Here it is, in all it's overly-detailed splendor!
I drove down to San Diego on Friday morning at 5:30am which hurt a little bit, but was much better than sitting in traffic all day. I had lunch with the Ex in Irvine (and made him work on my bike) and then got to Oceanside a little after noon. I wasn't nervous until I could see the ocean, then I freaked out a little. Picked up my packet, hopped in the car, drove to Solana Beach to visit Dan at B&L and pick up a bike for work, then drove to Pacific Beach to John's house where I took a fatty nap. It was delicious. When John and Tracy got home we went to an adorable little Italian restaurant where I ate my weight in pasta. Went back to the house, packed up my race stuff, and went to bed.
I got lucky in that John had to be up at 4:00am for something he was doing later in the day, so he had oatmeal waiting for me when I woke up. Such service! After breakfast I hopped in the car and drove back up to Oceanside. Happily, I have mastered the art of shoving all my stuff into a small bag for transition, so the ride from the parking lot to transition was a lot less awkward than it could have been. I found my rack (in what might have been the longest transition EVAR) and set up my space. Talked to a bunch of girls, got partway into my wetsuit, stood in line for the bathroom, made friends in the potty line, watched the pros come through, wished I had thought to bring some shitty socks to keep my feet warm while I waited around, got into line with the rest of the purple caps to start.
Swim:
Favorite thing #1: my neoprene squid lid.
The water actually wasn't that cold, but my head was so toasty-warm with that thing on it was all I could think about. My wave was fairly small and the start area was pretty wide so the beginning-of-the-swim beating was minimal. I caught a bunch of women from the wave in front of me (4 min ahead of me) and the wave before them (8 min ahead of me) which was encouraging. I did a much better job of sighting than I did at XTERRA, so only got a little lost. Could have gone faster I think, but I felt fast and springy when I got out of the water, so I'm not complaining.
Bike:
Favorite things #2 and 3: Perpetuem and BBB cages.
I had decided to try something a little different for my nutrition on the bike. I had been using Perpetuem on my training rides so I knew it wouldn't screw with me (a la CarboPro 1200), so I made a bottle with five servings of powder instead of the normal one to two. And it was AWESOME. I carried that bottle and a bottle of water and it went down smooth and I felt strong and energized and never had my blood sugar crash with accompanying dark, twisty thoughts. No tantrums for me! Also, my BBB bottle cages kept my bottles safe and sound so I didn't launch any like I saw tons of other people do. Yay!
Overall, I felt really good on the bike. My position felt dialed, legs felt fresh, I stayed relaxed and took it easy on the first half per E's instructions and was fine on the climbs. Had some fun picking people off in the later miles. Only issue I had was some nasty chafing in my - umm - sensitive regions. Seeing as I had almost the same thing happen at Big Kahuna last year, I think my race suit may become an XTERRA-only suit so I don't have it happen again. Ouchy.
Run:
Favorite thing #4: Learning how to distract myself
I was definitely tired coming off the bike, so the shuffle started early. I tightened my shoes too tight in transition and my feet were completely numb for the first five miles (ish...I kept thinking that they would come to, but it never happened on its own). Eventually I stopped to loosen them and loosen my timing chip strap and I regained feeling. I walked the aid stations, ate or drank at almost all of them, and learned that if I repeated the lines to the song that was stuck in my head, I could ignore the parts of my body that hurt and just keep going. The Ex was there taking pictures (he was there on the bike too, I just forgot to mention it) so it was nice having someone cheering for me - even with all the people cheering for Amys (there were a ton of girls with my name) and with people having their names on their race numbers. In the finishing chute a lady edged past me so we ended up sprinting for fun. She hugged me and thanked me for the extra push and we got our picture taken. It was fun.
Post race I made a beeline for the food tent and ate four pieces of pizza. I found one of my customers so we talked for a bit before I went and packed. The Ex was waiting and congratulated me, then I got on the phone with E and the couple of customers and got congratulated and was told my splits. The result:
22nd place in AG in swim
23rd AG bike
23rd AG run
23rd out of 62 in age group
Overall time 6:06:26
Run time: 2:07:51
Reasons why this is awesome:
1. I have NEVER been that consistent in a road triathlon. Ever.
2. I have never been in the top half of the finishers in my age group in a road tri. 23/62 is definitely upper half.
3. Overall time was a PR, set at an easier race.
4. Run time was a PR, previously set at a half marathon, not a triathlon.
Yay for me!
Now I get to be all sunburned and peely, and I even have my number and age burned onto my body. Wonder how long that will be there?
