Mazatlan Race Recap

It would have been hard to not improve upon my last race but all in all this was a step in the right direction. I had a great few days leading up the race and even though I have had several weeks of pretty intense training I was feeling fast and just excited to race. We found out the night before the race that the race was going to be pushed back an hour which I was a little disappointed about because it was HOT down there. The later start also allowed for the wind to pick up. I had the same breakfast that I had every morning while there pancakes (which were probably the best pancakes I have ever had), eggs, coffee, and orange juice for about $6. The food in Mazatlan was really cheap and really good which is probably another reason why I liked it there. After breakfast I made my way down to the race start, set up my transition and headed to the water to warm up. By this time the wind was pretty strong and I realized while warming up that the water was really really choppy especially heading out to the first buoy which was about 300m off shore. Before the start I made sure to line up with Cameron Dye and John Dahlz because we were hoping to get out to a fast start to break away. With the mad dash to the water I was pushed over by the two Mexican athletes next to me and ended up getting in the way of my friend Matt Balzer. Fortunately I was able to get in a few good dolphin dives after entering the water and was out in the front pack quickly. After the first lap we had a group of about 4 and upon entering the water for the second time I went out in front to push the pace going directly into the chop to hopefully get a little bigger lead. I came out of the water in 3rd and we had a sizeable lead. I had a really really slow transition and missed Cameron's wheel coming out of transition and he just hammered the bike right away and he was gone. My bike pack started with 5 and turned into 3 quickly but we couldn't make up anytime on Cameron. Serrano from Mexico and I were able to really push the last few laps of the bike and were able to get over a minute lead on our chase pack but still not any time over Cam who actually put time on us. Going out onto the run I was definitely feeling the hard swim and the hard bike effort and my legs were really heavy. I hung in for the first 5k and was in 3rd but was starting to get run down but guys from the second pack. The better runners from the second pack caught me and I was trying to hold on but didn't have anything left and by the time I got to the last lap I was pretty toasted. I finished the race in 11th position which is not exactly what I was hoping to be able to do. I have been putting a lot of emphasis on my run and it didn't really show up at this race and I am hoping that is due to the fatigue load that I was carrying into the race. The race was still a good learning experience and with my swim and bike I was able to put myself in the exact position where I wanted to be; it is just clear that I am still trying to learn how to run.