Mountain Man Race Report

If you like oxygen deprivation, this is the race for you. Mountain Man claims to be the fifth oldest triathlon west of the Mississipi. They actually have two guys dressed as mountain men riding horses around the race site. It's located nine miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona at Lake Mary, which looks like a giant mud puddle from the road. The elevation is 7000 feet, which to us desert rats in southern Arizona seems like noticeably less oxygen. If you want to race in Arizona in the summer, you have to go to higher elevations.

I chose to do the Olympic race, (1500m swim, 24.1 mile bike, 6.2+mile run)because I am doing longer course races this year. Last year I did this race in the sprint version. I spent the whole sprint race panting like I had some kind of lung disease. This year wasn't as bad, but the effects of less oxygen were sneakier.

The swim is challenging because it's hard to get enough air when you are swimming. The swim in Lake Mary was a point to point, from one boat ramp to another. Unlike lakes in southern Arizona, the water was a murky brown instead of a murky green. I had a rough time starting out because I couldn't get enough air just swimming. I had to stop and tread water, pant, swim, stop, pant and repeat. Finally, when I got around the first buoy, I settled down and could swim more than resting. Being a slow swimmer, I didn't have that many people around until the next wave would overcome me. I kept thinking how much I hate open water swimming. I was surprised when I reached the dock that I had a swim personal record after all that. Total swim time was 42:27".

The Olympic bike course was much harder than the sprint. The website claims that the Olympic course has three consecutive hills. The first climb is only 200 feet, but it is a steep 200 feet, about a 12 percent grade. At some point I was going five miles per hour. At altitude, I just didn't have much energy to keep the pedals turning over. The hill probably would have been much easier at sea level. My legs were really beginning to hurt. It seemed to take forever to get to the turn around. The scenery was pretty because it followed the lakes and I saw some beautiful hawks playing with each other. Coming down the steep hill I was going 37 miles per hour, so I knew it was a "significant" hill as the website described. I was ready to get off the bike when I got in. Total time was 1:28:45, averaging 16.1 mph. which was good for me.

The run course is a painfest, also harder than the sprint. If is an out and back that climbs an six to eight percent grade hill for a mile and a half. Strangely, I found my heart rate would not go very high running up the hill. I found out later that this is due to the effects of oxygen deprivation. You hit threshold (read out of breath) at a lower heart rate when exercising because you don't have enough oxygen. Looking for distraction from the pain of ascending the hill, I began to wish for a cute butt(guy's) to look at. What I had in front of me wasn't all that attractive. No doubt someone was looking at my butt. Total time to ascend the hill 37 minutes, time to descend 30 minutes. I finally got my heart rate and speed up the last two miles. I had people I knew near the finish line, so I wanted to look like I was actually racing and not plodding. Total run time was 67:46, but the run was longer than 6.2 miles. Maybe 6.7?

This race is painful enough that I might do it again if I am in shape. It is fairly well organized, but there isn't a lot a support out on the course. You have to bring your own nutrition and water out on the bike. My total time was 3:24:09, which is actually a personal record for me on an Olympic course, despite the lack of oxygen. Another difficult race down. On to the next one!