As always, I typed this for my training blog, but like to post it here too for anyone who gives a rat’s ass. If you don’t click your “back” button and move on…ha, ha.
So, my sixth race of the year, and my second time doing this race, I was obviously out to beat last year’s time. The day started a bit sketchy with Vicki setting the alarm wrong and waking me 15 minutes late from a dead sleep. I hurriedly grabbed everything and crammed down some cereal and headed out the door. Fortunately, that was the only hitch of the day and I made it to SD around 5:50am for a 7am wave start. Went to the VIP table and got my gear and found my reserved rack. I was racked next to a woman who was doing her second-ever tri and was toiling over how to set up her transition, so a few of us tried helping her. She was really nervous…reminded me of my early races.
This was the only race that I’ve ever done that had NO PORTA POTTY LINES even right up to the beginning of the race! I had to use one about ten minutes before my wave start and had no wait. Maybe other people just crapped in their wetsuits or something.
I ended up not really have much time to warm up and before I knew it, I was in the water treading waiting for the start. It was overcast but relatively warm, so perfect racing conditions.
THE SWIM/1000 meters: 15:40
I started on the outside front and was off and going at a good pace. I felt a bit tired right off the bat, but then sort of warmed up and got into a groove as I hung in the top ten of my AG pack. They had announced that the pros finished the swim in 11 minutes, so it was apparently short. I shaved like 3 minutes off last year, so I’d have to concur that it was short.
T1: 2:49
A good 200 plus yard run to my rack, but once there, I was pretty quick into the socks, shoes and helmet. No real time wasted.
THE BIKE/30kms: 51:00
The bike ride is flat for the first 2 miles or so, then it’s uphill for about 3 miles, and then rollers through the middle of the bike, and then downhill back to transition. I do pretty well on hills (climbing), and for once, I was passing alot of people on the uphills which was a nice switch since I’m usually getting blown away on the bike. I had one dude with no shirt in Spiderman lycra shorts that would pass me on the flats and I’d get him back on the uphills. I figured if I lost to him, I’d complain that he was violating the USAT rule about wearing a shirt. Ha, ha. I remember one dude with a dentist’s name on his shorts passing me near the end of the bike. I took it relatively easy down the hills topping out around 35mph, and slowing before the really hard turn at the bottom of the hill where they kept the ambulance for the inevitable mayhem for those that went into it too hot. I averaged around 21mph which is good for me on a hilly course. I felt like this was a decent cycling leg for me.
T2: 2:12
Very efficient in and out. Sadly, I had to ask folks where the run out was, but it didn’t delay me. My fault for not checking it out before.
THE RUN/10K: 46:47
This was where my race REALLY began. I took a look at the watch as I left T2 and saw it said 1:12 and thought “I can go sub-2 hours in this race!”. I like to set small goals throughout the race. I knew I was capable of a sub-48 minute 10K, but there wasn’t any room for error, and pacing was crucial. I went out relatively easy and held that for the first two miles. I was passing a few guys that had started in the wave before mine, the 30-34, and 35-39 year olds, and then a few 40-44’s slipped by me. I secretly cursed those fast bastards and hoped that they would blow up and I’d catch them. My plan, as always, was to slowly build my speed and really unload it all in the last 1.2 miles. So, after the halfway mark at mile 3, I ate a gel and ramped up the pace a bit as I entered the Embarcadero stretch. I started slowly catching people that had passed me early in the run, including dentist shorts guy. I remember last year that that last 1.2 miles seemed to take forever because you can’t see the finish line until you round the final corner and you’re less than 100 yards from it, so I was really relying on the mile markers on the course. I had been pacing myself at about 8:30 miles for the first 3 miles, and had dropped it down to closer to 8 from mile 3-4. From mile 4 to 5 it was down in the mid-7’s and once I saw the mile 5 marker, I unloaded and was probably going around 7 min/mile. I was hurting big, but at this point, have come to expect that at the end of the run. I really was watching my watch and saw that I was going to have to hammer down an incredible final mile to break 2 hours, and as I recall, my watch was around 1:52 at mile 5. Could I go sub 7? One barefoot/shirtless runner passed me around mile 5, but I ran him back down in the last 100 yards! I ended up going 46:47. My unofficial PR 10K was at Bonelli with a 44:44, but I’m 99% sure that course was short. I’d have to count this as my official 10K PR.
Got my free VIP massage and downed a few cups of various fruity juices and at a muffin and a banana, and checked my results- 12th in my AG (up from 30th last year). Not too shabby. Since I have only 2 months until IMC, I decided to take a page from the many pros I saw jogging the nearly 4 miles back to transition instead of taking the shuttle, so like last year, I jogged back and cheered on the remaining runners. Had a nice 33 minute run back, and then the mile bike ride back to the car for a total of about 10 running miles for the morning.
Spent the afternoon bodyboarding down at T-Street and doing a little yard work and resumed my regular training schedule the next day. Next race? Camp Pendleton International where I’m out to set my OLY PR! Can I do it?
