March 3, 2019
Olympic Distance
Official Time: 02:18:51
1500m Swim: 00:23:05
T1: 00:01:43
40k Bike: 01:05:45
T2: 00:01:21
10k Run: 00:46:55
Overall: 32nd of 279
Military Division: 2nd of 8
Hi. I’m back. The winter race hibernation officially ended with an epic race weekend in La Quinta, CA. It was my second time racing the olympic distance at Desert Tri so there will be a some tri-geek analysis and numbers comparisons in this race report – enjoy.
| Olympic Distance | 2018 | 2019 |
| Swim | 0:27:44 | 0:23:05 |
| T1 | 0:01:49 | 0:01:43 |
| Bike | 1:05:33 | 1:05:45 |
| T2 | 0:01:30 | 0:01:21 |
| Run | 0:48:54 | 0:46:55 |
| Finish | 2:25:32 | 2:18:51 |
This year my family had other things going on, like little league opening day (that got rained out) and grad school papers due, so my cheer squad stayed home. This allowed me the opportunity to spend the weekend with my training team in a huge communal house and help out at the PlayTri booth at the expo. This was the first year the race held an expo and PlayTri Oceanside was the title sponsor, so it made for a busy and eventful Saturday. Despite the afternoon wind gusts that nearly blew the entire store’s worth of merchandise over, the house was really nice and it was a lot of fun to spend time with friends who were also racing.
Swim:
Less than a week before raceday, it was announced that the water temperature was 52 degrees, so we all prepared for a painfully cold start to the day. Luckily, the lake is shallow and the desert sun was out all week so by the first swim wave start it was a perfect 60+ degrees in the water and air was about the same, and rising.
I recently discovered an inefficiency in my swim stroke that was slowing me down and causing some nagging shoulder pain, so as the gun went off and I settled into a rhythm, I had something to focus on: a stronger catch starting with my finger tips and keeping the elbows high. I made a couple breakthroughs on the swim in the last year and today the payoff shined through. I finished the 1500 in 23:05, where last year it took me 27:45. With nearly a 5 minute savings over my last Desert Tri, I was off on the bike.
Bike:
Last year, I had a fairly comical mishap at the ‘mount line’ that included losing a shoe and having to stop and go back for it. I start every race with a flying mount – where my cycling shoes are already clipped into my pedals, I run and jump onto the bike and slip my feet into the shoes while pedaling away – because the cleats to my pedals are extremely slick and I’d rather risk last year’s scenario than break my ankle running through transition in the cycling shoes. At this race, the flying mount is extra risky because the mount line is on an incline so it is hard to keep the bike rolling while trying to get your feet in or on the bike shoes. Luckily, redemption was mine and embarrassment avoided this time around.
My performance on the bike was… meh. The thought even occurred to me while out on the course, “I should be working harder than this… I’m out of practice for short-course… I can’t seem to let go of the ‘conservation mode’ from the last time I was on these roads for 70.3 Indian Wells.” My normalized average power output was only 216 watts and there was a headwind for the longest portion of the course; last year I averaged 236 watts and the air was still.
Here’s the beautiful silver lining though, my average speed last year was 22.2 mph, this year 22.0 mph. Last year I finished the bike course in 1:05:33 and this year in 1:05:45! The non-cycling-geek translation is that by working on a more aerodynamic position on the bike (lowering the handlebars) and adding a full carbon wheelset over the off-season, I was able to use less energy to get the same result.
Run:
As soon as I set out on the run, I remembered how much I hate trail running, especially in soft, loose dirt mixed with random ankle-breaking river rocks. Actually, I never forgot how much I don’t like this run course, but the beauty of triathlon is the conditions are generally the same for everyone and it becomes a contest of who can embrace the suck and get through it the fastest.
I just tried to focus on form and finding lines with as much solid ground as I
With an overall finish time of 2:18:51, within 2.5 minute’s reach of my PR for Olympic distance, and a second place division podium, I am very encouraged by the start of this season and am ready to buckle down for Oceanside 70.3.