Where to start? The week leading up? The drive to Southern California? Waking up at 2:45 on race morning? The starting horn? Are your nerves running as high as mine were? Enjoy this...
Last week was long. Not in the sense that 5 days magically stretched into more. But, I worked 8 straight days and they were hard days. That made getting to my weekend California trip all the more painful. Especially when I was anticipating a national championship triathlon.
Thursday and Friday were by far the longest of those days. I did no exercise...none. I was recovering from the previous weeks' training efforts, in order to be race ready on Sunday. I began slowly packing on Friday morning. I was getting ready for a late night/early morning departure.. I also had work from noon til 6pm. Off work, finish packing, dinner, sleep. I set my alarm for 11:00, which incidentally means 11am because my clock is on 24-hour time or military time. I forgot. I get woken up by my phone buzzing because it's already 10 past midnight and my travelling partner, Lauren is wondering where I am for her 12am pick-up. Oops. Not starting good. Hoping it gets better. All my things just need to get loaded and I am out of my house 10-15 minutes later after hurriedly getting up. Pick up lauren, see friends selling themselves on the corner at 12:45 downtown, get gas, leave town.
The Journey officially begins... with a seven hour drive.
I still hold my opinion that the only worthwhile drive out of Flagstaff is south toward phoenix. Going west toward California is not really pleasant (deserts) or scenic (deserts). But, it wasn't that bad of a drive, I think only driving half the time to tucson is worse than seven hours to LA.
Anyway, Lauren slept 5 of the seven hours, leaving me to ponder my nervousness. And my anxiety of big cities as we weaved in and out of the mass movement of vehicles entering LA. Surprisingly, didn't have any problems and got us right to the hotel. Go figure. It is now about 8am. Breakfast, and packet pick-up.
We go to the race site after a nice detour along balboa peninsula which, despite the gorgeous weather and beautiful homes, was not on the schedule. A huge line awaits us for registration. No glitches, grab my timing chip, numbers, and goody bag. We walk to the ocean to check the swim arena. Waves are pretty tall and ominous. I have never swam in the ocean before. I say a little prayer.
Back to the hotel, check in, shower, sleep. We head back to the site of our detour and decide its a good place for dinner. Albertson's seems like a nice place to grab a quick dinner and take it to the beach to eat. Ceasar Salad and apple slices w/ caramel. Sunset over Newport Beach and Lifeguard harpin' on the swimmers with no fins. I have a lot of respect for what lifeguards do. They Guard Life! Got to have respect for that. But, not when you are sitting in your truck, speaking through a PA system, turned to 11, parked right behind me. Chill out Bro. Early to bed. Britni makes it to the hotel at 1:30am from San Diego. Alarm set for 2:45.
Lauren and Britni didn't understand why i needed to be there so early. Race wasn't til 7:00am, why are we leaving at 4:00am? For one, there was a parking lot, right next to the transistion area, that only had 150 spots in it and the race packet said it would fill by 5:30. I tend to go back to my car 5, 6, maybe 15 times after I set up my transition area. If we didn't get a spot in that lot, its at least a 1/2 mile walk one way. We NEED to leave at 4:00am. This was despite the fact that transition officially opened at 5:00am and I am a huge believer in the 'hurry-up-and-wait' philosophy. At last year's Mountain Man Triathlon, transition opened at 4:30, I was the second car there at 4:20. Hurry-up-and-wait. And wait I did.
Transition was set up by 5:00am. Bathroom run, shake out run, shoe tests, water and granola bar ingestion. Good to go.
More people started filtering in. The excitement began to grow as the start approached. The excitement balloon grew and then was subsequently popped with the information, at 6:30am, that the swim had been cancelled due to high surf. You could hear disappointing growns as I waited in the bathroom line for a second time. You could inmistakably hear some shouts of joy as well. I think I saw one woman jump up and down shooting her fingers like pistols in the air. Cancelled swim made everyone feel different. Pacific Coast Triathlon just became Pacific Coast Duathlon. Run-Bike-Run instead of Swim-Bike-Run.
The change definately played into my strengths. I was not a great swimmer, but have put more training time into that poriton of the race than any of the others. My run, after my continued injuries this spring wasn't eactly where I wanted it. I would have to rely on a good bike split.
The swim was supposed to start at the far end of Crystal Cove State Park, a 1/3 mile walk down the beach would have gotten you there. Since the swim was cancelled, the same walk down the beach, in the other direction, was now going to be our opening run. 1/2 mile run instead of a 1/2 mile swim.
7:00am. After a delayed start, 4 waves spaced 3 minutes apart and a 20 min break, I started at 7:40am. I was started with all the men aged 24 and under. I was racing with some post collegiates and some 12 year olds. Good times. I thought I could keep up with all the guys. It was only a 1/2 mile and I am from 7000 feet running on a beach. I was wrong. These kids kill it. Running on the beach is not my strong suit as well as doing zero speed work since last fall. I finished the first 1/2 mile 23 seconds behind the first kid. I was just glad he was in the younger age group. 3:14 for the first half mile.
Transition 1. Threw the shoes off, put the bike shoes on, swig of the water bottle, helmet, bike off the rack, I am off! 55 seconds. They time your transitions from entering the transition to leaving the transition. So all the running in and out of the transition area is also counted. I am heading out with a large group of guys.
Bike. We head out of the parking area and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Also commonly known as Highway 1. The bike course is 12 miles. Two, 6 mile loops up and down a coned off portion of the highway. Each way had about a lane and a half of space to ride in. As you enter onto the highway and take a right out of the state park, it is immediately downhill. You merge with other cyclists who started in that initial 4 waves, as they have already done one lap during the time you where taking that 20 minute break. As we were merging with other cyclists and being the large gaggle we were creating, it was hard to not to break the rules that were being strongly enforced. These rules including: Drafting, the act of following closely behind another rider in order to save energy by the leading rider breaking the wind. And Blocking, the act of staying to the left of the bike lanes after passing another rider. When there are 20 riders surrounding you and only a lane and a half of width to share it gets difficult to follow these rules. As was said earlier, the bike course started out downhill from the transition area. But, as most educated individuals can deduce, if you go downhill on a looped course, you have to come back up. And come back up we did. The whole course was rolling. Out of the saddle, aero, out of the saddle, drive, aero, you could never get in a good rythm. As we went the first mile to the first turn around and back the length of the course (3 miles), 5 or 6 riders in my wave were cruising about the same speed. Some were intentionally drafting each other. I didn't want to get penalized for their actions and tried to stay to the left of them, but then I was blocking, also illegal. Predicament. By the end of 4 miles and the second turn around, I decided I needed to distance myself from them. I was doing much better on the climbs then they were and used it to my advantage. I earned a little lead. In all fairness, this course, despite the difficulty, was really fun! I caught a lot of my wave and kept cruising. I should have brought a water bottle onto the bike course, but consciously decided against it. I am now consciously kicking myself for that decision. By the end of the bike portion i knew I was dehydrated. I still had 3 miles to run. 31:47 for 12 miles.
Transition 2. Finished the bike feeling pretty far ahead. I slip my feet out of my shoes before I get to the transition so that when the dismount line approaches, I can hit the ground running. Rack my bike, slip the runner's back on, helmet off, swig some water, off again. 58 seconds.
Run. I started the run feeling pretty good. I was right behind a 17 year old. I kept trying to pace off of him, but by the first 1/2 mile I knew this was going to be a battle. My legs felt OK. But, my breathing was off, I was a tad dehydrated and was on the verge of a cramp that formed later. I am suspecting my lack of run training and going so hard on the bike on a hard bike course may have done me in. The sport of triathlon is interesting for many reasons, one of them being the body marking. In a sport that lacks plentiful clothing, creative ways to identify you need to be used. Hence Body Marking. You get your race number on your arm, thigh and your age on your calf. The latter of which, as far as I can deduce, is only for other athletes to know if you are in their age group. I used this bit of info plentifully. For every one who passed me on the run, I would check there calf first. 17, 16, 16, 18, 19...No one in my age group. But, that young group were studs. We are running along a paved path that parallels the PCH. After the first mile or so, we turn left and down a pathway to the beach. Another sand run. And again, use the noggin, you go down...you must do what? That's right, go back up. After 1/2 mile on the beach and being passed by two in my age group, we head up a very steep, very uncomfortable, very slow going kind of hill. Even for my 7000ft lungs, I was huffing. But, the brightside was a water station at the top and a gradual descent to the finish. No more people passed me. 19:10, 3 mile run.
Total time was 56:04. No penalties. Thank God. I was sure those other kids had gotten me caught. 7th in my age group. 59th overall. 4 min and 11 seconds behind the winner.
Its a bummer that the swim didn't go, but God had other plans. I did my duty and accomplished the goal set for me. Now...Do i go to Australia or not?
NATRA Strava Weekly Run Miles
4 years ago
