This was the first triathlon I ever participated in, and I was very anxious to get back and see what kind of progress I’ve made over the last year. I talked my girlfriend, Samantha Meiers, and good friends, Bailey Sheridan and Chris Perlewitz into going back with me and enjoying this excellent race. On Friday, 8/8/08, we loaded up my little Subaru Impreza with 4 bikes, and 5 sets of wheels, and all the other tri gear we needed for the weekend. The looks we were getting with all those bikes on top of the car, and the back hatch full of Zipp wheels were hilarious. We joked about how the car looked like we were supporting a pro tour.
The drive down to Oceanside was uneventful, and we were quickly checked into “Carlson Race Headquarters” as Dave likes to call the Motel 6 in Oceanside. Everything was going well. We needed to get to the beach for a short swim*(see footnote), so after a short 20 minute nap, the team rallied and prepped our wetsuits. 20 minutes of swimming in heavy surf was more than enough preparation for the race. The swim is never that rough in this race, right?
We enjoyed a dinner of fine Italian food at Dominic’s in Oceanside Harbor and caught up with some old friends. Dominic’s is my favorite Italian restaurant, west of the Mississippi and I eat there several times during every trip to Oceanside.
On Saturday morning, we woke at 5:15 and casually made our way out of the hotel and to the race site. We were among the first people there and all of us had prime rack positions in transition! Samantha had the best position in transition, as she was lucky enough to share space with World Champion Michellie Jones! MJ was great company and chatted with us extensively. Samantha remarked about how intimidated she was, and Michellie humorously replied, “good” with a smile and a laugh.
Unfortunately the fun ended there. The race start was quickly approaching and as we turned our attention to the swim, we were in for a rude awakening. None of us are swimmers, per se; we all have gotten into swimming so that we could participate in triathlon. Therefore, none of us is necessarily a strong swimmer in heavy surf. As we turned our attention to the swim course, we saw the WAVES. The entire first leg of the “U” shaped swim was going to be head first into 4 foot waves. They were one after another and unrelenting. The surf proved to be too much for Samantha and Chris and they withdrew on the swim. I don’t blame them. All I could think about as I battled my way through was how bad I wanted out. I fought on, promising myself that if I could get through the swim, I was going to have a great race. Somewhere behind me, Bailey was making the same kind of deals with herself (We talked after the race and realized that we were both thinking similar thoughts.)
I had no idea what my swim time was, I’ll have to go with whatever the race clock claims, but it wasn’t pretty. Oh well, that’s racing for you. What I did know was that there was a flat (by Vegas standards), fast bike course ahead of me and I was going to give it hell. My goal was to not let Michellie Jones pass me on the bike. I knew she had to have closed most of the gap between our start waves (7mins) on the swim, so if I could hold her off on the bike, I was having a good ride. I went out hard and built on it from there. A quick glance at my computer showed that I was holding 270-280 watts and 21 mph steadily. I was hoping for more speed out of an effort like that, but that was the windiest ride I’ve had along this course yet (my third time on it between different races). I maintained my aero position for all but 3 minutes of my 54:xx ride, where I had to stand to get up some short, steep rises.
Before I knew it I was popping my shoes off and hauling butt into transition. 30 seconds to change into my running shoes, grab my Garmin, and race number belt and I was outta there. I heard footsteps behind me in the chute going out of transition, and just as I made my way clear of transition, there was Michellie Jones on her way past me. I had held her off on the bike! I’ll take that as a minor victory. I never saw Bailey on the bike, but I was in my happy place trying to forget the pain for the entire ride, so it’s no wonder I didn’t see her.
I found my legs and had a great run, my Garmin had the time as 26:42 and I forgot to push the stop button for a little bit after the finish so 26:3x would be closer. That was my best 5k run finish in a sprint yet, and it was awesome to have the hard work pay off.
Bailey finished up shortly after I did and we went to check the results. I was 11th out of 35 in my group with an official time of 1:39:51, and missed being in the top 10 by 8 seconds! Darn! Bailey on the other hand, had a victorious day, winning her age group by nearly 12 minutes! I guess my coaching is paying off for her as well, if I do say so myself, haha.
The rough swim was a hard pill to swallow, and the four of us talked at length about how to deal with such situations in the future. I’m really sorry that Samantha and Chris couldn’t finish with Bailey and I, but I fully support their choice to withdraw. Triathlon is about challenging yourself and enjoying that challenge. When you are plunged into panic and terror, the fun is over and there’s nothing wrong with calling it a day while saving your enthusiasm for a future race. There was a point on the swim where I was contemplating quitting triathlon altogether because I was not having fun. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. I’m glad I chose to stick with it though. At the end of the day, I had improved upon my previous time in this race by nearly 30 minutes! Hard work and consistency in your training does pay off.
* One thing that I don’t think a lot of triathletes know is that it’s very important to get your wetsuit saturated the day before the race. I talk to a lot of people about wetsuits on a weekly basis, and the most common complaint is that they feel restricted in their wetsuit. Aside from proper fit and donning of the suit, keeping the suit hydrated, especially the day before a race, is key for the flexibility and fit comfort of the suit. When the neoprene is completely dried out, the suit is much less flexible and tends to fit smaller. If you want to have a good comfortable swim in your suit, get in it the day before the race, and swim for at least 10 minutes. It will pay off in the long run, I promise!
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