San Diego Triathlon Classic FTW!

I am still so excited about yesterday that I have no idea where to start.  I guess I’ll attempt to start like I always do…

So, last weekend, not only did I do an 11 mile run, but Matt did a 12+ mile hike/run along South Mountain on Monday morning (while I swam).  This meant that our week’s training would be off slightly – because well, Matt did his long workout on Monday and because Matt was insistent I took it a little easier the week of my triathlon.  So, ok, fine.

Tuesday morning, Matt and I met his house at 5am to ride.  We took it easy – no massive hill climbs, no 22 mph flats – just 20 miles of chit chat through the streets of Ahwatukee at an avg pace of around 16-17 mph.

We're still pretty good looking (wink)!

Wednesday morning, we met at 5:15am for a 4+ mile trail run – our usual spot.  As we ran the trail we chatted about work for the most part (which is pretty common for us), but we also began to lament that our heavy-duty, uber-difficult training cycle (with one another) was over for several weeks.  I had the triathlon on Saturday and he will be heading to the Grand Canyon to do a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim in 24 hours with two of his friends the following weekend.  That’s 45+ miles and well over 20,000 feet of elevation change over the course of 24 hours.  Yeah, so he’ll be hurting for some time after.

Matt's new shirt matched my headlamp - it pleased me!

Thursday, I took the day off – figured it was a good idea (as much as I hated it).  And, like clockwork before EVERY major event, Brent asked if he could meet me for a run on Friday morning.  It’s become a bit of an expectation for me, now.  I was worried he wouldn’t appreciate that I was only willing to do 3 miles – slowly, but he was game regardless the pace or distance!  So, 3 miles in exactly 30 minutes – easy peasy and so delightful (with Brent at my side).

Only 3 mile = still a little dark when we finished.

Brent got me psychologically ready for the triathlon the following morning.  I can’t thank him enough.  When we finished our run, he popped into the house for a few minutes of banter and gave me a necessary pep-talk.  Then off he went, and I cleaned up.

After packing the car with my bike and all of my racing accoutrements – I headed to pick up my dear friend Jacqui, who agreed to join me for the Triathlon festivities.  Anne was slated to join us, as well, but a last minute business trip put her out of the running for this one.  The car-ride from Phoenix to San Diego was rather uneventful – save a few hysterical stories about Jac’s bachelorette events in San Diego a few years prior.  I was in stiches for most of the ride as she told story after fantastic story.  

I was meeting my good friends, Justin and Erin, in San Diego for this event – since they both convinced me to sign up for it several months ago, after detailing that it’s one of their favorite triathlons.  And, as soon as we arrived and unloaded the car, we were off to meet them at the Packet Pick-Up and Expo.  I was so excited and so nervous, but seeing the two of them made it all fade away.  As we left the Expo and began walking to check out the transition area and decide on a place for dinner, Erin confessed that she wasn’t going to be participating in the event.  I was somewhat devastated, but understood that when you don’t feel well trained you know you can risk injury and that could put you out of all of it for a while.  It would just be Justin and me on Saturday morning.

And, so the alarm went off at 3:30am on Saturday.  Jac and I had gone to bed by 8pm, so we both managed a decent night’s sleep.  It was so wonderful having Jacqui there to help me stay calm and carry all my crap to the transition area – it opened at 4:30am.  Much like our last Tri in Flagstaff, there were no pre-determined bike spots on the racks – so everyone had to fend for themselves.  This meant I knew I had to get there early to make sure I had a decent spot, and a spot I could remember.  The Second Wave (my wave) was told to host our bikes on the very front facing rack – which gave us loads of room to spread our crap!  YES – if only you understood how fantastic this was!

Jac and Me - 4:30am!

Found Justin in line to get body-marked! 

Anyway, my wave was the second wave to leave (6:18am).  I love the swim, but its definitely my slowest event, so I always have to make up for it on the other two.  The Elite Wave and my wave got into the Bay shortly after 6am to get used to the water.  It was fantastic – perfect, in fact – 74 degrees!  I was most excited about my Pink swim cap – finally a fun color for my wave!  As I treaded water and tried to get my thoughts under control, the 6:15 Elite Wave gun fired.  My heart was racing.  It seemed like only a few moments later that the next gun fired at 6:18 and we were off.  Arms were flailing, feet were kicking – it was a blood bath, but we all kept going.  I focused on the line of Kayakers to my right and just trudged through the competitive swimmers around me.  As I rounded the buoy at the ½ way mark, I was really in a groove and the sun was finally shining enough for me to see where I was going.  I could even see all of the life on the bottom of the bay – mostly plant-life, but it was still super cool to even see something as I swam along.  And, then it seemed like it was over as swiftly as it began – I ran up the stairs and out to transition – ripping off my wet suit as I ran.

Transition was fairly smooth, save getting my wetsuit over my ankles (damn it).  And, as I grabbed my bike and began running out of transition, a familiar voice snapped “you better move faster than THAT!”  There at my side, leaving transition and beginning the bike, was Justin!  His wave started 9 minutes after mine – so HOLY CRAP!  And, I did; I moved!  I yelled, “Have a great ride; love you” and he repeated it back as we both fled on our respective bikes.  Seeing Justin put me in a fantastic mood.  And, let me tell you how amazing the ride was.  I was really pushing hard – knowing that at mile 3 I would hit a HUGE hill at about an 8% grade for about ¾’s of a mile.  It was hard, but I smiled the whole way up.  I had trained for this hill and I was ready!  As we crested the top of the mountain, you could see all of the San Diego Bay from the top.  We rounded the highest point and were surrounded by sights I cannot even describe in this blog.  I was in heaven – literally.  The sun was hitting the ocean and the seas were moving soundly; the beauty of the mountain hitting the ocean is something one can only experience at that moment, from that spot.  And, we had to hit it TWICE for the Olympic Distance – YAY!!!!  I admit it; I took it in.  I know I probably could have shaved a few seconds off my time if I had kept my head down, but it was too spectacular.  Both times at the top – I rounded the mountainside and simply smiled from ear to ear knowing the hard part was over and I just needed to find my groove to the bottom to get to the run.

(Little something to know, I glanced at my bike computer about a mile into the bike ride and saw 7:00AM.  That was HUGE, people! – if I started at 6:18, made it through transition and out onto the bike route before 7:00AM, it meant I must have had my BEST swim time EVER!)

As I rounded my way back to transition on the bike after 24 miles, I looked down: 1:22 minutes – HOLY HELL!!!!  I was doing so well – the best I had ever done.  I think I skipped into transition to quickly get out of my bike shorts and helmet and into my running gear.  And off I went out of transition for the final stage – a 10K!

I felt great; I was smiling and I could not wait to finish.  I realized somewhere in the first mile that I hadn’t seen Jacqui ONCE on the route.  It was odd – but there were about 1200 competitors and all of their families, so I guess its not so odd.  However, somewhere shortly after the first mile I saw Erin on the side of the run path – in her running gear.  She ran with me for a couple of tenths, told me Justin was about 10 minutes in front of me (which really improved my mood) and wished me luck on the run.  I told her how amazing I felt and how excited I would be to see her at the finish!  I did feel awesome – and my Garmin was reading times around a 9:15 pace for the first several miles.  I was puttering out a bit in the 5th and 6th mile, but never felt like walking or anything.  I only took water just after the 4th mile, so I lost almost no time at all.  I was in heaven.  I looked at my watch as it beeped 6 miles and could only smile – I was going to run sub 10’s, maybe even sub 9:30’s after the swim and the bike.  But, as luck would have it, I crossed the finish line and my Garmin read 6.45 miles – so dang it, I must have really not taken the inside lanes.  This made my pace a 9:45 overall, but I was still really pleased.

In the end…
Swim: 35:29 (and YES, my best by 2+ minutes)
Bike: 1:21:34 (again, my best by nearly 3 minutes)
Run: 1:00:31 (9:45 pace and my best in an Olympic tri)

My transitions were a little on the sucky side, but I can work on making them better – T1 was just over 4 minutes and T2 just over 3 minutes.  Total time was 3:05:11 – a solid 15 minutes faster than my last Olympic Triathlon!  I was also ranked 10th out of 42 in my Division (Age 40-44) and 76th out of 287 female Olympic Distance athletes.  I am still so pleased!!!!  I already thanked Matt profusely in email, yesterday, but I hope he realizes how appreciative I am of the hill work he was willing to do with me week after week to get me to this point.  The hills were SO hard; many many athletes were walking up them.  It was tough to see them do so, but it was inspirational to know I had trained well enough that I was never in danger of anything like that.  (Summit, Matt?)

Proud Finishers -- Justin in 2:33 (holy crap!)

Ok, I really should just stop – this may be the longest blog in a long time.  Thanks to so many of you for your encouragement and support – and especially to Erin and Jacqui (who I did find after the race)!!  Oh, and a little shout out to Ray -- who graciously watch my Brunie while I was away!

After the Tri and a HUGE lunch with Justin and Erin, Jac and I played on the  beach for the rest of the day!