After an entire winter of trainer rides only, and a precious few non-treadmill runs, it was finally time to head outside in sunny SoCal for Oceanside 70.3!!! Chris picked me up at the end of my school day and we headed straight to the airport! This trip to Cali, unlike my last, was uneventful....no delays, no airport shut downs, and not a snow flake in sight! Oh yeah!
We arrived quite late and immediately called it a day. Unfortunately for us, 3AM Cali time is our east coast wake up time. So we were asleep by 1:30 but awake by 3! This worked really well for us on race morning, but not so much that first day!
Chris assembled our bikes and off we went on our very first outdoor ride of 2013! We rode down the coast. It was a great ride! We stopped to admire the view and were greeted by a pod of dolphins playing just off shore!
Next stop....expo and registration! It was great to run in to lots of friends! One of the highlights of the expo, was having my new Speedfil system installed on Baby Bike!
I can't say enough about this hydration system! Two things immediately stood out for me - the front end of my small bike was wide open, I could see the front of my bike and not once did I hit my mouth or teeth on a solid plastic straw! It seemed like every time I tried to take a drink I would hit a bump and drive the straw in to my teeth and lips! This system completely removed the hydration hazards! Thanks to our great sponsors at Speedfil for such a great product and for such amazing service! You guys rock!!!
Swim Course:
This is the third year that Chris and I have raced at Oside. This year I was prepared for standing around waiting for my wave....I brought some sox to wear while waiting! This kept my feet quite happy. I was in Wave 14, so I had the opportunity to watch most of the pros come out of the water, including my favorite Pro- HJ! I also was able to watch her as she left T1 on her bike. It's always interesting to listen to the chatter going on around you while waiting. It was easy to pick out the locals, they were the ones with neoprene hoods, and booties, and worried about how incredibly cold the water is, this time of year! I had to chuckle, as our little piece of the ocean doesn't get much warmer than that in mid-August! I found the water conditions to be quite tolerable! I had a really solid swim! I was pleased! I found myself wandering a bit as I focused on my new swim technique, forgetting to sight on a couple of buoys, but I recovered pretty nicely. In 2012 I swam 51:35, this past weekend I swam 43:14!!!
Bike Course:
I meandered through T1- yes, meandered. I felt like I was moving right along, but apparently it was a slow mo moment! Need to work on that! I left T1 and tried to focus on not pushing for the first few miles. Several times I amazed myself to look down and see that I was moving right along in the mid 20's (yes there was most likely some downhill help there, but it was fun to be going fast again) I enjoyed the ride, and worked hard at keeping my cadence up and making use of the downhills to make up time. There were some great downhills out there! Tuck and Roll! It's my favorite part of my rides! I am pretty slow on the way up, but love those downhills! Last year's ride: 4:02, this year's ride 3:41!!! I'll take it! Thanks to "W" sponsor ISM saddles! Love my ISM Century! Happy parts make for a happy ride!
Run Course:
I really found the run more difficult this year. I was never able to find my groove. In hind sight, I think because I was pushing the bike, I couldn't get my counting cadence thing going! I powered up the hills, and cut the course in to segments and just put my head down and kept going. I struggle with nutrition on the run, so I used water on the first loop, with ice; then switched over to coke and ice for the second loop. I'm not a soda person, but I'm finding the coke effect to be helpful when I'm racing!
Last year's run: 2:39 - this year's run 2:30. So, not quite what I expected but still an improvement.
Overall stats:
2012- 7:45 AG 20 out of 29
2013- 7:04 AG 9 out of 27
Thank you to my Coach Lesley Paterson (Braveheart Coaching). Without her support, this wouldn't have happened!
Highlights of the day:
My big Mom highlight was Heather winning Oceanside!
Thank you to Kevin of Tri Lounge for letting me use this photo! The smile is priceless!
This was a big win for HJ- and well deserved after all of her hard work during the off season!
All the Wattie Ink Support!! We were stylin' out there, and it didn't go unnoticed! Huge props to Euro star for his support of all the Wattie Ink athletes!
EURO STAR!!!
Great grab Massi!
Truly an awesome weekend! Can't wait for our next event- the East Coast Wattie Event: Quassy!
