Oceanside, California United States Ironman North America 61F / 16C Overcast

Total Time = 5h 25m 1s Overall Rank = 497/1958 Age Group = M35-39 Age Group Rank = 112/380

This race turned out to be a little more challenging than I had originally anticipated. When I signed up for it last year, I expected just to cruise with the race because this wasn't an A race for me and I was coming off of a season with my first IM and some ultramarathons. So, I expected to be in solid shape and figured a half wouldn't be much of a problem.

However, a series of injuries (tendinitis back in early december (my first DNF), a torn calf muscle on 1/15, and then a bike accident a week later that left me with very bruised knees), resulted in minimal running for an 8 week stretch (e.g. I ran a total of 11 miles in the month of February) and I only started my run training 3 weeks before the race.

It was risky, but I ramped up my run training very quickly - I started with a 7 mile training run after not having run a single mile in 2 weeks and then ramped up to 10+ by the weekend and then to 13.1 just a mere 9 days before the race. Some of these runs were quite painful on my knees and my calf always let me know that it was not 100%. To be clear, I strongly DO NOT RECOMMEND being this aggressive with your training and I was relying heavily on my residual fitness and my continued biking. In the end, I did not know how my knees and calf would fare in race conditions and I was concerned about jeopardizing my training for my IM in late May.

*****

Since DW's been very busy at work, we took the latest flight down (2:00pm) to San Diego that we though we reasonably could to make registration (closes at 8pm). My buddy poweredbyfear (PBF), had driven down and generously offered to pick us up at the airport as well as haul down my bike (saving me a couple hundred dollars) and most of my other gear. Travelling to a race can get pretty expensive pretty fast between race fees, airline tickets, bike transport, lodging, and meals.

PBF picked us up at about 4:00pm and we started heading to Oceanside. We hit the Friday rush hour traffic (something we didn't think about since none of us were working that day) and it took us until about 5:30pm before we were at registration.

At this late hour, registration went extremely smoothly with no lines at all. I was supposed to get a red cap for wave 8, but since they ran out, I received a silver one instead. The race talk was a video they had running in a room, which was far less engaging than an actual meeting, but far more convenient. We happened to come in right when the bike course was being discussed which was what I was concerned about. There were 2 no passing zones and one 25mph zone on a downhill which would be a DQ if you sped. I didn't have a bike computer on my bike so I was mildly worried, but figured I'd just have to pace off of someone else and assume they weren't speeding.

We go to the expo briefly since PBF is considering buying a transition bag since we plan to bike from the motel start in the morning. He doesn't want to drop the cash on an semi-impulse purchase, but he does buy a mounting bracket for the aero water bottle I gave him since with just rubber bands, it sits a bit wobbly on his bike.

We go to the motel, Guesthouse Inn (ChrisM, thank you for the recommendation), and check in. It's pretty much a dive (I'm almost starting to get used to this being the norm for races), but at least we arguably have the best room there - on the third floor, ocean view, a reasonably large room with two queen beds since this is for 3 of us and a 5 minute bike ride to transition. We briefly chat with another triathlete from Canada at the check in desk. As we go to our room, it's clear that this motel is mostly booked with other race participants given all the bike racks, etc. on the cars.

Once we've unloaded everything in the room, we headed out to dinner. PBF had mapped out all our meals for us. We went to Capozzoli's, an Italian restaurant here in Oceanside. Obviously, we weren't the only ones to think of this and there were many other race participants there as evidenced by the silver wristbands we all received in registration. I was amused because one guy was already wearing his timing chip on his ankle. From the waiting area, you could see the kitchen and the pizzas being made which was such a big tease since we were so hungry.

Dinner was perfect for our needs. We wolfed the bread as soon as they set it down (bread was very plain and boring and the olive oil was typical restaurant bland, but we didnt' care) and our waitress was attentive to make sure we had more bread and plenty of water.

We all split a chopped salad order (they were large). I ordered the Linguine Fra Diavola which was a spicy seafood dish, DW had the Fettucinni Caponatta which was a vegetable pasta dish (I asked her to get the optional anchovies on the side so I could eat them) and PBF ordered the same seafood dish I did.

Soon enough our food arrives and we just chow down. My dish had a generous amount of seafood. PBF and I finished our plates and DW had a little leftover which PBF finished up. After we had finished, the owner came by to say hello and asked us how our meal was. On our way out, he also greeted us and gave us all hugs and thanked us. Overall food was a better than average, service was decent, and it was definitely an enjoyable dining experience.

After dinner, we walked over to the grocery store in the same plaza. We were primarily there for water, but PBF wanted a bottle of wine for tomorrow night (he picked up an inexpensive Tempranillo) and DW wanted some chocolate (some nice Dagoba dark chocolate).

Back at the room, we can see the transition from our room since it's lit up. PBF and I spent our time prepping our bikes and gear. I had to switch in my race wheels which also involves adjusting the horizontal dropouts (since my tubulars are 21c and my clincher training wheels are 23c) and readjusting the brakes. I would have preferred a chance to test ride, but I figured the ride down to the transition tomorrow would give me that chance to fine tune anything I needed to. I realize I've forgotton the straw for my aerobottle so I won't be riding with it. Fortunately, the weather is not very warm so I'm not too worried about only having one (conventional) bottle on for the race. Weather is supposed to be a high of about 60 and I'm not sure what to wear for the bike section - arm warmers or not? gloves? vest? I've ridden in the cold enough to know I didn't want to do that.

After that, it's setting the alarms for 5:00am (transition opens at 4:45, first wave is off at 6:45) the nighly ablutions and then it's lights out.

I slept quite soundly. The alarms go off soon and PBF and I are up. We each eat a bar and some liquids. I have a caffeinated gu (note quite a substitute for a cup of Peet's coffee, but it gets the job done). For fun, I apply a whirl logo (the logo of the company at which I work) temp tatoo onto my right upper arm and my right calf. I kiss DW goodbye and she wishes me luck.

We're out the door. We're not exactly sure how to get to the transition area, but there's another racer here and we just follow him. As we get closer and closer, more and more people converge. The majority of bikes appear to be tri bikes and most have race wheels. We arrive at transition and begin our setups.

Since I'm 744 so I'm at the far end of the rack which actually works out great since I have more room. I go get body marked which goes very quickly. i finish my setup and then head over to PBF to see how he's doing.

He finishes setting up. We decide to go wait in a bathroom line even though we don't have to go right now, but because the line is so long, we expect that we'll have to by the time we get up there. We're waiting for about ten minutes and then someone comes by and says we can't use these bathrooms because they are reserved. Argh. At that point, I just decide I'm going to pee once I get in the water.

We go back to my transition spot and stretch a little bit and then Waterdog comes by. This is the first chance I've had to meet Waterdog since I've been corresponding with him (starting on RWOL) for the last couple years when I first started tris. It was so cool of him to check in and i was so glad to finally meet him. At this point, I asked Waterdog how the transitions worked logistically (gee, great prep on my part, huh, waiting until now to figure this out) which helped a lot.

Soon enough, it's time to put on the wetsuit. Water is supposed to be 60 degrees which isn't that bad at all, but I'm wearing a squid lid and earplugs anyway. They have someone sing the Star Spangled Banner and soon the pros are already on their way. I go find PBF since he's 2 waves ahead of me. We start walking down to the far end of transition and to get to where we can walk back down the length of transition (outside of the transition area) to get to the boat ramp for the start. PBFs wave is fast approaching and he was just going to make it there for his start.

I line up with wave 8, which is a sea of red caps and I'm one of only a couple silver caps. Waves are only 3 minutes apart so I'm only waiting a couple minutes before it's time to get in the water. Just near the water entrance/exit, there is a glasses table. I'm using prescription goggles anyway, so I likely wouldn't have used the table even if I had known it was there.

no warmup for me and in fact they tell you that there is no opportunity to warmup for the swim since it's occupied by the race and you only have 3 minutes between wave starts.