Solana Beach Race Report

Took me a few days to put this up but here it is…

The Solana Beach Tri is one of my favorite sprints because its just down the street from my house. Leading up to this race I haven’t been doing any structured training, kind of just going with the flow of what my body tells me and even taking days off haha. I was eager to get right back into things post Ironman CDA but did a little bit too much too early and kind of pissed of the legs, so I’ve been taking things easy, mostly doing a lot of bike commuting and swimming.

The day before the race my dad and I went for a 2hr spin on coast hwy, stopping by packet pick up to get all the goods before heading home. I spent much of the rest of the day relaxing and getting some work done around the house. My wave was the first to go off so I was up bright and early to ride down to the race site. On the way there I realized that it is very difficult to ride a bike with an aero helmet and a backpack. Once I got on site I found a spot on the racks and did the usual pre race set up/mingling with other racers.

Down to the beach. I had about 30 min to warm up before our wave went off. I took a dip in the water and practiced some “duck dives” because I haven’t done a surf entry start in at least a year. After splashing around and loosening up the upper body I went for a short 10 min jog down the beach to warm the rest of my body up and get my heart ready for the rush of the start.

Our wave was “big” considering this was just a local sprint and we went off with all the elites which is always fun. I was making my way out through the surf well when I got hit and as I came up because I was hit I got slammed by a wave and swallowed a bunch of water. I tried to get my face back in the water and keep swimming but my body said “NO WAY”. So I was forced to sit up and chill for a bit and recoup. I eventually got underway but my breathing was not the way I wanted it to be. Exiting the swim I was pissed, I had been making huge improvements in my swim and wanted to see how I could do, even swimming 11:?? Over 1,000 meters at the Aquathlon a few weeks back. But I did come out of the water a few steps behind the women’s 2nd place overall finisher, so she became my rabbit for the day.

Out of the water it was a long, uphill run to T1. I was huffin and puffin as I made it to my bike and headed out on course. Jumping on my ride I was determined to make up lost time and quickly started my 9 mile hammer fest. The problem with this 2 looped course, and starting the DU before the triathlon was that I was constantly moving around people and even yelling at a few “On your left!” as they would be riding side by side blocking the road. The bike went as planned and I felt pretty good. The drafting was not too bad at this event although I noticed that some of the TriJr’s were blatantly drafting even taking turns pulling. I didn’t say anything because they weren’t in my age group and I figured they may be working on their ITU skills (or so I hope) because this is supposed to be a development team and I don’t want to develop cheaters!

Back into T2 I entered on the wrong side of my rack so I had to duck under to get to my gear. I grabbed my new KSWISS Blades which are totally amazing by the way, they are lightweight and super cushy. I started my run “hard” well at least as hard as the legs could go seeing how I’ve done 0 speed work in the last month. But I felt good for the whole run and was not passed.

In the end I took 4th in my AG and knocked off 2 min from my previous time here, but looking at the swim times it looks like this year the swim was long for everyone. I was pretty bummed once I saw the results seeing that I was edged off the podium but in the end Im very pleased with my results because I managed to push my limits the entire race and never faded. Post race I went for a 2 mile cool down run and then rode home, adding a little bit on to get in a bit more of a workout. Unfortunately my body still doesn’t seem to be ready for any serious volumes in training as I did a swim in the am and a bike after work yesterday and was pretty spent. So im just going to keep going with the flow for a little while longer until I feel 100%. I’ve got the Coeur D’Alene Oly triathlon in a few weeks which is always a blast! I love the swim and bike courses there, especially because the bike has some gnarly climbs. But that race will be more about pushing myself hard and maybe looking for a PR rather than trying to get in any serious training these next weeks to be competitive. If your going to be at Surf Monkey this weekend come stop by the TriRock tent and check us out. TriRock is going to be the coolest triathlon to hit San Diego, ever!

That’s all for now…

Happy Training/Racing