Santa Cruz Tri 2019

09/22/2019

It was a tough summer living through the height of a groin injury. Pulled in two places the recovery has been super slow. But I felt finally recovered enough to at least give the sprint a try.

Race conditions were great, slightly cool, but clear. The swim went smoothly, tracked a little slowly in the pack to not over do it. Someday I’ll get used to race take-out and then sliding into the groove. The bike was great minus a little bit of traffic. Still getting the power back in the legs but it was a start. And the run was a blast at 6:40s for only a 5k.

I’m still behind my normal strength, but this was a step forward to recovery. Hopefully back to the olympic next year!

Bay to Breakers 2019

05/19/2019

They threatened rain... they threatened thunder... it was going to be a soaker. Until it wasn’t.

Both the hour before and the race was rain free except for 20 seconds of sprinkle as I waited for friends to finish. Being risk averse I brought rain coat and long sleeve shirt which was not a wise choice as I had to carry the coat around my waist and the shirt got hot.

Even with these plights, I still went faster than the year before by 19 seconds. At 49:56 I finally broke 50 minutes for the 12k. The first mile was blazing at sub 6, then I paid for it on the hayes street hill rolling up with a 7:11. Crept speed back until I was at 6:15s by the end. Next year I want a better warm up and more space from the race before... definitely wasn’t fresh... and cool.

Food wise was great. Pasta the night before and a cliff bar and gel. And not super hydrated either. Just right. So next time it is more rest and maybe a few faster intervals to warm up for it. And a more crazy costume!

Half Moon Bay Triathlon

05/05/2019

When you go into a B race you can really make it a B race. From the start using the new triathlete apple watch app and starting in T1 instead of the swim, to forgetting that my derauiler is set for the trainer and not for the actual road bike. Then a slow-ish transition and not understanding the course (there was only one major turn bouy and I had raced the bike course from the year before on the trainer). But I made up time on lap 2 of the bike and then dropped a solid 41 min 10k, only 30s off my PR for the distance leading to the second fastest Olympic tri thus far. I mean it was a mile shorter on the bike and couldn’t be flatter for a run, but still... killed it. Only room to race faster next year.

This was my first tri with my nutrition coach too. That part of race day went perfectly. Salt tab before race and at T2. Cliff bar in the morning and gel at T2. Nuun in water bottle. And plenty of carb loading three days before... except those carbs weren’t the best. From subway the night before because that was all that was open and pizza the night before that. The food wasn’t high quality but it met the needs. No gastro-intestinal pain and no cramping! Now to just get some more sleep for the next one and fix some of the dumb technical mistakes.

Kaiser 2019

02/16/2019

Who knew I could get within 45 seconds within my half marathon PR pushing a stroller... but I did. The start was crowded as usual but turned into a slightly damp race finish with a little bit of rain on mile 11. The views were amazing as always and once cleared the field was moving.

Mile 8 caused a little bit of hip and metatarsle pain which took a few weeks to recover and we’ll have to figure out what caused it for next year. As always - more stretching and more strength exercises needed, which hopefully we will get to this year. The finish was strong with just enough gas to push over the line. Looking forward to next year when I race with a double-wide! Definitely going to start slowing down as the stroller gets heavier.