The Lava Report

Dang these sprint races are hard. The only pace is full throttle/pedal- to- the medal from start to finish. The longer distances you HAVE to pace yourself. Or blow up. Everyone in my age group (on the podium) went under one hour today. Which means older dudes these days are not slowing down. The podium here is Marc Hapke, myself and John Whitesel. Long time competitors, humble and fast. They are both there to rock and roll but are not all aggro and great sportsmanship. Refreshing.

With the electronic timing chip the accuracy of your splits is simply amazing. I dig it. After reviewing them on line tonight I would never have known I was 29th (damn near a different zip code) out the swim. I climbed up to 4th off the bike. Got run down by two 18 year olds @ 1/2 way point on the run to hold and "tie" for 6th overall @ 52 minutes flat.

The kid I tied with is amazing. I came up on him on the last climb on the bike, he hung with me the final miles into the run transition. I did not notice he was a below the elbow amputee until he came up on me on the run. This kid has heart, talent and a big future. Very nice kid on top of it all. He is training with the ParaOlympic USA Team in San Diego Ca. I predict like my good friend and multiple ParaOlympian Rudy Garcia, Thomas Cain is going to be a name you will hear in the future. And IMO a excellent representative and athlete for the USA. Go Thomas! You have new fans and supporters. Congrats to all whom started and or finished the challenging course today. And thank you to all the volunteers. The race could not be had without all your generous hard work.

Race # 2 is this Saturday. No report on race # 1 as our website has been getting complete makeover hence no news.

My goal was to go top five in the Express Tri last month. I dig the electronic chip timing as it nails all three swim/bike/run times along with transition times. Looks like I was 17th out of the water, climbed to 4th entering the run transition off the bike. And held that for 4th overall 1st place division. Cool. At 55 years young. Aiming for that again this weekend  : )

Jodi is in full Ironman training mode. As in putting in big long training hours. Ironamn Couer d Alene end of next month. If she keeps doing what she is doing: She will do what she typically does @ the Ironman distance: Rock it!!!  Hope to see you all out there this weekend. Going to be a nice one. Race hard. Be safe. Thank the volunteers.

This is Jodi just ripping Mt. Baldy TT up last year. If you are familiar whatsoever you know any and every segment is brutal steep. May be the toughest climb in Cali. At least one of 'em. The TT is again happening this Saturday. With Ironman Canada up for Jodi in two weeks she will actually race her TT bike up it this weekend for kicks. Certainly not a TT bike course. But after hammering up this this beast, Whistler will certainly feel a little tamer.

Gary and Carla McMurtrey and their whole team from Inland Inferno put on the one of the best races in California. They offer the longer tri race, the shorter race, trail run races and the off road biathlon. Biathlon like mid 80's biathlon: Run/bike/run. Only this is off road. At 7500' elevation.

Thanks to all the crew, volunteers, new friend Paul Hubbell  (dude built like a tank on the left) who made it one heck of a fun and challenging day. He and I battled from start to finish.

Great to see long endurance/athlete/guru Paul Romero today also. You rocked it. Jodi rocked it. The Carnahans rocked it. Jeff Henley rocked it. John Skelton won his division. Anyone and everyone who did this monster of a course rocked it today. 

The McMurtreys put a huge amount of love and effort into this event (the awards must have taken a week each to make).Because that's who they are and what they are all about. Only wish it was more common these days..

Banged out well over a half dozen races out of the gates so far in 2013. Mountain bike races. Some Xterra off road tri's and a handful of road tri's. But as I as I have always said: There is no better training than racing itself. It's just another training day with that 10% extra effort. And we love to train. Hard. In the heat (5 hour day today in 105 degree furnace like air). On the most challenging terrain we can find around here. And we have some the best. The gnarlier the climbing the better.Yep a little nuts. Maybe a screw loose. Or maybe we just like going fast no matter what the conditions.

Jodi has Ironman Canada in Whistler coming up. It is an inaugural. I think she may hold a course record for her age group from this Ironman when it was in Penticton, B.C. That was five years ago. She is now in a new and older age group. And she is faster and stronger than before. That's pretty cool. Yep. I think she will rock Whistler. We have been training big, long, hard and in the heat. Why? Because that is what we do. Makes most any race course almost feel tame.(with exception of Kona and Maui) we do not wish to upset Pele'. :)

Race # 3 and final of the L.A. Series over and done. This event has grown dang big in the last couple of years. Saturday the park ran out of parking and had to steer athletes to outside on the public streets. Both Jodi and I went undefeated in category for the series and also placed top three overall series open division. Not too shabby for a couple of 50+ year olds. Train hard. Race harder. Be safe. Have fun. Thank the volunteers. Repeat.