Solana Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I sat and watched the wave of men before me. They took off running into the water, then jumped over a waist high wave tand kept swimming to the buoy. Piece of cake. When it was our turn, I took off runing into the water. I jumped over the waist high wave and started swimming. Then another wave came so I jumped over it, then another wave came so I dove under it. Another wave came and I dove under it. You get the point. It took forever for me to get to the buoy. One wave hit me just as I was coming up for air. I got a mouth full of water, that sucked. After the first buoy I didn't have any problems after that.

Try and start 2 waves earlier :)

There was a long run to T1, so I kept my wetsuit on for most of the run. By the time I got to my bike I could decide if I want to sit to take my suit off or stand. I tried standing and that didn't work at all. I should have done what I always do and sit.

Sit instead of standing to take the wetsuit off

I'm not sure what my bike split is yet. When I started my run I looked at my watch and it said 38 min. I was a little bummed about my bike since I passed a lot of people and didn't get passed much.I felt like I put 100% into the bike. I didn't feel like I let up at all and raced the whole way. Thinking about it now, that would be 30 minutes after I hit the swim timing mat, including T1 and T2, which were about 5 minutes total, so 25 min for 9 miles. Better than I was hoping for. This race was different in that they alternated men and women waves. They usually start the women after the men. It made for some interesting bike racing. I noticed women ride in little packs, side by side. But other than that, I though it was a good idea. As I was coming into T2. I was rounding the last corner and could hear my wife and kids yelling "Go Sue" I get next to them I see Happy cow putting the camera away. I just gave her the "What am I, chopped liver look?" She gave me the "whoops" look

Eat before the race.

Good. I had a great spot, so not far to run.

nothing

As I was coming out of T2, I looked for the Redheads where they were just standing and they weren't there. I made a right turn and they had moved. Happycow yells, "relax, you look tight" What? I feel good how could she say I look tight, then my right calf cramps and my left calf feels like it will cramp. I stopped and stretched then took off. I wanted to try my new running style (on my toes). But my legs wouldn't cooperate. My quads were tight and my calfs always felt like they were on the verge of cramping. When I got to the first turn around I saw I was catching up to Sue. I finally caught her and started talking to her. She said her hip felt good and she was doing fine. She also siad that I should wait for her. I didn't feel like going any faster, but I started to pick up the pace. I decided that I was going to try push a bit. If I crashed then I would go back and run with Sue. I did feel good so I kept on going. WhenI saw the finish line I started my kick, but had no power, nothing, nada. I knew my pace was slow so I should have something in the tank, but there was nothing there. My kick lasted 50 yards. I said "Don't hold back now"... but still nothing there, so I cruised in. When I got to the finish line my daughter was there and I asked her if she wanted to run with me, she said no, but looked like she did want to. I stopped and asked again, she said no, then sat down. I kept going. Afterwards, Happycow said she really did want to run with me. Next time I will drag her with me :)

During the run, I was getting soo hungry which is weird for me. I usually don't get hungry

Walked with my daughter to get her something to eat and tried to get back to the finish to watch Sue finish, but we missed her. We caught up with her at the post race area.


cramps and lack of energy


It was good having my family out there and great to see Sue race. She had some car trouble which would have thrown me off big time, but she took it in stride.