We woke up early and I had my usual training breakfast. It's hard to get up and eat right away, but my system is getting used to it after so many early mornings. I'm getting up between 4 and 5 about 3 - 4 days per week given the longer training days. Anyhow, the event was buzzing when we got there with music blasting and the transition area busy with everyone getting their areas setup and ready to race. I had some trouble getting air into my tires, but after getting help from a mechanic, I was off to get body marked (they paste your number on both arms and your calf with black marker/paste) and get my timing chip. I found Ann and we went to the water so that I could get in a quick warmup and try to get my heart rate up once before the gun went off.
The first wave of racers went off at 6:00 am sharp. I was in the 4th wave (ages 40 - 49), so I got to watch a few starts and thought I picked the correct starting position. Boy was I wrong!! This event starts on the beach, so you run into the shallow water for the first 50 meters or so. It's hard to run in water, so you kinda have to dive in, then jump forward, and keep doing that till it gets deep enough to swim. I picked the inside (closest to the markers) because I thought this is where the faster swimmers would be and I would have more room and maybe a good draft from them. I lined up about 3 deep from the start and said good-luck to a few friends. The race director sent us off and I went sprinting into the water and was at the front!!! So, I thought that I was doing pretty good till I got a look out to my right and somehow the group was way ahead. I guess it stays shallow longer on the outside and they were able to run longer. Oh well, at least I had room to swim and didn't get kicked or punched (a huge plus for me!!). The swim was pretty crowded as we caught some of the slower swimmers from the first 3 waves, so a lot of zigging/zagging. I had a little trouble getting full breaths at the beginning, but once I got into a rhythm I felt pretty good. I rounded the last buoy and then headed for home. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any feet to draft off of as noone seemed to be swimming my pace (either much faster or much slower). I exited the water and ran out onto the beach with a 27 minute swim. For reference, that was about 1 - 1:30 faster then 2008, the last time I did this race. I was really happy with that swim time considering the poor starting line and lack of drafting options!!
Onto the bike....I went into T1 and threw on my cycling shoes, helmet, glasses, and then off to the mounting line. This race has speed bumps and steel plates on the roads at the beginning, so you have to be very careful starting off....I pedaled for a little while and noticed that my left cleat wouldn't clip into the pedal correctly. I ended stopping and after a few minutes was able to get it to clip in. However, my shoe was angled so that my heel was clipping the crank, so I had to kinda push my foot out while I pedaled. Oh well, nothing I could do about it then, so I just pedaled on after losing a few minutes getting it clipped in. The bike was tough as I haven't had to push that hard over that distance (about an hour time total) in a long time. You have to figure out how to push hard but pace yourself so that you have enough energy left coming back. The bike course is very flat and the winds were down, so it was prime for fast times!! I ran into the usual suspects of beginner triathletes riding on the left side (you're supposed to stay right unless passing) and there were a few dicey moments including a guy who was swerving all over the course and decided to re-pass me every time I passed him. It was like a cat & mouse game till I pulled back and let him cause other people problems. I even complained to the official who penalized him, but never told him to stay on the right....it was crazy dangerous at 20+ mph, but that is triathlon. So, because of my endurance conditioning, I was able to push the final 5K and pass some of the riders that were staying with me. I dismounted (and watched the guy that was swerving fall during the dismount....karma maybe??) and ran to my transition area to drop off the bike and grab the run shoes, hat, and my race belt.
I ran out and took the first turn and there was Ann jumping up and down cheering me on and that gave me energy to push a good pace. I reached the first mile in 6:39 and felt really good. I knew that I was running fast as I passed a bunch of runners in the first mile. The course got a little hilly around mile 3 so I just tried to temper my effort for the final 3 miles. It's a cool course because you run by the ocean several times and get to see alot of the athletes. There was great encouragement from my competitors regarding my run pace and I shot back alot of good job, good effort, good pace comments myself. I pushed hard after I reached mile 4. My goal was to try and run a 40-minute 10K, so I stopped looking at my watched, put my head down and charged forward. I knew that I was picking up speed, but didn't want to stress, so kept going. I dedicated my last mile to my buddy Jason, who is undergoing a stem cell transplant. I knew that I had to push hard and caught my friend & coach Stefan with about half a mile to go. I sprinted at the final chute and finished my run in 38:30 and overall 2 hours 14 minutes.
The 2:14 was a 4 minute PR (personal record) from the 2008 race even though I lost about 3 minutes on the bike due to the cleat issue. I also ran a 38:30 10K (or about 6:15 avg pace) which completely blew me away. I had run that pace in some 5K's at the end of a Sprint Triathlon, but didn't know I could run that in a 10K. I was really excited at my result and it was great to have Ann there. All of my training partners had PR's as well, so my coach was proud of our efforts!!! I looked at the results posted and I was 4th in my Age Group by 12 seconds (shoot, I have never been close to placing in the Top 3 and almost did it)....However, as the results were posted online this morning, it turns out that I did place 3rd in my Age Group!!! Wooohooo!!! And, they announced that during the awards ceremony (to which we had already left!!). I also finished 42nd overall for a great, great race!!!
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