Santa Cruz Triathlon was my A-race for the year. Since it is the race I try to do every year, I had been building up my training for the event. Of course I started the week with a bad cold, but I was still determined to race.

The swim went better than ever. I eased myself into the water and then pounded out the next 1400 yards. My watch gave me a little more favorable rate, but I definitely set a PR showing all of my masters classes and Tower 26 workouts coming into good use.

After the swim the bike was a blast as usual. A roller of a course, I probably could have paced myself on the downhill a little better, but still came in strong over 22 mph average. Of course the best part was racing a 36-year-old which I befriended on facebook after the race.

I thought I had overdone it on the run, but the Nike Zoom Flys turned out to be the miracles everyone says they are. I ran an easy 6:40 pace, way faster than last year and came in at a nice 2:19 as an Olympic PR on what is not the easiest course. Looking forward to more races next year and maybe we’ll shave a few more minutes off the swim!