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| I look so stoked. |
Thank God this year of racing is over. I’ve learned a lot,
that’s for sure; but most of what I’ve learned has been how to deal with
disappointment and frustration. There was certainly a lot of that this year.
However, I was lucky enough to have a few good races before I called it quits
for the year, and had some good times with friends while doing so.
Playa Del Rey Triathlon
This was a fun little race up in LA a week or so ago on the
16th. I stayed with my buddy David Quiros and had the chance to
catch up with all my friends on the UCLA tri team. My plan was to treat it as a
solid training day (quick brick session) and not get too crazy out there. It
was kind of cool because the UCLA and USC tri teams were the volunteers on the
course. It was entertaining to see someone I knew at every corner yelling
something encouraging at me.
It was a rad location, being on the backside of LAX, all of
the planes flew right over us as they landed. As far as the race went: I had a
decent swim and sat on the feet of the lead pack throughout the 600meter swim.
I caught a little roller on the way in and hit the beach in front of everyone.
I thought I was the 1st in but apparently some dude was 30+ seconds
ahead. I had no idea there was someone ahead until my buddy Henry told me.
Quickly hopped on my whip and set off to chase this dude down. I caught him
after a couple of miles and realized that there weren’t too many dudes close
behind me. I settled into a nice pace and cruised the rest of the course. I
believe I had a high 28 minute 20k bike split. After I left T2, it took me a
while to get my running legs going.. feeling a little tired from all the
training that week (didn’t really tapper for this one). We ran an ‘out and
back’ down a road paralleling the beach. I felt poopy until the last mile when
I finally started to get my legs under me. I noticed that I had a sizable lead
as I headed down the back stretch and cruised in to a 1st place
overall victory. Run split was a 16:56 5k. The next guy came in around 3ish
minutes later so it was nice to have a good race at an effort that wasn’t too pressing.
I took a lovely nap after the race and then headed out with
some of the UCLA guys to do some solid climbing in the Santa Monica Mountains.
I’m really envious of all the awesome climbing out there, being so close to
everything! Note: don’t do big climbs with Zipp 808 tubular carbon rim wheels.
Made for a long and annoying decent, having to stop 3x to make sure my rims
weren’t going to blow up. Everyone
probably thought I’d overshot a turn and flew off the mountain when they
reached the bottom and sat around waiting a good 5-10 minutes for me.
Unfortunately my training week only escalated into the next
couple of days with some taxing run workouts and rides. This would inevitably
lead to an “ahh, shoot.. didn’t think about recovery” moment, a few days
before:
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| Chewin on the best of Texas |
Galveston, TX 5150
I essentially knew when I signed up for this race that I
wasn’t going to be “king of the mountain” after all was said and done. This
course is dead flat the entire time with a lot of wind. So pretty much
everything I suck at. (If you’ve ever talked to me about the wind, you know
we’re unsmiling enemies). That being said, I would be ok with a sucky overall
place as long as I knew I gave it a solid effort.
Charlie Karstrom basically talked me into doing this race.
He had it all picked out and scouted and was determined to make this race his
bitch (which he did). I’m glad he did talk me into it though.. we had a lot of
fun out it there in Texas. I knew it was going to be a good trip when we were
randomly “forced” into a 2+ hour (or never ending) card game with a complete
stranger on the plane over. Our Texas experience started off right: with a trip
to the local grocery store, where we loaded up on mass quantities of cookies,
some fig-newtons, bananas, and loads of trail mix. What we should’ve been
loading up on was bug spray (at least Charlie should’ve). On our walk back from
packet-pickup/expo, we were walking past a grassy stretch of sidewalk and we
looked down and noticed a small country of mosquitoes firmly taking up
residence upon our legs. We initially started yelling profanities and swatting
away, but it was like the mythological creature - where you kill one and two
appear. In unison we started sprinting as if a lion were chasing us down.
Needless to say, we ran the 2 miles all the way back to the room at a slightly
faster than intended pace.
Race Day:
Swim
Our wave (Elite) started 10 minutes behind the pros. There
weren’t a ton of people in the Elite wave, so the swim start was oddly spread
out and comfortable. After the gun went off I sprinted to Charlie’s feet and
sat behind him for 100 meters or so but quickly moved away; sitting behind
Charlie is like sitting behind a dual motor speedboat with all the water he
kicks and churns up, it doesn’t make for easy breathing conditions. I watched
as he sped off and I knew he was going to bridge up and do his own thing. I sat
with the three other guys at the front and chilled for a bit in this group.
After turning the 1st buoy one guy broke off the front of the pack
and I decided to join him. The group ended up splitting apart and we all
basically swam the rest of the swim solo. I wasn’t feeling too hot but I wasn’t
lollygagging. After I exited, I couldn’t help but feel that the swim was long
for a 1500 meter swim. I exited in 23ish minutes, which is a little high for me
(also considering I’ve been having some decent swim sessions lately). I think I
was 4th out in our wave. (The long swim was confirmed by everyone’s
slow swim times that day).
Bike
Despite the long swim, I hopped on the Shiveroo and took off
into the wind.. and holy crap it was a wind. The bike course paralleled the
beach and there was a serious crosswind happening. Knowing that my body is a
wind-sail –being 150lbs and 6 foot with a huge torso- I decided I had to go
balls out on the way out to the turnaround and pray for some sort of a tailwind
to carry me back if I wanted any chance in staying in the race. My plan worked
(somewhat) and I ended up catching everyone but Charlie before the turnaround.
To my luck we had a slight tailwind on the way home and I hit T2 with a 1:00:50
time. Again, talking to some peeps after the race, it was concurred that the
bike course was slightly long as well (being measured at 25.2 miles).
Run
It was definitely one of “those days” out there. Legs just
felt mega heavy and tired. I know it was from overtraining that week. My heart
rate wasn’t very high (which isn’t optimal in an Olympic distance race) but my
legs were maxed. It felt like trying to run hard the day after a huge ride. I
just couldn’t get it going. To make things worse, I took a wrong turn and ran
down the wrong street. That was a fun wasted 45 seconds. I was passed by a
speedy Latino kid and basically easy-ran the next 2 miles in (I didn’t see
anyone close behind). Ended the day getting 4th place in the elite
division with a 2:05 time. Props to Charlie for crushing the swim and keeping
the lead intact the rest of the day.
At the awards we not only found out that we qualified for
the Hy-Vee US Championship next year, but the top 5 received free spots! So
looks like I’ll have two Championship races within the same week next year
(Vegas 70.3 is a week later). Fun times ahead!
I’m looking forward to some relaxation in the next couple
weeks and not doing much other than surfing and casual coffee rides. As usual,
I’d like to thank my parents, family & friends for all the support
throughout the ups and downs this year. B+L Bikes for being San Diego’s best
tri shop and supporting me, Specialized for making the worlds greatest bikes,
and Clint Eastwood. And last but not least, God for saving me and giving me a passion
to strive for the best.
