Oceanside 70.3 Part II

Here's part one in case you missed it.

The Bike:

After getting out of the water I had to run down the length of the transition area which was about 100+ yards long.  Since I didn't know how cold it really was, I erred on the side of warm and put on my SS bike jersey and arm warmers - I saw Potts leave with a vest on, so I figured a jersey would be ok.

The goal for the bike was to stay settled and ride in my Z3 for the duration - saving it for the final 10 miles and then the run.  So much for a plan.... With about 2,000 people on course and after my not-so-impressive-swim, there were a lot of folks I needed to pass before getting up with the guys who are racing the event.  Before the race I was warned about a few hills.  Since few people seemed to have data on the grade of the hill, I had to guess and bring a 27 which was pretty extreme.  The bike course was rolling - but the first hour or so is relatively flat and the roads were wide open.  I quickly settled into my ride and grabbed some food. 

Noticing that my HR was about 8-10 over what my coach has provided me as an optimum effort - I tried to relax and get into a steady tempo but kept coming back into the higher HR range.  It was also tough to not want to pass as many people as possible -which is what I ended up doing.  Since I came out of the water with about the 1,300th best swim and concluded the ride with about the 250th best bike split - I spent the entire ride in the left lane, passing about 1,000 people (really 1,028) and only saw 3 guys pass me.  In the first hour I was averaging about 23mph- not bad, but decent and it was on pace with where I wanted to be. 

The rest of the course would prove to be much more challenging.  It was littered with rolling hills but more annoying was the constant headwind.  I amused myself by making a few friends out there and cheering for people (which was a good way to keep myself 100% positive for the duration of the effort - it works and I never once had a single 'bad patch' that I had to work through).

The hill which was mythical was indeed a good one.  People who brought a 39x23 suffered badly.  The climb was covered in carnage and suffering - I suspect it was 14% or so but no more than a 1/2 mile.  I relaxed and spun up the hill (there were actually 2 decent climbs but one was indeed mythical for a triathlon) which took less than 3-4 mins at most but easily 2x more for folks who were over-geared.  For once I felt great climbing - I think I probably even smiled. 

Many others also seemed to fall off pace around the 40 mile mark - a few guys who shared the pace making with me also disappeared.  I kept my head down and pushed on knowing I had burned a lot of matches on the bike and didn't save much for the run.  I ate everything I brought (1/2 Clif bar, 5 gels, 2 bottles of juice and 4 electrolyte pills, and one water).  In the last 1/2 mile I relaxed, shifted down and got ready for the run. 

The Run:

I love the bike portion of the race because I generally do well in it - though I do love the run because there is no hiding, no disc wheels, etc... running is the same for everyone and you can only run well with genetics and hard work.  Unfortunately, I had blisters that I hadn't anticipated on returning so quickly.  The transition from bike to run was a blur and I felt great- setting out likely around a 7min pace so I could ease into something faster if I felt ok.   About mile 3 my feet were hot and asleep as I had snugged my Zoots up too much.  Since I knew there were going to be blisters, having my feet asleep wasn't so bad but by mile 6 or 7 I stopped and loosened them a tick.  I took in water and over 13 miles my 3 gels and 3 electrolyte pills + water (a few sips) at every water station.  I actually felt better on the 2nd lap and tried to pick it up but my feet were on fire.  I ran with a few people sharing a few brief comments about the race and as I got close to mile 10 I pushed it a bit just wanting to get my shoes off quicker. 

Part III coming soon - I've got to sleep 7 hours before I swim at 5am. 

Oceanside 70.3

I've almost felt guilty for taking 24 hours away from my computer - a whole 24.  I was tired of nearly everything by the time I got home.

Stuff I learned:

• even though you think you'll complete the race before the sun really gets out, you should use sunscreen
• 59 degree water isn't really that cold
• blisters will not heal in 5 days, expect to see them appear again in the form of pain during a half-marathon
• race plans are really good to follow but hard to do

Race Recap:

Thursday:

I left for Oceanside about 8am on Thursday AM - I avg about 75mph on the way down until I hit LA where I drove 15 miles in 1.5 hours.  Total drive time was about 7-8 hours max.  It wasn't too bad - I drank lots of water, stopped to stretch, and listened to: Led Zepplin Remastered, Motley Crue's Greatest Hits and some massive playlist from the 80s which had a disporportionate amount of Ace of Base songs.  It went by quickly and I amused myself by calling Greta to share some of the local sites and observations: I saw a truck's motor explode in a cloud of smoke and fire at 60mph, I saw a PT Cruiser roll over into the median, there's a town called Pumpkin Center - nary a pumpkin in site but they had a Sizzler, and San Juan Capistrano which is only funny if you've seen Dumb and Dumber about 200 times. 

I got into Oceanside and immediately went out for a 30 min run as per the race plan.  I knew I was close to race day since the slight 'efforts' I made had my HR in the 197 range. 

After showering and unloading the car - I headed south a few miles to meet up with Scott and Darcie Fairchild.  Darcie is my wife's cousin and is an incredible cook - steak, twice baked potatoes and salad were all fantastic.  Scott and I spent the next few hours boring his wife to death as we chatted about triathlon for hours.  After dinner I was shown the sponsorship shrine for Macca - where all of his sponsors send stuff.  The booty in that room was amazing - carbon everything, Dura Ace, frames, helmets, food, clothing, you name it and there was a bunch of it.  I think the highlight was getting to mess with one of the 'pro's only' Specialized TT helmet that you saw Macca struggle with in Kona.  Scott offered it to me for race day and I jumped at it.  After all, I had to try SOMETHING new on race day.  I got home around 11pm or so - not very tired but I knew I had lots of time to sleep.  I also now own about 200 more water bottles in case you need one or a dozen.

Below: Darcie, Scott and Riley Fairchild

 

Friday:

On Friday I went out as per the plan to do 45 mins of efforts on the bike followed by a 10 min run.  I saw 197 again on the bike and 202 hr on the run - I was definitely ready to race.  I finished up my efforts and went down to the expo where I ran into Jim from Beyond Fabrications and Steve from Kestrel where we had a great and lengthy conversation about sponsorships, marketing, etc...  Grabbed lunch and ran into Ty from TriBike Transport where we had another good conversation about racing, marketing and sponsorships (it's a good thing I don't dare drag my family to these things).  I also went and picked up my registration kit and went through all the required steps - made all very efficient by the US Marine Corps who essentially staffed the entire event.  More on that later...

Because I had such a bit and late lunch - I didn't think I'd be going out for dinner, so I got my bike together, put all of the nutrition into the various nooks and crannies and laid in bed for basically the next 12 hours. 

Saturday:

I woke at 3:18am, not on purpose but that's how my head wanted it to be.  I ate around 4am and was at the race site by 4:30 and into transition at 4:50am -about a 1/2 mile walk from the parking lot.  I wasn't really ready to set up my transition in the pitch black but made due since I had 2 hours or so to get it all done.  I walked the transitions to ensure I wasn't one of those people searching for their bike for 3 mins.  Also got a few mins to chat with race winner Andy Potts who is simply the nicest guy I've ever met - especially for a pro right before the race! 

My wave started about 30 mins after the pros left -so they were done with their swim before I even got my feet wet!  It was pretty chilly but not freezing -it helped having about 2,000 people around you - all wondering how cold the water would be.  Turns out, 59 isn't that cold.  There were 3 mins in between waves and you had to swim about 100 meters from the ramp to the start line.  All of my concerns about freezing were gone as the 2 caps I had on were plenty warm - even too hot towards the end.

The Swim:

It's a narrow harbor - so not much need for sighting - if the boats are next to you -you're going straight.  The course went out of the harbor and towards the ocean.  After about a quarter of the way into the swim -the swells began to pick up and I found my hand grabbing air more than a few times.  I hit the 1/2 way point with not a single yard swum off course  - but my goggles were fogged beyond use - so I took 10 seconds to clear them.  Turns out I should have done that sooner and I was able to swim a bit more confidently.   I wasn't sure how I'd survive the swim since I only swim 2,000 yards max.  I could have gone a lot harder and been just fine.  In the end, I had a good swim (no issues) and know I can push it a LOT more.  Courtenay would have been proud!  I also wasn't last and even passed a bunch of people in the 2nd half - but not enough, I'd soon see many of them on the bike. 

The Bike:

After getting out of the water I had to run down the length of the transition area which was about 100+ yards long.  Since I didn't know how cold it really was, I erred on the side of warm and put on my SS bike jersey and arm warmers. The goal for the bike was to stay settled and ride in my Z3 for the duration - saving it for the final 10 miles and then the run.  So much for a plan.... (more later).

I guess I'll be the first... my schedule- not final

Hi I am  Soda (aka Christine Sodaro aka "the 

baby") and since no one but Loren has been posting I thought I would add in. As most of you know I am still in college on the east coast so I won't be able to train with all you until the beginning of June when I return home. 

This is my family this year at Christmas (2007) cutting down our tree at Moon Mountain Tree farm in Sonoma (btw- I am in the middle, if you didn't know).

Here is my schedule thus far, really I need to add in some more races.

April 19th -Collegiate Nationals (Tuscaloosa, AL)- Olympic 

May 4th- Some sprint Triathlon in either Western Mass, or at Bates college in Maine I haven't decided

May 17th- Harriman Triathlon (Harriman, NY)- Olympic

June/July- This is where I need to find some races(I'll be back in CA)

July 20th- Vineman (Napa)- Half-Iron

End of July/August- Need more races

September 20th- Age Group Nationals

November 8th- Treasure Island Triathlon- Olympic (I know this bike course can be deadly, from watching last years event but I figure I should do it once and I live there now. Maybe a good way to end the season). 

As you can see I still need to build my schedule but I also have no clue what I am going to be doing when I get home, please feel free to give me any and all ideas. I do not have a job lined up for coming home so pretty much I can go where ever. 

Hope to hear from all you. I am lonely back here, not as many people to train with and biking outside is still really not fun or worth the frozen feet, but the trainer in the basement is getting rather old. 

ATHLETIC FOOTWEAR AND RUNNING INJURIES

I got hooked into a few blogs courtesy of Chris Tremonte.  He himself is a wealth of knowledge about just about anything related to triathlon except for bike maintenance.  One of my favorites he's got me hooked on is the Science of Sport blog which covers everything from running to cycling to drug testing and is written regularly by Dr. Ross Tucker Dr. Jonathan Dugas from South Africa.  They then got me into this article about footwear and running injuries the article comes with a suggested reading list of 22 different sources and is itself quite comprehensive that covers the history of footwear from bark to Nike Free.  I personally find that mixing my footwear from my new Zoot thermo-molded Recovery Sandals to my Cole Haan driving mocs to my Zoot Ultra Race flats to my Brooks - keeps my feet and legs both protected and stressed appropriately with each footwear giving me different levels support, cushion and flexibility. 

ZteaM Triathlon Team Sponsors

 

 

 

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How Fast are Triathletes as Bike Racers?

Chris Lieto aside, I wasn't sure how fast some of the pros were in a bike race setting (Lieto is fast).  Here's a cool thing Macca did.  Macca was invited with 8 other athletes to experience the prologue on the Tour of California course before the pro mens field left 10 minutes later.

"My race start was set for 12:58pm. I headed over to the start 10 minutes before my scheduled departure and drank in the atmosphere. It was huge. The place was pumping. Once up on the starters house I got my countdown and took off.

The course went 400 meters down before taking a hard left turn and then another 200 meters before another hard left. After these two turns, it was all a false flat to the finish line.

my legs were screaming for a while after and my lungs were sore from breathing

I roared out of the blocks as hard as I could, and before I knew it I was turning a hard left. I accelerated out of the saddle again and then took the next left. It was here I saw the huge crowd and thought, WOW. I was pushing a relatively nice cadence of about 95rpm and sitting in my 53:15 gears. I felt great and rode the bike as hard as I could. Like the guys said, I really started to taste the lactic acid about 2 minutes into the effort and was at maximum effort.

I simply could not push the bike any harder, even if I had tried. I came around the turn with about 200 meters to go and really enjoyed the buzz. I was in pain but it was a nice pain. I did not have the fast twitch fibers to get any more speed out of myself, and this really limited the ability of myself to go any faster.
I stopped the clock at 4:24, which was cool. I was content but definitely not as fast as I have been when I was a short course boy. I really got the buzz but my legs were screaming for a while after and my lungs were sore from breathing in so hard to capture the air needed to feed my muscles.

The overall race winning time was 3:52, so it is amazing how quickly these guys can ride their bikes. Fabio Cancelara who won the day, rode 8 seconds quicker than the rest of the field. He was amazing to see.
I really enjoyed the experience and had a great time. These boys really earn their money, and I have to say that the sport of cycling is cool. Everything about the day was awesome. I loved it. I had a great weekend in Northern California and will enjoy watching the rest of the Tour of California on TV.
I am now off to Valyermo and a clinic with bike fitting guru Dan Empheild to look at my bike position and take part in an accreditation course to add to my knowledge about bike position. It will be really interesting".

Macca would have finished around 123rd place (out of 132) - but I bet if each rider had to ride each stage as a TT followed by a 10k or longer, he'd do a little better.

Tour of California Photos

Here are some photos I took of the Tour as it passed through Sausalito.  The race start was about 25 mins from my home in Tiburon, so I took advantage of my rest day spin to go over and play groupie for a day over by the Mapei Quick Step bus.

The Slipstream Bus:

Stuey:

Fabian:

Jonathan Vaughters (the inspiration behind my sideburns):

Ivan DOMINGUEZ:

Tom Ritchey:

One of my favorites: Tosatto!

Word Champ Paolo Bettini - he's a little guy with a 49cm bike frame. 

Tom BOONEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patrice Hagland (on the right):

From Seattle, Johnny "the cat" Sundt:

Cippolini:

The peleton (about 30 secs after they passed, this guy pulls over right next to me and takes a nature break in the shrub), it was Levi.  I felt compelled to take a picture, but can't post it. 

Neutral Support: