This felt like a good swim, and I had a lot in the tank out of the water. The lake was brrrr-cold, and it was a continuous effort to exhale well. I wore ear plugs and two caps, and was warm enough. Learning from the previous waves, I took an outside line, and had virtually no contact. My pace was quite a bit slower than my previous two tris.

I'd focused on bike miles the previous two weeks, and I was tired in the pool and during the swim leg. Next time, I'll strike a better balance with training the week before.

I saw from early collegiates that the swim and stairs were wiping people out, so I hardened up, and was ready to power through the first transition.

I had more left in the tank out of the water than the people in front of me who mostly struggled up the stairs... but focusing on running past people up hill threw me off my normal strategy, and at the rack, I incredulously realized I hadn't peeled down to the waist. Not a disaster, it looks like I had the fastest T1 in my AG.

Pay attention to how many yards I have to get the wetsuit stripped down.

This was my focus, and I'm thrilled with the ride. Only one guy older than me was faster. He's a real animal, and I'm not looking forward to aging up into his group.

This was my first tri on the Talon now that I've retired the mtb from competition, and I had been out on club rides and climbs the previous two weeks having the time of my life on my first road bike since college.

I took an easy ride on the course the day before to dial in gear selection and road conditions, so was comfortable with the strategy to put everything into the descent in big gears, and rely on fitness for the climb back. Not counting T2, my time was approximately 38:48 over 12.25 mi, with a peak speed of 45.5 and an average of 18.8. The climbs out of the marina, then back into the park were brutal, and I mostly spun in 39/28.

The strategy worked, since most people had to work their brakes on the way down, and I had the legs to ride away on the hills. I'm pretty sure I only got passed by two people, a really strong strong women in her 20's, who I complemented with, "gooooood job," as she blew by me on a climb, and a collegiate from Poly who I let pass me at the crest before the no passing zone. Kudos to him; we exited transition together, and I thought I had dropped him on the hills, but there he was at the top. On the way out, I played cat and mouse with a 23 yo guy and traded friendly trash talk about how the 49 on my calf was hard on his ego.

To make the climb back worse (and the way out better), when we doubled back, the wind was like a wall. Thank goodness for Shimano and Kestrel.

As a real ego boost, when I came into transition the MC announced that I was from Cal Poly, since I was in a green and gold trisuit, so as I dismounted and ran, I shouted, "Cal Poly alumni!," and the crowd let out a cheer.

If you've read my previous two RRs, you know that my slow mtb times compounded with fast-ish swims really messed with my head, since I always thought of myself as an ex-college cyclist. My identity crisis is over ;)

This was just about right.

T2 was approximately 1:15. Pretty solid, again - all thanks to what I've learned at BT.

A fun run, but slow. As usual, the run was last priority in training. My AG winner completely smoked me. We met on the run, and he made the false assumption that I could keep up with him. He later told me he thought I might be on his heels. Boy was he wrong! Kudos to another CP alum and former Wheelman for beating me!

Um, run between triathlons? Help me out here ;)

To the tables for electrolyte drink, water, pizza(!!! - lots of pizza! I was starving!)

I packed up the bags, and on the slog up to the campsite with my wife, it dawned on me that I might podium. So I showered, went back to see my AG place (2!), chatted with some of the guys from the CP Tri Team, ate pizza, and had a heck of a good time with some of the locals who had also podium'd. Looking around, the new Central Coast Triathlon Club kicked ass.


I had no balance to my training since I was on my first race bike in 25 years. Next time, I'll pick up the swim and run a bit.


Results (pdf):

http://www.sbtiming.com/results/calpoly_sprint_2010.pdf

Loved it! The Cal Poly team that hosted the event did a very solid job with a complex event. They pulled off a 9 wave, sprint/oly race that served as the regional college championship and regional USAT championship.

There was a little room for improvement with traffic management at the marina since cyclists and very confused boaters were sharing the same lanes. Next time, vols need to direct parking lot traffic like they did at the turn around.