Our day began at 4:45 am. Though our swanky 10th floor room normally offered a great view of the bay, wharf, beaches, and boardwalk of Santa Cruz, it was still definitely night-time and only the streetlights on the wharf could be seen. I used the in-room coffee maker to heat up some water for a tasty breakfast of apple-cinnamon instant oatmeal in a plastic hotel cup. Mmmmm... After I made sure I had everything I needed (which was a lot: wetsuit, water, gatorade, food, helmet, towel, bike shoes, running shoes, timing chip, gloves, shirts, bicycle . . . .) Michelle and I went down to the transition/set-up area at 5:15, a relatively small area where all of the other racers (about 600 of them) had all of their stuff (see above) crammed together. Chaos. I got my little sliver of parking lot all set up and organized, and then went back to bed. Our coaches had suggested that we "warm-up" by going for short bike rides, a bit of a run, and a bit of a swim. I warmed up by getting back underneath the covers for a bit.
At 6:30 I squeezed into my batsuit and headed down to the beach, where all of the racers were separated into age and gender groups by the colors of their swim caps. Some folks "warmed-up" by splashing around in the ocean, impressing us all with their excellent swimming form. I warmed up on the beach by sporadically flapping my arms around and staying dry. I tried to keep myself distracted by thinking of anything but the fact that I was about to jump into the cold ocean to swim 1.2 miles. The first group to go out, at 7am, were the red-capped males up to 29 years old. My blue-capped group was next at 7:05 - we all counted down from ten, and then ran across the beach into the water.
I positioned myself at the back of the pack and held off on swimming for as long as I could - I think this strategy minimized the amount of kicks and punches to the head that I received. My only plan for the swim was to be as smooth as possible, and to take slow, gliding strokes. This turned out to be a great plan, as I was able to relax, swim at my own pace, and focus on form. Even though my goggles were completely fogged up and I couldn't see the course buoys, I was able to stay roughly on track by keeping my eyes on nearby swimmers; checking out the nearby swimmers was extra fun when I noticed I was passing some red-hatters who had started 5 minutes before I did.
I completed the swim course in just under 40 minutes, which for normal swimmy types is not so impressive, but it was definitely the fastest I've ever covered that distance (I was hoping for 45 minutes). I felt pretty good coming out of the water, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, and it looked like it was going to be a great time on the bike.
We then had to run, barefoot, down the beach, under the wharf, up to the road, and down the road about a quarter of a mile to the transition area, where we yanked off our wetsuits and got our bike gear together. From a glance at the official
results, which are broken down precisely into swim / transition / bike / transition / run times, it looks like I was a bit pokey during this transition, and could maybe have saved one or two minutes by being a bit more organized or speedy. Next time.
I made sure I had enough food and drinks for the ride, and set off. In retrospect, I probably zoomed off a bit too quickly - I was having a great time passing folks and was still averaging around 21 mph about 8 miles outside of town, but I definitely slowed down a bit over the 56 mile course. The ride was beautiful - we followed Highway 1 on rolling hills along the coast through Ano Nuevo and up to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, where we turned around. I felt a bit fatigued starting at about mile 40 or so; luckily the wind was behind us at this point, otherwise I would have been much slower.
I finished the bike course in about 2 hours and 51 minutes (I was hoping for under three hours), for an average of 19.5 mph. I think I could have averaged 20 mph if it weren't for that nature break! Lots of folks on schmancy bikes with tricked-out disc wheels, aerobars, and full-on swooshed-back time-trial helmets passed me on the bike course. On one hand it was a bit demoralizing to be blown off their rear wheels, but on the other hand I felt pretty good about managing to stay ahead of these studmuffin tri-gearheads on the swim course. Even the ones who started five minutes after I did.
I spent about a minute too long in the bike-to-run transition, going back for a bit of a drink and body-gliding the more sensitive spots (whew!). As I dragged myself past the first mile marker on my legs-of-mush, I knew it was going to be a long slog for the remaining twelve miles. And it was. Unfortunately after mile 8 or so I had to walk up some of the hills. Lame! I knew I had enough calories in me for energy, but my legs were just too sore and tired. I guess I should have practiced more running after biking (or even just more running by itself). A very friendly guy I met out on the run course, who was also struggling to keep a 9-minute mile pace, mentioned that he'd heard that "triathletes should never go for a bike ride without running afterwards." Sounds like something I should try, maybe.
The last half mile or so was particularly cruel - we had to run through some deep sand down to the beach, under the wharf, along the packed sand and the waves, and then another 50 yards or so through the deep sand to the finish line. After 13 miles of running, not to mention all of the swimming and biking that came before, running through sand was pretty hard! I finished the run course in just over 2 hours (I was hoping to come in a bit below 2 hours), and again, my final time was 5 hours and 43 minutes. I was all nice and salt-encrusted at the end, like a margarita glass.
In all, the race was great - I was very happy to finish well under my goal of 6 hours. Team in Training was also great - I'd highly recommend the program to anybody who is thinking about doing their first triathlon or marathon. You meet some great people: enthusiastic folks who love being outdoors and who take an active interest in their community. Most importantly, thanks to all of your help (yes, that means YOU out there reading this!) I raised $3900 for cancer research. Nice job, y'all!
When the official race photos are available, I'll post some; thanks to Michelle for taking all of these photos here. If everything goes according to plan, I'll keep swimming and running and biking. For now, though, this space should probably shift emphasis from triathlonning to trying to write and defend a thesis. Two months to go!
