2011 Season Opener

Sunday's race was about 3 things: get the winter cob webs out, collect wattage data, and go hard. It was awesome to sleep in my bed, wake up no earlier than I would to train, and enjoy a March race that didn't involve frigid waters. The water in Coronado flows from Mexico, and was way warmer than I ever remember the water being for Cali70.3. No brain freeze = is a good thing!
The elite wave went off at 8:00. I wish I could report that the swim was uneventful. If that were the case I probably would of held with (or closer to) the lead pack of girls. (unlike long distance racing, these short course girls can swim!) I was out to the first buoy with the lead group. I believe I found Christina Jackson's feet, and was happy to settle in there. Just then a girl decided it would be smart to grab my ankle and YANK me backwards. I've never had this happen! I lost my feet, and then to add poison to the wound she threw an elbow at my head. Unreal, I don't know what she was trying to accomplish. Instead of jumping on my feet or sharing the draft she sent us both backwards while the group swam away. Now that the results are posted, I know who it is. Next time I see her I hope to give her a hug, and shower her with sportsmanship...
That aside, the swim went well. I worked hard (better than my typical settling in). I came out of the water 1minuite down from the leader.

 Thank you Kevin -Finishline Multisport- for the pics!!!

Bike: I honestly don't want to go into this much. I don't know exactly what went wrong out there. My quads were on fire, and I felt like I was pushing hard....while in reality I was going backwards. I 100% should not have lost the kind of time I did. I analyzed the ride to the extent that it will help me moving forward. I also revisited my bike fit yesterday. The goal was to get some wattage numbers, and well we did. Turns out I also learned the first lesson about installing a power meter: you can't change the chain ring after it's been calibrated. This changes the calibration (makes sense now) because different material/stiffness=  different force. So, the numbers we did get were way off from those I was actually producing.  There was, however, a pattern and Chris analyzed what we did get and will use it to shape my training.

Run: The race is put on by a few great friends of mine. Mitch Hall is one of the race directors, and Ben Vaughan handles the race day volunteers. They were both at the exit of T2, and let me know that "my work was cut out for me, [so I best] start running hard and not slow down." The first two miles were on a softer sand trail with a few twists and turns. I couldn't see anyone ahead of me, so I just worked on leg turn over and put the throttle down (why didn't I do this on the bike. ugh!). My first two miles I clocked around 6:35 pace. Considering the soft sand I figured this wasn't so shabby. Mile 3 was on a straight packed trail, and my pace jumped substantially. I checked in with where the girls were ahead of me, and at the turn around knew my only hope was to move up one spot.

 Lesson learned: No matter how wrong a race might be going, it's still an opportunity to make large fitness gains from going "race hard". I kept pushing the pace. My next mile 6:10. It quickly looked like my typical (half and full IM) race strategy of negative splitting my runs was going to be a cinch. The last 3.2 miles were on concrete.This is where I have to thank Christina. I could see her ahead of me, and used her as motivation to keep running fast. It would of been easy to slow up and say it just wasn't my day. Instead I dropped my pace to 5:45 and gave it everything I had. I ran out of real estate, so was unable to catch anyone. I finished with a new PR 10k- 39:40. Considering the terrain, I am happy with that. Something good to take from the race- I haven't been focusing on running at all this winter, but it is still there. Problem is, I have been focusing on cycling, and that wasn't there.
But the analysis has been done, and in the end the race was totally worth it. I had fun, and enjoyed going through the motions before it really counts. Looks like the next race will be New Orleans70.3 in 3 weeks.
Until then, me and the CinQo will be spending a lot of time getting to know each other.