The Santa Cruz Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 2)

First ocean swim?  
I swam around this pier two times in the last couple of weeks.  The water is stingy ice cold.  You'll want to try it out a little the day before if you can.  And my opinion for race day is, before the start, go down into the water, get your feet used to it, then walk in and get the water to seep into the wetsuit, then actually swim about 25 yards and get out and get in the starting line.  This will take off the initial shock of the cold, so that when you get back in at the official start (with everyone else running in) you are already over the cold part.   Some people say to put Aquaphor on your feet, hands and face to help keep from getting numb.  Once you are moving along about 1/4 mile out, it won't seem so cold, but when you come out of the water your feet will be numb so it takes some adjustment to stand up and run back to transition.

Good luck !  See you there Sunday.

I swam out past the end of the pier a few weeks ago.  My first ocean swim (had done about 6 swims in a very protected part of SF bay so I don't consider it 'ocean') and the anticipation was way more intimidating than the actual swim. 

+1 on getting acclimated to the water.  My two really bad training swims (on the verge of panic attack/hyperventilating after about 100yds) I was late and just tried to rush in and start swimming. 

We were taught to get in and float with fingers and toes sticking out of the water.  That gets a good amount of water into the suit.  Get the face wet and take a few strokes to loosen up.  After the initial 'OMG it's freezing' I think the cold water actually feels good.    I'm a huge fan of getting acclimated AND earplugs (without them I get dizzy/disoriented in cold water). 

I'll be wearing this on race day doing my best to represent the BOPs




Edited by Chatagirl 2010-09-22 6:48 PM

Yep....just flood that suit beforehand and you'll be fine.  

TRIbe??  I'm TRIbe too    Are you Linda N....e, by any chance?

To the valuable advice already provided by others on this thread, I'd recommend using a neoprene cap under your race cap. It helps a lot with the numbness, at least in my case.  I'd also recommend a 5-8 min actual swim warm up (not just soaking), starting at least a couple of waves before yours.  Regarding the critters, there is nothing you can do about them, so just ignore them

Go TRIbe!

Davide

I'm just playing it by ear as far as how close to the pier I'll get.   It looks like from the beach start, it's a straight shot to the end of the pier, which intersects it at a slight angle, so on the way out you should be well clear of it.   Around the end, you may want to go wide if you don't like the crowds or if there is any kind of a swell pushing through.

Hey!  Yup, it's me!  Jeff will be there, too.   Hope to see you at the race AND at the party after!   The neoprene cap is a good idea - bought one for CdA and didn't use it.

Awesome!!  I'll definitely try to catch up with you guys at the race.  Not sure yet if I can make it to the party because my daughter had a minor surgery on Tuesday...

Do you happen to know if there are other TRIbesmen & TRIbeswomen on BT?

.....not that I know of!

Hope everyone had a great race. Mine was my first OLY and it went great. The weather was perfect and the course was awesome!

Had a BLAST!  PR, fun day!

How many of you TRIbe folks were there.  I saw two of you just 2 rows behind me in transition, but wasn't sure if it was anybody here.

3 women, at least 8 men.  Nice size group.  If you saw a woman with brown hair, odds were 50-50 it was me.

I went off in the 5th wave - gold caps - finished at 3:09 clock time, 2:49 chip time.

Nice!  I ran a 2:44 for my first, so I'm quite happy with that.

That's great!  Not under the radar, for sure!  What age group are you in?

the way I figure it, if I can hold on to this level for 3 more years, and nobody moves up with me, I can podium in the 50-54 group!   Ha.......

I finished my first triathlon! 

The swim worked me over.  Kept going off course and took forever to finish but I made it around that damn wharf!  Rolled my ankle running out of transition so I hobbled most of the 10k.  I still had a great time and will be back for more

Congrats to everyone!

@undertheradar & @velcormom: congrats on your PRs!  I PRred too 2:20:02 and for the first time in my Tri career I finished top ten in my AG.  There are no chances I'll make to the podium as the folks in my AG (M40-44) seem to get stronger as they age

The race was awesome, great weather despite the initial delay because of the fog. The water was the warmest I've ever swam in SC.  It was probably in the high 50s.  Nothing like last year...

@chatagirl: and congrats to you as well!  Glad you managed to finish the race despite your ankle mishap.  You definitely didn't pick the easiest race for your first Tri.  Great job!

Thanks....I'm in the 35-39 age group...so lot's of fast guys.   I got sick of seeing all those 40-44 AG guys blow by me though.  

Davide:   thanks man....and congrats on your finish...that's pretty impressive!   You're right about the water though, other than the initial shock of the water, I was never once cold during the swim.

@undertheradar: Thanks!!

@Kevin26.2: I completely concur with you on the pros and cons of the race.  Before complaining about the T-shirt, though, you should have seen the one they gave us last year: canary yellow with electric blue bands. It had "I'm a relic from the 80s" written all over

I'm a recovering fatty, so I loved the donuts. 

Agree with everything else though.....and I am not a fan of the shirt.

I agree with Kevin it was a well organized event.  

The lifeguards are the ones who have to give clearance for the race directors to start the swim.  Given that they have to open the roads on the bike course at set times I think we lucked out.  Not much longer and they would have had to cancel the swim.

I had a few minor issues with the race.....why did they start the AG males after the females?  Halfway through the swim I was overtaken by a sea of pink caps and the rest of the 40-49 males pretty much passed me on the bike.  There was plenty of room on the swim (it wasn't the full contact chaos I was expecting) but the bike backed up in places with so many people trying to pass.  Not sure if there is any good way to stagger starts.

At the bike turnaround they only had Gatorade for bottle exchange.  I have a stomach of steel but Gatorade always gives me issues.  I ended up having to stop and  pour out a bottle and ask a volunteer to put water in it.  Newbie mistake - next time I won't rely on course support for a short race and carry 2 bottles.

The ice in the water at the run turn around was much appreciated.  It was getting hot on the run for someone used to training in 50-60 degree temps.  The water stations on the course were plentiful for a 10k which was good considering it could have been a much hotter day.

Some of the course monitors need to pay better attention and direct racers not just sit/stand there.  At the run turn off of Cliff Dr. they weren't paying attention and a few of us ran past the turn.  Another runner called us back.  Saw the same thing happen on the ride.  A non racing cyclist made a right and about 5 racers followed after him.

I saw the Muscle Milk van during the run and was looking forward to some at the finish, psych   I'll agree the finish area was lacking but let it slide because it's a non-profit event where I'd rather see more $$$ going back to the cause.  I organize a 5k race and we have a bigger more lively finish area than this race had.  I also know that getting food sponsors/donations is really hard these days.  USA is a for profit company and used to be known for their finish party atmosphere so I would expect more from a race like that.  The goody bag was also pretty sparse.

As for the shirt, it's one that I will probably wear again which is rare.  I think I've worn about 4 out of 20+ I've received at road races over the years.  The medal is nice but I'm not a bling person. 

Santa Cruz is a beautiful venue.  As long as the race is well organized, which this was, I'm happy.   A lot of teams and fast racers but small enough I didn't feel unwelcome or intimidated (humbled, yes).  I'd rather pay less for fewer amenities and/or see proceeds benefit a good cause.

The Marin Tri in a few weeks is $250 which is obscene for an Oly, not to mention some crazy amenities ("transition area serenaded by a Parisian accordionist. This area of lawn will be cordoned off not by your typical barricades, but with living plants and rope").  Anyone done this one?  I think it's another hard swim and pretty tough course.  I'd love to get one more event in before year end but $250....really?????


Sorry for the long winded post.  Since I play race director once a year I tend to over analyze these things.  I'm in full race director mode now that my tri is done http://raceagainstph.org/ (Kevin - we have full size MuscleMilk  and Cytomax one of our patient's sons happens to work for them).



Edited by Chatagirl 2010-09-27 4:55 PM

I agree - and the volunteers were great, made the turns on the bike easy.  They did tell us the bike racks would be assigned, both in the letter and at packet pick-up, but that didn't end up being a big deal.  I agree on the food, and at a race that cost this much, they should have women's size shirts, too!  Didn't like the bit of off-road in the bike (mile 21?), but highway 1 was a blast.

If I could handpick the weather, I'd cool down the run a bit, but I really can't complain!

I'll be back!