Tri Santa Cruz Sprint Aquabike

Last weekend, I raced Tri Santa Cruz Sprint Aquabike. This is a beach start 750 meter ocean swim, 1/4 mile run to T1, 2 loops of ~6 miles biking all right along the coast ...and, I mean along the coast.

Because parking is limited, Grumpy and I left really early only to find, we could have come 20 minutes later and still been fine. Transition spots were by race number so, we had LOTS of time to sit around. 

Santa Cruz Pier

I found my spot, set up, practiced T1 several times. I made sure I knew where to come in and go out.

It was still too early to warm up. The lifeguards were not there nor were the buoys in place. So we waited. Grumpy was happy to point out the water quality was poor.

This beach is listed as the dirtiest in California. The E.Coli was listed as "Unhealthy" on the website.

Eventually, every one came down to the water for the athlete briefing and finally the Olympic distance racers waves started to go. The interesting thing about this race, they were trying pace seeding. The Olympic and the Sprint each had three waves - fast, medium, slow. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this or not.

The plan was to go in the medium group. However, I decided to go with the last (aka slow) group at the last minute. 

Only a little swell for my wave!!

I was finally off! I have NO idea what I tripped on but, I fell about 2 strides too soon. I started swimming and didn't fall too far behind the group. Soon the group became a long line of swimmers. The Olympic swimmers joined us on their second loop but, for the most part not many passed me. I made the right at the first buoy and that's when I noticed the second buoy seemed out too far. It wasn't until I'd turned at the second buoy that the course started feeling LONG.

Turns out that the lifeguards had placed the second buoy at the wrong point. Instead of swimming 750 meters, we swam 900. I had hoped to come in at 17:30 but, came in at 21:06. A little slower pace than I planned but, I felt the effort was right. When I had planned 17:30, I hadn't accounted for it being the ocean. There was a little bit of chop but, only out between buoy 1 and 2.

From the beach, you run up a carpeted boat ramp where you're able to throw on shoes if you want. As I'm running up the ramp, I can't get either arm out of my wetsuit. I'm stuck. There's a whole group of spectators and I'm looking like an ass. I ended up walking so I could give an extra tug to get it off. I slipped my shoes on and ran to T1. Later, Grumpy says "You were slow running from the beach to T1". Really??? I just swam an extra 150 meters. Thanks hon.

I guess I only imagined everyone was looking at me.

T1 went flawlessly. Off with the shoes and wetsuit, bike shoes on, quick wipe of my face, sun glasses, helmet (and clip it), bike off the rack and out. Once on the bike, it's an IMMEDIATE hill out of T1. Not bad but, I not only remembered to put my bike in a low gear, I actually got it in the low gear. Yeah me!

Hill is back behind me and around the corner

The plan called for building to 90% FTP the first 5 minutes. Um... my Garmin wasn't showing me power. My heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn't get enough air. I knew that my breathing and heart rate would calm down so I didn't want to let up too much. I ended up switching my Garmin from Triathlon mode to bike mode and picked it up from there.

Not much to say about the bike. With the Olympic racers doing 4 loops and the Sprint racers doing 2, it was crowded. Many people just sort of ride like it's a day out in the neighborhood. There were also many sharp turns which made it even more difficult. Going from FTP to coast to FTP again is very draining.

Very happy to be done.

Although my time wasn't what I'd hoped, ALL the racers out there faced the same issues as I did. I managed to come in 2nd overall and 1st place woman.

It's been a very good season for me. As I look back, I see a lot of progress - physically and mentally. I'm glad I significantly reduced my racing distance as it turns out Grumpy's broken ankle really had an impact on my available time.

I also found that I missed running. Over the next few months, I hope to find out why I've had issues with my knee, and learn what I need to change in order to get back to it.