Tahoe Triple

Day 1 - Thursday, Oct 6, 2005

It's bad when you're out of breath before you begin a race. Especially so when you're running down a mountain. Could be the 7,000+ feet of elevation. The view from Inspiration point more than made up for the lack of oxygen.

After taking in that spectacular scene and watching the sunrise, we were off. It was clear, 29F, and only light breezes. Perfect. And for most of the way, the run went about as perfect as it could too. My crew consisted of my wife Debbie, brother Dave, and his wife Carol. They did a spectacular job of supporting me.

The first couple miles were extremely down hill, and we soon arrived in the towns of South Lake Tahoe and Stateline. I didn't like the traffic or the resulting exhaust. We had to run along the side of the road the whole way, but the traffic was the most of the problem going up/down mountains, and through town. I started slow even with that drop - about 8:30 miles. The course was marked every 5 miles. I hit mile 5 in 42:51.

Running with new friends Pat from Northwest Ohio and Bill from Invercargill, NZ, I settled down for the mostly level next 10 miles. This included the through town part, but also getting back out into less populated areas on the Nevada side of the lake. Did I mention that Pat and Bill are in my age group? Pat dropped back early on, but Bill pulled ahead of me at about mile 18. I passed 15 in 2:04. I felt great. The next 5 went well also. I hit the 20 mile mark in 2:47 - miles 15-20 had been in 42:50.

But at the 20-mile mark the hills were just beginning. Correction: the mountain was just beginning. Whereas the lake is at 6,200 feet, the finish at Spooner Summit is at 7,200 feet. And it was a steady climb from 20 on, with the steepest parts reserved for the final mile or two. I never stopped to walk. But it was an extremely slow slog. I didn't pass anyone, and nobody passed me. I actually did better than expected, running the final 10K in 55:11 to finish 13th out of about 112 starters in 3:42:11.

I'll take it. After soaking my legs in the icy cold lake, I hope I'll be ready for tomorrow. I'm sore, but I generally feel ok. We'll see.


Day 2 - Friday, Oct 7, 2005

There were some similarities to yesterday:

1) we started at a 7,000 foot plus elevation, so I was hyperventilating *before* I started running
2) we started at a 7,000 foot plus elevation, so there were some big downhills for the first few miles
3) the scenery was fantastic
4) the weather was great - only a few degrees warmer than yesterday
5) the last few were a bit of a death march

Now the differences:

1) I started too fast. I don't know why - I should've known better. But the guys I beat yesterday went way out in front of me, and I just had to try to hang with them.
2) Whereas yesterday was the toughest marathon, excluding ultras, that I've ever done, today's race was merely difficult.
3) Whereas yesterday's course had a mountain climb from 20 to 26, today there was merely a monster hill.
4) I somehow managed to run even slower for today's final 10K than yesterday's.

I suppose I can chalk it up to the accumulated miles on my old legs. I felt fine until a big hill at about mile 14. Starting at Spooner Summit, the first five were in 38 minutes (as I said, way too fast), the second five were in 41:39, and the third five (including the big hill) were in 43:09. So I was at 2:03 for the first 15. But that's where those accumulated miles took their toll.

The scenery was great the whole way. The traffic and exhaust fumes were much better today, but it was still tough to stay on the shoulder. Even the smaller towns on the north side of the lake weren't too bad. 15 to 20 were mostly flat, but I was slowing down: I did them in 44:42 and 20 went by in 2:47 and a half. Still not bad.

I was still slowing down when the big hill hit at about mile 23.5. I still never walked, but that slog was really bad. Even that last downhill mile into Tahoe City was slow. I finished 16th overall in 3:49:41. Something like a minute better than my PW.

Once again, my support crew was great. I don't know what I would've done without them.

Once again, I soaked my legs in the icy cold Tahoe water for about 20 minutes. I'm starting to wonder how much good this is doing me. Tomorrow's course may be tougher than Thursday's. At least they have the roads closed down and more support - this is the main marathon with several hundred participants.

Should I be as worried as I think I should be??


Day 3 - Saturday, Oct 8, 2005

*Excruciating* Quad Pain in the middle of the night. Enough to wake me up and keep me awake.

Last night's sunset pasta dinner cruise had been nice, and did indeed include a sunset and some pasta. But it was disappointing because it left so late that the sunset was just after we got going, leaving the lake dark for almost all of the voyage. It would have been far nicer to enjoy those beautiful hues of blue some more. There wasn't that much to the pasta either. Decent band though.

The 'ole legs were pretty sore, especially the quads, so I took a couple ibuprofen before heading to bed. I guess it was when they wore off that the pain woke me. All I could do is apply a self massage and worry that I may have to be a Did Not Start statistic.

By the time I made it to the start, I was still shaky, but generally better. I made up my mind that I was gonna get through this no matter what. This being the official marathon, there were 588 or so of us. Many more half-marathoners, 10Kers and 20-mile walkers joined us on the course at various times.

The first half was very scenic, but there were only a few views of the lake. I was indeed making it through, albeit slowly. There were only a few hills, so I managed about an 8:30-8:40 pace. The mountains were looming however.

God put many hills and mountains on this planet. But why o why did He always place them at about the 20-mile mark of every marathon? This time there was a huge climb at about mile 16, followed by a steep downhill, and then another tremendous climb from 19 to 20. I was reduced to walking for the first time in the three days. The scenery during these miles has to be as spectacular as that for any marathon anywhere. That helped with the pain.

I had hit the 15-mile mark in about 2:10, but it took me 53 minutes to negotiate those mountains to the 20-mile mark. Right at the 20-mile mark we were at Inspiration Point, at 7,000++ feet, the highest point on today's course. It's also where we started on day 1. It's also what I was calling "Perspiration Point", but then changed it to "Desperation Point".

The next three miles were severely downhill, but my attitude was "Damn the Quads, Full Speed Ahead". I did manage to pass a lot of people, and my legs held up, but then I slowed down again when we hit the nice, wooded bikepath for the final three miles. Pat, another triple guy, and a couple others passed me as I was desperately trying to get in under 4 hours.

Somehow I did, but not by much: 3:58:58. Bill the Kiwi ran his fastest of the three to win our age group. Pat and another guy got 2nd and 3rd - Pat had run with me before leaving me in the dust in the final 2 miles or so.

But I made it! As great as the Triple has been, I'm really glad it's over. Yes, I am proud of my accomplishment. I think I'll take tomorrow off.


Epilog / Lessons Learnt

I can't figure out how I could have trained any better. It wasn't practical for me to do any altitude training. I sure put in the miles, especially in terms of long runs. Back to back long runs and three in a row at times. Perhaps more hill work would have helped. In any case I still go by the mantra: “the will to win is nothing without the will to prepare”.

The triple was harder than most ultras are for me. This is mostly because I tried to race, such as it was, each of the three runs, whereas for ultras I usually slow way down and just slog through them.

In terms of time, I did about what I wanted and expected. The courses were about as tough as I expected too. That is to say, they were the three toughest marathons I've ever done. The altitude made all of them difficult for a lowlander like myself. Day 1 ended going up the mountain to Spooner Summit. Day 2 was the least difficult of the three, but it still had two big climbs at about miles 14 and 24, not to mention that it was long by about a half-mile. I know: suck it up, Dan. Day 3 was arguably the toughest of all - that double climb up to Inspiration Point at mile 20 was a monster. I know: suck it up, Dan.

It was neat being a rock star. That's how the other marathoners and half-marathoners viewed us triple-people. Time to come back down to earth now.

As pleased as I am with my overall time (11:30 for the three days), my place (17th of about 112 or so starters) and the overall experience, I do wish I had paced myself better. I'm sure that if I'd held back just a bit on day 1, I'd have done much better for the second half of days 2 and 3. The word 'conservative' just isn't in my vocabulary. I have a lot of admiration for those triplers who managed to have consistent times for all three runs. A few even got faster each day.

The best of the Tahoe Triple:

-Having a crew. This made me feel like I was part of a team. Great fun.
-The camaraderie. All of the competitors got to know each other very well during this shared experience. Pat from Toledo, Bill the Kiwi, Gene from Erie, the Mexican guys, even former 4-time winner Sean all seem like good friends now. I look forward to bumping into some of them again some day.
-The scenery, of course.
-The difficulty. If it had been easy, anyone could've done it.

In need of improvement:

-Traffic control. We knew this would be a problem for days 1 and 2, and it was. Something needs to be done.
-Organization. The race directors need to get their processes under control.
-Cost. It was well over $200. I did get three shirts (a wind shirt for the regular thon, and a tank top and sweatshirt for the triple), as well as a nice plaque. I also got a good buffet dinner and the bus rides out to the start. But it still seemed like a lot of moola.

Those are fairly minor quibbles. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'll count this among my proudest and most enjoyable running experiences. I probably won't do this again, but I may be a bit less afraid to try other new challenges.