Encinitas Tri

Back for another race....I got up at 4am today for my first Sprint Tri, not knowing exactly what to expect. I got to the setup area about 5:30am and immediately ran into some fellow TNT teammates...Lisa, Jason, Greg, Susan and a few other peeps I know now from being in this "freak" community.

I was out of sorts a bit this morning, woke up with a headache and when I was putting on my wetsuit before the race I forget to pull up my straps....I obviously fixed that before the race gun went off, but did forget to use the body glide to save my neck from the potential rash from my wetsuit...luckily I did not get one.

At about 6:40 am, the Elite wave took off from the beach for a surf entry. This was pretty intriguing since the swells were rolling in today, definitely overhead and there was one of the strongest north to south rip currents I have seen in quite some time.

The elite group, which Michellie Jones was in, had quite a bit of problems with the current pulling them pretty far south of the direction of the first buoy, obviously they continued to fight against the current and righted themselves, but this left me with the thought....how am I going to do if these world class athletes were struggling?

Well after a few more waves went off, and some of them getting pulled so badly south they had to exit the water and try and re-enter, or actually get pulled in by lifeguards on wave runners...I was up, in the 6th wave. By then we had learned to run about 70 yards north on the beach before hitting the water to adjust for the pull of the current. I ended up getting through the big rolling waves unscathed, but much to my misfortune I did not get pulled south in the waves and had to swim south pretty far, just to turn around the buoy and head north to the next buoy and then in....a 750 meter swim turned into at least a 1000 meter swim or maybe even more.

I exited the water pretty far back in my wave and honestly pretty beat and pondering the thought, "Why am I doing these damn Tri's....I am a crappy swimmer."

I made it to the transition area a bit tired from the swim and long uphill run from the beach and had a decent transition to the bike. Out and back, out and back and before you knew it the bike leg was over. Since this was my first Sprint distance tri, I was not sure on how much to hydrate or fuel, so all I really did was take one gu and a little bit of water, a swig or two from my electrolyte filled aero bottle and then I was back at the T2 getting ready for the run.

I headed out on the run making up some time on the bike and also seeing quite a bit of the people I knew either on the bike still (later waves) or running. The run was and out and back twice, just like the run, so it was nice seeing friends I knew a few times.

I definitely picked up the pace on the run and do not know my exact run time but I know it was pretty good for me, maybe even a PR, under 23 minutes for a 3.1 mile. I felt pretty good a the end of the run, so that redeemed the swim part a bit.

Time to swim like a fish, over and over until my next race.

Thanks to all those there to support me and our fellow Tri peeps, you guys are awesome....