I registered for Oceanside as an excuse to visit my old roommate and good
friend Jessica. Plus who wouldn't want to go to San Diego. It's perfect there! I
however didn't think we were going to be stuck in a continuos winter vortex
making training a nightmare here in DC. With that said I spent way to many hours
on my trainer and was only able to do a handful of bike rides outside. Oh and
motivating yourself to go run when it's in the teens and the feel like temp is
even colder, yeah not fun. I'm not sure I will ever do a March 70.3 again.
Training in the winter sucked. But at any rate I pushed through it and even
though it wasn't my best training cycle I felt ready to race even though I
wasn't expecting much.
This is a the first race that wasn't in driving distance to me. So, my bike
made it there before I did since I used tri bike transport. I think it is a
great service however I was disappointed that I actually couldn't roll my bike
from their tent to my rack as advertised. We had to rack the morning of and they
did not offer morning services. So a rental car it was. ugh. inconvenient
Anyhow, my friend lives in San Diego which is about an hour from Oceanside
so we were out the door early the morning of the race. We made it there with
plenty of time to spare. This is a two transition race so we set up our run
stuff then rode our bike (about a mile) to T1 and the swim start. My wave
started around 7:30 so I had some time to hang out. I basically wished Jason
good luck since he started around 7 and then put my wetsuit on and ate the rest
of my snacks. My big mistake of the morning. Not putting enough slide glide on
my neck. OMG why did I make this mistake?
Swim: 1.2 miles, 36:40 (1:53/100m
pace)
This was an in the water start, so we had to swim out to the first buoy. I
liked this as the cold 60 degree water wasn't as big of a shock and it was nice
to get used to it before the gun went off. I positioned myself in the middle
near the buoys. Once started I couldn't find any open water and was getting
stuck behind people swimming slower than me. Once I finally found some open
space I felt pretty good. I've never done a swim in salt water before and I
hated it. I'd accidentally sallow the salt water and gag and almost throw up. It
was nasty. Other than the salt the water was calm and made for a good swim.
After the turn around it seemed to take forever and I didn't think the swim was
ever going to end. I also felt my neck rubbing after about 10 minutes in and
knew I was going to have the biggest wetsuit hickey ever! But at that point
there's not much you can do about it but try to swim faster to get out of the
water faster so your neck can stop hurting. I was happy to be finished and had
the volunteers help unzip the top part of my wetsuit.
T1: 3:51
It was somewhat a long run into T1 from the water on a little strip of
carpet rolled out. I didn't waste anytime and off on the bike I went.
Bike: 56 miles, 3:01:19 (18.53mph)
Well this was my worst bike split ever, but I'm not surprised. The course
itself had some climbs that I just wasn't expecting and some nasty head and
cross winds. Out of T1 the first thing I did was drink lots of water to get all
that nasty salt water out of my mouth. The first 20 miles or so were good and I
think I was right around 20mph. I really was just enjoying the nice sunny
weather and had a smile on my face. I was so happy to be riding outside and not
freezing my ass off! There was some no pass zones and at every single one I got
stuck behind someone going super slow.... 8mph on a flat? Come on. 20 mph down
hill, ugh. 14mph the entire last mile. rage. Anyhow, some people were walking
their bikes up the big climb. I was proudly going 4mph. lolz. After the big
hills we faced terrible head winds from miles 30 - 40 or so. Maybe it was a
false flat but I couldn't seem to go faster than 12 mph and my legs were
burning. The last 10 miles of the course were great and I was clipping out
around 22, that is until the last mile when I got stuck behind Mr slow poke and
couldn't pass him. Overall I had fun on the course and was happy to be riding
even if I was on the slow side.
T2: 1:55
Not sure what the hell I was doing in here. I fumbled around with both my
bike and run garmins. Then I used the porta-potties. I just couldn't bring
myself to pee on the bike. Maybe when I'm going after a 70.3 slot I'll pee on
myself :)
Run: 13.1 miles, 1:50:48 (8:27 pace)
I was happy to be on my feet as I usually am. Once I'm out of the water and
off my bike I know I can finish the race. It's was a two loop course that runs
along the coast line then around a little neighborhood. It offers no shade. Just
pretty palm trees and ocean views. It was hot but I felt great pretty much the
entire first loop despite overheating and taking sponges at the aid stations. I
kept telling myself I'm going to go sub 1:50. Woot. However, the second loop
told a different story for me. I was taking coke, IM perform, and water pretty
much at every aid station. I was really scared I was going to bonk like I did at
my last ironman. No bonking but my stomach started giving me issues and I
thought I might poo myself but I really didn't want to take the time to go. My
miles got slower and it was hard to keep them in the high 8s. However, the time
was still passing by quickly in my head and before I knew I could see the finish
line. I put a smile on my face and tried to look pretty for my picture as I
finished :)
Finish: 5:34:33 - 18th in my AG
Overall I had such a fun time at this race and am super excited now to race
again. I loved CA and I loved there weather. This is def a great race to travel
too! I also think it's kind of neat that I was 18th out of the water and
finished 18th. I never changed spots! That's so strange. Anyhow, now to somehow
shave 15 - 20 minutes off my time. Ha.
