Chris Berg

This past weekend, for the first time since high school, I took to the pool for a swim meet.  Having the free time away from a structured triathlon schedule (or really any structured training), I headed up to Long Beach with some friends from the La Jolla masters program.  Kristen came up with me, and we stayed at her Aunt’s house in Palos Verdes, which was about 30 minutes away from the pool.  Kristen really appreciates time with her family so it was nice to have a trip where she could see them.

To the actual swimming, which as an event of it’s own is always a favorite for me.  My individual events for the weekend were the 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle, as well as the 100m fly, and 400m IM.  What I did not know was that I would also be getting into some relays for LJSM.  I swam in the mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay (2 girls, 2 guys), and the male 4 x 50m medley relay.

After driving up Friday afternoon, we went got some dinner with the LJSM crew (Paton, Terry, Foster, Stacy, Rodrigo, with Evelyn joining in the following day).  Keeping it a quiet evening, we went to turn in for an early start the next morning.  Not early in triathlon terms though, so it was nice to not have a rushed morning.

A few things became very apparent after swimming in a meet after almost 10 years.  The first is, the huge amount of downtime you have waiting for events, the events themselves aren’t very long, and swimmers are not nearly as type 1 as triathletes.  There are not a lot of egos, and the atmosphere is more laid back.  Sure everyone is still discussing splits and times, but not doing it to say they were faster than you, but to be supportive and take the occasional friendly jab at someone you may share a lane with in practice.  So to my medley relay friends, sorry about my 50 fly split.

My first event was the 400m free, which is about the shortest distance I swim racing tris.  I very much look forward to the distance events, because I feel very comfortable there, and there is more race tactics and strategy involved.  I managed a pretty good time of 4:34.11, which was 6 seconds quicker than my speed time.  The splits for each 100 were pretty even, so I was happy about that.  Next for me was my anchor leg in the mixed 4 x 100m relay.  Foster led off, Evelyn swam the 2nd leg, and Stacy swam the 3rd leg.  My split from the timing results was 59.46, which I am fine with.  I found out very quickly that I don’t have the speed I used have for shorter events (even in high school swimming, I was not much to worry about in 100 free though).  Then into the next relay where I was swimming the fly leg (3rd slot) in the 4 x 50m medley.  Rodrigo put down his phone for a bit to lead off the backstroke leg, then Foster took breaststroke, and Paton brought us home with a pretty impressive 25.?? anchor split.  My fly, not so stellar at 30.75, a far cry from the 28 I wanted to post.  The good news for everyone on Saturday was that I got to close the meet down, with not only the final event of the evening, but in the final heat, slotted with the slowest seed time in the heat.  Paton gave me some swim knowledge to try and negative split each 100.  With this in mind, I set out in the always entertaining 400m IM.  My fly split was 1:13, I then negative split my backstroke going out 42 and back in 40, even split my breaststroke, and going out in 38 and back in 35 for my freestyle.  My overall time of 5:23.36 was good enough to be the last guy to touch the wall for the day, but still a pretty decent showing for me.  Despite the burning in my guts, I had a lot of fun with that event, and appreciated the gang hanging out behind my lane supporting my efforts.  With that, day 1 was in the books, and another 2AM burger was in play with some beer and a dry martini.

Day 2, had me swimming the 800m free, the 100m fly and the 200m free.  Of these events I of course was looking forward to the 800m free the most.  Foster took lap counting duties.  My strategy for the race was to race the girl swimming next to me (Emily from San Diego Swim Masters).  From swimming against her in the mixed relays, and through some word of mouth, I came to find she is a very talented swimmer.  It seemed to be a good idea to just match her pace, and if I felt good enough to go at some point, I would go.  I pretty much stuck to that plan.  With about 300m to go a used my legs a little and got slightly ahead of her, and would be trying to build or hold any gap that was there.  My turns are just horrific for pool swimming, so she was closing at the walls.  She was definitely too close on the last 100m and I had to really churn to slightly edge her out by less than a second.  My finish time was 9:22.77, and my splits were pretty even, and my turns were not good at all.  The gentleman who was swimming next to me managed to set a new masters age group world record, which is the first time I have been involved in an event where someone set a swimming world record.  Next up was the 100m fly where Foster and I were trying to out swim the other.  Foster beat me out by less than a second with a 1:07.3? and me with a 1:07.84.  Too vertical for me on the fly, so something to work on in the pool along with my turns.

By the time to 200m free rolled around I had some tired legs (because Stacy made me jump the night before).  As soon as I dove in I knew I did not have the pop in my legs to get moving at a good 200m speed.  My not so hot time of 2:12.44 was pretty close to what I went out in for the first 200 in my 400m free.  After that it was a short swim down and then the drive home.

A really fun weekend, and I posted some pretty good swims, some not so great swims.  The LJSM group posted some good results as well, though they were sticking mainly to some of the shorter distance events, but there were a few medals to be picked up, and even a really sharp looking pink ribbon.

From here it will be time to start turning the gears again and getting back into the structured triathlon training regiment, with my first race due to be in March.

It has been a long time since I have posted anything.  The reason being, there has not been much to post about.  I have taken some time since Mission Bay doing mostly unstructured training and using the lower volume of swim, bike, run to add some strength workouts during the week.  I have also enjoyed the mental break, were missing a workout here or there won’t make or break my next race.

That in mind, I have spent some time on my road bike recently, with the target being the 111 mile Tour de Tucson in Arizona.  This would not serve as a race, but as time to enjoy riding and supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  For those who do not know, one of my Breakaway Athletes (Zion) has Type 1 Diabetes, as well as Adam’s older sister Becca (who rides for the pro cycling team, “Team Type 1″).  Charlie also has numerous family members who have Type 1, and it was his Aunt who suggested this ride to him, and thus we became involved as well.

The weekend was a blast though it not start that way.  We were schedule to fly out Thursday morning at 7:55 for a one hour flight to Tucson.  There was a dense morning fog in San Diego, and our flight to Tucson was cancelled.  They put the 4 of us on a flight to Las Vegas, where we would connect to Tucson.  The flight to Las Vegas was scheduled to depart at 9:30, our connection to Tucson would leave at 11:30.  Our flight to Las Vegas was delayed to 10:50.  So when we landed in Las Vegas, we had missed our connecting flight to Tucson.  They put us on the next available flight out to Tucson, which was at 4:00.  So we had 4 hours in the Las Vegas airport to pass.  We finally made it to Tucson around 6.  Much to our disbelief, our bikes made it.  We figured with so many cancellations and delays, our bikes would be long gone.  They weren’t and we were happy that at the very least we made it there with our bikes.

That night we had to opportunity to meet up with my college friend Ryan, and have a few drinks.  We didn’t get into any bars because someone (I won’t say who) did not have a valid photo ID.  So we found some cheap beer and hung out in a parking lot, before moving into the hotel bar.

The next morning we got our bikes together had a short ride to make sure things were working properly before checking in for the ride and dropping our gear off.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing.

Race morning was very easy.  Eat breakfast, get on the bus, go to race start.  Pretty simple.  The ride itself was a lot of fun.  The early morning in Arizona was cold, I had my wind vest on, some nice new arm warmers, my full finger gloves, and my new favorite (thanks James Walsh) embrocation cream to keep my knees warm.  I thought I would quickly shed the warm gear, but the day never got too hot.  I kept my vest on through half the ride, and did not take off the gloves and arm warmers until later.  The ride itself is pretty flat, with no sustained climbs.  The road surfaces are not great at all, a lot of bottles were scattered on the road, and a lot of punctured tires had to be fixed.  The only mechanical issue I came across was Adam had a loose bottle cage.  That was nice not having to fix flats etc.  The ride start was hectic, with a lot of riders lined up in the start corral, and not all of them placed appropriately by speed or skill.  The first 10 miles was spent dodging squirrelly riders, slow riders, and some riders who did not have clue.  After that it was clear sailing.  We lost Charlie in the fray, so Adam, Zion and I rode along.  Zion was with us until 90 minutes into the ride, and Adam and I continued the rest of the ride ourselves.  We divided the workload well, and a lot of riders were happy to sit on our wheels for a free pull, and not many were happy to try and help.  We did bump into Jay from Breakaway on course and chatted with him for a while during our crossing of the wash-out area where we dismounted and walked our bikes for almost 1200 meters.  We made it to the finish line without much issue, stopping 3 times for a nature break, and about 3 other times for nutrition and re-fueling.

The weekend was capped off with a nice dinner that night put on by the JDRF, who did a smashing job all weekend taking care of us, making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time, and handled all road blocks professionally and quickly.  A big thanks for them making the weekend so great, that coming back next year is on the docket.

Speaking of other things on the docket, I have decided to enter a swim meet!  The Master’s Swimming Short Course meet is in Long Beach December 2-4, and I was talked into swimming by some friends at the pool.  So, for the first time since high school, I will be swimming a competitive race in the pool.  I have opted to swim the 800m, 400m, and 200m freestyle, the 400IM, and 100Fly.  I have not been swimming as much as I would like to, but nonetheless, am looking forward for a fun weekend splashing about.  Soon after that weekend, I am planning to get right back into a structured program again, in preparation for my 2012 season, which I am hoping to start off at SuperSeal Olympic Distance in March.

There should be another update soon, right after I get after it in the pool in two weeks time.

My final race of the 2011 season was Mission Bay.  A sprint, which we (some friends and training partners) decided to have a little fun with this year, and hopefully started a tradition which will last.  The fun, was sporting mustaches and speedos for the race.  Since this race is one of the oldest around, and where the first triathlon was held waaayy back in the day, we thought it would be fun to go old school and race as those who came before us did.

Onto the race.  I had really found mental focus tough for this race.  Post Vegas I was sick, and coming back to race one more sprint was tough on the mind.  I usually wake up and am ready and willing to take on the training for the day, these past few weeks it seems I was already in off-season mode and woke up just feeling “eh”.  I still got my workouts done, but not with the same enthusiasm.  So I was relieved when race morning had arrived.

The swim was considerably faster than last year, covering the 500m swim in 6:23, I was only the 4th guy out of the water.  There were some very strong swimmers in the field, and we took out the first 200m very hard.  Towards the end of the swim, the race official on the boat, decided to drive fast back towards to the start, and in the process created a big field of wakes for us to swim through which was not the most professional thing they could have done.  None of us in the water at that point were very happy.

Into T-1, we had the worst possibly rack spot for transition.  Furthest from the bike in and bike out.  So we all had to run our bikes the full length on the transition area two times.  The transition area was not cleared of other athletes either, so while running my bike out, I was yelling for folks to clear the way.  I must not have been vocal enough, or clear enough because one ignorant bastard decided that walking directly in front of me was the best thing he could possibly do.  BANG!  My aerobars directly into his body, then they swung around and jammed my thigh and hand, then my bike is on the ground.  I want to thank this asshole for the bruise on my thigh, and fingernail which has decided not to fall off after it looked like it would for a day or two.  Also adding onto the long time I spent in transition.

On the bike, I was third out of transition, and riding alright.  I was passed up early out of T-1 and was sitting in fourth.  The 3-4 miles into the bike I was passed again by Felipe and Alex as they slowly pulled away.  I stayed right there in 6th through the uneventful ride (though uncomfortable in the speedo).  Into T-2 I went.

T-2 also had the long run with the bike back to the rack.  This time people had their heads up and no one got in anyones way.  Then, when I put my bike on the rack, the rack falls down….ugh.  Yes, I somehow managed to knock down and entire bike rack.  So picked up my bike, got the rack standing again, and then placed my bike back on the rack.  Flustered from all of this, I stay in transition putting on my HERO headband and race belt with my number.  These are usually things you do while running, but my lack of mental focus cost me there.

Out of T-2 I passed Alex and Felipe in the first mile, and was making time up on those in front of me.  The gap was getting closed down, but not fast enough.  My run was slow at 18:10 for a 5k.  During the run I was also dry-heaving from the nasty swim, a condition that most everyone else I talked with experienced at some point during the race.

My total time was 4 seconds faster than last year, but both my bike and run were slower, swim was faster by enough to give the entire race time a boost.  My transition were just awful, and I am very unhappy about that.  However, finishing 4th overall and 3rd in the elite field is something I will have to make better on next year because I am not happy with it.  Better mental focus, and perhaps avoiding ignorant participants in transition might have yielded a slightly faster results which could have launched me a position ahead of where I finished.  Or it couldn’t have, we won’t know!

Thanks everyone for a terrific season!

I will start by echoing the thoughts of a lot of other athletes out there who competed here in Vegas as well as in Clearwater.  This course is more suitable for a World Championship.  Elevation changes, net elevation gain on the bike, heat, wind, and one of my favorite qualities, no wetsuit allowed for the swim!  This creates a lot of adversity for any athlete to deal with, and I think it truly evaluates the ability of an athlete to compete on a grand stage in tough conditions.

Onto the actual race morning.  After checking my tire pressure, setting up my bottles we were told we had to remain in the swim start corral until our swim start.  I was not a fan of this, being the final wave of the day this meant standing still in direct sunlight for roughly 2.5 hours, just awesome WTC.  It was a good thing I packed a nice alternate morning clothes bag with things I could afford to leave behind.  I had some bars, plenty to drink, sunscreen, and a small stick of glide.  Charlie, Keith and I were hanging out with Felipe and Sal until they went off early than us, then we just mellowed out until it was time to go.  For this swim, I got to wear a sweet ORCA Speedsuit because I could not rock out in my QR wetsuit as I usually do.  10 minutes before our wave goes off I was able to dump my bag with Luke so no items lost.  I jumped into the water and got my usual warm up in, swim lightly for a little followed up with some catchup drill, then it was to the start line for the gun.  The out and back swim is nice, and after 200m into the swim start I found Charlie very quickly and was on his feet.  Usually I swim by myself, but Charlie and I would go about the same time regardless, so why not sit in to conserve and have a lead blocker to cut through the mass of people.  I felt good the entire swim and speedsuit was great, so big thanks to ORCA for supporting me.  I exited the water first in my age group with a time of 25:33.

Long run into T-1 was fine, I quickly got my bag, set myself up in my helmet and glasses and was off to my bike.  Then a run up a big hill to the mount line.  I fumbled a little mounting my bike, which was pretty embarrassing.  After the little mis-que there I was off and pedaling.  A lot of guys passed me early on the bike, and per some very sound advice I took note of them.  My plan was to race my numbers on the power meter, keeping things in control the entire time so I would make it to the run with good legs and ready for more fun in the heat.  Around the halfway point I was passed by a long line of kids from my wave.  I just continued to race my numbers, took note of them.  The course is a nice one to ride.  The aid stations were well placed and done efficiently.  I raced my numbers and was starting to eat up some of the riders I took note of in the final 10 mile of the ride.  Good news for me, I was still strong while others seemed to be struggling.  Into town I climbed, and was happy to dismount my bike and get ready to start running.  My bike split was slower than I would have liked at 2:34:56.  I think I may have conserved my effort too much on the bike, but who knows how my run would go if I pushed harder.  In retrospect, yes I wish maybe I could have pushed it faster, but I can’t be too upset because I was set up nicely to run well.  I had fallen to 22nd off the bike.

Into the T-2 tent I go getting my NEWTON shoes on and the throw back headband from HERO ATHLETICS.  Keith had taken his time to collect himself in the tent and after hitting the bike hard we both went out on the run course together.  I wanted to take my time getting my legs under me early in the run to avoid a big blow up.  Keith got a gap of between 30-50 meters on me and hovered around there for a while.  Every aid station I hit up some cola and water, and a sponge.  I was never a victim of the heat, and was comfortable with the conditions all day.  My watch was keeping me aware of my HR and pace, and I was happy where I was.  Heading up hill on the run course on lap 1 I came down with a side stitch, so I slowed to work it out, still moving fairly well.  At the top of the hill I was good to go and settled into a comfortable pace.  By the end of the down hill I had made my way back to Keith, and we were running together for a while until he went ahead a little bit.  He had some shoe problems, and I passed him while he dealt with that.  I had some problems of my own, my GARMIN died and I was without HR and pace.  I thought to myself this is pretty much worthless now, so I ripped off the HR strap and took off the watch.  When I saw Luke on course I gave them to him and continued running.  Before the turn around at the top of the hill on lap 2 Keith had came back up to me, and moved ahead again.  After the turnaround on lap 2 is when I wanted to start picking up the pace, and I did.  I made my way back to Keith, and then kept going.  I went ahead trying to build my pace.  This is the lap where I started to notice some of the riders going nuts early on the course.  They were fading and I was still good to go.  I made my way through more people in the age group, and started to set my eyes on trying to catch Charlie who was slowly but surely coming back to me  throughout the course.  I ran hard into the finish and was nipped at the line by 1 second by a guy in my age group.  I ran down 7 guys on the run (which I never really do) and finished 15th on the age group finishing with a 1:29:03 run.  I am once again torn with my run split.  I fell that maybe I could have started to push earlier and perhaps took down more guys and made a run at a top 10 finish.  However I won’t be unhappy that I was able to run down other athletes in tough conditions.

My total time for the race was 4:34:19.  Not unhappy, but wondering how much faster I could have gone if I took smaller more calculated risks, also wondering how much damage could have been done taking those risks.  Going easier on the bike was the gamble I took.

After getting home I got sick (surprise surprise),  and have been not doing much of anything this week.  I went for an hour ride yesterday, and plan on getting out this afternoon for a short ride and run.

Big time appreciation to my sponsors, BREAKAWAY TRAINING, NYTRO, QUINTANA ROO, ORCA, FLUID, NEWTON, and HERO ATHLETICS who each played a crucial role in getting me to the start the finish of the race.  Also thank you to Kristen for being a good supporter and photographer all season, getting food, making recovery drinks post workout, setting up ice baths, the list could go on.

Final race of the year is Mission Bay on October 2.

To finish off my long run of races through June and July, I had Solana Beach and Calgary 70.3 on back to back weekends.  It has been a long time since I updated so I will skip my excuses why I haven’t and just dive right into the racing.

Solana Beach is a race where last year I won my first race overall.  I know it is a small local sprint race, but for the first time I was king of the heap.  I wasn’t sure what to expect this year, because I was training right through the race with a focus on Calgary and an even bigger picture focus on Vegas.

The morning was status quo, set up transition, warm up, get wetsuit on and head down to the water.  I got my warm up swim done, and then there is a surprise.  Keith Butsko, the real winner of a collegiate race from May was the recipient of a sting ray barb in his foot.  We all told him to get it taken care of and forget the race, but he pressed on anyway and got through 1/3 of the run before his foot was too much of a bother.  Back to the story now.  The swim was ocean entry, and the tide was coming up so there were points on the entry you could stand, then all the sudden be neck deep and back to knee deep again.  I lost my footing once and was a bit back when it was full on time to swim.  I made the ground up quickly and was with the top 5 or so rounding the first buoy, by the second buoy I was right next to leader.  I got a push from a wave and found myself in the front.  I looked back to see where everyone was and some of the athletes were already standing.  I know from experience that the best thing to do on exiting is to swim until my nose is dragging on the ground, which I did before doing some high knee efforts into the shore.  Up the ramp I went and into T-1.  First out of the water, swim time 8:03.

Onto the bike I went, where I was passed up quickly while strapping into my shoes.  I was in right away after and started the pursuit to be the front of the race again.  The bike was un-eventful for me, just chasing.  I was passed halfway through the bike by Lewis Elliot, putting me into 3rd on the road.  Heading into T-2 I was right behind the 2nd place fellow, Matt Organista.  Total time for bike splits plus transitions, 23:47.  I was able to pass Matt in transition and went onto the road in 2nd place.

The run started off a little like it did last year.  Matt and I were hip to hip, and trying to catch Lewis Elliot up the road.  I had put in a good 20k run the day before the race so my legs were not springy.  Just short of a mile into the run Matt cramped up and slowed down.  I knew I would have to work hard to keep him from coming back.  Which I ended up doing, but not catching Lewis Elliot.  I crossed the line in 2nd place overall.  My run split was 17:11.  It was a good race for the days of training I had put in that week, and I was happy I was still able to run fairly well after a long run the day before.  Total time 49:01.

CALGARY 70.3

I raced here last year in the rain and grey conditions.  This year was completely on the other end of the spectrum.  Clear skies, with a daytime high in the mid/upper 70s.  Kristen came along for the trip this year to be my support crew and paparazzi.  Getting in on Thursday afternoon, I put my bike together and phoned up my friend from last years race Nick Haddow.  Nick wasn’t racing this year due to injury, but was still able to take me out for a ride that afternoon.  He pointed me to a local pool to get my Friday swim in and ran with me later in the afternoon.  It was nice to not have to be shuffling around downtown Calgary trying to get pre-race workouts done.

Race morning we were bused from downtown to Ghost Lake for the swim start.  The water is beautiful.  Fresh and clean, a little cold but not Boise cold.  The lower volume of racers makes doing wave starts here awesome.  Only 6 total waves on the day.  I was #3, but they space them out every 10-12 minutes, so you aren’t catching slower swimmers 200 meters into your day.  I jumped out into the lead, and that is where I would stay for the duration of the day (spoiler alert).  The lead kayak from the pros even decided to guide me for a while because I was literally all alone in the water.  I exited the water 4 minutes ahead of my closest competitor.  26:32 was my time, which was 8th fastest overall on the day.

It still hadn’t warmed up yet when I started riding, and the cold water on my body wasn’t helping much for warmth either.  I quickly got into a nice rhythm though and started passing more of the folks in front of me who I had not passed in the water.  There was one rider in particular who did not like being passed up so early in the race by me.  He would literally sit behind me (legally to his credit) then on hills I would hear him shifting, stand up and attack hard.  I would then proceed to watch him soft pedal on the crest of these small risers, and fall back again.  After 3 or 4 times, I said to him, “stop riding like a jerk and be steady,” that was the last I saw of him.  A little while later around 40k into the ride, I started to feel my stomach get uneasy, then tossed up it’s entire contents.  This happened last year as well.  From then on I was really unable to put anything on my stomach.  So for the final 45k (yes, this course is 3 miles longer than advertised), I was not taking anything in.  This put me far behind the 8 ball coming into the run.  My bike split was very similar to last year at 2:27:44.

Onto the run, I knew I had to make up for the nutrition fiasco on the bike.  I knew coke and water were my go to drinks, and got them at evert aide station.  My first mile was a little quick at 6:16, but I then settled into a pace which should see me to the line around 86 minutes or so.  The run course has hills, and when I got to them, I began to feel the effect of playing catch up.  There was just no pop in my legs to carry me up the hills, I felt as if I was crawling up.  My pace plummeted.  At the halfway turn around I was still in decent shape time-wise, still looking at a sub-90 run if I even split.  However I just did not have the legs to do so, and my pace slipped to around a 7:20-7:30 pace.  I was shocked to see that despite my falling apart, that no one in my age group was even close at the turnaround.  I focused on making sure I kept it together and not make any big mistakes.  I kept moving forward, passing one female pro who had started over 20 minutes before me, and two more athletes from the wave 12 minutes in front of me.  I crossed the line comfortably in first place in my age group, 12 minutes ahead of the next guy.  My run time was 1:32:05.  Not happy with it, but it is somewhat comforting to know that I really felt like I blew up hard on the run, and I still ran alright.  Given that normally when I blow up like that, I end up in the 1:40-1:45 range.

Total time for the day was 4:31:33, first age group, 3rd amateur, and 15th overall (did not get chicked).  After the race Nick was kind enough to take Kristen and I back to the hotel so I could shower up and put some solid food on my stomach before the awards ceremony.  That night Kristen, myself, Nick and his girlfriend Cheryl had a celebratory dinner at a nice steakhouse before heading out of town and back home the next day.

Calgary is an awesome venue for a race, and very beautiful in the summer.  Perhaps because the race is in Canada it does not get much attention from US athletes, but I really think they do a very good job with it.  Where else is the finisher medal a giant belt buckle??

This is long overdue.  Been a long time coming, but with the trip back home and shifting around of things in the house I have been pretty busy.  That and training, which must continue as always.  Kristen and I have even made a trip to Ikea, with a possible Bed, Bath & Beyond trip in the future… though I may have a big training day and won’t be able to make it.

I stayed in Denver for the race, about 1 hour from Boulder.  I was lucky enough to find accomodations at the BARLOW house, with Lizzie and her parents (I think her dad’s name is Steve, or was it Troy Bristol?).  Staying in a house, way better than a hotel.  Just having space to move around, a garage, including a bike stand, work bench, and full compliment of tools is also nice.  Needless to say, very convenient and all you can play MarioKart 64 is a perk I haven’t had since the Jack Attack and I lived together summer of 2005.  I was also able to grab lunch with Gallagher before his birthday in Boulder, which was a nice throwback to the college days of grabbing some food at Peabody’s before going to USD hoops game (were we unknowingly witnessed point shaving, I just thought we were naturally not that good).  I also stopped by the Newton Running Lab, which is awesome.  So many shoes, so many colors!  Thanks to Danny for giving Kristen and I the tour.

Back to the race.  Swim was sweet.  I had no problems with altitude at this point, and came out of the water second.  Nice flat reservoir conditions, so no swell, and the water temperature was pleasant.  The swim time was 19:17 for 1500m, which is about where I should be.  I made a quick T-1, so quick I was concerned when I was first out onto the bike course, wondering if I had forgotten to do something.

The bike is where I just sucked.  I have done not too well on the bike before but this was literally a time where I felt as I was some kid on a mountain bike trying to keep up with motorbikes.  It is a false flat the first 10k of the bike before a big hill.  The damage was done before I hit the hill.  I went from first on the bike, to 6th before the hill.  I hit the hill and finally felt somewhat normal again, a good steep climb got my head straight and I found what rhythm I had left and plodded.  I would leap frog a bit with another guy towards the end of the bike.  My time, a poor 1:08:54.  Not very good.  I played damage control, and was barely doing anything of note then.

I had a pretty good T-2, and made it onto the run course in 6th.  I was passed quickly by the ITU Canadian athlete in the first mile.  I was pushing hard, but only going about half iron pace.  I tried to push, close gaps or limit loses but to avail.  I forgot about trying to pass the guys in front of me, and then focused on not letting anyone pass me.  I started to feel good at the turnaround of the out and back course, and held steady to the finish to cross the line 7th.  My run split was 40:26.

Total finish time was 2:10:46.  By far my worst at this distance by 6 minutes.  I don’t want to say it was the altitude, because it feels like a cop out.  I will just leave it at this, I didn’t have what it takes to perform the way I wanted to that day.  You may interpret that anyway you want.

Next up for me is Solana Beach, then Calgary 70.3.

2 weeks after Boise 70.3 it was right into SDIT for the 3rd year in a row.  This is a big local race in San Diego, and has been for quite some time.  I felt great going into this race, my run has been improving this year and I was hoping to have a good race.  I have never really put up a good race on this course.  I have always swam well, but I can never get moving on the bike and subsequently was dejected on the run and never got anything done on the run course.  My times have not been impressive here.

This year was a little different.  Starting with the swim.  This year I was able to get the 1k swim done in 10:25, which is faster than in any prior years.  Kosuke Amano lead out the swim and I was quickly and happily on his feet to be second out of the water.  The water was a nice temperature and there wasn’t much of a diesel fuel taste either.  All in all this was the most pleasant swim I have had at SDIT.

The bike was weird for me.  I was out with the leaders on the bike, holding 2nd behind Erik Nau for much of the first loop on the 2 loop course.  At the halfway point Karl Bordine passed me, the same point he has passed me in the 2 years before.  I felt fine, and was expecting a strong rider such as Karl to get in front of me at some point.  However shortly after, I was swallowed up by Felipe, then a little after that, Alex.  At this point I was not happy.  But I had confidence in my run, and I knew staying with them in sight I could run them down in 10k.  Before heading back to T-2, Luke passed me.  Now I am really frustrated.  I was feeling very good on the bike, and I guess the reason why was because I was not going very fast.  I knew Luke had been running well all year, and he would be a good guy to get onto the run course with.  I stayed with him into T-2 and we started the run together.  My time for the bike split was 44:43, which was just about 20s faster than last year, but not fast enough to be in the position I would have liked to be in.

Onto the run, Luke and I were able to quickly put Alex and then Felipe behind us within the first mile.  We went out at about a 5:45 mile, which was around where I wanted to be.  We were still running together sitting in 3rd and 4th, the second mile was done in about 5:50, a little slower, but not completely off pace.  The third mile was done in 5:47, which was coming back to where we started.  I was feeling slightly labored the first 3 miles, hacking up what I guess was remnants of the water or something.  Luke was running well and we remained shoulder to shoulder through mile 4.  At this point I decided I should surge a little, Erik in 2nd place was in sight and starting to come back to us, and if we really killed the next 2 miles we might make this interesting.  Luke did not come along with me, and I went at the final stretch alone, starting to feel better and better.  If only I felt this good earlier.  I ran across the finish in 3rd place, with a run split of 36:09.  I was really hoping for something in the 35 minute range, and if I decided to really push earlier it might have happened.

My finish time was a new PR for this course in 1:33:37.  I still think I can go faster on the bike and run here, and be smarter in my race management to yield faster times and perhaps a higher place finish.

My next race is the Boulder Peak 5150 on July 10th.

Here is how it all went down.  I got into Boise Thursday, got into my rental tank (yeah, they upgraded me to “tank”).  Loading up the tank was easy and it was a short trip over to the hotel.  Got settled quickly and met up with Felipe and Charlie to pick up our bib numbers and grab some dinner.  After dinner I settled down for a bit before shaking off with a short run.

Friday was pretty chill, putting together my bike and dropping it off in T-1.  I refused to check the water temperature for myself.  There had been rumors of the water being as cold as 47F and up to around 53F.  Either way, bloody freezing.

Race morning came and went, and then it was race time (my wave went off at 12:45, last wave).  I was rocking ear plugs, full on neoprene beanie, and of course my toasty QR wetsuit.  The first 200m of the swim were the worst part.  My face was pins and needles, the pure shock of the cold water forced me to control my breathing and relax.  Once things were under control, I was in cruise mode comfortably.  Charlie had taken off hard in those first 200m, so I knew he was out in front of me, with the rest of the wave behind us.  Weeding through the carnage in the water, I made my way around the buoys.  In the turn for final buoy the water temperature dropped 2-3F from what is was, but I was working hard enough my core temperature was fine, and it wasn’t an issue.  With about 200m to go I caught Charlie and we exited the water together, hitting the timing mat at the same time for a swim split of 25:11.  This put me first out of the water in my age group, with the 11th fastest swim on the day.

I took T-1 easy (should have been quicker), making sure I could function with numb feet and hands.  It was warm enough during the day that I warmed right up, and was getting on my bike before I knew it.  I settled in to my pace holding watts, and doing nothing but passing people for the most part.  About 10 miles into the bike, I was passed by a guy who looked like he had a “27″ marked on his calf for his age.  This point I am thinking, I am in second now.  I continue riding well on my CD 0.1.  Not nearly as windy this year as last year, and I was thinking I could come in around 2:20 if I kept myself together.  Around mile 40 I passed a guy (bib#1006, yes I am calling you out).  He decided I was a good guy to draft off of.  I noticed quickly, sat up and motioned him around.  Of course, as expected he can’t hold his own with his face in the wind.  We hit a false flat section on the course and that was the end of that.  Riding into T-2 I was passed by a guy in my age group.  So at this point I am thinking I am 3rd in the age group.  I finished the bike in 2:21:56.

T-2 went smoothly and I was off and running.  I made it to the looped section of the run and happened to be right next to the first place female on her second loop.  It was the pace I wanted to run, so I stuck with her the entire first loop.  The splits were very steady, my mile splits from the first 6 miles were: 6:24, 6:35, 6:35, 6:35, 6:40 and 6:40.  I headed out on the second loop on my own.  Around mile 7 I was passed by another person in my age group, so now I am thinking 4th place (really I am thinking, “shit, go faster”).  Just around mile 10, I pass the guy who passed me heading towards T-2, so now I am think I am in 3rd place.  At the turn around I see the guy with the alleged “27″ on his calf.  I think he is just out of striking distance, but hold pace and see what happens.  In the final straight away with around 400m left to run, I see him in front of me.  I start to push, hard.  I keep churning, 50m out I am still behind by around 10m, I keep running.  I nip this guy at the line by 1 second, woo-hoo worked my way back to 2nd in the age group.  My mile splits for the final 7 miles: 6:37, 6:31, 6:35, 6:35, 6:31, 6:35, 6:29.  Final run time 1:25:35.

Now for the real story.  This guy with the “27″ on his calf is not 27.  He is in the 40-44 age group which started in the wave in front of me.  I passed him in the water, he passed me on the bike, so instead of beating him by 1 second, I beat him by 4 minutes and 1 second.  I was comfortably in second place in my age group for the final 5k of the run.  Oh well, I pushed hard and was happy to do it.

My final finish time was 4:17:35, just under a minute behind first place in the age group, and 21st overall.  To say I am happy would be accurate, but not satisfied.  I would have preferred to get under 2:20 on the bike and run quick enough to run my way back into first in the age group.  But with how well I raced, I know I am taking the proper steps to make those things happen.  I need to continue to train hard and train smart.  Next race is SDIT in just under 2 weeks.

On a week on some BIG races (get it, Texas-BIG, Ironman…) I had the pleasure of racing as well here in California.  The OC International Triathlon, usually held in the fall has now moved to May.  I did race it last year in the fall, and the year before in the fall as well.  Breakaway Training was well represented, putting 3 athletes in the top 5 overall, 3 age group wins, and 4 age group podiums.  Now for race as I saw it play out.

The swim is a great venue in a man-made lake.  Freshwater that has very little boat traffic makes for a pleasant swim leg.  The water temperature was just above 70F, which is warm but still cool enough for wetsuits.  I started in the 5th wave of athletes, so there was some serpentining around those from previous waves in the water.  I swam the first 300m with a guy who appeared to be a good person to be swimming with, but he was not by me at 400m and I was on my own the rest of the way.  It heated up in the water towards the end and I was happy to take off the wetsuit in transition and cool down a bit.  My swim time for the 1500m swim was 19:21.

Transition to the bike went smoothly, it was once I was on the bike that I put myself in a bad spot.  Once over the mount line, I was on my bike, pedaling with my feet on top of my shoes, as I normally do.  I rushed my right foot into the right shoe a little too quickly, and managed to completely dislodge the fastening strap on the shoe.  I decided not to fix it right away, and get my left foot set up because having one foot in is better than none.  Then I went back to my right foot coasting for a while feeding the strap back through the loop to pull it over my foot and secure it down again.  I finally had that taken care of, I was off and riding.  It rained on and off during the bike, but never a hard downpour.  It remained cool, with little wind.  I finished the bike in 1:03:16, which is exactly my split from last fall.  If not for my shoe incident I would like to believe I would have been below 1:03.

T-2 was a breeze and I had my shoes on before I knew it and was off and running.  The first half of the 10k course is on concrete and flat before heading into some hills and trails.  I have been working on building strength and speed in the run, and this course would be an indicator of how I was doing.  I pushed hard, but never to a point where I was in distress.  With no mile markers on course, and me not wearing a watch, the course seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was coming down the final 800m.  My run split was 37:16.  This is the fastest run I have posted on this course.  It was a good confidence boost for me to feel that good, and this time on this course.  It bodes well moving forward but I still need to keep putting in the miles to ensure I continue to get better.

The final finish time on the clock was 2:01:50.  This put me 3rd overall, and 1st in the male 25-29 age group.  There are 3 weeks until I am racing Boise 70.3, where I will look to improve on my 2nd place age group finish from last year.

This marked the third consecutive year that I have raced Spring Sprint in San Diego.  The prior two years I finished 4th, and I was set to finish something other than 4th this year.  This is a very short sprint, so the smallest snafu can set you back, or a snafu by someone else can set you up with a good opportunity.

RACE TIME:

The “400 meter” swim seemed slightly short.  My split time was 4:54, which for a real open water 400m swim would be fast, but this time also included a run up a ramp into T-1.  I am a good swimmer, but not that fast.  Everyone was in agreement the swim was short.  Either way, for the third consecutive year at this race I lead out of the water.  I got into it with the first buoy on the course (i.e. swam right through the darn thing), but then settled in with Charlie on my right shoulder.  I took a good line in the final turns and pulled ahead using a nice cork-screw move.  Note, this race start was weird, there was no siren or gun, so the starter just gave us a 15s second warning, then said “start”.  WTF???

Onto the bike, I opted to put my shoes on in transition instead of leaving them on the bike because we were right next to the bike out area in transition.  This put Felipe and Charlie onto the bike course before me, but I got the time back while they put on their shoes on the bike.  This is where things got out of sorts.  Peter Clode rode his way into the lead, where he would stay the rest of the race.  I was settled in as much as I can for a 9 mile ride.  Then I noticed a shadow following me, so I sat up and waved the rider through.  The rider could not do much without the draft, and played this shadow game with Felipe as Felipe went ahead.  I sat back and paced off of Felipe and the shadow all the way into T-2.

Running time.  I was 4th out onto the run course behind Felipe and Charlie, with Peter about 40 seconds ahead out of T-2.  I caught Felipe in the first 200m and could tell he was not too happy about having a shadow the entire ride.  I kept on to bring myself to Charlie.  About 1k into the run I caught Charlie and pushed on.  By this time I was stuck in no mans land, Peter was building a lead of about 60s, which means he was about 300m in front of me, which on this course was out of eye sight, and the distance between myself, Felipe and Charlie was large enough that I didn’t feel pressure from them.  I would cross the line 2nd, with a 5k (not 3 miles) time of 17:53, a little slower than I would have liked.  My total time for the race was 46:12.

Some notes on the race, this was my first race wearing a one piece tri-suit (from Orca).  This was super comfortable on the bike, a little tight on the run, but some zipper action helped that.  I think it will be good for sprint and olympic distance races, for the longer races I will stick with a two piece for now.  I also had a silent passenger on my bike, Felipe put a sticker of some Disney Princess on my saddle, which I actually like and have decided to keep there.  My old man finished with a good time in the over 60 group, but not on the podium.  A lot of people were trying to figure out results after because it seems the athletes were very confused with the 2 loop bike and 2 loop run course.  Lots of DQ’s and false times were up, but have been taken care of, so check out your time to see if you moved up!

A cool note from an athlete I coach who raced this weekend.  A notable story of being a sportsman and good steward in triathlon.  During the bike, he stopped and help another competitor fix a flat on the course, and then continued to finish the race.  A nice vignette from the day with a positive vibe.

I am back into training mode this week already with OC International on May 22nd, and then Boise 70.3 in June, where I hope to move up one spot from 2nd to 1st and of course with a faster time and solid run.