Stonebridge Ranch - TriathlonOlympic

The swim course at this race really blows. Well, let me rephrase: it really blows when it's sunny. You can't see sh*t for 1/2 of the lap because the sun is directly in your face. I was 15 yards from the exit and had no idea because the sun was blinding me. I also got some pond water in my left goggle which irritated my eye pretty badly. It got to the point where most of the 2nd lap I was swimming w/ my eyes closed. Every 8 strokes or so I'd peek out of my right eye to see if I could spot a buoy or another swimmer, but with the sun in my face that became near impossible. I just kept going in the general direction I thought was right and tried not to open my left eye at all. I almost got hit by a kayak too, like it was close enough he even said "sorry" when I came up for breath. He wasn't coming for me, he just decided to cross I guess.

Oh and I got in the washing machine a few times; I got kicked in the junk once and bear hugged a couple other times. I also swallowed more pond water than I care to recall. If that course was on a cloudy day, it would be great. But man, that sun is a killer.

Blot out the sun?

This transition is epically long. You run out of the water, over a hill, down the other hill, through a parking lot, then through some tennis courts before you actually get to T1. It's kinda crazy. Given how far you have to run just to get to your sh!t, my T1 time was great. I know they have limited options for where they can setup transition, but that's a long way to go. Did I mention the hill you go down is steep enough to slide down?

Move transition closer.

This course was harder than advertised. You leave T1 and go straight into a hill that turns right and goes up another hill. Add in the wind and I was lucky to be doing 15-16mph on the first half. Of course, once I turned into the tailwind section I was cruising at a steady 24-25mph most of the time. I used the tailwind section to get my HR down into Z1/Z2 as much as possible, but really it was more Z2/Z3. I did better at getting into the right HR on this race than my last oly, but I still need to improve. I can't eat the paste at Longhorn or I'll pay. I had some severe shin & ankle pain for most of the first 3 laps of this 4-lap course, I'm guessing I was pedaling w/ bad form or something because it eventually went away. It was excruciating for awhile, I thought I was going to have to stop at a couple of points. I need to figure out what I was doing that made things hurt so badly so I don't do it again at Longhorn.

If I have a south wind like that at the US Open, I'm going to crush that bike course.

p.s. I negative-split every 5 mile chunk on this course. Go me.

5 mile lap 1: 17:48, 16.9mph
5 mile lap 2: 17:32, 17.1mph
5 mile lap 3: 17:23, 17.3mph
5 mile lap 4: 16:58, 17.7mph
5 mile lap 5: 9:01, 20.1mph(this was ~3 miles)

Figure out how to ride without bothering my shins/ankles, stick to my HR plan better.

T2 was a lot shorter on account of the bike coming in right at the transition area. I would have come out of here in 2 minutes or less had I not hit the port-a-john to, uhh, take care of some business.

Colostomy bag?

This course was harder than advertised as well. There were very few flat sections, you were either going uphill or downhill probably 90% of the time. Sometimes the hills were gradual, a lot of times they weren't. I walked the aid stations - like I've taken to doing at any longer races these days - and I think that helps extend the amount of time I can run. I didn't walk at all outside of those aid stations. I slowed down each mile for the first 5 where I bottomed out at 10:33, then sped up for the last ~1.25 miles.

Oh, and I passed a guy with an IM tat about 1.5 miles before the end. I think that guy was in my AG too. He had cracked and was walking the last couple of miles. I guess I'm not that surprised, a lot of people were walking at that point. I think I moved up a few spots purely out of attrition.

I'm not sure, it went pretty well all things considered.

Sat in the shade, ate food & drank water.


They have some very nice aspects - lanes were closed off & cops directing traffic, decent post-race food - and overall it's a good race. There were a couple of issues I had that I mentioned - the crazy long T1, the swim course setup - that I'm not sure they can do much about at the current venue. The one thing I wish they'd work on is the aid stations on the run; it could have used a little more cold water. Some stations were fine, others not so much.

It's a good race & Playtri did a pretty good job overall, but there's a ceiling on how well they can do with that venue.