back at the results, other guys must have been having the same issue, because I still posted the 3rd fastest run time even with 3 stops.


Lessons learned – “I done goofed!”

Circumstances worked out nearly perfectly this race. I had an ample warm-up, the course suited me, my Kestrel was fast and fit well, I had plenty of First Endurance EFS liquid shot and gels on course along the way, and the Avia-Bolt shoes felt amazing as usual. Probably the main thing is that I don’t have the base built back up sufficiently to compete at this level, especially in the running department. Still, I could have executed the race better tactically. I also found it pretty difficuly to concentrate and push myself quite as hard as last time, and have a new respect for the pros out there that can put in good performances week in and week out.