October 20, 2024 – Lake Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada It was game 5 of the American League Series and the Yankees had just beat the Guardians but we missed the last inning even though it was on a 50” TV screen in front of us because we were too interested in watching the T100 Las Vegas coverage from YouTube. Fiona and I are huge fans of triathlon. We love it. We don’t really care much about any other sport although FiFi does like to watch Tennis.
No, we spent the day getting up at 5:30AM to watch 20 of the top men and 20 of the top women endurance athletes in the world including Olympic Champions like Brownlee and Duffy including many other Olympic medalists, world champions such as Laura Philip and Anne Haug, etc. We walked over 20,000 steps on the day before our T100 race to cheer on the greats and it was incredible. No event even compares. We were right there on their 2KM swim during the intro’s and Aussie Exit. We saw them run into transition and out onto the 80KM bike. We were on the first climb of the toughest course on the circuit playing music, holding signs for Paula Findlay with her dog Flynn, and we hung out with fellow Professional Triathlete Eric Lagerstrom on the steep and rugged climb of TTL Naysh on their multi loop 18KM run. We watched the best, finish under the teal blue arch and then we got to repeat it all again for the men after checking in our own bikes for the next days race.
On January 30th, 2024 the PTO (Profession Triathlon Organization) announced T100 at Lake Las Vegas which was the site of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship from 2011 to 2013. Then at the start of March, Fiona and I visited Las Vegas for the Australian Ruby League. So, we visited Lake Las Vegas to check it out and were instantly blown away by the amazing golf greens, large flat lake with mountains in the background, incredible houses and homes; this place was exploding.
Part of the area resembles an Italian village with streets like strolling around the inner city of Roma, Italia. Even more there is an amazing bridge that resembles the Ponte Vecchio in Firenze, Italia were I first visited in 2000 when I went to see Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in the Golden Jubilee Pilgrimage. There was no question, we HAD to do this race. As soon it was open we registered at a cost of $301. Compare this to 70.3 Musselman in July 2025 at $441 or the 70.3 World Championship of $797. If you’re a triathlete, you need to do this race. It’s amazing!
We drove up from Tucson on Friday, Fiona drove while I studied for my 2nd attempt at FAR for the CPA exam. Saturday was everything above and we ran into 2 of our friends from Tucson Chas and Kailey who had to defer to next year. I finished off the Pinot Noir from the night before and the day was spent eating candy, rice, pasta, bread, Gatorade, and soda for cabo-loading adventures. My legs were shot from the 10miles of walking so did a 10minute swim in the VRBO pool. This was also an amazing deal for the 6th floor room, lake view, 3 nights at $652 at $217/night.
RACE DAY
4AM Wake up, of course Fiona slept in till 4:30AM. Timing Chip on, HR monitor, and Zoot Sam Long Signature tri-kit. Packed up all the stuff into the great gear bag swag the PTO gave us and jumped in the shuttle 1min out the door at a bankrupt casino (They DO exist!)
Aside – Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas opened in 2003 but closed in 2010 after the market crashed in 2007. The adjacent Ritz Carlton also closed. (Now I know why this place is so stunning!!!) The casino reopened in 2011 but then closed again in 2013. 2 of the golf courses also closed as tourism had plunged.
The shuttle took us the 1.5miles to the swim start. We then walked the 400m to transition and checked the bikes. Then I realized I forgot my Wahoo Bolt bike computer (Damn it!). So I paired my Garmin Fenix 6 wrist watch and reset the Data Screens. I laid out all my stuff:
Bike: Cleates in pedals, Helmet down, visor attached to outside via magnets, and eyeglasses next to it.
Run: My new $250 Hoka Ceilo X1 Carbon Plate super shoes with bungee straps replacing the laces to easily slip in feet, socks on top of shoes, race belt, and Camelpak waist belt with 1 bottle of water and 1,000mg of salt via LMNT, and sunglasses on top of that. I do this to keep the sunglasses clean and it’s easier to use eye glasses as the visor is tinted
We walked over to the swim start and put on the wetsuit for the first time since 70.3 Santa Cruz (where I qualified for Worlds) 13 MONTHS AGO! It was a time-trial start. The 550+ lined up in various waves and then each swimmer jumped off the dock feet first to start the timer every 3-5 seconds.
SWIM: 2KM (1.2Miles) 32:23 – 37th gender – 43rd overall – 1:37/100m. Actual 2.001 KM (WOW)
I started strong for the first 3 minutes to the first turn. Then I had to adjust as the people in front of me were going off course. At 4minutes in I had to slow down mid-stroke to adjust my goggles that were seeping water into one eye. But I did it quick and continued my pass of many in front of me. My sighting was great (Clearly with 1meter longer than required) and the water temperature was perfect (70F). The water was quite calm and the sun had not yet risen over the hills. I made the turns at the far end and then headed back smashing my head into the sighting buoys twice like a bob. Quite funny actually. I had only one swimmer pass me but I have one speed and wasn’t able to hold on. Back into the beach bay area and headed out to T1
T1 3:25 – 400meters, 100’ ascend 67F
Watch in hand, wetsuit down, watch on wrist, run up hill, googles and cap in hand, get to bike. Step on wetsuit and strip off, helmet on, glasses on, go.
BIKE: 80KM (49.7M) 2:16:31 – 31st Gender – 31st Overall – 21.4mph – Actual 48.5M, 21.2MPH – 3,212’ climb, 163TSS, 85%IF, 128avg HR, 141max, 246avg power, 263NP, 1.07VI, 728watts max, 2024 Bronze 5sec max power at 692watts, 73F avg max 81F
Our course was even harder than the Pro’s on a slightly different course but I started looking like a total amateur. I had put my cleats on the bike and when I got to the mount line, put my foot on the cleat upside down which dragged and came off. I had to get off my bike, grab the shoe, put my foot in, then clip in, the other one dangled around and I had to get my foot in that, then one of the Velcro straps came off so I dicked around with that before finally going wasting a ton of time. Damn it. I started moving and soon had a Maurten 100cal with 25g carbs. I had 2 bottles on my bike 1 with Maurten 320cal/80g carb and an Immortal with 925mg salt (1.2g salt/bottle). The other bottle had Maurten 320 with 100mg Caffeine and LMNT flavor salt for another 1.2g salt/bottle. I also had 2 Maurten gel’s on board.
The pavement was really great, a 9/10. And the hills were FAST with the first crash I saw at the bottom of the first big hill where I may had hit my max speed of 44.4mph. The course continued on with the Strip off in the distance and I made sure to see all of it from the Stratosphere to the Luxor. I continued on with strong power moving through my data screens on my watch to monitor HR, Power, Speed, and make sure I had done 4 laps. I cheered on Team Zoot (which I am a part of for the 40% discounts on gear), TTL for support of That Triathlon Life which we have been followers of for years now on YouTube, blogs, content, etc and cheering others on as well including Matt who I saw out there.
On my 2nd loop on the last climb coming in a guy past me and then moved over so quickly that I was 1 foot off his rear wheel. “Dude really?” as the guy responds “Can’t you just have fun today?!!” Then the guy just keeps shaking his head. I say, “Yea, keep shaking your head man”, with a smile on my face. Now, what do you think his tri-kit was? Ferrari California. I went past and never saw him again, vroom vroom dick. Also, on the 2nd loop on the last steep decent, I went into the turn passing a girl who didn’t turn as much as she thought. I had to adjust and locked up my disc wheels of my Argon 18 E119 Tri+ and fishtailed what felt like 6”-1’ at around 25mph. And then MORE Drama, I didn’t realize where the turn around was and went right through the cones for about 5meters, slamming on the brakes and turning around to a “Nice Recovery!”. Yea, SUPER happy to have Disc Brakes. My old rim brakes would NOT have handled that.
That was the end of the drama and I was only past twice on the bike. And one of those was a girl who I was very, very impressed with. She and I were back and forth, no other one was even near me. I saw her later on the run flying past me and I said “Great bike!” and she was saying how we were battling it out. In the end I survived getting “Chicked” by Samantha Skold by 9 SECONDS. Phew! Haha. Well done Samantha! She went on to finish first female overall of 146 (Not surprised!)
Ok, the rest of the ride was great. I felt bad for the traffic who were really stopped for long periods of time but don’t complain, we are bring hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions to your local economy. I didn’t see Fiona but as I came in to the final turn before dismounting I saw Paula Findlay who took 6th the day before.
T2 1:43 – 0.07mile
Rack bike, helmet off, glasses off, sit down, socks on, shoes on, 70.3WC St George visor on, grab water waist belt and number and put them on walking out of T2. Go.
Run 18KM – 11.2M –1:27:59, 76 gender, 84th overall, 7:51/mile – Actual 11M at 7:59/mile – 938’ ascend – 132HR/avg, 144max, 168 cadence, 80F, max 84F
I was really looking forward to this run. It was going to be difficult with big ascend on very undulating golf-cart paths of a golf course over rocky dirt, pavement, cement, and grass. The closest course I had done to this was 70.3WC at St George in 2022. This course rivaled that one and may fall 2nd to that course but marginally for the whole event, spectator friendly atmosphere, close-knit, non-point to point course. It was exceptional.
I didn’t fear the course even knowing how all the Pro’s called it “Savage” and in all honesty I didn’t think it was THAT hard, but, then again, maybe I should have gone harder. Regardless, the 3 loop course was brilliant up and down 2X on both loops. On the first loop I saw Emma Pallant Browne who I got to run with back in 2022 on a Hoka Run and I got a high 5 from her. She received a silver in 70.3WC, is a World Champion, has multiple titles, and originally from South Africa. Then, at the TTL Naysh tent I again saw Paula and Eric 😊. I also got a Coke from the first aid station although Fiona said she didn’t see any coke all day lol. All I took from the aid stations was Coke, Ice down the top, and water over the head. I got past by 1 runner each mile and then wouldn’t know by how many after the 2nd loop where people after us started coming on course. Ultimately, I was passed by 12 people on the run but did pass some on that first loop.
Honestly, I didn’t really think the hills were that tough and I have been running mostly on the treadmill since June. I have run outside maybe 5 times, if that, since earlier this year: easier, faster, more efficient, etc. But, I have a solid base and just kept moving and satisfied my goal of not walking once.
I also made the Maurten move pocketing 9 Maurten gels worth $36 along the course, a bit less than the 23 Maurten’s I hauled back at IRONMAN Arizona worth nearly $100! I saw our friend Matt, Nick from TTL, and the guy from YouTube Daily Tri News. I didn’t see Fiona at all except when I went back to cheer her on.
On the last segment back to transition I saw 8:02/mile avg so I really started to accelerate so I could get under 8min avg. Although flatter, it was my fastest mile at 7:39 and was on 7:22/mile on the last 1KM.
Finish: 4:21:59 – 5/62 A/G, 35/401 Gender, 38/548 Overall
I got my bag headed out on course to cheer in Fiona, got free nutrition from the TTL tent, got more photos of Fiona and then we saw Matt, had food, and headed back.
We stayed at the VRBO for the night writing this blog over some sunset beers, checking out Vino Del Lago with music and wine by the glass, The Pub Lake for burgers an Old Fashion, and then crashed.
This was a really great trip.
6 weeks till the FAR CPA exam.
8 weeks till the 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand.
Stay tuned!
Tucson Athlete 