Faking fitness with my competitive nature

June 24th was the 30th Annual San Diego International Triathlon. It was my 5th year participating (year one I swam for a relay). I love this race even with all it's faults. It's in my backyard. My training grounds. I know the course and every pothole and corner and hill. This is my annual bench mark in this sometimes crazy triathlon journey. Kyle returned from deployment 2 days before, and it is also the Anniversary Sale weekend for Moment Cycle Sport, so I knew I'd be trashed going into this race.

Plan of the day: [POD in Kyle Navy terms] Race hard. Don't hold back. Kill the swim. Race the bike, and start pushing it at the first guard shack, bomb the descent. And run without holding back. Turnover.

Mostly a success.

my sherpa is back!

Swam 11:57. Finally under 12 min. I knew I was capable. This year the young ladies were put after the old ladies. Great; I felt bad swimming over old men, but now women?! Ugh... Nothing is ever intentional I swear. Started out hard. Whitney and Christine and another random girl hopped on my sides and I worked hard to get away. First 100 yards was pretty fast but I didn't feel gassed so I kept up with the pressure on my arms and kept kicking hard. Yes it's triathlon, and yes, I kick. :) Finished feeling ready to ride and hoping that I didn't swallow too much nasty bay water.

passing the walkers. silly small swim caps.

Biked 49:27. Got on Kermit and I was off. Since his wheels got stolen Jen was nice enough to let me borrow her 404/disc for the race. Cory gave the disc some much needed love (and glue) earlier in the week. Unfortunately the valve stem is too long for the hole and a regular pump adapter doesn't work. We managed to get it up to almost 100 [normal tubular psi is 120] with the air compressor the night before. Woke up and it was low. Probably rode 60psi in the race. Not ideal. Was mashing up all my power. I was riding with most of the weight on my arms to try and avoid bottoming out the disc. Carly passed me on the first loop on our way back [at about the same point as she did last year] and I knew I wouldn't be able to stay with her. She kicked my ass at Panama and has been killing it locally. I raced my race, being sure to take care of the disc and myself. Rolled into T2 and the volunteers were yelling at me to go into the guys portion of the transition area - "Um, no, lady, thanks for your help, but my rack is this way!" and I headed back where I came from.

Sioux Girl bike. Moment Kit. = mismatch racing

Run 47:33 Out onto the run course I saw Kyle on his bike and he tossed me a sip of water. He asked if I was leading and I said no, Carly was in front of me, and he was like are you sure? Anyway, 3 min later about a mile into the course, she passes me. WTF? What happened to you? Apparently she actually listened to the same lady  and had to go this crazy way looping around transition and so I got out before she even racked her bike. Bummer for her.

trying to stay with her

So run run run. Keep running. Ouch. Lungs are dead, legs are heavy. Trying to keep the turnover high. Cory with Ethan in tow, and Judd joined Kyle on the bike cheering squad train, and I felt like I was winning the Ironman WC. Super thanks to those guys for the cheers. Got through the nasty car rental area and onto the board walk where the eventual 2nd place chic passed me with a vengeance. Literally I couldn't even keep up with her for 1 step. So for the rest of the race it was a gut wrenching dig to the finish, hoping that all those footsteps behind me were that of males.

too tired to enjoy the prettyness

Finish. Wow that hurt. In a much needed push myself to threshold way. 5 min PR and 3rd place AG again. But a much different race for me.

Overall 1:51. In the last 4 years of doing this race I've dropped 12 minutes. In the last 3 years I've gotten 3rd place in my age group every year. Run was a surprising 7:39 average! Maybe that month of running in April actually helped? Maybe those 2 days of hill repeats with Noko and 3 days in the gym worked? Or maybe, I really know how to push my body beyond it's fitness when I toe the line. Can my competitive nature give me fake fitness?

"podium"

Off to work after the race, and Kyle was off to Ontario for his first race of the season [on land anyway].  Carlsbad and the latest challenge reports are next up in the blogging backlog.