Desert Triathlon Race Report (3 Mar 2013)

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 3^rd.  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 7^th 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 5^th 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.