Swim
Comments: I think I've identified a weakness or two! Very sucky swim time. I'd been doing 1:30 100s in the pool, so something went very wrong. I do know that my sighting was the worst ever. There was a fair amount of chop with tightly spaced waves, and I zig zagged aiming for the yellow lifeguards instead of the yellow buoy. I took an outside line, which meant sighting was 100% up to me instead of being able to depend on a pack. Loooong slow run up the beach and stairs to transition. I felt sort of cooked on the beach, ...but I have to say, I loooooved the swim other than what the clock says. This was the warmest, clearest ocean swim ever for me, I liked the challenge of the wave and the chop, I had my stroke, and I was quite comfortable. I could have done it four more times, and would have if I hadn't had to race. What would you do differently?: Sighting was a disaster, and I should have, 1) followed the pack, and, 2) paid really close attention to aiming for the bouy rather than the lifeguards. Transition 1
Comments: I was slow running, and again the suit stuck on my heels. I need to find a solution, since body glide isn't working. Bike
Comments: Crushed the bike split, which I was a little worried about after the swim and run up the cliffs. Two people passed me, one guy who bonked, and a very fast woman who I passed again about 1/2 way through. Shockingly, I even beat a local female pro who I usually can't touch on club rides. My roady skills made the few seconds difference to be first in the AG. I nailed the corners where there wasn't three-wide traffic, I got out of the saddle on a couple of slight climbs, and I hammered with every tail-wind and downhill. I didn't leave too much on the course this time. What would you do differently?: A little practice on the course would have helped by a few seconds, but I, huh-hum, have bigger problems than my bike leg. Transition 2
Comments: This was a little sloppy, but not terrible. Run
Comments: I need to get to a 6:45 pace to be able to podium big sprints like this. The run felt strong enough, compared to training, and was the same pace as at last month's tri. As usual, the legs felt best starting at about mile two. Since the course had two loops, I got multiple looks at my competition, and I could see that I was getting crushed. There weren't any real problems with the run, it's just that I need to keep putting in a lot of training effort. Post race
Warm down: ...hunting for the results board. What limited your ability to perform faster: My priority in terms of lost time: sighting with sloppy waves, stripping the wetsuit, run speed. Event comments: This is a really well run race, especially considering the 1,200 participants. results: http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=109926 Last updated: 2011-02-19 12:00 AM
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United States
Encinitas Sports Partners
60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 147/628
Age Group = M50-54
Age Group Rank = 10/35
Up at 2:45, straight into the car for the drive, downed cookies and mochas on the way from Palm Springs. Paid VIP charge for same-day packet pickup, and got a designated rack space right at bike in/out. I could have slept in!
With 1 1/2 hours to kill between closing transition and my wave, I used the trick to keep my swim gear in a duffel, which I swapped for my street clothes and tossed over the fence into transition with just enough time to swim past the surf once before my wave.
Just a quick swim, maybe 250 yards. No running.