Ventura Triathlon

I had a race today. It was an olympic distance triathlon that I am very fond of called the Breath of Life triathlon. It is the southwest regional championship which doesn't mean much other than it turns out a really quality field. Last year I placed 9th and was pretty stoked.

This year, I was rolling in with a good deal more fitness and hoping to improve.

Pre: I drove up to Ventura listening to Kanye sing about how everyone doubts him and how he is so fresh and such a genius. Amazing that so many songs can revolve around this subject but I guess his freshness is sort of like an onion in its layers. Let's just say Kanye doesn't exactly speak to my soul but the beats are cool.

Saw my friend Colleen and said hi. Her boyfriend, who I think had too much McCafe, got excited and ripped the valve off her tire. Neither of them knew how to fix it so I banged it out and then went to get my pre race crap sorted.

My training buddy, Tony, showed up to cheer. Also some homies from MSU, Andrea and Erika got their asses out of bed super early to make me feel really good. Friends are the best.

Swim: Got to the swim start feeling spry. I wanted to race from the gun and not have mental lag time to get into a rhythm. I needed to attack. The reason will come later. I needed to bank time. I Ran into the water and dolphin dove into the lead. Short lived as a collegiate swimmer from Cal apparently had a bottle rocket up his ass. He took off and left one guy in no mans land and three others(myself included) sitting in a pack. Uneventful swim. We traded leads, sited well and swam strong.

T1: slow run in the sand and slow changing process... worst part of the race maybe

Bike: stole the bottle rocket out of the Cal swimmer's ass and attached it to my bike. I took off and caught the top guys really quick. I was staying on top of a big gear and riding hard. I noticed that I picked up a guy who I was towing. I talked to him and we rode legally trading tempos for pretty much the whole ride. We were blitzing everyone. He faded towards the end and I yelled to stay on top of his gear... we needed to bank time for the run... you'll see why. Came into t2 averaging 25.1 mph for 25.5 miles. Awesome.

T2: sucked again... not sure what the deal was in transition but I don't particularly care. I'd rather not train changing my clothes.

Run: We started out in 2nd and 3rd respectively... The reason we needed time was two collegiate runners who have both cracked 30 for a 10k... Not 40... 30! I was running the numbers the night before on what I would have to do to prevent them from dominating and was hoping for a major lead with my bike/swim. I took off and checked my watch at mile 1- 6:05. I kept my foot on the gas but at mile 2.5 I heard the very quick patter of a collegiate runner. Bugger. He went by me quick and I was still holding 6:05's. I hit mile 3 in a bit of pain. I told myself, "cover as much ground as possible as easily as possible and refocus at mile 4 to really suffer." Mile 4 came and I think my pace was around 6:08's avg at that point. I picked it up and the other runner came by me equally as hard. Double bugger. I was running well... (very relative) but just not in their area code. I started to come unglued and hit mile 5 nearly dead. Another runner came through who I had seen shamelessly drafting and had words with on the course. I guess I was served. I was redlined so shifting gears was not an option as down was the only way to go. 6 mile mark and the finish line was no where to be seen. I careened around a corned and plowed into a 60 year old running on the wrong side of the cones. I heard him topple into the bushes and I tried to choke out a sorry between my gasping and spitting, Another .6 later and I was done. I collapsed. Talked to some friends. Puked. Collapse. Rinse. Repeat.

Overall 20:13 swim... 25.1 mph avg for 25.5 miles ... 6:13min/mile pace for 6.6 miles

6th overall out of 1000 vs. last year 9th

Major improvement on the swim, bike and back half of the 10k compared to last year. Good swim. Lethal bike. Mentally strong 10k. shit transitions but overall a GREAT race. Not a whole lot more I could ask for other than god given 30minute 10k speed. Maybe for Christmas.

Til next time loved ones.

Yours contentedly,

JPS