I was able to get out of work early on Thursday for the Aquathlon...which I ended up racing. Had an okay swim, opting for no wetsuit, and felt alright on the run. A little chilly as the marine layer came in but it was nice for the run. Erin and I above, and Me and Nikee below...representing TCSD with the blue and orange! Go JCC swim coaches! (or the 10 year old girls getting nervous/ready for their race!)
Friday was a double cove swim day. One mile wetsuitless in the AM with hot chocolate to follow, and a half mile in the evening, Pot Luck style. :) Also, it was the much anticipated buoy standing attempts...and successes! Here are Evan and Nikee and a couple pictures complements of Chris. Fun times out there as usual.
Woohoo!
This weekend was the San Diego International Triathlon. To earn my spot I had to volunteer at the expo registration on Saturday in addition to paying the entry fee. Luckily Evan and Erin opted to do the same, which helped the day pass. It was fun to see the excitement on most faces about the race the next day. Sign your waivers! Evan hosted a carbo load pasta dinner at his place Saturday evening for a couple of us. Yummy dinner, and then off to bed!
Sunday morning came quite early, as the guys wave left at 6:40...luckies. Erin and I weren't off until 7:15, behind the clydesdales and challenged athletes...awesome. Got all my bike maintenance issues solved (clean/lube chain, change rear skewer, pump tires, put number on bike) and did a little warmup. Hip/hamstring wasn't feeling good at all. Tried stretching and nothing seemed to loosen it up. Not good. Having visions of seeing myself walk the run. Not good. Bad thoughts out, let the swim loosen it up. Alright, so that whole thing of nothing new on race day?
Didn't happen. I got some new (green) Speedplay pedals. What was wrong with the old ones? Nothing...but I'm getting a new bike, thus requiring new pedals. So old pedals are going on new bike, and I opted for new (green) pedals to be put on tri bike. Is there anything wrong with that? Shoes you ask? Found the same pair, same size I have on ebay. $44.50. Anyway, as a new Speedplay user, I figured I should practice a bit. And good thing I did. The cleats were a bit tight and require quite a bit of lube. Felt confident enough that they would eventually click, so I opted to keep them on.
Race report: Wetsuit on...almost forgot my earplugs walking to the swim start. Saw the boys, Jake and Chris in 1st and 2nd heading back on the swim. Got in, basically with no swim warmup (swimming out to the inwater start). Hung out and chatted it up a bit with Erin and Beth. Before we knew it the horn was off...so much for a warning. Got into my groove and found a girls heels to stay on. She had a pretty strong kick, so following her bubbles wasn't a problem. Started swimming over the stragglers from the previous waves, but I had someone in front to do the battling. Turned the buoys with a pretty relaxed pace and heart rate. Brought it back pretty strong. Ended up beating that girl to the timing mat. Splits aren't out yet, but it looks like about 12ish minutes. 1st out of the water. Not bad!
Took my wetsuit off before reaching my transition area...because it was so flipping far away, and it's way more difficult to strip the wetsuit when all the water is out. Later today I found out I cut my foot pretty bad on something in the water, glass or a shell. Not good. Made it out of T1 before the girl, but she caught me as I was having some fun with those new pedals...hehe. 
Tried to take it easy and get the HR under control before hitting the hill on Cannon. Didn't happen, and I didn't get to push it up the hill as hard as I would've liked. Made it to the guard tower and it was on. This is my course, now kill it. By the time I got to the top of the tidepool hill area I looked down and was going 26mph. Turned around and headed back...wind! No wonder I was going so fast on the way out. Okay, 2 loops. Don't let this head wind get to you. Circled around pretty quickly, taking a peek at the competition on all those loops. Freaking clydesdales bombing the downhills and then getting in the way on the way up. Lol. I flew down Cannon and headed into T2 not sure what to expect. 52ish minutes. 19.7mph average. 2nd off the bike. Not bad!Before the race I told Beth I'd see her at mile one of the run. And what do you know? Saw her at one mile of the run, chasing down that lead girl. Man, is there really three parts to a triathlon? Argh. Okay, you signed up for this, you better run the run. All the tri club swim buddy peeps were right at run out which really helped to get me going. Settled into my pace and was feeling alright. Took some salt tabs last night, before the swim, on the bike, and at mile three on the run. Trying to keep the cadence up, and keep myself cool by dumping water on my head were my two thoughts the entire run. Oh yeah, and how much I hate running. Saw Jim Vance at mile two, passed Mark Ganzer around mile 4, saw Bethany, Chris, Jake, and Evan at mile five and tried to put the hammer down on the last mile...knowing that Erin was on my feet hunting me down. Finished!
Erin came over as I was taking down some water...she missed me by 8 seconds, not seeing me until the finish chute. 54ish run. 9:00/mile average. Not bad!Ended up 2:03.31 which was 7th of 55 in my age group.
Afternoon was spent with friends at Flo's birthday brunch at 94th Aero Squadron. An interesting place, with delicious food and mimosas. Nap time and then Katrina and Chris came along for the view of another (sunsetless) evening cove swim with Jake to cap off a pretty great weekend.Congrats to all the participats and thanks to the volunteers at SDIT. I'll be back next year...and I'll remember to sign up early! Also, congrats to the SD underwater hockey team on their silver finish at US nationals in Minneapolis this past weekend. It was a tough choice not to play, and to race untrained for the run, but I'm glad I stayed back.
Up next...Summer Fun! 4th of July, Erin's b-day, Dodgeball tournament, and a Singles Auction to benefit TCSD cares. As for racing, I'll start back up in August. Tour of Bouys, Camp Pendelton Sprint (thanks to James for trading the free entry he won for some free swim lessons I'm giving him) and that 10 mile swim.
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