Pre-Race-
Arrived in Oceanside on Friday, parked near the expo and set up my computer and went to work (had to teach 2 live sessions from my car that day). Checked out the expo, had my flat tire fixed (brand new tube and tire just put in the day before). Picked up race packet then walked back to the opposite end of the expo to pick up t-shirt and goodie bag...ran into all of the people I knew that were doing the race: Pam, Chris, Justin, & Jim. Ate lunch and, dropped off my run bag, then checked into the hotel. Then I started getting my other 2 bags prepped for the race. I felt like I was all set to go.
Race morning-- woke up at 3 (didn't sleep all that great, but that's normal for me). Ate the usual breakfast of honeynut cheerios. Got some juice from the hotel breakfast and headed off to the race. Parked by the finish/T2 area, dropped some items off at my run bag then got on my bike to head to the start...carrying 2 pastic bags full of stuff for the transition. Now these weren't the type of bags that you could do as backpacks, so I tried my best to ride with them...bad idea. About 2-3 blocks into the ride, one of the bags caught in my front wheel, and I flipped end over end, luckily there were 2 nice volunteers who helped me up, picked up what had fallen out of my bento, and helped me on my way. I thought this might be the end of my day, as I walked to transition, I kept feeling a brake rubbing, thought it was the rear, so stopped a couple of times on the way to try to fix it, after stopping about 3 times, I figured out it was the front brake rubbing. So I finally made it to transition, had one of the bike support guys check it out, he got it to work, but the front wheel was slightly out of true. So set up my transition, checked on my friends, and made a few pit stops before putting on my wetsuit and making my way to the swim start.
The swim
Leaving from the boat ramp, they give you about 3 minutes to get to the start line, water was a bit cold. I was in my usual sleeveless wetsuit. But once I got going it felt okay. My directional skills, on the other hand were really sucking this day, as I ended up running head on into a lifeguard on a paddle board. (Morning after the race I still have the bump on my head.) It seemed like I kept zig zagging through the course, haven't looked at my garmin yet to see how it "really"went. After leaving the harbor we were hit with some pretty big swells, had to be careful in timing my sighting. Swam over a few people and had a few swim over me. Swim time 47 minutes.
The bike
Garmin was going wonky on me, saying 20 something miles and I hadn't hit the first aid station which was at mile 14, so that was out the window, for everything, except time of day (to make sure I made the cutoff). Things seemed to be going okay, I was taking it easy (or at least trying to) the first half. Then I hit the hills, I ended up walking up most of all three, thinking positively, I think good calf stretch. I was looking to, based on my times at the Vineman half aquabike last year to have about an hour cushion on the bike cutoff, plenty of time to make the run. Unfortunately this was not to be. I only made the bike cutoff by 3 minutes...I need to learn how to ride my bike up hills, those people who passed me made it look so easy. Bike time 4:43
The "run"
This is where I really need to work, been focusing on it this off season, but still having problems picking up and maintaining speed, end up walking a lot. I knew at this point that it was mathematically impossible for me to make the finish in time, so I did a lot of walking, with the occasional run break. The ramps were annoying, especially on the pier where the lower portion of the ramp is much steeper than the upper portion. Was all going well until about 200 yards from the turn off where the finishers keep straight and those going on the 2nd lap turn...people kept telling me I was about to finish, but I was not to finish, I headed up the ramp and hit the cutoff point at about 3:15, time cutoff was 3:08. I probably could have gone fast enough to make that cutoff, but thought to myself, why torture myself even longer when there's no way I'm going to finish, it was about 10 k left (after cutoff point) and my fastest 10K is about 1hour 30 minutes, and I only had 1 hour 10 minutes to do it.
Post Race
Much thanks to Pam for allowing me to hang out with her post race and process the experience with her. So I ate and sat for awhile after packing up my stuff in my car. Stayed to watch the awards, was cool to see the pros get their awards.
Next Steps
The next race that I am signed up for is Malibu International (Olympic) Distance in September, may do a race or 2 before that, haven't decided yet, but I definitely want to conquer this race next year. I know I need to focus more on riding hills and actually running (without pain).
