Race Report: Desert Tri, 2018

Desert Tri, Lake Cahuilla, La Quinta , CA
March 4, 2018

Expo/Packet Pickup/Wetsuit decontamination:

After a lunch visit with my wife’s grandparents who live about 30 minutes away from the race site, I got to the expo just in time for the final course talk and wetsuit dunk. By this point in the afternoon, the wind was blowing so hard that none of the transition fences, blue houses or bike racks stood upright. The wind continued to howl through the night, diminishing my hopes for a good race the next day.

Race Day:

I got up early to pack the car and ready my bike and transition setup. I dragged my feet a bit getting the family up and moving because the wind was still so strong that I seriously considered forfeiting the race fee and going home because the risk of being blown off the road on my new tri bike didn’t seem worth it. But by the time the car was packed and we checked out of our timeshare, the wind died down and the sun came out and it started to resemble a nice day.

It was really nice that the transition area did not close before wave 1 start; wasn’t rushed through transition setup just to stand around in my wetsuit waiting.

Did a quick swim warmup; not even enough to qualify as a warm up because the water was frigid. The rest of the wait time was spent hanging out with the Endurance House Oceanside team, which was a really nice way to stave of pre-race jitters.

On Your Mark…:

Swim start wasn’t bad; cold water shock only lasted a minute, the field of competitors was small enough that I easily avoided the chaos and churn with an outside line. The distance felt long and my split was a little slower than expected, but we live and die by the Garmin gods who say that the course was at most 50 extra meters, so I’m gonna blame the cold water. Spotting was difficult with the bright sun glare on the water, even with polarized goggles, but I seemed to be able to maintain good lines without too much deviation.

T1 went smoothly right up until the mounting line… “I’ve lost a shoe- it’s like the exact opposite of this one, not like an evil version or anything but just for the other foot…” (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 2008)

I am pretty adept at the flying mount, and even though I mentally acknowledged the uphill start of the bike course, I was confident I could still pull it off and avoid the awkward run in bike shoes out of transition area. The trick to the flying mount is to stomp on the pedal with your foot on top of your already-clipped-in bike shoe for a quarter crank, giving you just enough momentum to swing your other leg over the seat and position your foot on top of the other shoe and pedal that is waiting for you at a 12:00 position. From here you can pedal a little further, pick up some momentum and then quickly slip your feet into the shoes and strap them down. However, on the uphill start, the quarter-turn momentum was not enough to stay upright and I had to crank the pedals around another rev in order not to fall over, but my right foot only got to the bottom of the pedal with the shoe underneath, so when the cranks went around, the right shoe created a speed bump effect under the pedal and popped out. I then had to stop, dismount and turn around to go get my evil twin shoe, put it on, clip in and then start going again – wasting twice the amount of time I might have saved with a successful mount, while giving Matt Houston, Endurance House Oceanside shop owner, the opportunity to capture the entire debacle with what could be the saddest or funniest series of action shots ever taken of me.

Once I got going, my nutrition plan went out the window –literally. I had one bottle mounted between my arms with a mixture of Gu Roctane and Scratch to create a tasty pineapple tea flavored cocktail with ample electrolytes and carbs to get me through the bike and out on the run. Luckily, I also had a couple backup gels in my bento and an aero bottle on the down tube with plain water.

The stretch of road to get out of the regional park was rough; previously described by the race director as the launch pad because of the number of water bottles that fly out of their bottle cages here. After steering around a few bpa free casualties, my Endurance House branded bottle of delicious tea flew out of the cage like a flat bill hat on a speed boat and was gone forever.

The rest of the bike course was a nice and flat two-lap block with a light wind (cross, tail or head depending on which leg of the square you were on). I normalized a little over 230 watts and averaged about 22 mph for a 1hr 5min split.

T2 was average; socks-shoes-hat-sunglasses-racebelt in 1:30 and we’re off and running.

Run was slower than I’d like but I’m not too worried about my performance for the first race of the season. Also, the run course reconfirmed my strong dislike for trail running. I don’t care for having to vary my stride for uneven terrain or the treadmill effect that comes with running on loose gravel/sand. Suffice it to say I was glad to hear that when we come back in December for Ironman 70.3, the run course will be out on the road instead of the dirt trails and gravel parking lots around the lake.

Inspite of the terrain, one great thing about the course was that you pass by the transition/spectator/finish area at least 4 times. I had a ton of cheer support from my family, coach Dea and Matt, and teammates out on the course who helped keep me on about a 7:50 average pace for a sub 50 minute split – Slower than I want to be but all factors considered, I’m happy with my finish of 2:25:32 overall for 1st place in the military division.