Chris Berg

This is a little late, but believe me I have been busy.  My parents moved out here the other week, and in between helping them out and my usual day to day activities I haven’t had time to get this thing hammered out.

The swim at this race was probably one of the worst swims I have ever had.  There was a huge rip just south of the pier, which is where we were swimming.  The water had chilled down to 53′F said one of the lifeguards and the surf was moderately big at around chest high.  The tide was also going out, which left some rocks exposed at various places along the beach.  The horn went off and I was on my way.  I dolphin dove for what seemed like forever through the breakers, and it calmed down and I began to swim.  At this point I am where I need to be.  Then a set rolled in and broke right on top of me and numerous other competitors.  The people to my right were spared, the people to my left were not as lucky.  My cap and goggles were gone.  I dove under the next wave coming in only to come up and find my goggles.  I managed to get them on some how and press on.  I found myself at the first buoy already, and swam parallel to the shore to the second one.  I got there and turn in to the shore.  Five strokes after that buoy I caught a wave in and started to run.  Luke was right next to me, and on the way in we casually discussed how wacky of a swim that was.  It was probably only around 150 meters of actual swimming, the rest was duck dive and run.  Heading into T-1, I am not a happy person.

The bike was super technical and became very crowded on the second loop.  Luke and I left T-1 together and I moved ahead for the first lap, only to have him catch me on the second lap because I was getting caught up in traffic.  There were a lot of turns through the course so if you were caught out behind someone going slow through a turn, you were forced to slow down, even more so if there was a group in front of you.  I could not have been happier to run.  I was very un-happy heading into T-2.

I put on my shoes and headed to run.  I was on the run course in 4th or 5th.  I passed Luke in the first mile, and began working on Felipe who was just up ahead.  I got to him before the turnaround and only had Juliano from the elite field in front of me.  There was however, an age group athlete, Nick, who ended up taking the overall, and he was out in front of me increasing his gap on the way back towards the finish.  I made my way to the line finishing 2nd in the elite field with a 3rd overall performance.

I was pretty upset with myself, not being in the right place in the water a not executing a good swim.  I was also upset that I was relegated to ride behind slower riders while on my second loop which forced me to lose some time.  I was happy that I was able to push on through all of that, and still put together an acceptable result despite not even running that fast.

Next race is Malibu, where my dad and sister will also be racing.

Calgary was a great experience.  Canada is a nice place, the people are super friendly and they play some pretty good hockey up there, as well as race a mean triathlon.  Let me get to the nitty-gritty.

The swim was in a fresh water lake outside of downtown Calgary.  The swim was broken into only 4 waves.  I was in wave 3, which went off at 6:45am.  I was all set and the gun went off.  I was surprised to see people get out in front of me.  I thought they would fade, but they didn’t.  I sat third behind two guys on the swim for the entire 1.2 miles.  It was a quick swim in 24:29, the faster side of my usual 25 minutes.  I was out of the water third, and the top three out of the water would also be the top three in the age group.  We headed out of T-1 together, and then I took the lead on the bike.

The bike was actually 59 miles, not 56.  This was due to the point to point race course.  It had rained during the night, so the conditions on the road were damp with little wind, but temperatures were low.  I held my wattage right on target, but was having stomach issues the first 20 miles.  The cold weather made it hard to keep things down.  I tossed my stomach contents at mile 20, and decided no more gels until I was sure I was alright.  I sipped on my Motortabs for the ride, and took in one gel about 20 minutes out from T-2.  I was caught by the eventual second place finisher in the age group heading right into T-2, and was just behind him onto the run course.  My split for the 59 mile ride was 2:27, right at 24 MPH.

I ran out and the gap between myself and the leader was a steady 20-30 meters.  I closed it around 2k into the run.  We ran together for the next 4-5k, and then he pulled away on an up hill section of the out and back course.  I did not have the get up to go with him, I was only taking in water because of my stomach, but was still running well.  The gap never reached more than about 50 meters.  I started taking in some cola on the way back on the run.  The third place racer was about 1.5 minutes back, so I couldn’t lay back.  I decided that if I can keep the leader in sight until 5k left to run, I would press to catch him.  I hit 5k and started pushing, with about 2k left to run, I catch the leader, and continue to press on.  At this point I didn’t look back the rest of the race, I just kept running.  I crossed the line around 40 seconds in front of him to secure first in the age group.  I ran 90 minutes, which is alright because I ran it smart and got the job done.

I want to give a shout out to the 5th place finisher in the age group, Nick Haddow and his family.  Nick had the fastest run split in the age group at 83 minutes.  After the race we chatted for a while, and I found out he lived near by but went to school at UCLA.  His family were kind enough to give me a ride back to the hotel after the race so I wouldn’t have to wait around for the bus and have to carry my stuff with me on the bus.  This made the afternoon really open, so I could shower and take my rental car to transport my gear after the awards.  Thanks a lot mate, give me a buzz to ride sometime.

Next up is the Surf Town race, followed by Malibu olympic distance.  Legs feel good, I feel good and have a lot of confidence.  There is still a lot to be done, and always room to get better.  I hope to use this momentum to build well in my training and post more stellar results.

Solana Beach is in the books and splits have been posted.  I will keep this pretty short, just like the race (ha ha).  Starting with the swim, this was an ocean swim, with a running entry.  The swim itself was short, but what made the swim split longer was the run up the hill and into T-1, it was just under 1/4 mile.  I was out of the water first, but was beat into T-1 but the eventual 2nd place finisher, Daniel Vertiz.  The total time of that was good enough for 2nd into T-1, at 7:51, with Vertiz at 7:50.

I lost some time in T-1 because some inconsiderate participants decided to wedge their bikes in between Felipe, Adam, Alex, Luke and myself between the time we left to the swim start and when we got there during the race.  Needless to say I had to sift through their gear to get to mine.  I won’t lie and hold anything back here, I threw their gear out of the way, and did not care at all.  It is one thing to come late, it is another to disrespect the athletes who showed up on time, arranged the area and went to the start.  In the meantime, you placed your items over other athletes, made it impossible to move anyones bike and compromised their races.  If you do that, don’t expect anyone to treat your gear with respect.  I hopped out onto the bike course in third position behind Vertiz and Juliano Teruel.

On the bike I passed Vertiz quickly after the first turn.  He is not known for his cycling prowess, and is more of a swimmer/runner.  Being second on course I set my sights on the first place Teruel.  I closed the gap slowly and surely and by the time I had got to him we were entering T-2.  The bike split contains both T-1 and T-2 times, and mine was 23:50, good enough for second fastest on the day.

I threw on some new secret weapon racing flats and headed out right behind Teruel.  The first 200 meters was painful.  Teruel surged hard, and I was content with keeping my own pace early but keeping contact.  Around the 800 meter mark I was able to pull up even.  I kept my pace high and passed Teruel for the lead, and there I would stay for the remainder of the race, but the second and third place athletes were closing fast.  My split for the 3 mile run was 17:09 which was third fastest on the day, and right at 5:43 pace.  To put things in perspective on how fast second and third were closing they ran 15:14 (5:05 pace) and 16:47 (5:35 pace).  Good thing I have a strong swim and bike (something to do with wearing a QR wetsuit and riding a QR bike…)

The overall time of 48:50 was good enough for the overall victory on the day by 15 seconds over second place Vertiz and third place Mike Clinch.  Breakaway teammate Taylor Turner ran his way into 4th place, with Felipe, Luke and Alex rounding out the top 10.

The BoyHero made his debut at triathlon and snagged 6th in his age group, and Team CalFire made their team debut at the races sporting some new race kits.

Next up for me is Calgary 70.3 in less than a week.  So happy to be headed to Canada, and I am really stoked on this race and hope to do well.  More to follow next week.  Thanks everyone for the congratulatory words and support, I appreciate it!

SDIT came and went, and I am not sure what to make of it.  There were not many positives at all during this race for me.  In regards to finishing time, I was about a minute slower than last year.  My run was slower, my swim was slower, and my bike was slower.  However, I managed to finish 8th in the pro/elite field, but was still “chicked” by the women’s winner.

The swim was only 10 seconds slower than last year.  I got the 1000m swim done in 11:11, which is fine, it actually felt slow.  The start was a mess.  The starter gave about three incorrect explanations of the swim course, how he would start us, and where we should line up.  Then he says we need to move back, then immediately hits the horn a number of times, giving most everyone with swimming experience in the water a sense of “false start”.  Needless to say the first half of the swim was chaos more than usual.  At the turn around I said forget it, went off and got with the lead group.  I came out of the water 3rd overall.

My transition to the bike was 40s quicker than last year, and it was the only quicker split of the race for me.  I got onto the bike, and was feeling good.  I was quickly passed by stronger cyclists, who would finish 1, 2, and 3 respectively.  I was passed by super biker Karl Bordine about where he passed me last year.  At this point I am feeling really good about myself, holding watts and pushing within reason.  I was then later passed by Felipe and NAVY SEAL athlete Mitch Hall on the way into T-2.  On the way in, There was an age group athlete testing his luck with us on his first lap (we are on #2).  He had no business mixing in and out of us, riding recklessly and passing other athletes on the right.  He might have been fast enough on the bike to be there, but absolutely disgraceful riding behavior.

I had trouble holding food down the week prior to the race, and some of it came back to haunt me on the bike.  I tossed some weight my stomach did not find necessary on the bike course.  That wasn’t a big deal, you do it, it is over, you keep pressing on.  However, the course was showcased on some of the worst maintained roads (typical broke San Diego).  I hit a bump on the way in and my bars went for fairly level to obnoxiously pointed down.  I check my torque after the race and it was all fine.  I might need to add some adhesive paste, but the last 2-3 miles of the bike course were spent in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position.  I ended the bike split about 10 seconds slower than last year.

On the run I wanted to run fast, but I ran the most horrific 10k in recent memory.  Last year was minute faster, in Malibu I was right over 36 minutes, in OC international (a hilly course, parts on trails) I ran faster.  This was just awful.  I was passed by 2 people, but over took Felipe.  I also held of super runner Patrick Baldwin, which I was not able to do last year.  Those are positive things.

Looking at the time, it was awful.  My placing, an improvement, holding off Patrick, good.  But I had a disappointing day out there in my mind, and I really need to do better.  I have a sprint coming up on July 25th before Calgary on August 1st.  I have a few weeks of hard training coming up, which is very good.  I also will have a good block leading into Malibu, maybe Pacific Coast, and for OC International.  Enough to get my speed back in my run, and build a solid base for Clearwater.

Here is what you all have been waiting for, my race report on Boise 70.3 from this past weekend.  Looking at results, independent of times, it was a very solid race, coming in 34th overall, 13th amateur, and 2nd place in the age group.  If you were looking at times, things looked a little different.  It was a difficult day out there and most people will say it was the wind, which, it was.  With average winds varying between 15-20MPH and gusts reaching 30MPH, it made the 56 mile bike leg interesting.

Starting with my swim, it was dead on where it should be at 26:05.  It should have been faster, I was in a good rhythm but WTC continues to put anyone who is male and under 29 years old in the last wave at races like this one and Clearwater.  This just means slower athletes are constantly being overtaken by faster ones through the race.  On the swim it is a pain and slows people down, not to mention this is where most athletes feel the most uncomfortable.  It makes this more dangerous on the bike because these “slower” athletes do not have the bike handling skills or wherewithal to stay to the right, or move to the right when being passed.  For me, I don’t mind passing people, but I do mind that it becomes a safety issue for all athletes, which WTC fails to put above saving 30 minutes of road closure time.  Either way, I was still fastest out of the water in my wave, and the 20th fastest swim time on the day.

The bike course was crazy windy as mentioned before.  I felt good on the bike, but a little behind on calories from the late race start (2pm).  I drank a lot of MotorTabs during the first portion of the bike, and was taking on extra water from aid stations on the course every chance I had.  I also went through 4 Gus, instead of my normal 3.  Battling the wind from the side was the hardest part of the race.  When the gusts would pick up, it felt as if someone were sweeping the front wheel right out from underneath you, it was more the deep rim front wheel than my disc that was an issue.  Scrambling to recover position resulted in a lot of squirrelly riders out there.  It is hard to hold high watts into the wind without destroying your legs, my average wattage for the ride was 205, which is very low, and my total kilojoules were under 2000, both lower than oceanside, and I posted a faster time at 2:32.  Though to my defense I was in good health at this race with no injury or allergies.  Off the bike in 3rd in the age group, though I only remember one racer pass me on the bike, and funny because I don’t recall passing anyone in the age group on the run either.  The guy who was 2nd off the bike was out of transition before me and posted a faster bike split, so I must have passed him on the run somewhere.

The run was on a 2 loop flat course in and out of the shade, as well as the wind.  My time, not fast at all at 1:38, but I did feel good, and was steady the entire time.  I guess my legs were beat up from the windy ride, and I simply did not have the spring or power I am used to.  This may also be a result of a smaller base for running than I am accustomed to, and no speed work.  I took on gatorade and water and every aid station, also putting down a Gu at the start of the run and another around mile 7.

The overall time was 4:42, which, honestly is pretty bad, but considering conditions, and how other athletes performed, it was actually a very good day out there, which makes me happy.  Also, no injury problems, no nutrition problems, and I was happy to be able to “race” again.  SDIT is next in just under 2 weeks.

Today was Spring Sprint here in San Diego, and for other athletes around the nation it was Ironman St. George, Wildflower, Bassman, Broad Street Run, Long Branch Half etc.  Needless to say there was plenty of racing out there, and smiles all around.

Onto the good stuff.  Let me preface this by saying that I had no expectations for todays race, except for finishing.  My achilles has finally healed up enough to the point where I can run now, and I only really started running this past week, and have done no speed work whatsoever.  I knew I would be great on the swim, no issues with the bike, but running today I was a little concerned about.  Moving on…

The swim was in the nastiest water I have ever been in my entire tenure as an athlete.  Gross, worse than prior years in Mission Bay.  I could not wait to get out of the water and away from the taste, the smell and the horrific dark brown water in which who knows what was floating around.  This might explain why I was first out of the water for the second consecutive year at this race.  I could have been faster though.  My sighting was awful, I was tacking around the bay as if I was sailing.  My lead could have been up to 15 seconds.  I was still thankful to get out of the water first.  To my sponsor QR, the suit does everything, except sighting…

A not so fast T-1 saw my first out of the water transfer to fourth onto the race course.  I stayed in this place for the remainder of the race (spoiler alert, I finished 4th).  Flat and slightly windy on the bike today, I was able to hold good watts, including my runs in and out of transition an average of 265 and speed average of 24.5.  I will calculate my “riding averages” once I can analyze the data.  I could not catch up to the leaders of the bike, but kept them in sight for bike.  No one passed me, and I felt good the entire time.  No trouble breathing either (thanks Dr. Puopolo).  QR CD 0.1 performs at the highest levels yet again, making my journey to the run fast and enjoyable.  I really like this bike and the way it rides.  But, nothing lost, and nothing gained on the bike leg.

Now to the run, where I had no idea what to expect.  I put on my shoes and headed out, conservatively but at a steady tempo that would keep me from being passed.  It worked I was not passed, and I did not pass anyone.  I closed the gap slightly on Felipe, who finished 3rd on the day behind his countrymen Caue and Juliano.  I did manage to repeat a little up-chuck on the run from the bay water again, but this time it was not as bad as last year.  The good news is, absolutely no pain in the achilles or calf muscles.  This is a great sign for Boise 70.3, in which I hope to redeem my 70.3 failure from March.  I am stoked to be getting back to 100%, and staying that way!  Though I am still being vert attentive to the injury, using a Compex stimulator and rolling it out, stretching etc.

Post race I took in my FLUID, and was snacking on bars and sipping on MotorTabs watching the Breakaway crew get their awards, big ups to Dave Platfoot getting first in his age group, and Matt Harder for coming second (behind Dave).  of course to Felipe for rounding out the Elite/Pro podium.  Also huge thanks to the “BoyHero” and Kristen who came out to show their support.  BoyHero took some cool pictures, and has designed a sweet logo for the new website which should be up soon… DAVE! (just saying).  All I can think of for now, a lot to process from this weekend with all of the racing going on.