AWESOME!!
Have no other way to describe the race experience. Dropped time, though there was a slight course change on the run, it was my best time in the four years I've done this race. Originally I had signed up for the first wave (finish time estimate faster than 1:39) but decided later to switch to the second wave (slower than 1:40 finish) as this was the wave that all my friends were in and I anticipated being right near the border time. The course is completely closed, on the Joint Forces training base. The run and bike are mostly on the runway/airfield, and the swim is in a heated 50m pool. It's nice not having to worry cars on the road while you bike and run. It also makes it easier to pass people on the bike, not having work with a narrow roadway, instead you have a nice wide runway.
I had no specific strategy going into the run (reverse triathlon) just to run as much as possible and limit walk breaks to under 1 minute at a time. Weather was great, not to cold so just wore my tri suit. Strategy seemed to work well.
Garmin data: Avg Pace- 12:37 min/mile, distance- 3.17 miles, avg hr- 172bpm, run split time- 39:57.
Got on the bike and headed back to the runway for my 3 loops on the bike. Being on a runway has its positives and negatives. Positive- flat, fast, no traffic, wide lanes. Negative- wind, being a runway it is set up to take advantage of the prevailing winds in the area, so there's one side of the loop that has a strong headwind. It wasn't as windy as last year. My legs cramped up last year on the last lap of the bike, but I made some changes to my Pre race nutrition and didn't cramp at all.
Garmin data: Avg Speed- 16.2 mph, distance-1.97 miles, avg hr-168bpm, bike split time- 47:58, avg cadence- 75
Coming off the bike, I caught up to one of my friends and headed to the swim, my favorite part. Of course for me the swim is always too short. Had to swim around a few people and took my time to maneuver around people at the walls (was a zig-zag swim 4 laps of a 50 meter pool, each lap area was 2 lanes wide). Timing mat for swim time was located at the entrance to the pool deck, not at the edge of the pool.
Garmin data: Swim split- 4:08, distance- 200 meters, avg strokes- 32 per length.
Ended up with a 1:38, a new PR for the course.
Now time to gear up for Oceanside!!
