Santa Cruz Triathlon 2021

09/26/2021

Last race of the year, and though it has been a short year, I was going to give it my all and make up for the August Olympic disaster.   That being said I did come into the race with a cold (again!) but I had a week to make up for it this time and really was basically a-symptomatic.

Conditions were perfect though.   Overcast skies, lower ‘60s temp, no rain (unlike sandman), so this was just going to be a go for it kinda race.   The only weather gotcha was the waves.   The surf had really picked up so the entry was a little more exciting, but nothing beyond what I could handle.

Overall the race went well.   No major equipment hiccups, no major fueling issues, just flat out racing.  I started the swim with a gentle pace to acclimatize as usual and then picked up on a few others to draft up and around the warf.   Knowing I had a cold, I decided not to totally push it and my time was a little slower.   Clearly more work to do on the swim, but still minutes better than other years

The bike was the second big ride with the new QR bike.   I discovered what the difference between a good bike is and an amazing tri-bike is.  On flats and uphill, I was passed by one racer, but on the downhill I just tucked into aero and easily caught up.   He was clearly the stronger rider, but I had him on aero!    The bike was definitely much slower than previous outings, but hey you gotta make up room somewhere.

The run was magical though.   The new Nike shoes are really game-changers.   I was cruising at a 6:50 pace and kicked it up a little at the end.   I passed two age-groupers to get seventh in my age group and 38th overall.   Also I was six seconds faster than I was 6 years ago.   Talk about aging well, especially after all of the injury I have had with my hip.   After the race my groin was definitely sore again, so I will now need to rest up and get ready for 2022!   Yay strength training, running, and cross country season!

Sandman 2021

08/21/2021

Coming into this race I knew I was already low on recovery and not sure I had fully beaten my cold.  I had already lost two days earlier in the week to yet another battle of summer cold annoyingness.   The other twist on this race is that my new Quintanna Roo bike had finally showed up.   I was very excited to get it out on the course, but knew that I was violating the break equipment in fully before racing.

The race itself turned into a clear sign that I was turning back to normal though.  The swim was a cool even pace that I picked up as I turned the bouy at the shore to race up along the sand.   Coming out of the water there were a few people out on the bike already, but that only meant some folks to pass.  

The bike was the only real struggle for a few reasons.   First I did manage to pass a few folks, but I was owned by two others on road bikes showing that my fit and training in an aero position hadn’t kicked in.   I had done three training rides on the bike on the trainer averaging 230-250W which is significantly lower than my 300W FTP so this was not surprising.   The second issue was that there was a nice continuous stream of rain coming down.   This meant wet roads which only made me more of a chicken.  Lastly, I found that my handlebars had not been totally torqued down so on every major bump I felt them rotate downward which was disconcerting to say the least.   So off of my normal speed I definitely lost a few minutes.

On the run I was back at it though.  Cranking at a 7:03/mile pace I was able to pass two folks in the field and narrow in on the rest of the field.   It was cold and drizzly which makes for perfect running weather as always.  

I was 5 minutes slower than three years ago and only managed to squeeze third in my age group in a very small race, but I was considerably more stable than I was two weeks before in Milwaukee and glad to know that 2021 wasn’t going to be a total waste of a season.   One race left and hopefully we can get some good recovery in and training on the new bike to make it a real winner!

Milwaukee Nationals 2021

08/06/2021

The A-race of the year quickly turned into a C-race.   The main issue started the Friday a week before the race when we flew to see my parents and I came down with a cough/cold something.   Two tests later we confirmed it wasn’t COVID, but it was still something.   After a run on sunday (that was 7 min miles for 7 miles!) I basically was down and out the whole week.   I gave the bike a test ride but that was at best achy and un-productive.   So going into the race I was still sick.

The race itself was a slog.   The swim I played my normal game of start light and grow into it.   This field was different than any other group I had raced with though.   They started like a lightening bolt.   The downside was I was slow in comparison, but the advantage is I actually had plenty of folks to draft off the whole way.   So while not near my more target goal of 26-27 min, I’ll take the solid sub 30 which for me is still an improvement.

After the swim it went downhill though and not in a good way.   My foot was cramping pretty bad and it quickly became clear that the salts in my body were out of sorts.   The other issue I discovered was that my 2009 Shiv had not been my training bike and that proved to a huge mistake.   I couldn’t get comfortable and basically rode on the bars most of the way.   The cost was a significant aero penalty and probably 1-3 mph ave speed.   The second issue is I quickly discovered I had no reserves or gas.   So the bike had no extra overage to push up hills.   While not a terrible issue on the bike itself it was a bad omen for the run.

At T2, that’s when I knew the suck was on.   My foot was fully cramping up and I didn’t have much left.   So I pondered giving up, but being a dumb triathlete I decided to keep going and just enjoy the view.    The pace was slow, and I had to walk aid stations and a few stretches in mile 5, but the views were amazing and it was great to be back home.   At the end I really paid for it, spending an hour in the medical tent getting salt into my body to relieve my fully cramped up legs.   But it was done!    My family convinced me to try again next year though and hopefully with a little better bike preparedness and definitely no sickness I should have a better outing.    I’ve raced sick and achy before, and every time I regret it…. someday I’ll learn to just give up!

Donner Lake 2021

07/24/2021

First real race in two years almost!   This was a little warm up sprint (or maybe super sprint) just to test out the gear and practice racing again.  The water temp was awfully warm (70ish) so I really didn’t need a wetsuit, but again it was a training race so what do you do.   Lastly, I thought we would be climbing 1000’ on the bike and then defending so I brought my road bike instead of tri bike, while instead it turned out to be a fast out and back on Donner pass road.

The race was still a blast.   After some carefully paced swimming to not repeat the mistake of June lake I carefully passed the rest of the field in the swim and came out strong.    Altitude swimming is a thing and taking it extra easy paid off!    The transitions were a little slow as it had been a while and I had trouble stripping the wetsuit off.   On the bike, the course was great.   I passed a few remaining swimmers except for one guy who passed me.

But redemption was mine when we got back to transition and I got back past him on the run.   At the turn around I was running third in the under 44 age group.   The air was thin, but the run was short so we just pedaled all the way to the end.   I did miss the last turn and the guy behind me almost caught up, but I still held on to go and be fourth overall.   Run splits were sub 7 which was awesome especially at altitude.   Next time I’ll check the bike course to bring the faster bike but otherwise I couldn’t have hoped for a better return to racing!