After a lunch visit with my wife\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Race Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n It was really nice that the transition area did not close before wave 1 start; wasn\u2019t rushed through transition setup just to stand around in my wetsuit waiting.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n On Your Mark\u2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swim start wasn\u2019t 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\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n T1 went smoothly right up until the mounting line… \u201cI\u2019ve lost a shoe- it\u2019s like the exact opposite of this one, not like an evil version or anything but just for the other foot\u2026\u201d (Forgetting Sarah Marshall<\/em>, 2008)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Once I got going, my nutrition plan went out the window \u2013literally. 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.<\/p>\n The stretch of road to get out of the regional park was rough; previously described by the race director as the launch pad<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n T2 was average; socks-shoes-hat-sunglasses-racebelt in 1:30 and we\u2019re off and running.<\/p>\n Run was slower than I\u2019d like but I\u2019m 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 Slower than I want to be but all factors considered, I\u2019m happy with my finish of 2:25:32 overall for 1st place in the military division.<\/p>\n Desert Tri, Lake Cahuilla, La Quinta , CA March 4, 2018 Expo\/Packet Pickup\/Wetsuit decontamination: After a lunch visit with my wife\u2019s 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… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9IVlY-26","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/09\/desert-tri-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":0},"title":"PlayTri Desert Tri 2019 Olympic distance - Race Report","date":"March 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"March 3, 2019 Olympic Distance Official Time: 02:18:511500m Swim: 00:23:05T1: 00:01:4340k Bike: 01:05:45T2: 00:01:2110k Run: 00:46:55Overall: 32nd of 279Military 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SCS_9436-ZF-0766-29763-1-001-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":330,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/09\/desert-tri-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":1},"title":"PlayTri Desert Tri 2020 Olympic Distance - Race Report","date":"March 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails\" ~William Arthur Ward 2020 PlayTri Desert Tri was WINDY. But one of my favorite things about triathlon is no matter how adverse the conditions are, everyone races in them together. We embrace the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SCS_9891-ZF-4141-76755-1-001-001-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/14\/cvc-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":2},"title":"Chula Vista Challenge Half 2018 Race Report","date":"August 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Chula Vista Challenge Half, 2018 \u2013 Long Course Aquabike (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike) official time: 3:13:23 swim: 34:38 bike: 2:37:40 overall: 5th of 37 1-49 age group: 3rd of 11 A day of firsts\u2026 This weekend was supposed to be my first 70.3, half Ironman distance race. Instead,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/img_0419-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":250,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/13\/im703-indian-wells-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":3},"title":"Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta 2018 - Race Report","date":"December 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Official Time: 05:00:501.2 mile Swim: 00:36:06T1: 00:04:0556 mile Bike: 02:28:01T2: 00:02:5613.1 mile Run: 01:49:42Overall: 249th of 306335-39 AG: 34th of 310 What a weekend. It was the perfect culmination of a long season of hard work and progress in my pursuit of continual improvement. The 2018 season has been a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Indian-Card1A-770.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":179,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/31\/solana-beach-triathlon-2018-race-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":4},"title":"Solana Beach Triathlon 2018 Race Report","date":"July 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Solana Beach Triathlon - Sprint Distance July 29, 2018, Solana Beach, California The path to calf strain recovery has been long, longer than I thought it should have been. After a week of carefully running at 8-8:30 pace, I started to think I was back and ready to do the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":172,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/27\/sdit-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":130,"position":5},"title":"San Diego International Triathlon 2018 race report","date":"June 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After my last sprint race, I pulled a calf muscle as described in previous posts. I stopped running for about 4 weeks to let it heal but then as I eased back into it, I stepped on some uneven terrain and re-injured the day before spending nearly 25 hours in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/img_0370-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ea585aec-3bab-4922-bfab-4badf766154a.jpg\")
<\/p>\n