Race Report: Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon

This was an extremely stressful week. You know the kind of week that you find yourself sighing just to relieve the pressure. 3 major deliverables due by Friday one of which was my annual self evaluation.  By Friday night, the idea of getting up at the butt crack of dawn to jump in the freezing, bacteria laden Pacific ocean was not appealing. I signed up for this race to get me used to swim in same said water so I was going. Since this was a sprint, the race plan was simple - balls all out.

The morning was 61F degrees and a bit foggy... well, foggy enough that they reduced the swim distance from 750 meters down to 650 meters.

They started the briefing with a saxophone version of The Star Spangled Banner. First wave to take off was the handful of Pros. The next wave was the Semper Fi group consisting of wounded warriors. My eyes were already running, but when the guys ran out and picked up the wheeled chair bound racer who was having trouble getting past the breaking waves ... I still tear up.

Since I was the last wave, I waited to do my "warm-up" swim until the young men were getting ready. Water temperature was said to be 56F degrees... it was enough to make my face hurt. Well, maybe I'd swim with my face out of the water. I popped a handful of stingers to get me ready for the swim.

see the break in the pack -- and the waves got MUCH bigger

When it was my wave's turn to line up, they announced that staying left would take the most advantage of the current. So, every one scooted left. Since this was women 39+, I moved to the left and middle.

3-2-1-GO! Every one surged forward. The first group made it out no problem. Suddenly, the women right ahead of me STOPPED??? The woman directly ahead of me moved left and then I saw it -- too late to do anything -BAM a larger than previous wave took down a dozen of us. I righted myself and body surfed until I could get my legs under me. I stood up, turned, took a step, and then BAM another larger than previous wave taking me down again. I was PISSED. I got to my feet quickly this time muttering G'damn it, turned, and dove into the next on-coming wave. I was finally off. Grumpy said that was it for a couple of the women. He said it knocked the wind out of them. I was lucky.

Some how, the water didn't seem as cold during the race. I kept pushing and felt like I was working as hard as a few weeks ago in the Splash and Dash. I passed a lot of people. I tried to stay on feet when I found them and dropped them quickly when they went off course. My sighting was spot on again. When I got to shore, I swam until my fingers touched bottom and then popped up. A quick glance back to make sure I wasn't going to get pummeled and then I got out of there as fast as I could. Rinsed my feet, donned sandals, and trotted the 1/4 mile+ to transition trying to get my heart rate under control. Sure wish I hit the lap on the Garmin before leaving the beach. I'm not sure what portion of my time is the swim and what portion is the run to T1.

Swim: 18:18.4 (not sure what to make of this time)
T1: 2:27.6

Every one warned about the "hill" as soon as you mounted the bike. As I turned the corner and started up, it was nothing. Ate a gel immediately. Realized that my Garmin wasn't set up correctly so my display was for the Run NOT for the ride. Other than this "hill", it was 2 loops of  a very flat course. I had trouble concentrating on keeping my speed up because it was so flat. Knees in. Don't point your toes. Oops, don't draft. Drink. Drink. Drink. And then it was down the hill and into transition.

Bike: 43:36.2 PR
T2: 1:41.1

Now it was time to see what my legs could do on a 5K. I started off hoping to reset the Garmin while I was running. Nope. .1 into the run, I stopped for a minute to fix it since I wanted to run faster than usual. NOW I was off and running. My stomach made sloshing sounds at which point, I decided not to eat the final gel. I kept watching the Garmin 6.4, 5.6, 6.... and on it went. I walked 30 steps through the aide station while drinking my GU Brew and then it was back to running. Finally, I made the turn down the hill to final run in. (I love that hill.) I was doing 7+ when I heard "GO MARY!". I turned to see Molly. At the bottom of the hill, I kept up the pace -- I couldn't let her see me give in. As I ran up the little walk way, I was disappointed to see I had to run all around the freakin' parking lot to get to the finish line. I was committed to that pace.

Run: 33:11.4 PR
Total: 1:39:14 4th AG out of 8 

I really had a lot of fun in this race. I hope that running Olympic distance will become this much fun.

Things I did right:

• Lined up to the left of the pack.
• Had a pair of sandals for the run to transition. I have feet issues and just being barefoot in the sand that long made them sore.
• Stop to fix the Garmin. This was a C level race. It was important that I get a good run in.
• I did a good job on sighting during the swim.
• I kept the speed up during the run. When I felt like I couldn't go any more, I let myself slow down a little to catch my breath and then back up to speed. Never dropped below 5.3.

Things I did wrong:

• Eating a stinger right before the swim. I don't think the cold water allowed me to digest it. Need to stick with liquids.
• I should not have lined up so far back that I could not see the wave pattern. 
• I should not have set my Garmin up the morning of the race. However, saying this, I could just have easily set it up incorrectly the night before.
• Did not drink the morning of the race. By the time I got to the beach, I was thirsty. I lucked out that this was just a sprint. I would have had issues if this was an Olympic.
• Didn't stock up on quarters for parking.
• Not hitting the Lap button on the Garmin before leaving the beach. I'm not sure if my huge time is due to slow swimming or the trotting up to transition (and right then, all I could do was trot)
• Not taking a huff in T2 (or better yet on the end of the ride). If I'm going to run in the wheeze zone, I need to take precautions.