The lake was a warm 68F, so I wore a sleeveless wetsuit for the first time in the open water.

I lined up on the left side of the chute about 4 people back, using a tip from a pro (Chrissie?) to put the group on the side you breathe to, to be able to easily see it. I've tried the middle and swimming wide, but this worked this time.

I was ready to fight my way through the turns on the inside lines, but there was room at the buoys.

My internal compass was working, and I was on a straight line every time I looked up. I sort of drafted a guy to and around the first buoy, but he disappeared as the field blew apart and went wide.

I kept my stroke going all the way to the shore, and ran well, blowing by people, right out of the water.



Every thing worked. It would have been nice to draft a faster swimmer, but I didn't get lucky with that.

This was fairly fast. The only surprise was that for the first time ever, the rack was empty all the way to my bike since there were 7 guys in the ag sub 9:00.

I intentionally hammered this at full power, which the 34th overall shows. Yes, I'm still a cyclist, although I barely train, and am becoming a runner. This wasn't a PB for me at La Quinta, but it was close.

The race was uneventful. I didn't see any crashes or draft packs. Cyclists responded very well when I'd say I was passing.

I continually passed people, mostly from earlier waves, and got passed once, by a fast young guy as we entered the park.

Not much, except ride a lot more miles per week.

This was speedy enough, 6th in the ag, and I barely gave away a few seconds.

This was fun, and looks like it might have been a pr. My Strava file shows that I ran reverse splits; I was slow at an 8:00 pace out of T2, but I did pick it up, and continually passed people. I got passed once, by a young guy. I used the standard trick of looking fast, fresh and effortless when I'd pass people my age.

One thing I've picked up is to run tangents, and I was the only one doing it among the people I saw. Everyone else was running sweeping curves and running on packed trails, instead of sighting on the next turn. It did help that I practice on trails and unpaved surfaces.

It was a novel feeling to pass people after the bike! It was a satisfying, competitive run, and it felt good. The work is paying off. I ran faster than some of the elites and ex-pros who beat me in the ag, so I'm totally optimistic about the Oceanside 70.3.

I want to figure out how to get the pace up sooner out of T2.

Nada. I felt good. I just drank water and munched cookies and an energy bar.


Not much, maybe some speed work and a few bricks.


This is a solid mainstay of SoCal races. The volunteers are cheerful and great, so are the organizers.

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