Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Strawberry Fields Triathlon (Now with Pics!)


4:30 AM wake up at Mom's home in Goleta (North of Santa Barbara)
5:30 AM arrive, park, rack bike, lay out gear
6:30 AM get in the water, play in the surf, chat it up
7:05 AM START!

THE SWIM:

Crazy horrid swim. Pretty cold water, biggish swells, big current. Got off the beach pretty good. Had trouble getting a breath and finding my rhythm. Definitely a mass start. Had trouble spotting the buoys due to the big swells. The course definitely felt way longer than 1500m. Following other swimmers just led us way off course. Would love to see a helicopter shot - all the zig zagging! Checked my watch at the 2/3 buoy: 23 min! Yikes. Final swim time ~37 min. Crap!

T1:

Quick jog to the transition area. Uneventful T1. Time ~2:30. Cool by me.

Bike:

Shorter than 40k at 23.2 miles (no idea why!) Flat, but windy. Aero position 90% of the time. Tried to focus on eating, drinking. First loop went well after I got into it ~3 miles in. Flew past a good amount of other riders (yay!) Second loop took it up a notch in effort to make up for the horrid swim (which was the talk of the day amongst most of my friends who also raced!) Got off the bike in 1:07:38 - very stoked with my 20.6 mph effort in pretty windy conditions and of course not drafting!

T2:

Uneventful as well! Time: ~ 40 seconds.

Run:

Felt pretty bad right out of the gate, but was surprised to see my pace at 8:23 for the first mile! Then 8:53, then 8:58. Fading fast and am not such a fan of loop courses...9:05. Holding on by a string! I knew if I walked it was over. And I knew if I tried to stay with it I could still go sub 2:45 despite a disastrous start. 9:23. Finish line in sites....gasping....last mile 8:48. Run time 55:10. (Yikes as well!) Total time ~ 2:44:27. Mission accomplished despite the adversity. (PR!) Still no official times or race photos. Stay tuned.

The PS's:

P.S. Bummed about Lance!

P.P.S. Shout outs to my friends Willis, Greg, Ryan and Jess who duked it out with me in Oxnard!

P.P.P.S. Had a "Strawberry Fields" smoothie at the Natural Cafe on the way home. Seriously. That's what it's called.

P.P.P.P.S. Yes. I'm in a strange mood.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Just noticed that I finished 121th overall, ranked 97th in my gender and 12th in my "class." Anybody know what "class" is? (Age, I presume? Not etiquette, obviously.)

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Yes, I need to stop typing now and Billy will surely not be amused by my attempt at humor here.






8 comments:

  1. Great job!! You did really rock the bike. Sorry to hear about the tough waters, but way to hold strong. Well done.

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  2. Great race Cody! You're a really strong swimmer - dang! And you were pretty much right on my a$$ on the bike, as well. Super race!

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  3. Thanks guys! I definitely need more time in the water. Willis - I would say strong but not "really" strong. So funny, I kept looking for you to drop me (every time a dude in a P3 passed me thought it was you!) But you caught me with like a half mile to go on the run...you bastard!

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  4. Haha! Great job on the race despite the rocky swim. 20.6 MPH on the bike is awesome! I can't hold that pace for more than a minute on a flat windless course. Great job!

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  5. P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S well you nailed that one, bad run and all, nice job!

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  6. Congrats on a PR!!

    This is why someone needs to get a Garmin 310XT so we can start seeing swim maps!

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  7. P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S : great race !

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  8. Cody- I enjoyed reading your race report! And I definately enjoy your sense of humor!

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Film composer moonlighting as a runner, cyclist and triathlete