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| a much improved finisher's medal this year |
It's finally here, my first triathlon of the year. I enjoyed this race last year, and I was looking forward to seeing if another year of consistent training would pay off with improved race splits and moving a little further up in my age group. Last year, my time was 5:10, which put me at 58th out of about 400 finishers in my age group. My goals this year? Well, I'd like to finish in the top 10% of my age group in each race, and for this race, that would likely mean somewhere in the top 40, and right at 5 hours.
Heading into this race, my training was fairly consistent with a couple hiccups along the way: a rough mountain bike crash in January and the flu in February. I did have a 1/2 marathon PR at the beginning of February, so I was optimistic that I could at least improve my run time. Anyway, here goes....
Race morning breakfast: One can of Ensure, a Cookie Dough PowerBar, PowerBar Perform, and water (about 600 calories)
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| right before I ripped my wetsuit |
Swim (35:31, 113th out of 403 finishers in my age group) "Cool, that didn't suck"
Overall, pretty uneventful. Starting out in the 6th wave (of 23), there wasn't near as many people on the course to swim with, through, or around, like last year when I was in the very last wave. Not that I'm a fast swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, but it did make the swim seem less hectic. Like last year, the conditions were pretty good. The water temperature was announced at 60.9, which is a little chilly, but after a couple hundred yards, it wasn't an issue. This year, I did take the time to walk along the edge of the water prior to the race to get a feel for landmarks to use for sighting. This definitely helped on the way back in, since the sun was coming up directly ahead of us.
My swim training has been fairly consistent, and I felt confident that I'd be able to match or better my performance from last year. While my time was slower than last year, possibly because of the course was rumored to be a little long, I did improve from 132nd to 113th out of the water. I looked, but I didn't see the race clock as I exited the water, so I didn't know my swim split until after the race.
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| Obligatory T1 bike pic. Love my ISM seat |
T1 (3:55) "Ah, damn, that sucks"
I've still haven't had that one perfect T1, and this wasn't even close. I was nearly a minute faster than last year, so some improvement is good. At Oceanside, there's a long run from the boat ramp, to the far end of transition, then back to your bike. As I was running and starting to pull my wetsuit (
BlueSeventy Helix) down to my waist, I struggled to get the sleeves off over my hands, and in that process, I ripped a seam on the
arm...uggh! I now have a nice 4" hole in my wetsuit. Later, I spoke to the good folks at BlueSeventy, and they gave me a referral to an excellent wetsuit repair company in Santa Cruz. Other than a few little nicks, this is the first time I've had anything go wrong with this suit in over two years.
Anyway, I had planned to use an LG bolero to use as arm sleeves. I had never raced with it, but practiced putting it on several times...but...never on wet arms. It took me about 4 seconds of struggling with it to realize I needed to scrap the thought of using it today. Oh well. Finally, packed up my gear into the transition bag, and I was off and running.
Bike (2:43, 44th out of 403 finishers in my age group) "6>23"
It made a huge difference being in the 6th wave versus the 23rd. It was nice this year to not deal with as much traffic. I really thought I'd be able to go a bit faster this year, although I still did manage to take 4 minutes off of last year's time. A couple weeks before Oceanside, I got a new rear cassette, switching from 11-25 to 11-28. This did help on the steeper climbs, and eventually I'll switch out to a compact crankset before Ironman Lake Tahoe.
Heading into T2, I felt pretty good, but I could tell my legs were a little 'heavy.' There wasn't much wind to speak of, so the last couple miles felt easier this year. After the bike, I was 47th in my age group.
Bike Nutrition: Approximately 200 calories of Powerbar Gels (bento box) + 300 calories of a Powerbar Perform and Sustained Energy mix in a Speedfil A2/Z4 combo between the arms.
T2 (1:23) "They're not laughing with you, they're laughing at you."
Yes, I was 'that guy.' I dropped my bike heading into T2. I dismounted perfectly fine, but after taking a few steps and began running with my bike, it mysteriously decided to steer right into me. I felt it coming so instead of falling over the top of my bike, I just let it go and dropped it. I stopped, took a deep breath and chuckled a bit at my unfortunate timing of making such a silly mistake, at the spot on the race course that is almost as crowded as the finish line. So yeah, everyone saw it, even Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman. "Don't worry Jake, nobody saw that." Yes, Mike Reilly called me out, and since I had just crossed a timing mat, he could see my name on his monitor. So, not only did I drop my bike, but I 'got' to hear my name come out of his mouth for the second time in my triathlon lifetime.
Oh well, off to drop off the bike and get my running shoes on. Considering all that, I still managed to get in and out of T2 pretty quick.
Run (1:43, 46th out of 401 finishers in my age group) "And there's Jake from Anaheim"
Usually my first mile is my fastest, and this was the case again. It's usually faster than I'd like, so I actually brought chapstick and a small packet of sunscreen to apply during the first mile, just to keep me in check. The goal was to keep all my miles splits under 7:45, preferably closer to 7:30. After the first couple miles, I could tell that 7:45-8:00 miles were going to be it for me today. I was able to stay fairly consistent over the 13 miles, but just didn't have that extra bit of speed and strength I'd need to break 1:40 on the run (my goal).
The great part of this race was the huge amount of people I knew that were racing and spectating. Between my friends at the
OC Tri Club, and the
Wattie Ink Team, and many others, there was always a friendly face on the course or on the sidelines. Oh, and guess what, I got to hear Mike Reilly say my name again, yay me. Yes, as I passed by the announcer booth around mideway through the run, I heard him call me out again. Thanks Mike, remember that name, you'll see me again in Lake Tahoe.
Another bonus to starting in an earlier wave, I actually got to see some of the pros on the run course. It's amazing to see these guys make sub 6-minute miles seems so effortless. I did get to see the lead women as they ran in on the final two mile stretch. Heather Wurtele was in the lead, and
Heather Jackson, was a couple minutes behind her. I stopped to yell at Heather Jackson as she passed going the other way, but I knew it'd be tough for her to catch up with so little time to do it. Ultimately, she ended up second, and the winner, Heather Wurtele, had to set a new course record to beat her.
Back to my race...actually, not much more to say. I tried to give any extra effort I had over the last mile in hopes that I might be able to pass anyone in my age group. According to my splits, it seems I was able to outpace two guys in my age group. I ended up crossing the finish line at exactly 5:08, a little more than two minutes faster than last year.
Run Nutrition: Alternated water and Powerbar Perform at each aid station. I also had two banana halves, plus a swig of cola at about mile seven.
Final (5:08, 44th of 401 in my age group)
Last year, I finished 58th in the same age group, so it feels good to know that I was able to improve a little this year. I still have larger goals that I'd like to achieve, and I'm pleased to see that with each race I am making progress.
Next up, some dirt....the
Whiskey 50, a 50 miles mountain bike race in Prescott, AZ.
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| I survived |
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| Adam and I spotted Pete Jacobs and Sebastian Kienle hanging out after the race |
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| Great shot of some OC Tri Club friends, a great husband/wife accomplishment |
