Location: Santa Barbara, 7am Sunday the 28th
Distance, 500yard swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run.
Experience: This is my 2nd tri, and 2nd sprint, last was Nov at Treasure Island. PS. i’m 24 yo Male.
Um. Got up at 4.50. Showered, body glilded, got my gear together and rode my bike to the course, I was able to switch hotel rooms Saturday and got a place just down the street.
Got to the transition area at 5.30 just in time for opening and laid out my stuff and got body marked. Checked out a few of the hot girls doing the womens sprint : of course, and this one hottie workin the event. i know i know, priorities on race day right?
Got in the water at about 6.20 for a swim in my fullsuit. i knew that it takes me a while to get warms, so i wanted to be as warm as possible for the start. But boy do i wish i had done more trainin in my suit as it was tough to get used to again.
um…it was my first beach start, which was kinda cool, i was just hoping that my goggles werent gonna fly off as i dove into the waves! It was a pretty large wave, as it was 39 and under males.
I stuck to the left side of the wave as we rounded the first bouy on our right side. spent the first 200 lookin for someone to draft. finally found someone. I think it helped a lil bit. as we got to the last bouy it looked as if the main group had drifted to far right of the bouy and had to come back to get around the left side of it. this gave me a chance to stay with them as we headed to shore.
it was about a 50 yard run up the sand to the parking lot where i had to run another 75 to my bike! boy was i just trying to catch my breathe and get my legs ready. i dropped my cap and went back 10 ft for it…and at the same time realized i dropped my goggles, but figure they were gone.
made a pretty quick t1 as i stripped the suit, put on my helmet and made for the exit, with my bike, got to the course and hopped on and attempted to get my feet on top of my shoes, as soon as i had, i realized my glassses had fallen off my aero bars and double back 20 ft for them. booo.but i was soon on my way.
I slide my feet in with little effort and took off at about 23pmh, which supprised me. as i went to reach for my gel in my back shit pouch, it was gone, musta lost it running to t1 i was bummed. since it was a 3 mile out and back i thought the course was flat…it was except for 2-3 short steep hillls, welll steep to me! any ways i was able to reel in 10 or 15 people, i can’t count, haha. that had beat me out of the water. including a few lil 14-u haha. gotcha!
i made a clean dismount and ran my bike in for t2, quick t2. just kept remindin myself not to forget my race belt! threw on my nike free’s and took off, glasses on, race belt on, and squeezed a gel down as i left. boy the run started out slow, but i was able to maintain a pace. i saw a guy about 50 ft in front of me and told myself i could slowly reel him in…just as i thought that , he got his running legs and took off , haha. as i got to the turn around, i grabbed a gatorade from the helpers and promptly spit it all over myself and as well as all over anyone near me. the run was a quick flat 2 miles, and it went by quick. i was only passed 4 times while i managed to pass about 5 as well as a few of the ones that had me. i gave it my all to the finish and passed 3 people in the long chute. boy, i was spent! i beat my goal of 55 min, and got a 48.10 good for 5th in my a/g. 1 off from gettin a plaque! so close!
only regrets were dropping two things, and missing my bike gel, i left it all on the course and i was pleased for my 2nd tri as my t1 and t2 went smooth. I wish they had timing chips though, as i would have like to have seen my splits. but aside from that , there was plenty of eye candy to see after the race, never have i ever felt so comfortable walking around in spandex shorts and no top though! hahahah. only a triathlete would do that huh! haha. thanks for reading this! and remember to leave it all on the course!