I waited a while to post this race report for a few reasons.  Actually one really, and you can check the link at the end regarding that.

To start, I like this race.  I like the course, I like the organization, I like the city in which it is held.  These go a long way in making a decision to race here.  I have good memories of this race, like having Ian Mikelson slap me on the ass in the 2009 around mile 1, then dangling off his hip for the next 4 miles and watching him run away in the final mile.  Racing here with the Breakaway crew in 2011 and there was podiums all over the place, and the fact that Oakley HQ (Nytro Men’s Team eyewear sponsor) is right up the road.  Good vibes surrounding this race.

Swim 18:12

The start was little hectic, as it always seems to be.  No worries though, as myself and two others got away from the field and had a solid gap as we turned back for the final 700 meters.  I was comfortably leading our group, and lengthened my stroke slightly to “cruise” and was swimming side by side with the eventual first out of the water athlete.  Not much other than that going on.  Calm, clean water and a well marked swim course leave little room for any drama.  T-1 is a fun little run up hill, nothing exciting to report here.  I am proud of Kristen for getting good photos of the swim exit, and running up to where I racked in T-1 to get pictures there as well.  Can’t say enough about the quality wetsuit Matuse produces, which has aided in keeping me in the front for every swim leg for the past 18 months.

Bike 1:01:52

I don’t believe I am going to say this, and I might very well never be able to say it again…fastest bike split.  It is weird, I don’t think I am known for being a guy who rides faster than the field (if I am known for anything at all), probably more known for riding “smart” or “conservative”.  The course is up, then down, then slightly up, make a 180 turn via a figure eight and go back.  I just put my head down and rode hard.  Keep wattage up, keep legs moving, no time for dilly-dallying or coasting on downhills.  What I loved about this ride in particular, getting to use the new Giro Air Attack helmet.  Sure, aesthetically it doesn’t look like a regular “aero” helmet.  But this was so comfortable, and was vented better than most road helmets it made for a great first race experience in it.  Also, no flaps over my ears, I can actually hear what is going on rather than wind and white noise!  The ENVE 6.7 SES wheels again are so stupidly smooth it felt as if I was on a F1 race track, and the Look 596 is always a pleasure to spend any amount of time riding on. (did my first tri-bike ride up Palomar last weekend and it was no different than my road bike).  The only eventful things going on during the ride were passing duathletes who had started before the triathlon, and me wondering, is some fast cyclist gong to catch up to me?

Side note for T-2, while dismounting my bike, I managed to unclip my left shoe and as I hit the dismount line it fell off and rolled on the road.  Aside from feeling “so fucking pro”, I didn’t want to stop in the middle of the course when there are athletes behind me.  I yelled to volunteers my race number, and they were quick to say don’t worry, we will take care of it.  Big thank you!!!

Run 36:27

This I am happy with.  The time is great for the course, but more than that, I think I did a good job of pushing the entire run.  I got out of T-2 and hit the first 2 miles pretty quick.  The slight downhill on a paved bike path made it easy to keep legs turning over.  The remainder of the course switches from trail to road on and off, and goes up or down, with some technical turns as well.  My internal goal was not to let up and just keep pushing hard through the finish.  Mostly I was running past duathletes again.  It wasn’t until I hit the final 1500m that I saw the first triathlete on an out and back section.  That was the first moment when I felt somewhat secure about my position.  I crossed the line announced as the first triathlete, gave a number 1 fist pump then a Tiger Woods arm-swing.  Then this happened…

Total time 1:58:36.

I am of course happy with the result, happy with my focus during the race and glad to win. Also great to have two of the athletes I coach have good days out on the course, and see others form Breakaway getting it done out there also.  Great performances all around.

After racing every two weeks since Oceanside, I had a short re-group in training before focusing on preparation for SDIT and then Carlsbad.  I am looking forward to some more days of focused training and getting into a normal routine with no hassles of race week etc.

I should clarify, that Kristen does a lot to help out and make training and racing go smoothly; that does include laundry and other household chores for which I am very grateful!!! Also posting photos from all the races on Facebook, so look for them there.

Big thank you to sponsors and supporters who enable me to race and train year in and year out.

Before diving into the race details, here is what I have to say about the actual race venue and course.  It is gorgeous and challenging.  The scenery and the views are magnificent, the terrain is unrelenting.  The weather cooperated and it was not crazy windy, too hot, but it was very dry.  But without question, the hardest course profile I have raced.

Swim: 25:38

Ballpark where I should be for a 1.2 mile swim.  Before getting in the water, Keith and I literally got into a pissing contest.  I think we peed a combined 10-11 times before we actually started the race.  I lined up outside and in the front, the horn sounded and we were off.  After a relatively fast few 100-150 meters, the front group slowed up almost as fast as we started. I didn’t feel like floating my way through the water with a group of guys.  That in mind, I was out in front and by myself.  I made it out of the water with about a minute up on the next guy.  Cold (but not too cold) water had my hands a little numb.  I got through transition slowly, but to be expected when you are at a race where they are not letting you mount shoes on the bike etc.  The Matuse Dojo wetsuit was once again warm and fast.  Like most of my swims there are no surprises, so that is all I have on that.

Bike: 2:32:51

This is where I have some stories to tell.  I was riding with a focus on holding my power where it counts and not getting too carried away early.  I was right on target, happy with my composure, happy with how I was feeling, and making my way through course without issue.  I was passed first by one athlete, and then later by Keith about 20 minutes into the ride.  Soon after I looked down to check my power, and it was displaying “0″, then after a few flashes it was just blank.  This meant, the battery in my SRM had died.  The only numbers I would have the remainder of the day would be speed, time and distance.  As soon as the “power went out”, my goal was to ride more conservatively than planned.  I was able to maintain contact with 2-3 riders who were roughly putting out an effort which I was comfortable with.  Going so far as to ask another rider, how much he weighs and how many watts he was putting out as me made our way up a hill.  I also kept my fluid intake up due to heat and lack of humidity, so much so that my pissing contest with Keith continued (unbeknownst to him), and I must have relieved myself half a dozen times.  I was passed up by another 3 athletes on the bike, and entered transition in 6th place.  This was the first half on my new Enve Composities wheel set, which was perfect for the course (SES 6.7s).  As usual the Look 596 rides well in any conditions.  I just wish my battery could have found 2 more hours of juice before calling it quits!!!

Run: 1:26:12

More stories here.  I got my shoes on, grabbed my PowerGel in transition and was off and running.  In the middle of all of this, I managed to jack up the buttons on my Garmin.  For the first mile, I reset it, and started it right on mile marker 1, not that I am really looking at this during the race, but still keeping track of where I am on course helps with the mental game.  After passing one runner in the early run out of T-2, I had a rough spot on the run.  The cumulative effect of no power display on the ride, and fumbling with my watch, being generally unhappy with my bike time got to my head.  I had a bad mile from miles 2-3.  Then footsteps coming up from behind, and anger washing over me in an awesome wave.  Upset that I had let myself have a bad mile, I stuck the guy who came up from behind me, found my groove again, passed him, and became really obsessed with running some people down.  I didn’t care who they were, I just wanted them behind me.  By the turnaround I had passed another athlete and was sitting in 4th.  Then after a short out and back section, I had my eyes set on 3rd, and was able to make my move with about 1.5 miles left.  That would be it for me, as I would cross the line in 3rd.

Total Time: 4:28:50

3rd M25-29, 7th Amateur.  Not a horrible day for me.  Though I would have liked to have ridden faster and slightly more aggressively, and I am not happy with having a sloppy unfocused mile early on the run.  Things to work on and focus on in training and upcoming races.

One of the things I enjoyed about this race was Kristen finally was able to make it to a race this year (after a long streak of being at all my races, she missed my first 2 this year!).  Also my parents deciding the week of the race they would come out to watch while they road trip around the southwest to see some of the sites.  On course support and cheers from familiar faces goes a long way.

Next up will be OC International on May 19th.

This race was so much fun.  Let me say that again, so much fun.

Over the course of the ITU San Diego race weekend, I found myself with the opportunity to race this one of kind and unique format of racing.  After some deliberation, the green light was on and I would be jumping into the qualifying heats for this event.  The qualifying heats were broken into two groups of nine athletes.  Racing single 375m swim, 6k bike, 1500m run.  One loop swim, five loop bike draft legal, and two loop run.

I don’t have details on how my heat went, because the race lasts about 20 minutes.  Dive in to swim, and before you know it, hop on your bike.  Then ride your legs off and hop off the bike to run your legs off.  I was out of the water at the tail end of the main group in my heat, rode by myself (didn’t I do that in another race this year?), and then ran fast to catch the guy in front of me within the final 50 meters or so.  Finished 4th in my qualifying heat, good enough to make the “A-Final”, but lack of a “elite” racing license prevented me from getting there.  So “B-Final” it was, a short 40 minutes after I finished my heat.  Format is the same as the heats, but 2x through.

The final was small, 6 guys set to race, and only 5 jumping in the water.  This race was longer so I recall some things about.  Swam well, got to ride and work together with Charlie on bike segment #1 and make up time on Bill Jones out in front.  Transition to run #1, was bad.  Took my googles (thinking remember you swim 2 times this race) and ran, then had an oh shit moment, put them back got my shoes on and caught back up to Charlie, Bill still out in front.  Start the swim with Charlie, but make time up over him in the water.  Riding all by myself again on bike #2, making up a few seconds a lap on Bill who had gained more time in the water.  By the time I am running, Bill has something in the ballpark of 20-30s on me, not really sure.  I run hard down the final stretch and miss catching Bill by 3 seconds to secure 2nd place.

I learned a lot during this race and had so much fun.  Really a great format, a great race director in Lars, who has a great vision for the sport and this type of racing.  I got to race against some fast pros from the ITU circuit, and some fast pros from the long-course racing scene.  Truly an experience I will not forget.

So much else for me to say about this race, all positive too.  But in keeping with the short and fast pace of the race itself, I will end this post here.

St. George 70.3 is coming up!

Check out Slowtwitch.com (picture #18)

Lava Magazine Report by Jay Prasuhn

F1 on Facebook and on the web http://www.f1tri.com/

It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to author a real race report.  In that time I have had a lot of ideas of how to write something that would be entertaining, witty, and memorable, but at the same time an honest reflection of my thoughts on the day and how I perceive my progression as an athlete.  I have been watching a lot of some internet videos relating to cycling and how the race was won, and thought maybe a video recap would be great.  But then Trevor Wurtele did this, so here I am banging away on the keyboard again.  I’ll work on something for next time, but I would need to compile some photos and video from the event, and I didn’t have time for that this time around (the team at TriLounge has a good gallery up).  Onto the race.

Swim – 22:51

Actually the fastest swim for me in a half iron race.  I had no feet to follow as the group of 3-5 of us were split up after 500m or so.  I was left navigating (a very good line by the way) by myself.  Through the carnage of earlier wave starts, and nothing spectacular happened, I swam over people, they get mad and I think to myself it is not my fault you don’t swim well.  Maybe on some level it might be though, who knows.  I can thank Wind’n Sea Masters for adding a lot of open water style drills and workouts to my swimming, not a bad showing for my first open water swim since Cove-Skipper in October.

T-1 was nothing to rave about.  Find bike, wetsuit off, helmet on, eat Powergel, get out of dodge. The old man was volunteering and it was nice to have some words of encouragement from him standing 5 meters away from me.

Bike – 2:30:24

Not blazing fast, but I nailed what I wanted to do for the day.  I was holding my target watts, taking nutrition as planned, and was for the most part all by myself.  After the mostly flat ride up the coast, things in CP got a little hairy.  Wind was blowing a not so typical direction making a headwind for much of the rolling and climbing parts of the course, I’d say miles 27-40ish.  When the winds picked up, I thought now is a good time to test my bike fitness, and if the wind holds this will be a tailwind on the way back to T-2, so no big deal.  I pushed into the headwind, and made up time on no one really, passing folks not in my age group, and still all by myself.  Ride back to T-2 nothing crazy, just a lot of time all by myself.  Theme of the bike?  All by myself.

T-2 was interesting.  After finding my spot on the rack, I get my bike on the rack, get my shoes on and take my helmet off look to grab a Powergel and visor, and there is no visor.  Some schmuck nicked my extremely old and over-used visor (which I had ripped and stitched back together…twice).  So, to you, a most sincere get f*&%&^$d.  Sorry for yelling.

Run – 1:21:30

I was roughly 30s or so behind Luke out of T-2.  He gave me a quick shout to, “come run with me” so I said “ok I am on my way”.  First mile was a little hot, but I quickly settled into the pace which would see me to the finish.  Passing Luke around mile 2 on the heels of Andy Potts, I just kept barreling forward.  I want to say a big thanks to everyone on the run course who was shouting (what I think were words of encouragement) at me and other racers.  A special big thanks to Newton Running for putting shoes on my feet and being on course as well.  Hearing cheers is a huge boost while running, and keeps spirits high.  For the first time on the run I had time checks to the guy in front of me (I had been running in the #2 spot all day).  The old man was on the course again told me it looked like the leader might crack.  I wasn’t sure he was right until I saw the turnaround gap and it was closing fast.  I pushed on at the same pace and with 1.5 miles left to go I picked it up.  Caught the guy with a mile to go and passed him, and for the first time ever in a race, I turned my head a few times to see if he was sticking around.  I usually never look back, and sort of hate the fact that I did this time around.

I finished the day with a new best time for Oceanside, but more importantly, solid execution of a plan in an early season race.  Came away with an age group win, 6th amateur, and taking my slot for 70.3 World Championships.  Total time for those keeping track at home – 4:18:32, which includes the Cain Cardozo dance before the finish.

Nytro Men’s Team members showed up big time, while other members of Breakaway Training were throwing down great efforts as well.

Thanks for reading and I’ll try and do better the next time I promise.

Race #2 on the docket St. George 70.3, May 4, 2013.

Both of these are long overdue, anything I recall is not exactly fresh in my mind.

The Mission Bay World Championship of the World, final stop on the San Diego World Championships of the World Series was to be my final triathlon of 2012.  A short sprint in which we like to have fun and enjoy.  I once again decided to go old school speedo (as is now tradition) and also sport a mustache.  Charlie also joined in on the fun, as did Brian Wrona from TCSD.  There were some items on the docket for this race, Adam had a chance to win the overall points series so we wanted to make sure he had a chance to do so.  After some calculations we figured out where he had to finish to make sure he held on.

Swimming time!  I decided to also go with the superhero look, and wore a speedo over my Matuse wetsuit.  This awesome get up was good for second out of the water with a swim time of 6:07.  The tide was with us for the swim, so not much separation occurred throughout the field.  The superhero look turned out to be a bad idea in T-1 as I had the slowest transition I have ever had.  The speedo got tangled up as I was taking off my wetsuit, and I had to briefly pull the wetsuit back up then take the speedo off and then take off the wetsuit.  I would say I gave everyone roughly :30s in transition, I was out on the road with the main group starting the bike instead of right behind Charlie who was first out of the water.

On the bike, Adam had gotten himself in a good position and was up the road with two others while Charlie was out front.  I found myself with Felipe, Luke, and Matt busting his ass to catch up to us.  I guess the ride was sort of a false tempo, and at the end of the day had an average bike split of 25:40, with an average wattage less than what I would expect in a 70.3 race.  The good news at the end of the bike was Adam was in a position to win the points series if no one else passed him.

In T-2 Felipe thought my stuff was his stuff, and after realizing this, actually had enough time to apologize and say “sorry dood”.  Racing with 2 broken ribs I could understand how he might be a little out of it.  I exited the run with Luke and Matt up the road in front of me.  I got past Matt within the first mile, and got up to Luke around the midway point.  I took note of everyones position on course and told Luke that Adam would win the points series if we stayed put, so we eased up a bit and ran together all the way in, with a storming Nick Bernal passing us up just as we came down the bridge into the final run into the finish.  A very “meh” and more tempo than racing 5k effort saw me with a split of 18:51.

I ended up in 7th overall, not really doing too much “racing”.  The end of the day Nytro Men’s Team was able to produce the overall winner with Charlie leading from start to finish, put 5 guys in the top 10 overall, and also Adam for the points series on the year.  It was a good day, and of course I had a lot of fun running in a bright orange pair of smugglers.

UCSD Coveskipper Aquathlon

Nick Sigmon, a friend from the racing scene in San Diego and UCSD Tri-Team member gave me a heads up about this event last year and I didn’t make it out.  When he let me know the details this year I made sure I would be there.  The race is right at La Jolla Shores, and has a late start of 10:30!  How can I not say no to that?

The weather wasn’t terrific, but the water was, and the event was so laid back.  It was old school style.  I walked up to registration they gave me a timing chip and that was that.  No BS big expo, no go from this booth to that booth etc.  After a short run and I got my wetsuit on and did my warm up swim.  I found Nick after warming up and talked a little bit, then they gave us our pre-race instructions and course overview.  Time to race!

I wasn’t expecting much from myself, I had a subluxation of my right shoulder after Mission Bay and was not swimming much at all, and my running form was not on point.  Normally I wouldn’t be too worried about the swim, but this was a college triathlon event, so you know there will be some guys who can swim very fast and run very fast.  The swim was crystal clear and calm, a 2 loop 500m swim.  I had a decent entry and made my way towards the front during the first loop, but there were 2-3 guys ahead who were moving well.  I was in about 3rd or 4th starting the second loop, and had a very clumsy surf entry.  I held my position and was into the only transition of the day in 3rd, behind Bill Jones, and Zach Paris.  Bill was not running due to an injury and I passed Zach in transition to head onto the run course in the lead. My swim time didn’t register but I guess it to be around 10 minutes even or so, :10s behind Zach.

The run was a two loop course on the sand at shores to the pier and back.  I was surprised I held on to the lead until the turnaround where I was caught soon after by Justin Jarvis and Tyler Rogers.  At this point I had a Forrest Gump type moment where I thought, I made it this far in the lead why not just keep going?  I have nothing to loose and was not expecting to be in the mix at all.  I even said to Justin that I didn’t expect to be around to contest to place.  We made the turn to start loop 2 together and Tyler started to get away from us.  I said to Justin we should close this now, because if he breaks us we won’t make it back.  I surged hard, expecting it to be my final push before fading away.  I stuck onto Tyler and Justin made it back up for the turn at the pier and we headed back.  The pace quickened and Justin fell back slightly.  I was 5-10m behind Tyler as we headed for home.  With what I guessed was 400m to go I pressed and passed Tyler, he stuck my effort and held on, and with about 200m or 150m left he got ahead of me and stayed there to take the win 3 seconds ahead.  My run split was 19:07, which isn’t bad considering the sand, and jerky nature of how the run played out. 2nd overall with a time of 29:36.

A great event, with a great atmosphere, and so close to home, this was a really fun race and I enjoyed every second of it, it definitely is on my calendar to do next year.

With that, my race season is wrapped up for 2012!

Vineman 70.3 was the first half-iron distance race I raced in 2008.  I raced the course again in 2009 but the past years I have raced Calgary 70.3.  Vineman has grown in popularity, as evidenced by the race selling out in hours, and every single hotel in town having no vacancy the weekend of the race.  I was looking forward to going back to the race because I have enjoyed the scenic course route for both the bike and run.  Though the swim is fast, something about lakes/ponds/rivers or anything that isn’t immediately open to an ocean weirds me out.

Swim 24:55

A good swim for me on race day.  After getting set up and situated in transition, I talked with Matt Harder from the Nytro Men’s Team, and let him get set to start about 15 minutes ahead of me.  My dad was already off and swimming approximately 45 minutes before me.  I hung out with Erik on the beach before we went out to warm up and get ready to go.  I had been in the river the day before and was comfortable without a wetsuit.  The water was 70-71F, which meant wetsuits were allowed.  The air horn blew and we were off in the 4th to last wave of the day.  200M into the swim I was already a bit warm.  The group strung out the next few minutes, and soon Erik and I found ourselves next to each other weaving through the earlier waves.  There was not as much carnage as I expected, and did’t have to amend my line in water to avoid people.  Shallow water at the turnaround had my knuckles hitting the bottom, but soon it was back to status quo.  Happy to get out of the water in the front where I want to be, hitting the mat literally one second before Erik to earn the fastest swim split in the age group.  Thanks for the support Matuse, the Dojo wetsuit was warm in the water but kept me moving at the speed I need to maintain.  Erik and I both hit the bike course at the same time after I posted a 2:21 T-1.

Bike – 2:23:11

After running my bike up the hill leaving transition I mounted my bike settled into my shoes and began to navigate the roads of the course.  Erik got out on the bike quickly and was soon out of sight as I got to work trying to maintain the wattage I wanted to hold.  Further down the course I was passed by two athletes in my age group who were both riding at a manageable effort which I could hold and not let them get away.  One of them punctured, which left me and the other rider sitting the 2nd and 3rd position on the road.  Before the second aid station I was passed by another rider in the age group, but he had pulled into the aid station as we went through it.  At this point, the other rider I was with pushed on harder and was soon up the road as well, shortly after that the rider who had pulled into the aid station re-passed me.  I was sitting a solid 4th on the road at this point and focused on maintaining wattage and executing nutrition.  I passed the old man around mile 40 or so, and kept plugging away towards T-2.  As I was strapping out of my shoes, I noticed one of the riders heading out onto the run, giving me an idea of the gap.

Into T-2 I saw the bikes I expected to see, and saw Erik getting set to run.  The nature of this course is winding and rolling, so though Erik was out of sight early on the bike we entered T-2 close together.  I never saw him because there wasn’t much dead straight and flat terrain.  Quickly got my shoes on and went out to see if I can close down any gaps on the run.

Run 1:26:04

I found my legs on the run without much of a problem, and was able to get calories in early without a struggle, good news to me so this run should be alright.  Nothing dramatic on the run, it felt very much like a well supported training run at times.  I had no watch on, there were not mile markers, just aid stations.  I was not over taken on the run by anyone around me, which was great for confidence, and seeing other Breakaway athletes on course was great.  Matt Buster was looking good as he started the final 4 miles, Gary Elmer was working with a good group when I passed by him and I knew my old man was having a good day because of how late I passed him in the bike.

The new run course was great, instead of doing a figure 8 through La Crema winery, we did a mile loop around the vineyard.  I enjoyed the trail atmosphere and terrain, and the distance in this vineyard was appropriate.  I had seen the age group leader heading out of the vineyard as I went in, so I knew he had a safe lead and the only way I would pass him is if I started to run out of my mind fast, or he had some catastrophic meltdown.  You never know if either one of those will happen which is why you keep pressing forward.  On the little out and back section before heading to the finish I saw the second place guy, and figured that gap was about 800M.  I also saw Matt Harder having a tough day.  I set my sights on closing the gap at the turn-around, and headed towards the finish.  The gap to Matt was erased around 5k to go (not sure, no mile markers).  The new finish was more of a straight line and flat run in, which was great if you wanted to bring people back.  I thought I saw the 2nd place guy within reach so I pushed to bring him back.  Turns out it was someone in a different age group, whom I passed anyway in the final 400m.

Finish Time – 4:18:13

Good enough for 3rd in the age group and the 7th amateur on the day, setting my fastest time on this course along the way.  Erik held his position in 4th, not yielding to anyone on the run.  The old man set a PR for the distance as well, and I also won my bet with Matt Buster beating the agreed handicap set before race day.  It was again a fast day in the M25-29 age group with our winner taking the top amateur spot and getting into the top 10 overall, with 3 of the top 7 amateurs coming from our age group as well.  I love racing against fast competition, makes for better performances and digging deeper to get more out of yourself.

It was a great weekend getting a chance to hang out with some friends and eat some great food in area, and of course drink some wine.  It was nice to be back at this race again, and race with my dad in a half iron event for the third time this year.

After a long weekend of travel and racing, Kristen and I stopped in Los Angeles on the way home and had dinner with my younger sister before making it home to our place.  Put more miles on my car in 4 days than I did the previous 3 months!  Happy to be home and looking forward to getting myself set for Vegas on September 9th.

Five days after the race is about a good a time as any to draft up my thoughts/experience at this years San Diego International (SDIT) race.  The field was bringing back all three podium finishers from the mens field and also a few other local pros and fast guys.  Trying to get back on the podium wouldn’t be (and never is) an easy task.

Swim – 10:38

The swim is about as calm as you can get for open water.  Dead still water, rarely any current with exception of extreme tides.  Also as far as I can tell, the water there is only about 50% diesel fuel.  All in all, a good place to have a swim for a triathlon.  Another frantic start, but with some warning this go around.  The mad splash for the first 50-100 meters was over quickly, and I found myself right where I wanted to be next to Kosuke Amano.  There I would stay on his left shoulder, as he was sitting on Mark Tripp’s left shoulder.  We basically swam three across for the entire 1000m swim.  No big drama, we weren’t going crazy fast, but it wasn’t as if we were going easy either.  I had good position going into the final left turn towards the beach and managed to get myself out of the water before anyone else.  I expected to be out of the water with the faster swimmers, but getting out first was a nice personal bonus to throw in.  I can’t really tell you what the hell I did in T-1 other than d*** around and waste time.  I got my wetsuit off in no time, had my helmet and glasses on.  Putting on shoes was a fiasco, so from first out of the water to somewhere outside of the top 5 onto the bike course.  That was pretty JV, poor show.

Bike – 43:37

I have never biked well on this course.  For some reason, I traditionally have underperformed, gave away time as if it were burning holes in my shorts.  This year, Ian shot me a text and said to go for it on the bike and take no mercy on myself.  This was a plan I had thought of doing this year, so I was happy to see he thought the same way.  I quickly managed to get around and back to the main group of chasers on the bike.  Before the climb out to Cabrillo I got back in front of Kosuke, and set my sights on Felipe up the road.  I knew that if I could make “contact” with Felipe and hold on, or get in front of him I would be in for a good ride.  I got past Charlie on the climb, and made it up to Felipe, and Mark Tripp.  The three of us would essentially be within earshot of each other until the end of the bike.  The players in front of the three of us were Karl Bordine, Chris MacDonald, and Juliano Teruel.  The end is where I slacked off a little on the descent back into T-2 and lost “contact” with Felipe and Mark.  Not happy about that decision at all, I should have pushed harder.  T-2 was a bit better than T-1, of the bike and into my running shoes, then off I go.

Run – 36:27

I knew that there were fast people close behind me, so I needed to find my legs as quickly as I could.  Within the first mile, I found them as I passed Felipe and settled in to get some work done.  About 1.5 miles into the run I heard footsteps behind me.  I assumed it was Erik Nau because he had been with us on the bike for a bit and I knew he couldn’t have dropped that far back. I geared up to be ready to match his pace when he came by and we could work together to bring some people back.  I was surprised to see Kosuke come on my left side, and thought he is a great guy to run with so go with him.  I matched Kosuke and sat just off to his right and about a half stride or so behind him.  We were going well and I thought that this pace would get us done with 10k in roughly 35 minutes.  I would be happy with that effort and was content to work with Kosuke as long as I could.  That lasted about 1k.  Nick Sigmon, a notoriously faster runner came up on us soon after Kosuke and I had passed Juliano.  When Nick came by it was a very fast pace, Kosuke was able to match it and stay with him.  I was able to stay along for the ride maybe 200m, and the gap slowly grew out, but it didn’t get out of hand.  It was easy to not let things grow too big as this part of the run is straight, and you can see everything in front of you.  As soon as we turned off Harbor Island, that is when I lost all visual of them and they were gone.  I was in no-mans land, I was putting time on the guys behind me, while the guys in front of me were putting time on me.  Everyone, no matter where they were on the race course was getting farther away from me.  As I ran past the infamous “money pole” I settled in and ran with the mentality of don’t get caught, and tried to peak up the road to identify either Nick or Kosuke.  That is how the last 2 miles went, and I crossed the line in 6th place.

Total Race Time – 1:33:04

Top 10 Finishing Order – Chris MacDonald, Karl Bordine, Mark Tripp, Nick Sigmon, Kosuke Amano, Me, Erik Nau, Charlie Karstrom, Adam Schepps, the women’s winner Heather Jackson.  Everyone else got chicked.  But it happens, just ask Keith Butsko (sorry Keith, but I couldn’t resist) about the wrath of Heather Jackson.  I was hoping I wouldn’t be gunned down by her while she is having a sensational season in 2012.

If you want a historical comparison, on the whole, I went faster than I did last year.  The time was made up on the bike, were I went over a minute quicker.  That I am happy with, the goal was to ride hard and I did, but I let myself down by going easier than I wanted into T-2.  My swim, was well, my swim.  I don’t expect there to be anything of concern to ever happen in the water (except in Hawaii…*smirk*).  My run could have been better, I have not spent too much time focusing on 10k speed in training, but I would have liked run under 36:00, if I held onto Nick and Kosuke for a little while longer, or pushed harder when I was alone maybe that might have happened, maybe not.

Not a bad day at SDIT 2012, but still somethings to be desired.  Next up is Vineman 70.3.

This year was the second year I have raced here in Hawaii.  The first time was in 2009, where I fell flat on the run course en route to a sub-par performance.  I really wanted to hold it together this year for the entire race.  With a different fueling strategy and having trained with a power meter on the bike since then, I was confident I could perform well on race day.

Swim:

Warning – rant.  I will say this, race directors over-promised and under-delivered on the swim.  Not nearly enough in water support, not nearly enough buoys, and poor planning lead to a unacceptable experience shared among the races top swimmers.  Myself and one other athlete made it to the beach when we were told there was no way we swam that fast because we were quote, “in front of some of the pros”, my issue here is they never said, “you missed a buoy”, nor did they say, “we saw you cut the course”.  If they had said that, I would take them at their word.  They didn’t though, the basis for their actions was that I was in front of people who started 3 minutes earlier.  I will call shenanigans.  I had two options, my day is over right then and get DQ’ed for an alleged course infraction.  The second was swim out to a buoy and come back in.  I came to Hawaii to race, not sit around, so I swam back out with another athlete.  We got to the buoy, gave each other a, “what a joke” look and swam back in.  Had I exited the water the first time I came out, my swim time would have been just shy of 25 minutes, not unreasonable for me, as most of my swims are 25 minutes, so doing a 24:XX isn’t some crazy fast time.  Actual swim time 33:14, 21st in my age group out the water.  Who knows the distance I covered, Keith clocked a 30 minute swim for 1.57 miles and he was re-directed before making it to shore.  That is how it goes though.

Bike:

I was pretty mad, but what could I do other than show everyone that it will take a lot more than an extra 8 minutes in the water to stop me.  I threw out my original plan on the bike, I had to ride harder than I wanted to make sure I was in still in the mix when it came time to run.  My controlled aggression in the strong trade winds put me an average of 15 watts higher than planned by the turnaround at Hawi.  On the way out I got to enjoy some rain which felt very nice and cool.  I was taking in water at every aid station and staying hydrated taking in plenty of salt as well.  The rain was not present on the way back in, but the cross winds were.  I stayed aero to keep a lower profile in the wind and not be blown around as much. With about 15 miles left my left hip was getting tight.  The consistent effort I was holding until then was now an up and down effort as I stood up more to try and loosen things up.  Into T-2 I went with a bike time of 2:29:20, making up more than a few places to be 9th off the bike in my age group.  This race had more officials on course than I have ever seen before, and more course support than I have experienced.  I was pleased to see that.

Running Time:

In T-2 I tried to stretch my hip for a few seconds while getting my shoes on.  Then it was off to work.  I put down two PowerGels on the way out because the plan was to take in nutrition early on the run.  I was able to get out and move past a few guys in the first miles, and made my way up to a Korean athlete in the 30-34 age group.  He and I partnered up to work our way through the winding and windy XC type course.  In the headwinds we worked together to take the lead every 30 seconds or so.  I was feeling good, but I felt like I was on the tipping point for some reason.  I soon found out why around mile 6-7.  After taking in some fuel from the aid station I felt like I was going to hurl, so I did.  I stopped and chucked up on some lava rocks.  Then I stood up, took a deep breath and started running again.  I felt like a new man.  I ran down the guys who had passed me while I was getting sick on the lava rocks, and targeted those who I knew were fading in front of me.  The rest of the run went well and I picked up speed through the course.  My run time, though not in itself that impressive was 1:28:29, but relative to the rest of the field it appears to be pretty solid.

The end of the race saw me finish 3rd in my age group, and 29th overall with a time of 4:35:39.  I snagged my slot for 70.3 World Champs in Lake Las Vegas, which was a main goal in this race after Keith and Max took the honors in Oceanside.  Ian and Felipe put the race in good perspective for me afterwards, reminding me that in terms of performance and mental strength, this race went very well.  Overcoming a road block that early in the race was tough, but I really had no choice if I wanted to do what I came there to do.

The old man was also out in good form, finishing his race below the cut-off and staying up right on his bike.  He is now fully in love with his new salt/electrolyte strategy and was in good spirits after the race.  This is a big year for him, taking on three 70.3 races, the first of which was Oceanside, with Vineman coming up in July.

Thanks to all my supporters and sponsors for helping me get through the race and all of my training.  My next race is SDIT, where last year I finished 3rd and got a “big check” for the first time.  It won’t be any easier this year, so I will be putting in some good training efforts to do well, but the main focus will always be 70.3 Worlds.