This Sat July 5th is the Grady Williams Freedom Days Triathlon in Farmington NM. This race is an infamous Olympic distance race which is done in an odd order. It's a swim, run, bike. The run is a cross country dirt run through somewhat treacherous & very hilly terrain. The course is not marked well. Instead of putting up signs or tape on the trees marking which trails to run on it is marked by chalk on the run trail. So if a person isn't in the lead pack there's a very good chance the chalk will have been ran over enough to be non-existent. A huge number of triathletes complain about getting lost on this course every year. It wouldn't be that bad if it was an out & back course, but it's a point to point 10 K run. Consequently if you lose the trail your supposed to be running on you will have to wander around out in the wilderness until you find civilization. At the half way point on the run there is a 5 gallon jug of water on a table. There are cups on the table also, but no one there at the aid station to fill them or hand them out. The water & cups are dropped off the day before the race, so the cups are still in the sleeves & the water is very hot from sitting out in the sun the entire day before hand in the sweltering summer heat. The only way to get a cup of hot water is to stop in the middle of your race, pull out a cup from the sleeve, & wait until the X number of people in line in front of you has filled their cup up because there are no volunteers on the run course at all. None on run course or at the only aid station on the run.

If you are the last one on the run & get hurt I don't know how anyone would know because, like I said, there are no volunteers on the course. T-2, the bike start is 10 K away from T-1 which is the swim end & the run start That is if a person gets to T-2 without getting lost, hurt, or killed in the wilderness. From what I'm told the bike course is an extremely hilly out & back 40 K. At the turn around you'll find volunteers handing out cups of water. This water is cold as apposed to the hot water found on the run. But like I said, it's handed out in cups. How is a cyclist supposed to carry enough water for the 2nd half of a 40K bike in a single 8 oz cup?

You may ask why I'm doing this race if it is ran so poorly? Well, since I know about the lack of hydration/support on the run & bike I'll have a bottle to run with, and 3 bike bottles fully stocked on my bike. I'm hoping preparation will give me an edge on my competition, so I'll be more likely to place well. Additionally only 50-70 people race this course every year, which is another opportunity for me to place well in the very fast & competitive 30-34 AG.


No, I'm not so egotistic to go through all that just to get a Top 3 medal in the 30-34 age group. The reason I'm going through all this is I'm competing in the South West Challenge series. The SW Challenge Series is the oldest, & biggest Multisport series in the world. It's a competition where athletes compete in 28 triathlons & duathlons throughout Texas & New Mexico. For every 1st place in your division you place in a South West Series race you get 10 points. 9 points for 2nd place, 8 points for 3rd, 7 points for 4th, etc. The series takes the point totals for an athletes top 8 races. In 2006 I took 2nd place in the Clydesdale open division, last year I took 1st. This is my first year competing in the 30-34 age group. The 30-34 has some super fast athletes. The Grady Williams will be a great way to earn higher points than I could in a normal sized well supported race.

I've also just came off the hardest month training I've ever been through. I've had a 1 week taper/recovery week. So I'll be going into this race well rested and in top fitness.

This week, the week before the Grady Williams has been a recovery week. A recovery week following the hardest month of triathlon training I've ever been through. So I ought to be well rested & in top form. On a side note I'll have to race this race on my road bike because my tri bike is in the shop. I'm trading in my old tri bike for a Cannondale Ironman Slice Six13. See July 3rd's post for the info on my new ride.

So, barring getting lost or dying of dehydration I'll give you a post race report as soon as I can. Thanks for tuning. I'm out.