Super Sunday!

This post is totally late... but I've been busy! Work, Training, Hanging Out with Friends, Sleeping... You know how it goes.

Sunday was the San Diego International Triathlon. It's the only race I've done consistently since I began triathlon, so I use it as a benchmark of my improvement. Luckily I saw improvement again this year, so all the training has been working for me it seems.

My favorite part of this race is seeing all my triathlon friends. Even though we all live in the same city, it seems like I only see people at races. This is a bit of a problem for my pre-race warm-up, as I'd much rather talk, than actually do a warm-up. Point-in-case: Mer didn't think I was actually doing the race just 15 minutes before our wave went off

I had it in my mind to be aggressive on the swim. To that end I lined-up front and center. The horn went off and we surged into the bay. I caught some fast feet and made it my mission to hang on. About 300 yards later I knew I'd made a mistake. I became super nauseous and got that "my-wetsuit-is-way-to-small" feeling. So I had to back it off.

I think the lack of oxygen got to my brain, as I rounded the turn-around buoys and began swimming back to the swim exit. The next thing I noticed was I was way off course. I usually do a great job of swimming straight and staying on course, so I'm blaming oxygen deficit! Corrected my error and took it hard back in.

The bike was awesome as always. Backed it off a bit up Cannon, as to not fry my legs for the rest of the race. Once to the top I just put my head down and hit the rollers hard. I love the ride out to the end of Point Loma! Just gotta make sure I'm racing and not taking in the views too much.

The best part of the bike was my clear shot from the guard shack to the bottom of the hill. Usually I'm trying to dive-bomb it down, but have to slow up due to all the guys who can't remember to "Ride Right, Pass Left" This year it was just me and Speed Racer!

Started on the run and could tell my legs were cold. They felt all tight and not in the mood to run like I wanted. Could have been due to my pre-race gabbing and not stretching. Settled into a nice pace. As we went onto Shelter Island I came up on a guy in the 25-29 AG. I made a move to pass him, but he picked it up. This happened a few times, so I decided to draft off him and see what he did. Was pretty funny as his pace would drop, so I would come up even with him, then he'd pick it up again. Finally I started to make comments to him and got him laughing. We ran together a good 3 miles. Took my mind off the pain in my legs.

At around mile 4.5 I could hear someone coming up fast from behind. As she passed, I knew it was Kim Muller. First thought, "She's super fast. Don't go with her!" Second thought, "Hey wait. She's dry. Must be doing the relay. Really DON'T go with her!" I told my little pacing buddy not to go, but he went anyways. Needless to say 1/2 mile later I saw him. He'd run out of gas! Sorry buddy, but bad move. So he got chicked x2!

Took it hard to the finish, and knew I'd given all I had on that day. Was supper happy with my effort. Didn't stick around to see the results as I had been invited to brunch with friends and knew the food would be much better than any post-race food they may have.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with friends I had not seen in a long time. I think they were appalled by the amount of food I consumed. Recounting my race stories, I may have talked some of them into trying out the sport! I was awesome to just be able to relax knowing that I had had a great day at one of my favorite races.