Bay to Breakers Virtual 2020

10/01/2020

Yep, did all my racing in 2020 in a week.   I mean it’s 2020 so why not?  

I had not realized that Bay to Breakers would schedule their virtual race the same week as the Santa Cruz Triathlon, but when you have to do races, just go for it.   Also, wasn’t planning on having a fire in Napa this week blowing smoke all across the Bay Area, but again, just go for it.

So instead of a nice zippy flat course with a solid warm up and food/cheering/nakedness on the way, I did a more leisurely run from home adding enough length to hit the distance.   7:33 pace felt good for the longest run I have done so far this year and though much slower than normal B2B time, I had much more hills.   Summit road can eat Hayes hill’s butt!   Till next year.

Santa Cruz Tri Virtual 2020

09/22/2020

Being injured for the past 18 months has been rough.   I’ve had a nerve that was pulled in my hip (or at least that’s our best guess) and my training has been suffering because of it.    After lots of rest and PT we are finally starting to get back at it very gradually.    I can now run sub 7-min 5ks (like this one!) and am just starting to bike more.   In fact I don’t think I biked more than 100 miles this year before getting into the race.   So COVID has been a bit of a silver lining in that I wasn’t going to race much this year anyways!

The virtual race format is what it is.   The swim had no bouys so my way out was wandering as I tried to spot off of the swim bouys around Cowells.   Coming back in was a breeze as always though.   Makes you miss those big orange Doritos!

The bike was also a pain.   You don’t appreciate races until you realize that you pass 10 cars riding west cliff drive in Santa Cruz and have to stop for all of the stop signs you didn’t know were there.   Also crossing highway 1 is… special.   Still very happy with the highway 1 portions of the ride as my body feels out going harder than it has done all year.

Lastly the run was the best part of the virtual race.   There were tons of folks on the sidewalk like usual, there was nothing really in my way.   The only thing I missed were the aid stations at the end, but hey what can you do.   It was only a sprint anyways so the only aid I brought was on the bike.    Still slower than normal due to the elongated recovery, but breaking 7-min miles was a good goal.  

Finally, I didn’t talk about transitions.  T1 was… 8 minutes!   I mean I had to get the bike off the car, I had to put the tire on, I had to wrap up my wetsuit in a towel.   When not on the clock or in a secure corral why rush it.   T2 was much more respectable around 2 minutes including putting the bike back up on the roof.  

So for the only triathlon of 2020, it was a blast and it reminds me why I still want to keep getting healthy so I can try and compete more in 2021 when we have a vaccine and maybe a few other good things along the way.   Till then, thanks to the folks of Santa Cruz for not running me over and I’ll dream of Doritos, police waving me on, and aid stations.

Morro Bay Tri

11/03/2019

This was the last race of a tough year of injury. The groin had settled down enough to try and go for it and I had been saving up endurance to get ready for it.

The race itself was a fun ride back into it. The swim was surprisingly short (must have placed the bouys wrong) so I had an exceptionally short swim time. The bike was great minus being a little slow. The biggest issue was there were a few un-controlled intersections at the end I had to slow down for. Cause for a few lost seconds as some other guys blasted through. The views were fantastic and not super hilly.

The run was where I could feel the loss. Only pulling off 7:40s I knew that it is going to take some time to get back into it. I was passed by two runners at the 2 mile mark and was never able to close ground. The run on the beach was epic though and the sand was surprisingly hard. We even passed a flock of horses running next to us.

Overall a fun way to end the season with fantastic views. Now to finish healing up and try again next year.

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!