San Diego International Triathlon Race Report

I went into the San Diego International Triathlon (SDIT) looking to rebound from my unfortunate equipment malfunction at Switzerland 70.3 and I did just that.

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:

Male and Female Pro podium (minus 2nd place Female, Lesley Paterson):

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.

Riding and Running Around Europe

Following Switzerland 70.3, I spent about 1.5 weeks exploring Switzerland and Northern Italy.  During that time, I had the chance to swim, bike, and run at some pretty cool places.  I have posted pictures below from three of these outings.  The first set is from a run in Cinque Terre, Italy, between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza.  The next two sets are from rides in the Mountains of Switzerland.  The first ride was to Grosse Scheidegg Summit.  The second ride was to one of the famous mountain passes in Switzerland, Grimselpass.

Cinque Terre, Italy - Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza

This run was a short (but very hilly with a lot of steps) run along the coast of the Ligurian Sea.  It was very scenic.

There are vineyards on the hills hovering over the towns.

It was cloudy in the early morning, but the sun soon came out.

I think this is the best picture I took of the coast.

The next day I went for a swim in the Sea.  It was a very nice change from the chilly Pacific Ocean.

Grosse Scheidegg Summit (Switzerland)

This ride was a nice loop from Interlaken.  The first half was essentially flat.  The second half of the ride was about a 5,000 ft climb to the Grosse Scheidegg Summit with some pretty steep sections followed by a descent back to Interlaken where we started.  My couch surfing host, Hayden, joined me on this ride. 

There were a lot of clouds, but still some beautiful views.

I made it to the top.  Now it is time to take it easy on the descent so that I don't lose control and smash into a tour bus.

Grimselpass (Switzerland)

On this ride I had planned to do both Grimselpass and Furkapass.  Those plans changed for two main reasons.  The first reason is that I needed to head back to Zurich in the evening so I realized I did not have enough time to also do Furka.  The second reason was that when I got to the top of Grimsel it was essentially 0 deg Celsius.  I realized that if I descended towards Furka, I would need to come back over Grimsel on the way back and I don't think I could have handled the cold.  Even though I only ended up doing one pass, it was still a great ride.  I'll just have to come back again (later in the season) to ride some more of the passes.

This video was about 10 miles into the ride. Turn your speakers down before watching this video...the wind noise is pretty loud.

Such a calm lake.

The early morning view of the mountains across the valley was beautiful.

This is the valley with the town Innertkirchen. The start of the climb to Grimselpass is right in the center of the  valley.

Stopped to take some pictures before I got to the snow.

I caught up to another rider from South Africa at the beginning of the ascent to Grimsel.  We chatted for a while and then I went ahead on my own.

As I ascended to the to of Grimselpass, it got colder and colder. So, I didn't want stop to take pictures...I just wanted to push up the mountain so I could rest and grab a coffee when I got to the top.  I finally stopped for a picture when I made it there...

Panoramic view of the top of Grimselpass.

Not very scenic...but very cold.

I packed cold weather gear, but I was still cold.  I had to stop several times on the descent so I could let my hands warm up.  That allowed me time to take pictures.

Switchbacks galore...These make the Ranchos Palos Verdes Switchbacks look like nothing.

I think this is a cool view of the road.

Just below the cloud level.

I thought all of these little water streams running down the mountain looked neat.

Later in the day, my bike was all packed up and I was on a trolley thinking of when I was going to come back again to ride through the mountains in Switzerland.

Switzerland 70.3 Race Report

Excuse the delay in this race report, but I took about 1.5 weeks holiday following the race and wrote this in parts during downtime (train rides, waiting for meals, etc.). I also apologize for the watermarks over some of the pictures.  I was solo on this trip and didn't have anyone with me to take pictures, so I had to "steal" some of the professional photos off of the Internet.  Here's the report...

To summarize my race, it didn't quite go as planned. The short story is that I was in the lead of my age group after the swim (good) and then in 2nd on the bike at about mile 35 when I got a flat on my rear tire (bad). The time it took to change my tube caused me to drop to 27th at the end of the bike. I gained back two spots during a crappy run and ended up finishing 25th in my age group.  I had a grand plan of traveling to Europe and earning a podium spot. I envisioned things going similar to the movie Beerfest.  Unfortunately, the flat tire pretty much killed that plan.

Here's a more detailed version...

Pre Race

I arrived 4 days before the race and it took me about two nights to get fully adjusted to the 9 hour time difference from Los Angeles.  I did some light running, riding, and swimming the days leading up to the race, but pretty much took it easy.  The picture below is from a group bike course preview two days before the race.

The day before the race, I decided to take the train north and explore Zurich.  I ended up doing a lot of walking that day, which might not have been the best idea as my legs were tired as I went to bed the night before the race.  Race morning I woke up, had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and walked over to the race site.  There was rain in the forecast and right when I got to the race site, it started to downpour. I found shelter with everyone else, waited about 20 minutes, then continued getting ready for the race.  I got sort of lazy keeping track of the time so I had to rush down to the lake to get a quick warm-up swim in before my wave went off.

Swim


Everyone had been talking about how cold the lake was going to be and the race organizers even made wetsuits compulsory. I thought the lake was the perfect temperature during the race, not too cold and not too hot. When the gun went off, everyone took the first 100 meters pretty hard as they usually do. I soon pulled away from the pack and it was just me and a kayaker for the rest of the way. I can't remember ever having a kayaker guide me through a swim and I've got to say it was pretty nice. About 100m to transition he pulled off and gave me the thumbs up. I gave thumbs up back and then proceeded to transition holding first for my division.  The picture below is from the day before the race.  It was not so sunny race morning, but that's OK.

Bike

Before the race I had set a goal to not ride like it was an Olympic distance race. I think I may have forgotten about that goal and taken it too hard when I first started the bike, but eventually settled down into a good rhythm.

Prior to the race I looked at the participant list to see if any of the top athletes in my age group from last year were coming back to race again this year. Of the top 5, only 2nd place, Peter, was racing again this year. At about mile 30, Peter passed me. At that point we were on the second loop of the course and were caught in a big pack of people.  I noticed one of them was blatantly drafting.  As I passed him, I pointed at him and yelled "You are drafting!".  About a mile later, he caught up to me and started yelling a bunch of nonsense (to me at least) in German.  I had no idea what he was saying, so I kept riding and then dropped him on a climb about a mile later.

Soon after, my hopes of getting on the podium pretty much ended.  I was holding 2nd about 30 seconds behind the lead when I noticed my rear tire felt sort of "soft". I looked down and noticed it was going flat.  I had never had a flat during a race, but of course I happen to get my first flat when I travel to Europe to race.  As I frantically changed the tube in my rear tire, numerous people passed me and I ended up going into T2 in 27th place in my age group.  At that point I decided I would just try to put in a solid run and see what that gives me.

Run

Overall, my run was just plain bad. Out of the three half ironmans I have raced, this was the flattest run course and I had my slowest time on it. I'm not sure exactly what my issue is, but I can't figure out the half marathon distance at the end of a triathlon. The drop in pace from my race pace with fresh legs is substantially greater than the drop in pace for Olympic distance triathlons. I just got new bright orange laces for my shoes, so maybe that will help improve my run time in the next race.  That has got to be the solution. The only significant elevation change during the run was running up these stairs ("Stairway to Heaven") to a castle.

I look pretty calm and relaxed in this picture.  Maybe I just wasn't pushing it hard enough.

Here are the final times:

Even though my race didn't go as well as I wanted to, I still had about 1.5 weeks ahead to explore Switzerland and Italy, which was great.  I hope to have another post about my explorations soon.

Next up is the San Diego International Triathlon on June 24th.