{"id":330,"date":"2020-03-09T16:24:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T16:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2020-03-09T18:11:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T18:11:47","slug":"desert-tri-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/09\/desert-tri-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"PlayTri Desert Tri 2020 Olympic Distance – Race Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails” ~William Arthur Ward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 suck, love the pain, and survive the unpredictable treachery of the course while forming a bond like that of an exclusive secret society; one that with a mere nod of the head or a knowing grin acknowledges those mentally tough enough to swim through 25mph headwind white caps for 500 meters more than planned, or heed the lifeguard’s instruction to go ashore for safety without accepting defeat, and then go on to complete the rest of the race. It’s a bond that most people can’t comprehend but admire from a distance nonetheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swim was rough. As the second wave of athletes started to line up, the wind began gusting so hard that the anchored buoys that mark the course blew across the lake and onto shore at the other end. I, and most of the swimmers around me, did not realize this had happened until we had swum the full length of the lake, well past the turnaround point, and could see the yellow inflatable pyramids we were chasing had been beached. Being an obedient rule follower, I turned and went 50ish yards north as though the course was still marked, before heading back up the middle of the lake into the strong headwind. I took in an even 1:1 ratio of air and water each breath, from the ataxic waves that would appear as I turned to breathe or from the spray the wind blew off of my arm coming out of the water to reach for my next stroke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good thing about this swim is that by the time I made it to shore to head toward transition, I was so thankful to be done swimming that I didn’t care how the rest of the day went. It took away any pressure or expectation I put on myself to perform, and by the time I got out on the bike, I surprised myself how good my legs felt and how strong and steady my spin cadence was. I won’t try to compare numbers to last year’s performance because it was a different race. On the bike, the wind was still strong, but I tucked in and tried to slip through it as aerodynamically as possible. On the run, I still felt strong and kept a steady pace; slower than I would normally expect for this distance, but a pace I felt I could double down and hopefully hold close to at Oceanside 70.3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My tenacity to hold fast and stay strong throughout paid off. I finished atop the podium for the 40-44 age group that I joined this year. And while winning always feels good, I had far more fun celebrating the accomplishments of my friends and strengthening our triathlete bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“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 suck, love the pain, and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13,11,6],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SCS_9891-ZF-4141-76755-1-001-001-scaled.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9IVlY-5k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/09\/desert-tri-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"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":179,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/31\/solana-beach-triathlon-2018-race-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":1},"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":302,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/08\/oc-triathlon-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":2},"title":"OC Triathlon 2019 - race report","date":"June 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Official Time: 02:36:061.5k Swim: 00:33:03T1: 00:01:5040k Bike: 01:11:02T2: 00:02:1210k Run: 00:48:02Overall: 48th of 41635-39 AG: 2nd of 30 In 2014, after completing my third sprint distance race and getting completely hooked on the sport, I decided it was time to do a longer event. The Olympic distance (1.5k (.93 mi)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/SCS_5543-ZF-1408-05527-1-001-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":138,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/06\/new-blog-category-triathlon\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":3},"title":"New blog category: Triathlon","date":"March 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As I described on the about me page, I started this blog at the beginning of my deployment to Afghanistan in 2016. But, by the time I reached the second half of my time there, I was too busy to stop and write about my experience. Now that I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/13\/newport-dunes-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":4},"title":"Newport Dunes Triathlon 2018 - Race Report","date":"December 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"November 4, 2018 Olympic Distance Official Time: 02:16:251500m Swim: 00:23:10T1: 00:01:3640k Bike: 01:04:51T2: 00:01:2410k Run: 00:45:24Overall: 9th of 18335-39 AG: 3rd of 24 I\u2019m 2 races behind on my blog now, so I\u2019ll try to be brief to get through them both. I came into Newport Dunes with very low\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/img_0641.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":216,"url":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/02\/missionbaytri2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":5},"title":"Xterra Mission Bay Triathlon 2018 - Race Report","date":"October 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Xterra Wetsuits Mission Bay Triathlon, 2018 - International distance triathlon official time: 02:03:33 1k swim: 00:16:43 38k bike: 01:02:49 9k run: 00:40:12 overall: 23rd of 246 military division: 4th of 15 \"If you ain't first you're last\" ~Reese Bobby I'm writing this while sitting in the waiting room at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/chrisdonlon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/img_0526-e1538544254184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"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=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisdonlon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}