Lined up on beach on inside right behind the guy who was racked next to me in transition....and who ended up winning our 40-44 age group. My intention was to try to stick with him out to the first bouy for a solid start. I lost him about 1/2 way to that bouy and proceeded to get passed by a good number of fast swimmers. I was really hoping to improve upon my 14 minute time from last year. I had a goggle issue early on with the right side leaking a bit. I did not draft much....big mistake, again! Finally, the seaweed was TERRIBLE! On three occasions one arm was tangled in the stuff and I literally came to a complete stop and had to pull my arm hard to get free!

Finished pretty well and hit the timing mat at 14 flat.

Draft, draft, draft

Last year I walked up the crazy steep hill from the beach to transition. This year I was determined to run it. I did just that and passed people both walking and others running. I stepped out of my wetsuit off while putting on my helmet and glasses. Shoes were already clipped into my pedals so I just grabbed my bike and run to the mount line. Got my feet into my shoes before entering PCH.

4th fastest T1 of everyone!!

Nothing!

I was really looking forward to the bike as I've been working hard on it. I got my feet into my pre-clipped shoes quickly and was out of the saddle right away to get up to speed. I was not passed one time and did plenty of passing. I've been working on attacking the hills by jumping out of the saddle as soon as I sense my cadence dropping. I stay in my biggest gear when coming off of a downhill and transitioning to the climb...out of the saddle and push hard for, ideally, the first few 100 yards, then drop to the saddle and downshift 2-3 gears while on the bullhorns. The out of the saddle for the final 50-100 yards of the hill and over the top. This strategy had me flying, but breathing very hard. I'd not worn my HR monitor, but I'm sure I was in zone 5 at the top of each hill. I'd push the downhills for the first 1/3 to get to about 35mph, then coast for a bit, then hammer hard for the final part of the downhill through the transition to the flat or hill.

No nutrition needed on such a short course, took in perhaps 1/3 of a water bottle mounted between my aero bars.

This was my strongest bike to date, I was very happy with the top split in the 40-44 and the 8th best overall.

Nothing

This is where things fell apart....or rather my left calf decided I was done!

2 weeks ago when on an easy recovery run, my left calf stared hurting quite badly. I went to a physical therapist the next day and shut down all running until the day before this race. Pain had been 100% gone a week prior to the race and no pain on a 2 mile run the day before....even during a 1/2 mile hard effort at a 5:20 pace.

As soon as I took my first running step after dismounting, the pain was right back and with a vengeance. I knew I was in the hunt for winning my AG and likely a top 10 overall, but I just didn't want to risk turning a strain into a tear by pushing through the pain....thus, my day was over.

I racked my bike, removed my helmet and sat down in complete disbelief. While this would be my first DNF at a triathlon in my short 1 year "career" it was the 3rd in a row with "issues" that cost me the AG win. While there is no guarantee that I would have caught the AG winner here, I was expecting to run a 17:20 to 17:45 time, which would have put me within seconds of the winner here. At the Full Vineman I was stopped on the bike for 15 minutes for a road closure due to an accident, costing me the win there....and at The Auburn Half, I had a wrong turn and dropped my chain, also costing me the AG win.....ggggrrrrrrrr

Received more PT to insure my calf was 100%

Didn't run....see T2

Hobbled around, got a massage on my calf. Iced it when I got home and complained a lot!


Damn 43 year old calf!


Not much else to say here....very frustrating finish to a day that was so promising until I got off the bike!