California International Triathlon (CIT) was a fun race before Ironman Boulder. The goal was to mainly use this opportunity to practice three things:
- Morning nutrition - 300 cals of Ensure
- Fast transitions
- New setup with bike mount for 920XT
The plan was to basically go tempo on the swim, stay at sweet-spot on the bike and go all out on the run. Happy to say that I achieved all my goals and then a bit more - an age-group win!
Woke up at 3:30 AM. Drank some coffee to get the motion going. Having dinner the previous day at 6 PM worked really well to clean the system well before the race. Downed a bottle of Ensure (150 cals) in the car on the way to the race. Reached there at 5:30 AM and got down to business (setting up transition) right away. Unlike some people who are "in the zone" prior to the race, I like looking around, checking out the fit people, the super bikes and the cool gear! I setup my transition spot as close to Bike Out as possible as I didn't want to click-clack through the transition with my biking shoes. Went for round 2 at 6:15 and came back to T for a final gear check. Headed over to the beach for swim start at 6:40. At the last minute I realized I forgot to eat my pre-swim gel, so quickly ran back to transition and downed a gel.
1.5K Swim: 23:16 (1:25/100yd)
I was able to get in 2-3 minutes of warmup which made a world of a difference. Without a warmup my shoulders start seizing up in the first 500 meters of the swim. I started out hard for the first 200 meters and then settled into a tempo pace. I was able to hold a fairly straight line to the buoys. It was a triangular course and I had to weave through a lot of people from the previous wave up to the second buoy, after which it thinned out. I then made a beeline to the exit arch.
T1: 1:09
Pretty happy with my T1 time. Coming out of the water, I had to tell myself to NOT slow down to catch my breath. Mount strap for 920XT made it very easy to switch the watch to the bike and as an additional benefit, it made it easy to remove the wetsuit sleeve. Put on the bike shoes (sock-less) and ran out of T1 to the mount line.
40K Bike: 1:05:37 (23 mph, 213W NP) - Oly Bike PR
It was a pretty fast bike course. First 10 miles were gentle uphill with some steeper sections and rest of the course was downhill and rolling. I like chasing and this time I was chasing Snickers. He was right within my sight until the turn around after which he took off and disappeared. Justin passed me on the way back as well. Overall only 4-5 really fast people passed me on the bike, whom I would pass back later on the run. I was hoping to rest my legs a bit after the turn around but I never got a chance. Being a light-weight rider, downhills and flats are not good for me as I lack the momentum to get away with soft pedaling. My HR was 170+ the whole time and I eventually switched the 920XT screen to show speed/distance and just ignored the HR. Before I knew it, we were entering T2 and I was able to do a smooth flying dismount.
T2: 1:04
Could have been 15 seconds faster if it wasn't for a minor snafu. As I racked the bike, I forgot to unclip the 920XT from the bike, so had to go back to get it. Other than that, T2 was perfectly executed - put on Vaseline-lined socks, shoes with quick-laces, grab bib belt and hat and go go go!
10K Run: 38:05 (6:07 min/mi) - Oly Run PR
It took a few minutes for the legs to adapt but soon settled in low threshold pace. HR was soaring and I decided to ignore the HR and listen to the legs. The course was all on dirt trails with a few small stingers, of which I walked up the steepest section of one. I tried to take full advantage of the corresponding downhills and the momentum that followed. The pain went on increasing steadily throughout the run. On the second loop I passed at least 6 people including 4 who has passed me on the bike. Following the directions to the "finish" at the fork on a multi-loop course always feels good.
Result Stats:
Olympic distance PR - 2:09:12
1st/47 in age-group 35-39
9th/407 overall
6th fastest run split
Olympic, 70.3 or full, they all hurt equally bad. What differs is just the duration of suffering. A recovery week now and then the final build for IM Boulder!
Here's a pic of me, accepting the winner's award (thanks to Saurabh for snapping the pic and lending me his TF trucker hat for the awards) -
