Tie Goes to the Runner.

Aero Time!


First of all check Beth's blog. She a killer race at the Carlsbad 5000 and met a big goal of hers... but I still think she's a sandbagger (tough love goes both ways).

Everybody knows a tie goes to the runner in baseball. I am huge baseball fan and played baseball for 20 years of my life, but I didn't think there was such thing in triathlon.

Yesterday I raced in the inaugural Super Seal Triathlon, an olympic distance race that was run in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Super Frog Triathlon (half ironman distance). The race for me was just be a tough training day and to get a chance to work on a few things. I really just wanted to have a good swim, have fast transitions, and a solid run off the bike.

The race didn't start until 9:15 so I had plenty of time to get down to Coronado and set up transition. I forgot how much crap you need to pack and take to a triathlon. It was rad hanging out with the Break Away crew and I was really calm.

The Swim:
The swim course was long and they were still setting buoys when gun went off. The race got off to a pretty fast start and plenty of people blew up before we hit the first buoy. Right after the first buoy I was just out of reach of the lead pack and had to swim solo for a while but I felt good and just continued to build my pace throughout the swim. I think I was 4th or 5th out of the water and felt great, but was about 2+ min down on the leaders. Thanks to Brian at Xterra Wetsuits for getting a killer suit the day before the race.

T1: solid. Nice and fast.

Bike:
The bike course was flat and fast with a headwind in one direction and a tailwind in the other. I felt pretty good and maintained the gap. I don't think I let the leaders get anymore time on me. I was actually having fun on the TT bike, but by the time it came to get off the bike I was ready. I think I was 4th off the bike. I didn't pass anybody and nobody passed me.

T2: really fast.


Run:
Luke told me I was about 2+ minutes down on the leaders as I left T2. My legs felt good and I was ready to go. I quickly began to reel everybody in. I passed an ITU guy from Mexico to take second place at the end of the first mile and had my sights set on Felipe who was 50 yards ahead of me... and then stopped and threw his hands up in the air. We all missed a turn... a turn that wasn't marked and where there was no volunteer to tell us where to go. We all just stayed on the dirt path we were on instead of taking some single track around a closed gate (yeah... pretty obvious. lame.) So eventually the top 10 guys were standing around with a race director while they tried to figure out where we were supposed to go. We stood around for 5 minutes... no joke. I thought it was kind of funny but some the guys were pissed, and rightfully so.

Another one of the guys working the race eventually jogged the group back to where we were supposed to go so we could finish the run. We all "jogged" together until mile 3 and talked about what we were going to do. We decided to to just treat it as a tempo run and all finish together. So by the time we got to the finish line there were 3 of use and we all just stopped and walked across the line, but we gave everybody a good show as we rounded the final corner and headed towards the finish chute 3 across, and shoulder to shoulder. The crowd was going nuts and I am sure they were pretty confused when we all stopped right before the line.

heading to the finish


So I tied for 1st. Kind of lame and funny at the same time. I am kind of taking it as a blessing in disguise. I didn't hammer the 10k and am feeling pretty good today so I will be able to resume normal training sooner than if I would blasted myself for 6+ miles. I'll take it for what it's worth.

Here's a bunch of photos I poached from the Break Away site and Jay's blog... I stole the video from Jay's blog... thanks dude!

Felipe and I setting up


getting ready to hit the water


out on the bike... into the headwind


Me and Break Away athlete Chris... sweet man-kini


getting my aero on


that's it for now... time for some recovery and to hopefully watch mempis "do work"... and maybe a cerveza or two.