Lined up right where I usually do for this race and wait for the gun to go off. We run into the water and there is very little surf but just a bit of wind chop and it is very foggy. We quickly make it out ot the beachball and make a right turn down the course and I feel like I am swimming strong. I had planned on taking it easy in the water for this race so I was just trying to stay comfortable. After passing a few bouys I realized that the fog was so thick, that you could not see the next bouy and a lot of folks are getting way, way off course. (Note to self, don't follow anyone) A couple of times I would lift my head up and the lifeguards would tell me "Your going the right way, keep cranking) so I knew I was OK. But it was strange because a few times I felt like I was coming at the bouy from an add angle and became disoriented a few times.

Then we hit the beach ball for the turn and headed back. I was mostly swimming alone and was amazed to find folks from the outbound side of the course swimming way over here. (Some really lost folks I guess) Still chatting with the lifeguards on boards to make sure I am still on track. Then we hit a beach ball and I knew it was way too soon for that. (It was the Turn Bouy for the Sprinters) a whole pack of folks in front of me headed for the beach and I decided to keep going straight along with a few others. (Lucky Me)

It was not too much longer that the correct beach ball came into view and I made the turn quickly and turned and burned for the beach. With no surf to speak of, it was sort of a swim until you can't and then stand up kind of day. Then up the soft sand on the beach and into the parking lot and across the chip mats.


Need to work on my stroke this Winter. It seems like I have actually regained a bit of speed this Summer, I need to work to regain the rest of what I lost during my surgery and recovery time.

Gonna Spend the Winter Deconstructing my stroke and working on endurance.

Into transition, I had my wetsuit peeled and cap and goggles in my hand and was already rehearsing what I was going to do. Dang, my rack was a long way down. I hit my spot, shed my wetsuit and started to put my biking stuff on.

I planned to wear my new Cycling Jersey from the Tri Club and it took some extra time to put on and stuff the pockets. My bike is still new and I don't have a solution yet for a flat repair kit so I just stuffed a little bag in my jersey pocket along with a couple of Gu packets. Shoes, Helmet and Sunglasses and I am off.

I quickly realize that my sunglasses are completely useless because of the fog and stuff them in the vents of my helmet and drive on. Sure seems like this Transition is taking a long time.


Just did not seem to have any sense of urgency during this transition. There was a very long beach run and then a big run through transition, but I still spend nearly 2:30 standing there futzing with my gear.

This should have been below 3 Minutes at least.

Cross the mount line and I am off and flying down Liden. I know this course very well and have ridden it both in the race and as a trainig ride more times than I can count so I am mostly on auto pilot. I am still very new to this bike but I got a great workout with my bike handling through the day. I tried to stay in aero and only come out at the last moment to break for turns before getting right back into aero again. I also tried to keep my cadence up and focus on staying in the right gear.

I am passing folks almost from the beginning and not getting passed at all so I feel like I am doing OK. Then on a fast stretch on the south side of town, a guy on a speedy looking Felt zooms past me and just as he swings over in front of me, his whole hydration rack comes unhinged and skids across the road. (I narrowly missed hitting it)

He stops and I never saw him again. I wondered if he tried to spend the time to reattach it or if he just DNF'd. (I figured I would see him again) then we are in the foothills and I am loving this. The new bike is very fast on flats and downhills due to aerodynamics, but the frame geometry also make it a pretty nimble bike on more technical courses and actually a fairly good climbing bike. It is not as good as my old roadie, but still good enough to pass a lot of folks on the uphills.

My plan was to cruise the hills early and hammer the downhills, and switch up later to hammer up the hills and recover on the downsides. (Where the biggest hills are)

It was not long before we hit the first of two significant hills on the course. As we wind up Toro Canyon Rd, we reach the peak right at the park. I remember really struggling with this hill the first year, but this year I was able to pretty easily fly over it and never get passed. (I darn near walked up it the first year)

Then we are on the long sweeping downhill and I am on the big gear hammering away trying to make up as much time as possible and no one is keeping up at this point. I am passing lots of folks through this section and having lots of fun. I am certain that many of the people I am passing are from the wave in front of me so I am still 6 minutes behind when I pass someone from the other wave.

As we come around Sheffield, we start to climb Ortega Hill and then up into Ortega Ridge. This is the final big hill of the day and I don't hesitate to grab a gear and get out of the saddle and start hammering. As we get to the top, We wind down onto Greenwell which I know well as the creepy little road that is built on some very unstable ground. It is very bumpy and rolly and at this point, I am very happy to be bombing this hill with no one else around me.

Then I am at the bottom and making the turn and suprised not to see volunteers telling folks to slow down. (Lucky for me I have course knowledge) I pass the point where part of the road is covered by an old landslide and then I am back on Via Real and heading home.

There is a point on the course that I remember well. I came down Foothill screaming fast and had to slow down for a turn; but found myself with a bunch of sand on the road and lost control. Luckily I was able to slow down enough before crashing that I only banged my knee up a bit and was able to continue.

As I reach the point, I notice a cyclist is down with a couple of RD folks with radios chatting away and things definitely don't look good for him. (I really hoped he was OK) Then I got back into the race and once again, successfully negotiated the turn. About this point, I glanced at my watch and knew I was going to crank a pretty good bike split and had a great chance of averaging over 20 MPH.

As we came back into town, the road got rough but I just kept hammering thinking that I would get past the rough spots quicker. (They had cut grooves into the road to prepare it for resurfacing and it felt like riding on cobblestones) Then I was heading into the transition area finishing up a very fun and speedy ride.


Just need a lot more saddle time on my new bike to build up my leg muscles to generate good power. (still built up and adapted to my old bike)

With time, I think I will get a lot faster.

I was determined to stay more focused in T2 and get in and get out. My legs felt good but I only had a short run to my rack. I did a flying dismount which made things a lot easier not having to clomp around in my cleats.

Bike Racked, hemlet off shoes on and... (Oh Remember to pull out the Flat Repair Kit from my Jersey) and I am off. I decided to leave my jersey on mostly because it is still really cool and cloudy and I don't want to get a chill out on the run by the ocean.

Run the entire length of the transition area and then we are out running down Palm Avenue and I am very suprised at how good my legs feel. Dang the new bike really does a great job at isolating my running muscles as long as I don't stand up and hammer too much.

Nothing, this was a good clean transition :)

As I get out on the course, I start to pass a lot of folks but I know (From the Age Group Markings) that they still have 6 minutes on me since they are from the previous wave. I figure they are all on the pointy end of the field and some of them may very well come back and stalk me later.

As I hit mile 1, time is 7:28 and I am pretty stoked. I know this course well and the next mile is gonna require some extra effort to maintain this pace, much less speed things up due to a couple of short hills and the beginning of the trail portion of the run. (Some Soft Sand and rutted Dual Track Trail) I just focus on keeping my footing and not losing momentum and I am trough the technical spots pretty quickly. Then I get passed by a fastie from the earlier wave and focus on keeping sight of her.

Then we hit mile 3 and my watch says 22:05 for the first 3 miles. Not too bad but not great either. Averaging a ~7:20 Pace so I did at least manage to pick up the pace a bit.

Then we are running along the cliff and the final incline of the course and I start charging the hill. This is where my breathing starts to become quite labored and my mantra now is to Push over the hill and recover on the downwside. (And never back off the pace) Then we are back out on the road and crossing over Mile 4. I hit the water stop and I slam a Gel and a splash of water and grab another cup to cool the quads down.

Then I get on my horse and really start to pick up the pace. I am running solely by feel and quit looking at my watch at all at this point. My oxygen starved brain probably could not do the math required to figure out my splits anyway.

Then we hit the turnaround and I see the fastie who had passed me earlier and start stalking her. (I know I can catch her now) I manage to find another gear and capitalize on the slight downhill grade of the next mile or so and fly past a bunch of folks. I fully expected to see folks tagging along but am suprised not to see anyone keeping up. Then I pass Faeron who is running up the other way and give her a quick shout. (She ended up 2nd in her AG)

Then with a mile to go, I am really working hard now. My breathing is very labored and I sound like a freight train coming down the tracks. Folks in front of me are all turning around because they can hear me coming. One by one as I pass folks I am sure they are relieved to see me move on. Then we cross the train tracks and I know there is maybe 400 yards left in the race and I go into a full sprint.

There is a guy in front of me shirtless with a pretty cool tatoo and I focus on dropping him. Then with about 200 Yards to go, I manage to find another gear (With a big Yell) and fly past him. (He did not respond) I have no clue where I am in terms of time or splits but I am happy with the effort. I left it all out there on the run course today.


Nothing: I really made up a lot of time on the run :)

I had no expectations going into this but my plan was to use this race in place of a tuneup (10k-15k Race) called for in my marathon plan so a strong run was called for. When I finally caught my breath and looked at my watch...

HOLY CRAP.... I had just beaten my open 10k PR by 56 Seconds. My 10k PR is a bit old but I never dreamed I would smash through it on the run leg of an Olympic Triathlon. Then I did some quick math in my head and realized that I ran the last 3.2 miles in 21:40 which is 5 seconds faster than my 5k PR. (~6:45 Average) I guess I need to get out and run a 5k and 10k at some point soon since a PR seems to be at least possible.

Got a few bottles of water and scooted back to my hotel for a shower. I had arranged for a late checkout but I was hungry and needed to eat. We ended up in Summerland at a little burger place and I got a big burger with a side of steamed Mussels and it was fabulous post-race feed.

When I got into Work on Monday, I discovered that the guy I saw at about mile 20 crashed on the side of the road was my friend Matt. It seems that he lost control and plowed head first into a speed limit sign at full speed. (24 MPH) He ended up with some pretty serious injuries and spent the night at the hospital. I was very happy to see that someone (Dolores) stayed with him through the whole ordeal. (She DNF'd her race) What a sweetheart of a friend she is :)

Overall, I am tickled with the final results. I think I can (And have done) a lot better in the water; My stroke definitely needs some work in the off season. I also know that as I get used to my new bike, my splits will continue to improve. I plan on spending the off season marathoning and base building the bike. I also plan on deconstructing my stroke and putting in some good volume in the water to get back some of the speed I seemed to have lost lately.


Looking back, It seems that I started out pretty easy in terms of effort and gradually sped up throughout the day making up time on the field as I went.

I had no expectations for today and definitely did not think I would be turning a PR for the Olympic Distance.


I think this race is one of the best kept secrets in Southern California. it is a small venue in a very pretty place with a nice open course and a fairly relaxed atmosphere. (Great Destination Race)

But be warned, this race is very competitive. The podium in my AG were all Sub 2:10. At my Oly earlier this year, my time was 10 seconds slower but I took 2nd place :)