Oceanside 70.3

In 2010 I raced my first 70.3 in Oceanside.  I didn't even have a year of professional racing and had only about 18 months of any triathlon training under my belt.  I made a joke/deal with my friend John Dahlz that if I finished in the top 10, I would quit work.  I somehow managed to finish 8th that year in what I thought was a really stacked field.  At the time I had no intention of quitting work regardless of my finish.  Little did I know that the next time I raced at Oceanside I would be training full time.

That brings me to the 2013 Oceanside 70.3.  Oceanside is typically the first big hit out race for the North American racing season and this year was no exception.  In fact one could argue that this was the deepest field ever at Oceanside.  Since getting back from South Africa, my training has been going very well and I was really excited to test myself at this race and hopefully pick up some points for Hy-Vee.  And I was extremely excited to be back racing in California with the chance to see my family and spend a few days post race with my brother. I was able to spend a few days eating great Mexican food, surfing, going to the beach, and visiting Stone Brewing with Chad which was awesome.

The race started well with a fast and solid swim.  I swam in the front group and we were able to keep Andy from getting away.  I think I was about 4th out of the water and was anxious to get on the bike and start riding hard.  This field was not only stacked but also really large in numbers.  I wasn't sure what would happen on the bike with so many athletes and my main goal was to ride hard to stay out of trouble.  I had a couple of penalties last year and really wanted to have a clean race.  I was amazed at how tactical the bike leg was for this race.  I made some mistakes with my positioning in what was a huge group of athletes and that cost me later in the bike when I ended up getting dropped from the group.  I ended up getting into T2 about 4min down from the lead group.  I ran as hard as I could and had a decent run.  Made some nutritional mistakes towards the end of the run but put together what I thought was a solid effort.

This race was my first experience in what was a World Championship level field.  The race was very different from other half distance races that I have done and although I am not really happy with my 14th overall place, I did learn a lot of valuable things from this race.  I am fortunate enough to have power data from my SRM; which, is really important for me at this point.  With that information my coach, Grant Holicky, and I are able to get a more objective view of what happened on the bike leg of the race and what we need to work on.  I am really looking forward to some more quality training as the season is still very early.  I definitely think I am making progress but have a lot of work to do to start getting closer to the guys like Jesse Thomas and Andy Potts who are dominating these races.

Alcatraz 2013

My first race in the Northern hemisphere in 2013 was last weekend in my favorite place to race; San Francisco.  Because of the America's Cup sailing race, The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon was moved from its normal date in June, to the first weekend in March.  This change of date, meant that the conditions for this notoriously tough race could be much worse than normal.  Fortunately, there weren't any storms this weekend; but, the water temperature in the San Francisco Bay was a frigid 51 degrees!!! Even with the cold water I was very excited to be able to return to the Bay Area to race.  I have such a great support network in the bay between my family, friends, and Olympic Club teammates.

I think Alcatraz is a race that every triathlete should try at some point in their career. I know it can be difficult to get into, but it is such a unique and exciting experience.  This was my 4th time doing this race and I was just as excited as I was the first time that I competed.  There is just nothing like jumping off a boat into the bay and swimming towards shore.  Between the swim, beautiful views, and other challenges on the bike and run course; this race has it all.

Since returning from South Africa I have been hitting the training pretty hard and the week of this race was no exception.  With that being said, I was really happy with my 9th place finish.  I had one of my best swims for this race (for swimming being my strength I have never had a good swim here), was solid on the bike, and ran 90 seconds faster than I ever have on this course.  This was the first time that I used a road bike for this race. I thought that I would give it a try because of the steep climbs and relatively few flat sections.  However, it was a bit windy on the course this year and I ended up loosing a lot of time through Golden Gate park to the group that I was biking with. This left me going into T2 in 10th place.  I quickly caught up to 9th and ran with Matt Lieto for about half the run.  Having him with me was great.  Matt is an awesome guy and we were both helping each other out a bit on the run. Running on the sand is my least favorite part of this race but I think I managed to keep it together during this section for once. As usual for this race it wasn't mistake free.  I have these great flats from Reno Running company and I didn't use them until race day.  That mistake wasn't very pleasant for my calves!  I also won't be riding a road bike on this course again.  But hopefully I'll be doing this race for years to come and I can learn from my mistakes.

Overall I had a great experience racing and being back in California.  I got to see so many friends at the race and had a great time with my brother and friends post race in my favorite city in the world.  And I even got to go surfing in Santa Cruz the day after before flying back to the snow in Colorado.  My preparation for Oceanside 70.3 is going great and this race was a good indication for where my fitness is right now.  Looking forward to the next few weeks before getting to return to California! (and surf with my brother again)

(Photos curtesy of Chad Leto.  @chadleto)

Races

Recently I was able to come up with my 2013 race schedule. In years past, I have always come up with a tentative schedule; and somehow manage to change everything around as the season progresses. This year I am very excited to have an actual schedule in place. My main focus for 2013 will be the Rev3 series. This series puts on fantastic races and I look forward to having the opportunity to take part in many of their races. Specifically, I will be racing at Knoxville, Quassy, Wisconsin, Maine, and Branson. Last year I did a race that was probably the most fun race I have ever done; a F1 race in Coronado, and I can't wait to do a couple more of these this year! While I don't necessarily train for a sprint race, I had way too much fun with this style of racing to miss out! The season gets underway in a hurry because I am racing in just under a week at the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon!