Playing Catch Up Part 1: Big Island Surprise

This is one of two race reports that I have been putting off.  Why put them up now?  I'm a little too OCD and these need to be posted prior to me putting up my Ironman write-up.

70.3 Hawaii
I flew over to the Big Island in June to race 70.3 Hawaii.  For those not familiar with the race, it's held about 20 minutes north of downtown Kailua-Kona (where the Ironman World Championship takes place).  The whole reason I signed up for this race was to get a little relaxation on the island before my big build up for Ironman Wisconsin.

Highlights
Swim  33:22
Bike  2:29 (PR)
Run  1:44
Overall  4:51

Coming into the race I was extremely relaxed and had some good friends flying in for the weekend. My body was in good shape, but you never know what is going to happen with the weather out there.

Swim
This is a non-pro race, so I was fortunate to be in the first wave of the non-wetsuit (ugh) swim start.  I say fortunate because this is the first race I actually ended up counting people to know where I stood in the mix.  The water was warm, smooth, and unbelievably clear.  While swimming, you were able to look down about 50 ft and see beautiful reef and marine life.  I came out of the swim feeling pretty fresh and charged up the hill to transition passing a bunch of people along the way.

Who wouldn't want to swim in that?

Bike
I jumped on the bike and immediately got into a comfortable rhythm.  After about 10 miles in there is a turnaround where I was able to see that I was in 30th position overall.  This definitely boosted my spirits as I knew I could make up time from my slower swim.  The bike course follows the norther half of the WC course, so it was cool to know that you're riding where history happens. The bike was really uneventful other than a short downpour on the climb to Hawi.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I put up my fastest bike split of the year on what can be a difficult course.  I rolled into T2 to find very sparse bike racks which was a good sign of things to come.

Showing off the deep V

Run
As I was getting off the bike, the sun had already come out and was baking down on the course. About 8 miles of the run course is on the grass at a nice golf course.  This sounds nice in theory, soft grass, no huge hills; however, the heat and humidity are nearly suffocating when you were on the grass.  I had been told by several people that this would be a tough run and the course didn't disappoint there.  While I never felt dominant on the run, I was able to manage my pace and nutrition. As MJ said, this race was all about "management".

Final trot to the finish line

As I came across the finish line into the chute my buddy commented that there weren't a whole lot of people that had finished before me.  He pulled out his phone and lo and behold I had just earned my first M-dot podium.  I finished 5th in my Age Group which was good enough for 42nd Overall.

Shoes are overrated

Gaining Wisdom at Wildflower

Some of this blog can be found in a write-up I did for the RIDE Tri Team, so apologies to those reading both.

Wildflower Long | 5:09:17 | 12th - Age Group, 35th Gender

Well it has been about a week since Wildflower, so it is about time I get something down on “paper”.  For those unfamiliar (as I was up until about 6 months ago) with Wildflower, it offers quite a unique racing experience.  The Wildflower Triathlon has been dubbed the “Woodstock of Triathlon”.  It’s the “one and only” Wildflower and the 34th running of the event did not disappoint.  The weekend consists of a few different races ranging from Long Course (70.3 distance) to Sprint, on and off-road.  Due to an ill-timed dam drainage and 100-year drought conditions, the race has taken on a new flavor which turns the triathlon into a swim-run-bike-run.  The Long Course breaks down by 1.2 Mile Swim - ~2.3 Mile Run - 56 Mile Bike - ~9.8 Mile Run.  The Long bike course is a challenging one with over 3,800ft of gain and a climb named “Nasty Grade”.  The run course is a mix of trail and road that with several tough sections.

Quick Side Bar  To me Wildflower represented a “B” or “C” race for the year [You can find general definitions here for those interested].  Now this is a familiar concept for those in the racing community, but something completely foreign to me.  My days of competitive sports and exercising consisted of every event being an “A” event.  It took a day or so after the race to accept the outcome for what it was and my general placing overall.  I am happy with the training benefit and experience that I gained from the race.  

The true Wildflower experience involves spending the weekend camping or for some glamping in RV’s.  In my case, I was part of the former.  I carpooled up with a teammate on Friday morning and got into the campsite around noon.  The day was spent getting the campsite set up, checking in for the race, doing a short training ride and run, then just hanging out with the team.  My usual pre-race resting and eating habits were pretty much out the window, but I guess that is all part of the experience.  

Josh (right) showed off some serious camping culinary skills throughout the weekend

Swim | 0:34:49

I was hoping to have a stronger swim than Oceanside, but ended up with about the same performance.  Harris Creek presented a nice calm lake with an out and back course.  Other than foggy goggles and tired arms, I came out where expected.

Finally a decent photo of the custom Blueseventy Helix wetsuit

The “fun” of the races starts right away as you exit the swim, you have to deal with a quick transition into running shoes and a punishing climb from the water, up a boat ramp, and onto the trail for the T1A --> T1B 2 mile run. And as if the first boat ramp wasn’t bad enough, you end the transition run with another boat ramp of near equal distance and elevation gain to come into T1B. 

Bike | 2:49:03

Knowing that the course had a challenging, hilly bike course, I knew that this wouldn’t be a fast course for me.  And as if a hilly bike course wasn’t going to present enough of a challenge for me, it just so happened to be a windy day.  Wind was pretty consistent around 10mph, but did gust throughout the ride at 20+mph.  Needless to say, I did not have a crackin day on the bike.  Watt-wise, I was off my target and ended up with an Intensity factor of 83% (I utilized an updated bFTP for this race).  The bike was certainly taxing on me physically, but the wind, rough roads, and huge descents were a drain on me mentally.  I was battling a lot of negative self-talk throughout the bike which ultimately spilled over into my run.

Run | 1:40:28

Since we covered a little over 2 miles of the run on the transition from swim to bike, you are left to deal with less than a half marathon off the bike.  I had been warned about the run by some of my team members and looked over the course files.  Unfortunately, nothing prepares you for the ups and downs of this run like being on the actual course.  I ran strong for the first 2 miles, but then hit the first of two tough sections and went into preservation mode.  I think on another day with an “A” race mentality, I would have sucked up my concern and self-doubt to power on.  However, this day turned into just accepting the run and my effort for what it was.  I was generally running alone for most of the race.  I picked off a fair amount of people that were in the wave preceding mine and even a few of the pro women.  The Cal Poly students manning the aid stations on the run course offered a nice distraction with antics that you would expect and admire from college students without supervision.  The only real memorable portion of the run was a half-chug of a Coors Light I was handed around mile 11.  It only took about 5 minutes for me to regret the decision after a few burps came with a wonderful after taste.
 

Pre-Coors Light, Post-Tough Sections

Coming down the finish chute at Wildflower is pretty cool and I can just imagine how crazy it must have been during the races heydays.  The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the festival atmosphere that is Wildflower.  There was live-music throughout the day, oversized board games, or for me, lots of beer to drink and food to eat.  The night was capped off with dinner, drinking, and good times around the campfire.

This was a good race to test the legs and put me in check after a nice showing in Oceanside.  Next up I’ll be racing another tough course on the Big Island when I participate in 70.3 Honu on 4 June.   

70.3 Redemption in Oceanside

Although this is very early in the season, this race was definitely about redemption for me at the 70.3 distance.  It’s been about 5 months since Cabo (you can read up here), but as stated in my previous post, lots has changed.  I came into the race with a plan to finish in about 5 hours (+/- 15min).  A considerable amount of hard work has been put in and progress made since I started following MJ’s programming and joined the RIDE Tri Team.  I had seen solid results in the Desert last month and knew that I was coming into this race well prepared.  For lack of a better phrase, I had drank the Kool-Aid.

70.3 Oceanside | 4:44:30 | 21 - Age Group, 106 Overall

Jamming in my BlueSeventy Helix

Swim | Goal 31:10 | Actual 32:08 | Cabo 37:53

The swim went off in waves, so being in wave 8 I knew there’d be a fair amount of people littered around the course.  Now I’m not the fastest swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, but do well enough where I knew I’d have to navigate through a lot of bodies.  My plan was to try and stay with my wave’s lead pack, but that plan feel apart as we approached the first buoy and started intermixing with the previous wave.  I settled into a steady pace, but then ended up getting into a traffic jam about 800m into the race.  I came out of the water slightly off pace, but feeling really fresh. Saw my neighbor from WI at the swim exit which was a nice pick-me-up and ran towards the endless transition area to find my bike.

Bike | Goal 2:44 | Actual 2:34 |  Cabo 2:46

Hydration (SpeedFill) + Hammering (Felt)

I had a conservative plan on the bike that would keep me within my power goal and how the course was laid out.  MJ and I agreed on going out nice and smooth for the first half of the bike course as it is rather flat, but can result in you blowing up on the second half of the course which is much hillier.  I felt really smooth on the bike and was able to come across a few of the RIDE Tri Team members.  I had lots of temptations on the course when I was passed by some people, but ultimately stuck with the plan.  This allowed me to have a strong second half of the bike and resulted in me not being past after about 35 miles in.  I don’t have a whole lot of superlatives to discuss about the bike as it went almost exactly as I planned.  For my data geeks/Training Peak users, you can take a look at the below data.

Intensity Factor (NP/bFTP) = 96%

VI (NP/Actual Power) = 1.08 (As to be expected with a hillier course)

Cadence Fade = 1.01%

Avg Power Fade = 99% (Actually rode the second half with slightly more power)

At the end of the day, my actual average power on the bike was 1 watt above my targeted watt output.

Run | Goal 1:33 | Actual 1:30 | Cabo 2:01

So this was really the moment of truth for me.  I knew coming into T2 that my legs felt really good, but I was still sitting on my bike.  The second I dismounted my bike and started jogging to my run gear, I knew I was going to be able to clip off a nice run.  It felt just like all of the t-runs that I had been doing for the last few months.  I ran the first two miles at a 6:55 pace, which had me a concerned as it was definitely a little faster than planned.  Mentally, I was worried that this would come bike to bite me in the butt later on.  It was about this time that I ran into one of my teammates.  I pulled back a little and ran alongside Jason for about 3/4 of a mile, which really helped me mentally regroup and think through what I needed to do.  At the next aid station, I took off. Now I didn’t say anything at the time, but I knew it was time to get after it. We had a laugh about it over beers a few hours later.  The next few miles went off without much thought.  I had a dark moment from about mile 9 to 11 where I let my pace slide over 7:00/mile.  I was honestly in really good spirits the whole run except for those ~15minutes.  I suppose it was easy to be in good spirits because there were SO many teammates, friends and family out on course cheering me on - this definitely made for a nice “home field” advantage.

Loop 1 Dan, slight V

Loop 2 Dan judging Loop 1 Dan's V

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better race.  This is definitely a great way to start my season.  I’m excited for all the races to come, but I know I’ve got lots of work to put in to get there.  So for those of you wondering or doing the math, this was a 47 minute PR over Cabo.  

Now it's time to put both the good and bad results behind me and go put more money in the bank.  My next withdrawal from the bank will be at Wildflower later this month.

Part of the team hanging at the Felt booth the day prior.

Finding the Pedals [Desert Triathlon Race Report]

Lead up
Last weekend marked the first triathlon of the year for me.  This was only my 5th ever triathlon, so still lots of learning to be had.  Although, I don't think you ever stop learning in this sport.  This was definitely not an "A" race on my calendar, more of a nice training check prior to the season really kicking off.  Since this was just a training race, I didn't have a whole lot of expectations leading up.  I knew that I could put in a strong performance for me in all three sports, just didn't know how that would have me stack up against the rest of the field.  When MJ told me to "just go out there and go hard" on Wednesday, I figured I would do just that.

Pre-Race
It was a windy, but warm morning on race day.  Apparently there were 50mph wind gusts overnight which had put the race in jeopardy.  The race director finally made the call to hold the race, but it looked like we'd start about an hour later than originally planned.  This really only had an impact on my pre-race nutrition plan, which essentially was thrown out the window at this point.  
Morning Eats: 1 banana, 2 cups coffee, 1 GQ-6 bottle, 1 cup Oats, 1 large spoonful of peanut butter

Thankfully I had a bottle with 3FU3L in it, which bridged the gap from breakfast around 5am to the race start around 8:30am.

Race
Although I didn't have much expectation going into the race, I did have some basic pacing goals/guidelines I was planning on working with.
Swim:  1:30/100yd
Bike: 285-300 watts
Run: sub-7:00 miles

Swim:  I was in the second wave due to the age-group breakdown.  I told myself to just stay on the lead swimmers through the initial chaos and then draft the rest of the race.  Thankfully, I was able to do just that.  I spent the 24min or so in the water tickling the bottom of the lead swimmers feet.  I'm sure it was annoying, but I honestly didn't care as I knew I'd be coming out of the water in a good spot.  I had finally attacked the swim portion of a race and not just gone out to survive potential drowning.  The swim was a bit longer than listed on paper, I had it at 1,660yards.  I ended up clocking a 24:03, which comes out to around 1:27 pace.
Swim goal: Accomplished

Bike:  I came out of the water feeling pretty fresh thanks to my drafting. I knew I exited the water with a group of 3 other guys, but completely lost track of them when I came into T1.  I suppose lesson learned for me here on keeping tabs.  Comic relief came when I tried to do a flying mount with my new shoes already clipped in.  I've never had issues in the past with this, but the new shoes proved to be quite a challenge.  Of course this occurred right in front of our big sponsor Sean Watkins from Wattie Ink, who I'm sure has some nice photos of me attempting to get my feet secured.

Flying around the course on my new IA...with my feet clipped in.

After I finally got clipped in, I took down a quick Stinger gel and was on my way.  The bike course was fast and flat.  There were some headwinds and gusts at times during the bike portion, but no real different from riding next to the ocean everyday.  I held onto my watt goal for the first 2/3 of the ride, but then pulled back a little towards the later half of the bike portion.  Unfortunately I spent the bike in no-mans-land for the most part.  By this point I realized I was either out of eyesight of the group I came out of the swim with or I had dropped them.  Turns out it was the latter. Spent the majority of the bike picking off the middle and slower first wave athletes.  Ran out of water with about 10 miles left in the bike and missed the one spot they were handing out water, that's what I get for being stingy and not brining an extra water bottle on the bike.  I guess the dry desert air made me a little more thirsty than usual.  I finished the bike leg having not been passed on the course, so I knew I was going to be in a good spot leaving T2.  Put in a 1:00:16 on the bike split for 24 miles, easily under 60min if not for my shoe gaff. I was a bit off my watt goal, only averaging 266 watts.
Bike goal:  Not accomplished - probably a tad aggressive

Run:  Jumping off my bike, I definitely had an "Oh, no" moment.  Although my Cabo run didn't pop up in my mind at the time, I could definitely tell my legs weren't ready to move.  I didn't know this at the time, but my abductors were fried from the effort I gave on the bike.  I had mentally been blaming the new bike seat I am trying out.  Flat course=lots of constant pedaling.  Another new learning for me.  It took about a half mile to shake of the feeling in my legs and really get a good stride going.  Right as I exited T2, I was passed by a guy who would eventually win my age group (spoiler alert).  I made a mental note and planned on keeping him within 50 or so meters to make an attack later in the race.  Unfortunately, I just didn't have the legs to go.  I had some segments of 6:20 pace, but wasn't able to sustain without fear of running the engine too hot.  I spent the race watching the guy slowly pull a little further ahead each mile or so.  I really can't complain for me as I put in a 41:10 10K, pace comes out around 6:37/mile - although I had 6:49 on my watch.
Run Goal:  Accomplished

This V got even deeper about 2 minutes after this shot. Check out those awesome Newtons!

Overall, I am happy with the race.  My effort landed me my first podium in the sport as I took 2nd place in my age group and 18th overall (amateur).  It was awesome to be on course with the rest of my teammates and of course Heather Jackson out there hammering away.  It was definitely some great motivation.  All things considered, I accomplished two of the three goals and got the training benefit I wanted out of the race.

Next Up
Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside, CA on April 2nd.  I'll be looking for some redemption at that distance.

Slow Build

So I’ve finally found a little time to put some thoughts down on paper.  There are lots of changes that I’ve made going into this year from when I started my triathlon adventures last May.  Something I’ll be adding this year are entertaining, hopefully, race recaps where I'll share how the race went from my perspective.
So here are some of the biggest changes and updates for 2016 and my pursuit of the M-Dot.

Physical

To those that have seen me lately, it should go without saying that I’ve dropped a fair amount of mass.  I was walking around in my CrossFit days last year around 205-208# and am now fluctuating within a pound or so of 190#.  Yes, I’ve lost some strength in the gym, but I feel great out there running and still powerful on the bike.  The plan is to get down to around 185#, maybe even 180# just to see what that does with everything.  

Other than the change in figure, I’m pretty healthy overall.  As Brian McKenzie says, being “unscared” is the key for this year. 

Method

One of the biggest changes for 2016 is coming under the tutelage of Michellie Jones. Just google her name, she’s pretty legit. Insert Olympic Silver Medal and Ironman World Champion Title Here.  Quick backstory, I met MJ at the World Special Olympic Games in Los Angeles last August.  I had no idea who see was, but after chatting with her for awhile I decided to google her name and was blown away.  

So, needless to say, she has stepped my training game up and is really pushing me to perform at levels beyond what I thought I’d be able to do right now.

Most of you have seen lots of posts on Instagram and Facebook about the RIDE Triathlon Team that I was selected to be a part of.  It is made up of some great folks ranging from professional triathlete to top age-group athletes.  This has meant a lot of group training which presents a nice supportive environment to push yourself in.  I’d be remised if I didn’t mention the amazing sponsors, as they have really made a lot of this progress possible through their continued support of the team and its athletes.

Superlatives

I suppose the best way to show my evolution would be to present some data (and you know I love data).  Here are some shots of my efforts and training sessions.

Swimming Volume Perspective

Total Yards May-October 2015:  57,930
Total Yards January 2016:  45,548

Half Marathon Comparison

August 2015 -  America's Finest City Half Marathon (471ft elevation gain):  1h38m (Avg Pace 7:26/mile)
[I was resting up for the race in the week preceding]
February 2016 - San Dieguito Half Marathon (715ft elevation gain):  1h29m (Avg Pace 6:50/mile) 
[Training week as normal, completed a 65mile bike ride and 20min T-run the day prior]

Average Percentage per week per sport (January 2016)
January average weekly training time:  11h26m
Swim/Bike/Run

So what’s next

Well the race season is right around the corner for me.  I actually just knocked out a tough little half marathon this weekend in which I ran a sub 1:30, which was good enough for Top 5 in my age group.  Although I have a fair amount of big races this year, the season for me really boils down to Ironman Wisconsin in September.  Well, September 11th to be exact.  As most of you know, I joined the Marine Corps a few years after 9/11/01, ultimately tracing that decision back to this fateful day during my senior year in high school.  

For those that have been asking, the below is a snapshot of my race “plan”.  Some races are planned as of right now and I'll probably be tweaking this the next few weeks to finalize it.

So, that’s it.  Lots of change, but also lots of progress so far. Here’s to a great 2016.

Getting Back in the Saddle - Goal Setting

I'm slowly getting back in the saddle of training following my last race.  I had a nice month traveling the world, allowing for some mental and physical rehab.  Two weeks into December though and it is time to start looking ahead to 2016.  With that in mind, I thought a post of goal setting would be appropriate. The below article was originally written for Carlsbad CrossFit's blog.

Well, we are approaching that time of year again where some will shoot for the stars on resolutions only to be disappointed by late January.  I’m going to offer three helpful hints today about how to go through the goal setting exercise.

Framing

The first step is to do a comprehensive life inventory.  What are your priorities in life: family, work, and/or fitness?  Whatever it may be, this should be guiding you in your goal setting.  Having properly framed where you are can set the stage nicely for assessing what your goals will be.

Organizing

The next step is taking this framed outlook of your life and organizing your goal ideas into different categories.  For ease of use, I typically lump my goals into three general categories:  Mind, Body, and Soul.  Each of these topic areas is fairly self-explanatory.  I’ve found it helpful to have 3-5 goals in each of these categories for a well-balanced plate of goals.

Conducting Research

One of the critical steps for developing SMART goals (see insert) is to do some basic research on your goal.  Trying to lose 10 pounds per week for 4 weeks might sound great on paper and look feasible on The Biggest Loser, but it’s definitely not safe, nor is it recommended.  As you are writing up some ideas for your goals, now is the time to do some basic research and know what you’re signing up for.  Having said that, some of those goals should make you uncomfortable.  Your goals should drive you to take an extra focus on a particular area of your life and seek to achieve beyond what you originally thought possible.

Now that you’ve gone through the above three steps, write out your goals.  It could be on scratch paper, saved electronically, in picture format.  Whatever fits for your personality, do it.  It’s really up to you on how you want to manage the process.

Other Thoughts

Below are some other helpful hints for being successful while working towards your goals.

Plan your day/week around your goals – An easy way to accomplish any goal is to set small milestones along the way. This could be done on a daily basis to make sure you’re always moving forward. (Think food prep for a goal of healthy eating)

Reassess your goals quarterly – Life happens.  Sometimes that means you need to change things around or completely remove a goal.

Add an accountability factor to your goals – Go ahead and publicize your goals (those you’re willing to share) and have the community hold you accountable.

Do not fear failure – Even after going through the process, you’ll likely bite off more than you can chew on some goals.  It’s OK.  Keep grinding. If you come up short, it’s not the end of the world.  There are hundreds of examples of people taking initial failure and turning it into success.

With this in mind, it's time for me to go set some goals for 2016.

The Transition Zone (Short Synopsis of my 7 months doing Triathlons)

Why?

A lot of people (mostly CrossFitters) have asked me why I decided to start doing triathlons.  The honest answer is, someone told me I should do Ironman Wisconsin with them and I said yes.  So, me being me, I decided to jump right in.  I put IM WI 2016 on the calendar and started working back from there.  As some of you know, I had a pretty major surgery at the end of March which required me to take about a month off.  During this time I started doing my training research and happened to drop about 15 pounds in the process (the preponderance of this being muscle).

2015 SO World Games 

w/ Heather Jackson

Training Approach

Without too much thought, I immediately looked to CrossFit Endurance (CFE).  Having done CrossFit since early 2006, it was a no brainer for me to believe in the methodology.  I have tried the long, slow duration (LSD) training methods in the past and I honestly would always end up injured in some way.  So, when I was finally able to start working out again in May, I just started following the CFE main site workouts.  I will not take time out here to explain the methodology or structure of the program, but the website has a great FAQ section to help walk you through it.  During this period I participated in two different triathlons at two different distances.  My first race was the San Diego International in June, followed up by the Special Olympics World Games Unified Triathlon which was a sprint.  In both, I had a fairly good showing for my first two races.  If you’re interested, the results are here and here.

The Plan (12 weeks out)

For 2015, I only selected one “A” race.  I landed on the Los Cabos 70.3 at the end of October.  Knowing that I do better following a regimented training program, I reached out to the CFE staff to see what kind of resources they had available.  As luck would have it, the team was publishing some structured training programs, one of which was for the 70.3.  So, starting 12 weeks out, I began the training program.  I only made slight modifications throughout the 12 weeks and most of those were driven by work related travel requirements.  

The program was extremely user-friendly.  Being a tri newbie, I had only heard stories about how much training time you have to put in.  I’m happy to report that the CFE methodology lets you have a life outside of training by not requiring you to long hundreds of miles per week.  People were always surprised by how little I was training in comparison. As it got time for my taper one week out, I felt fresh and ready to go for Cabo.

The Race

Well, the 70.3 was officially the first time I had ever swam, biked, or run that distance in any combination.  Prior to the race, I had only swam the 1.2 miles once (in a pool) and biked over 56 miles once (not part of the program - crazy neighbor tricked me into a death ride, but that’s a better blog post about how important nutrition is during long efforts).

Swim:  

The day before the race it was announced that we would not be allowed to wear wetsuits because of the water temp.  Strike 1 for me.  Being a taller guy with big legs, I love the fact that the wetsuit helps float my lower body behind me.  Fortunately the swim was a rolling start so I didn’t have to have a battle royale right when I ran into the ocean.  I’m a middle of the pack swimmer and that is pretty much where I ended up.  The only two comments I have on the swim were: 1) I swallowed a solid pint of salt water at about the 1,200m mark and spent the rest of the swim coughing and hacking through my burning throat, and 2) Because I couldn’t wear my wetsuit, I was forced to swim in my full sleeve tri-suit that ended up chaffing my right arm-pit pretty bad.  Nevertheless, I made it out of the water around 37 minutes in one piece.

Bike:  

Lesson learned here, do a route recon of the bike course.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a car down at the race so hopping on my bike in T1 was the first time I was going to see the bike course.  All said, there was just under 3,900 ft of elevation gain on the bike course.  This makes Los Cabos one of the hilliest 70.3 bike courses in the world.  The bike went well for me, although there was certainly some laboring on the hills during the last 20 or so miles.  One thing to note here is that I pretty much did the bike 100% on "feel".  This is something that I will be changing going forward.  I have plans to purchase a power meter so that I can ensure I'm working in the correct zone throughout the race.  Just based on the data I pulled off my Garmin, I know I was overexerting myself on some of the hills and taking it too easy on some of the flats.  I used the bike to suck down a ton of water, 3FU3L, some bars and gels.  

Proud to be rocking the W

Run:  

This was without a doubt where my race started.  I’d like to think of myself as a pretty strong runner in comparison to the average joe.  However, today was not my day.  Looking back, there was a whole lot of mental lapses over the course of the 13.1 miles.  It all started off when I dropped my Base Salt container coming out of T2, but didn’t have this realization until I went to grab the tube at mile marker 1.  Strike 2.  Over the course of the next few miles, I started to pay too much attention to my watch and pace (or lack of pace).  For me, this was pretty frustrating and caused me to deal with some negative self-talk at times.  I finally settled in and chugged out the rest of the race.  It was extremely hot out there and I used each aid station as a time to shove ice anywhere I could.  Somehow, with all that I still managed to gain a few places on the run.

All said and done, I placed 103rd overall and 16th in my division (30-34).  

Swim: 37:53, Bike: 2:46:41, Run: 2:01:31 Overall: 5:31:16

This was around 30 minutes off my goal time, but I'm content in the finish

Next up

So what’s next for me?  Well, I’m currently on the first leg of a three week road trip.  Since the race, I’ve jumped back into some basic CrossFit training with the good old people at Carlsbad CrossFit, just to keep the body moving.  Outside of a slight ache in my right shin, my body feels great after the race.  2016 is the year of the Ironman for me.  I’ll be taking part in three 70.3 races, as well as some others local events, to accompany the full Ironman in September.  I’ll be sticking with CFE to get me ready for the races and injury free.

This blog started out as a forced experiment for my MBA, took a two post turn into vegetarian eating, and will now become my training blog/rant platform.