The
Desert Triathlon in La Quinta, CA may be my favorite race of the season. It’s the first one, so I’m usually pretty
excited to see where my winter training has left me. It’s also a fast one—6 feet below sea level,
flat as a table, wide roads (easy to pass) and wide turns (no need for
brakes). This year was especially
exciting, as I suspended racing beginning last June due to a turf toe injury
and my wife’s year-long overseas deployment.
I also retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years, so I was going
through some pretty profound changes.
The day after my wife left for Afghanistan, we packed up in the RV and
traveled throughout Arizona and California during the summer. I missed racing quite a bit and felt like a
slob not training regularly, but I think I needed the break—my banged-up big
toe certainly did.
After
some great base training from September through December, I started with a more
regimented schedule beginning in early January.
With the wife gone and two young school-age kids that need to get to
school and sports, getting a job outside the home was out of the question. So I’ve managed to spend time wisely during
school hours and practices and can get up to 6 hours of training any day of the
week if I plan grocery shopping, laundry, etc...
My
fitness now is probably the best it has ever been—it’s great to be able to
train without feeling washed-out from a long day of work and bounded by a work
schedule. I’m also the chief cook and
prepare food that is tailored for my goals.
I prepare good, healthy meals because I have the time to do it. Cooking takes time and energy—things you
don’t necessarily have after a long drive home down Highway 5. So I’ve lost 10 pounds since last year and am
pretty lean now. I could still drop a
few pounds, which would probably put me in the single digit body fat %. I get cranky when I’m hungry, so we’ll see
how that goes over with the kids…
So
my “rust buster” race quickly arrived on March 3rd. We took the RV to La Quinta and stayed right
at the race site. I had a good pre-ride
on the course, probably doing more miles than ideal for pre-race, but I’ve got
Oceanside 70.3 coming up and needed to focus on training for that more than
preparing for the Desert Tri. I ate
normally the day before: pasta, some oranges, a few energy bars on my ride,
plenty of water. I set my alarms for
4:45 and turned in at about 9:00 while the kids watched a movie.
I
awoke to the smell of my automatic coffee brewer at 4:45 ready to go. Coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, as is the
standard for me on race day. I also ate
a Honey Stinger one hour before the race and drank some Heed. Pretty bland stuff. I got set up in the transition area when it
opened and got a sweet spot where I hung my bike and partially set up the
transition area. Then I walked back to
the RV, woke the kids and jogged back to the transition area for final
preparation. During my warm-up jog, my
stomach felt a little uneasy, which I attributed to nerves. It was still uneasy as I got my wetsuit on,
but not a pronounced uneasiness. I
figured that it would go away after the start.
It did.
The
swim went okay. It is my greatest
weakness in triathlon, so I’ve put a lot of work into swim training and have
improved a bit, but not to the point where I want to be in the swim. I had already scheduled a coaching session the
next day with Chris Huxley in Encinitas—a great guy and a great coach. My wave was three and six minutes behind the
two waves ahead, so there were a lot of floaters to dodge. I tried somewhat successfully to follow a guy
who was an effective icebreaker. I
couldn’t get on his feet effectively though, so I had to work pretty hard to
keep up with him. After 20 minutes in
the water, I exited in 7th place from my wave, which I didn’t know
at the time.
One
thing about being a poor swimmer is that you become a great transitioner out of
necessity. I was happy with a smooth
transition, quick mount on the bike, and smooth feet in the shoes process. I got into the aero position, settled my
gears, and was ready to crank it out.
I
saw Keith Butsko, the eventual winner, start his second lap as I turned to
start my first. For the first 8-10
miles, I felt good and my speed was where I wanted it to be—25-27mph. My goal was to exceed 25mph average, which I
knew I could do considering my average was 24.9 last year. At some point, maybe around mile 12, I was
trying to figure if the wind changed direction, as I felt like I was battling a
headwind after every turn and felt a little gassed. My speedometer was 22-23 and I was putting in
some pretty good effort. My intestines
started gurgling too. My upset stomach
came back…
I
got back into the transition area with a smooth dismount and a quick slip on of
my running shoes. I picked up my Kinetik
visor and quick Velcro fastening race belt and got them on as I ran through the
transition area. I got out on the run
course quickly and took a sip of water at the first quarter mile. My intestines were really getting
progressively upset and I began considering stopping at a porta john. Another runner, going at the same pace, said,
“we just ran that last mile at 5:46” so I knew I had a decent pace. But I had other things on my mind that began
to consume me. The same runner and I ran
shoulder to shoulder for a while and he suggested that we work off each other. I grunted “yeah”, but was more focused on
finding a porta john. Mile two passed
and another water station that I blew off.
At that point, my focus of the day was finding a porta john—nothing else
mattered! The porta john beat the
thoughts of toughing it for another 24 minutes.
I unzipped my sweet Kinetik tri suit from the back and pulled my arms
out within seconds of locating a beautiful blue porta john. I lost a good minute, but got back on the
course and felt great. I estimate that I
was running about a 5:40 pace for the last four miles—my legs felt so good and
my worries remained in the porta john. I
finished with a 5:57 pace for the 10k, even with the stop included. I wish I could learn a lesson from my upset
gut, but I can’t figure what got me.
I
finished the race in 5th place in my age group, about a minute from
getting on the podium. My kids met me at
the finish line, snapped a photo, and then I was off to visit my porta john
friend again. I was sick and began to
feel miserable. I talked with Kieth
Butsko, who I know from B&L in Solana Beach. We chatted a bit about how we felt on the
bike. I remember telling him how I felt
like I was riding against a headwind the entire way.
I
left the race site and walked with my daughter back to the RV so we could pack
up and head home. As I was lifting my
bike to get it in the RV, I noticed that the front wheel stopped spinning. That was my headwind! The brake was slightly rubbing on the front
wheel—something I didn’t check in the transition area. I always make sure the brake release lever is
down, but I failed to check for brake rub since my bike was mounted on the
transition rack and the front wheel was on the ground. That is a lesson that I learned and won’t
repeat. But that mistake made me pay
handsomely. My average speed was 1mph
slower than last year, even though I am certain I am more fit now. What a humbling sport.
With
that race behind, I’m focused on the Oceanside 70.3, XTerra West Championships,
and ITU San Diego in the coming months.
Hopefully, they have some good porta johns there too.
Posts
This week concludes my hard training and tomorrow I’ll start to taper. I had a nice 72 mi hilly ride in NE San Diego County on Saturday, which I finished in the fastest time ever. I’m riding a Specialized Venge now, which is an incredible bike. When my wife deployed to Afghanistan in June, I went to B&L Bikes in Solana Beach and bought the bike. When I deployed for a year back in 2007, she got the beagle. Sunday was my day off because of family obligations. Monday saw a 3 hour double brick. Tuesday included tough 8x hill repeats on a 1.8mi hill. Wednesday 10mi trail run with lots of hills followed by a swim. Thursday 6x 10min tempo on the bike. Friday, a long swim followed by 2x 15min tempo run. 
