San Diego International Triathlon Race Recap
It’s been busy two months for me with races happening every two weeks. Like I wrote in my newsletter I send out to my community, if I’m keeping it real, it’s been rough training for it all. I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed to get it all done and give it that extra push. Partly because I haven’t had a set training plan to follow. Going into the race, I knew I would be able to put out a solid effort just based on my overall fitness, but I didn’t have no real expectations. Besides, with it being my first time doing this race, I don’t have any history with it. Luckily, I got a chance to ride the bike route once a few weeks prior. It felt comfortably hard and not as bad as I thought. I’ve ran the run course dozens of times prior so I know that part very well. And for the swim, with it being in a harbor, I knew it would at least be calm waters early in the morning and the water temp will be whatever the water temp wants to be.
Gear check!
Per usual with triathlons, I got up extra early to get to the race venue early to set up my gear. Just as dawn approaches, wifey and I pull up to the spot and we get to my transition area. We chat it up with the tri homies I see along the way. I stake my claim on a space, go hand some porta-potty business and come back to get my space all set up. We still have plenty of time, so the usual hanging out happens for a bit before I head back to transition and start getting my wetsuit on just as they’re about to close transition. My wave doesn’t start until another hour, so the Mrs and I head over to the beach to watch all the others start their races. As we get closer, I start warming up the shoulders so I can be ready to go.
Off me and the others go to swim out to the start buoy. Water feels pretty nice. I still get a bit nervous before a tri and remind myself to relax, rotate with the strokes and swim my race. Finally they send us off. As usual, I let the fishes go on ahead and start in the middle of the pack. Only 500m, but it still seems so far! I work on finding my rhythm and while it feels solid, it doesn’t feel as good as my last tri a month prior. I get off track for a bit and quickly sight where the buoy is and adjust. We round the first turn, which means we’re about halfway through. I pop up to catch my breath a bit at the top of the horseshoe course. In retrospect, I should’ve pushed through the discomfort. But at the moment, I felt like I needed to. Quickly, I compose myself and head on. Round the second buoy and we’re head down the home stretch. By now, I’m passing people up – some in my own wave, some from other waves that started before mine. It’s a great confidence booster! I remember when I was second to last in my wave from my first tri twenty years ago. I’ve come pretty far since then. I swim to the shore until I grab sand, stand up and head out of the water. Unzip the wetsuit and pull it off my shoulders before I get off the sand.
Fresh out the water!
Transition one goes by well. I finally wrangle my suit off my arms, stomped the legs off and toss onto the rack. Luckily I’m on the end of a rack next to an empty VIP spot, so I have extra space to move around. A last minute decision, I opt for no socks so I rinse off the feet quick and get my cycling shoes on, pop on my helmet and take the bike off the rack. I’m close to Bike Out so I click clack down the road in my shoes until I reach the bike mount line. I pass by a handful of friends cheering me on. Always grateful to hear them! I hop on the bike, clip in and quickly head off. I take a big draw of water from my bottle and rinse the saltwater out my mouth.
I’m passing quite a few people on the flat section of the bike course and I’m wondering if I’m heading out too fast and not conserving enough energy for the upcoming hill. “Ride your race!” “Remember, you’re John Beast!” I tell myself. I zig zag left and right around some corners and quickly find myself at the bottom of the hill.
Here we go! “Remember, you handled this well a couple of weeks ago.” I lean into that thought as I downshift and find easier gears to tackle the long ascent. The riders are spread out a bit by now, but I still find myself passing folks up. It’s a huge confidence boost! With not doing hardly any hill work, I’ve been nervous about this course kicking my ass. But it’s going pretty well! I finally reach the top of Cañon and turn onto Rosecrans. The start of Rosecrans isn’t as steep as Cañon is, so it gives me a chance to recover a bit, grab some water and pick up the pace a bit. The hill eventually grows again, so back to an easier gear and back to hammering onward and upward as I still pass people. One final push until I reach the entrance to the national cemetery. I catch some relief as I pass the main gate.
Feeling good wrapping up the bike
Two and a half miles of rolling hills until I reach the Cabrillo Lighthouse. I take advantage of the descents and crank my hardest gears to gain speed and use that energy to make the ascents as easy as possible. I drop down to my aero bars a lot to gain even more speed. Finally reach the lighthouse and zip around the parking lot and head back out the way I came. Going into the cemetery it’s a net downhill, so naturally, it’s a net uphill heading out. Legs are burning and I’m itching to get to the entrance, because it’s literally all downhill from there. One last climb and I stand up on the bike and hammer hard through it. Finally, I reach the summit! I slumped back into my seat and exit the cemetery. Time to fly!
I take a quick swig of water before I pop my bike into the hardest gear and drop into my aero bars. Body feels pretty good at this point. I know I’ll have the descent to recover a lot before the run. There’s quite a bit of newer triathletes on the course, taking it cautious on the down. So while I’m flying, I’m hyper zoned in on my surroundings; eyeballing any potholes I need to steer clear of; scanning riders far ahead of me; barking out, “on your left” so they hopefully move over away from me or at least hold their line; anticipating what their moves might be. Your bike skills need to be on point for this section. One wrong move on anyone’s part and it’s going to be a bad day. It’s fun and scary all at once.
Thank God, I get to the bottom of the hill without incident. Dip left, right, left and right around street corners and get back onto Harbor Dr. where it’s all flat. It’s about time to pop a gel so I handle that and down it with more water. Crank and push on this last section before I head over the last bridge, into the bike chute and reach the bike dismount line. Hop off the bike and tap dance into T2 with my cycling shoes still on.
Rack my bike, slip on my running shoes – still sans socks, grab my bib belt, take off my helmet and head out of T2. It’s fairly long run out of transition and a little confusing as to where it’s at, but I finally get out of there and hit the soft sand of the beach for a few dozen yards before I hit the sidewalk. As usual when you hop off the bike, the legs feel a bit wobbly with those first steps on the run. I work on shaking that feeling off as fast as possible because the run is where I shine!
Though technically it’s only a 5K to the finish line at Seaport Village, it feels much longer than a 5K. By now the clouds have cleared and the sun is shining bright in my face the whole time. It’s a straight shot down the harbor with no shade. You can see the downtown skyline in the distance, but it feels like a mirage and impossible to get to. My splits are all goofy because I accidently hit the button on my watch thinking I didn’t click it coming out of T2. But I did already. So the watch stopped and I had to start it again. I’m annoyed but keep on running. Time will be what it be! Luckily, I can still see what my pace is at that moment and go off that. I’m at about a 6:40 - 6:45 pace that first mile, which is where I’d like to be.
Heading out for the final leg
I’m quickly picking off runners left and right. The run for a sprint tri is always that tricky spot of wanting to push the pace, but not too much lest your hamstrings cramp up from hammering on the bike. I follow the curve all along the street quickly making my way past the airport, past the old rental car return lots and out onto Harbor Dr. My watch beeps off a mile at 6:40, and knowing this part of the course well from plenty of run around here over the years, I know I’m about halfway through. It’s an open course, so I’m dodging and passing up other racers along with the general public walking along the harbor as I head into downtown nearing the Star of India. Watch beeps again at 6:37. Yowsers! I’m happy with that. “Keep it up. Half a mile to go. Hold on.” I tell myself. I’m lying to myself a bit because I just know that it’s gotta be more than a half mile based on where I’m at and how much more I have to go. Regardless, I hammer on. I refuse to look at my watch any more to see what my pace is or what my mileage is at. I don’t want the stats to get in my head and throw off my flow. I also shake off my own thoughts of how much I still have to go. Just run!
The pace quickens and gets tough, but I’m able to manage the discomfort. Legs are burning, but the breathing feels good so I know I’m in a good place. I get to the Midway and know I’m less than a quarter mile away. Quick running math in my head tells me I have less than ninety seconds at this pace. “I can do this! You got ninety seconds in you, bruh!” So I push. Body is hurting more, but I ignore it and press on. I see the crowds forming a manmade finish line chute as I hit the grass of the park. The announcer calls my name as I hit that finish line! Whew!!!
That finish line feeling never gets old!
Volunteers chain my up with my bling and hand me some water. After a few minutes of recovering in the finish line areas, I finally catch up with wifey who’s always there at my races. She let’s me jaw on about how my race went. We go to peep the race results and I’m gratefully surprised it says third place for my age group! Oh we gotta stay for the awards ceremony, because it’s mad rare that I place in any race, much less a tri! It’s a great feeling!
Final Time: 1:18:52
Chaining day! 3rd place AG!
The community showed out!!
Congrats to everyone that raced!
