Last year, the Carpinteria Triathlon sprint was my first tri, so I decided to complete one full year of triathlons with the olympic distance. The 30-34M age group had the first two rows of the transition area, right by the bike-in/out. This is probably the best spot. Yes, you have to run further on the swim-in and run-out, but it’s worth the trade-off since you don’t have to trot your bike through the whole transition area in bike shoes.
The swim was rough because it was foggy and difficult to see the next buoys. The foggy/cloudy weather was great for the rest of the race, but during the swim, it was a drag. Everyone was going way off course. I usually am the one who’s wandering about, so I try to stay on course following other swimmers. This time, I thought that we (as a group) were veering off course a lot, but I figured the whole group couldn’t be wrong. They were. It made for a long swim, but it was long for a lot of people. One of the better SBTC swimmers got lost so bad, even I beat him out of the water – barely. (And he made it up on the bike.) This was the first race with my new, sleeveless wetsuit and I was quite pleased that came off so smoothly in transition. Obviously no sleeves makes it easier, but the legs come off quicker than with my old suit too. T1 was still long since my bike was so far from swim-in, but we’ve already gone over the pros and cons there, so I’m not complaining.
Prior to race day, my bike goal was probably a bit lofty. Having not looked at the course maps, I didn’t realize that the bike went up Toro canyon and then another long hill, Ortega Ridge. Heading out of transition, I felt good on the bike, but after about 15 minutes I was getting tired already, so I had to dial it down a bit. As usual, being kind of slow out of the water, I passed a lot of people on the bike, but got passed a fair amount too. My legs felt a little fatigued the whole time. This was probably from not really being recovered from the 4 hr trail run I did for 9 Trails training the previous weekend . All in all, I’m happy with the bike time, but I think next year I’ll focus on improving it a little more. T2 was uneventful and quick except I had to run through the whole transition area to get to the run out (still not complaining!).
Starting the run, my time was about 1:51 and there was the normal first mile of everything sucking, so I figured There’s only a handful of photos I’ve collected so far. Not worth an album yet. If I get enough, I’ll update.
Total time of 2:30:16, swim 31:07, T1 2:48, bike 1:15:23,
T2 1:35, run 39:23
Place: 62/320 overall, 57/223 men, 9/32 men 30-34
way to run like a madman. last weekend I did a PR for a 2 mile run- after a 55 mile bike ride. I was shocked when I saw my splits because it didn’t feel like I was going very fast. I really don’t get it. Something on the internet cited a study where they made some school’s Tri team ride a bike at 20% faster cadence than usual on the bike, and then their mile splits for the run increased by like 20 seconds. Something about your legs being used to turning over fast.
I believe that. First time I ever hopped off the bike and went straight into a run I took off. My legs just wanted to go 100 rpm. Too bad I couldn’t maintain.