SDIT was my first attempt at racing in the elite field which brought extra butterflies leading up to the race. For those who do not know, most triathlons in the US are sanctioned by USA Triathlon (USAT) and therefore you must have a USAT elite license to race as an elite (a.k.a. professional) in those races. I do not have an elite license, so therefore I am racing as an amateur (a.k.a. age-grouper) for USAT sanctioned events in 2012. A main difference between racing elite and racing as an age-grouper is that you are eligible for prize money in the elite field but not as an age-grouper. SDIT is not sanctioned by USAT, so I was able enter in the elite field and test myself with the fast guys. I was super excited to do that.
Enough acronyms and explanations, here's how the race went...
Night Before: Ate dinner at Devine Pastabilities, which is a small Italian restaurant that serves Torpasta - a hollow garlic roll stuffed with pasta. I ordered the lasagna torpasta and it was delicious! I was pretty tired all day so I had no trouble falling asleep before 9pm and slept well all night.
Race Morning: Woke up at 4am to eat early enough to let the food settle before the early 6:35am race start. I rode to the transition area, set up my stuff, and headed to the swim start...standard stuff.
Swim: The swim was a nice 1000m swim in the San Diego Bay. No waves or currents, so it really felt like swimming in a pool. I had no idea how things were going to pan out, but my plan was to try to position myself in the lead pack and hopefully enter T1 in a decent position. About 200m into the course, I found myself swimming side-by-side with my buddy Kosuke Amano. Kosuke is a fast swimmer and is usually one of the first out of the water, so I knew if I just stuck with him, I'd be in good shape going into T1. For the remainder of the course, Kosuke, myself, and another swimmer all swam side-by-side leading a pack of about 9 swimmers. The pace was just about right for my comfort level and I felt pretty good going into T1.
Photo by John Gibbins U-T
I think I am the swimmer farthest to the left in the picture below.
Photo by John Gibbins U-T
Below is a picture of Karl Bordine, the second place finisher and previous year winner, in T1 about to get on the bike. I am not in the picture, but my wetsuit is draped over the bike rack. What that means is I am already on the bike course and eventually going to get passed by Karl, who easily had the fastest bike split of the day.
Photo by John Gibbins U-T
Bike: The bike course was a 30km out-and-back course with a short climb at the beginning followed by rollers and a descent leading to T2. Throughout most of course, I found myself riding in a pack with two other guys. They were about the same speed as me, so the three of us stayed near throughout the ride. Mentally, it seemed like the bike portion was over before I even started. I guess I have been on the saddle for longer durations lately, so the 18.5 miles went by quickly. Nothing too eventful happened during the ride (like getting a flat, thankfully).
Run: I came off the bike not knowing for sure where I stood within the field. Right out of transition I passed one athlete and then about a mile later I passed another. Miles 2 and 3 of the run were a big loop which provided a good chance to assess where I was within the field. To my surprise, I realized I was in third place. I was about 2 minutes behind the leaders, who were running side-by-side, and about 1 minute in front of 4th place. At that point, I figured I didn't have a chance to catch the leaders, but I knew there were some super fast guys trying to chase me down. I did not want to let them catch me. From that point on, I simply ran scared...scared of getting caught. That fear helped me hold a pace which I've never held for a 10K at the tail end of a triathlon. At about mile 5 I was starting to have doubts that I could keep it up, but I managed to hold my position and cross the finish line in 3rd.
Run data for you data geeks:
I earned a huge novelty check!
I rode my bike from my hotel to the transition area prior to the race not expecting to have a huge novelty check on my possession following the race. One of the toughest parts of the day was riding my bike while carrying that huge check. Riding one-handed with all of my gear and fighting the wind as it pushed and pulled on this big piece of cardboard was a challenge. I probably looked awkward but luckily I made it to the hotel and didn't have to face the embarrassment of crashing my bike.
I do not have any more pictures to share as all of my friends at the race were also racing with me. A cool photo gallery of the top two female finishers, Heather Jackson and Lesley Paterson, battling it out for first can be seen here.
Looking back at the race, I think I can say I'm pretty damn happy with my performance. I took a shot at mixing it up in the elite division for the first time, and I ended up with a podium spot! I see that as a great way to get back on track and hopefully I can carry my progress onto the next race.
Thanks again to TriSports.com for their support. Remember to use coupon code MTRIPP-S for 10% off of your purchase!
Next race is Vineman 70.3 on July 15th.
Congrats, Mark! What a great performance!
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