Carlsbad Sprint Triathlon 2011

4th year in a row!

Wow, I can’t believe that 4 years ago I did my first triathlon. That seems so crazy and I definitely have come a long way since then. This Carlsbad race has been so good to me and it’s definitely one of my most favorite sprints of all time. The ocean swim is perfect, the bike is a perfect mix of flats and ups and downs, and the run is a smooth straightaway. Muy bien.

The exciting part about this year was that there were going to be 3 Naumans competing in the race!

Yup, Garrison signed up along with me and my Dad and he actually committed to doing it. Thus, the madre was going to be the chauffer and the videographer for the day!

We picked up our packet the day before at the Health Expo in San Diego, and that was a bit of an annoying drive just to get down there for our packets. But we got all ready and set up on Saturday night so that we were good to go early on Sunday!

Wakeup time (much to Garrison’s discontent): 5:00am.

We drove down to Carlsbad and parked in the neighborhood area like usual near the Tamarack State Beach. We got there at 6:20am and thought we had gotten there with plenty of time because transition wasn’t supposed to open til 6:30am. Well, it did open then, but just like last year there was a long line extending down the beach walkway with triathletes and their bicycles just waiting around to get into transition. We had to walk all the way down to the end of the line and double back just to get into the transition area and start setting up. From experience, I knew the drill with those port-o-potties and the long line, so I dropped my stuff down right away and stood in line for the bathroom.

I set my stuff up like usual and just hung around with Dad and Garrison mulling over the usual stuff and making sure we had all the necessary items for our area. Pre-triathlon moments are very boring and filled with anxiety. All the races I’ve done so far this year have been filled with a lot of waiting around for the race to start in the mornings.. what’s up with that.

Swim= 15:51

The swim this year was gnarly! The waves were coming in with some pretty big sets and everyone was pretty weary as we were leading up to the race start.

Garrison’s wave started at 8:15, Dad’s at 8:20, and mine at 8:30. Because I was so many waves back, I was watching all of the people ahead get smashed by some of the pretty big waves. Because I’m a crazy person and I love the ocean, I was actually psyched about the huge waves and the strong current because that totally plays as an advantage to me.

My swim time from last year was a 14:27 and it wasn’t even good for that course because the year before I did a 13:22 and the year before that was also in the 13 minute range. So it’s pretty clear that the currents were super strong and this year’s swim was much more of a struggle than the years before.

Regardless, I pushed through the current and dodged a lot of people to get into shore as fast as possible. My swim exit was a little sloppy and I think I stood up to soon to try and run out. But overall, definitely a struggle and not my most graceful swim.

T1= NA

Bike= 0:44:11

Average power = 184

Average speed = 22.67

There was at least one girl out of the water before me and she was at my rack when I got there to grab my bike. Lucky for me, she decided to take the time to put socks on before heading out on the bike, so I caught up in no time and we were actually off on the course at the same time.

Tip from last year that I remembered was putting my bike in the lowest gear possible to climb up that hill coming out of the transition area.

I ended up going back and forth with that girl from my rack and after the second time, I decided to just hang back and keep her in my sight for the first half of the bike, and then gun it home for the back half has hard as I could. If I passed her, so be it, and if not then it would just keep being annoying. The plan worked out very well because I had so much energy for that back half that I was able to speed by her and a few guys who were also playing around me and hold them off all the way to the transition area.

Last year’s bike time was listed as a 44:37 so I was just barely under that time this year. I actually felt really powerful like I mentioned and I was moving on that back half of the course like a bat out of hell. My average power for the whole course was 185. My average power for the last section that I booked it was 205! Hell yeaaaah.

Well now, I just went through my standings for this bike and I did pretty well! I had the 4^th fastest female bike split! That means I’m moving closer to my goal of the fastest bike split at College Tri Nats next year! Wel… besides the fact that one of the women who beat me was 55 years old (she beat my by 1 second), I guess that was a good bike split haha.

I know I’m definitely in California when I have the 5^th fastest swim time and the 4^th fastest bike time…

T2= NA

Run = 0:25:41

Run pace = 8:16

Last year’s run was blistering at a 23:44 and the year before that was actually a 24:38. Which is really disheartening because that’s when I didn’t consider myself a good runner. I was in such a good position and in such good shape.. but I got a stupid CRAMP on the second mile somewhere after that steep hill.

Mile 1 was fantastic! It was right around 7:30, and I felt great running with some tall guy who told me to stick with him. At the top of that hill, the cramp jabbed into me and that was the end of my ability to sprint. It was in the worst spot where I couldn’t dig my fingers into it to make it go away. I just tried to control my breathing and ignore the fact that it felt like a knife was jabbing into my right ribcage while I was attempting to sprint.

When it finally went away I was back to sprinting up the hill to the finish and redeeming the slow pace from the cramp. Unfortunately it just wasn’t enough and I was bummed when I crossed the line out of breath.

Overall time = 1:25:44

Yep, just slightly slower than last year due to the run and the swim time. But that’s okay. This was just a little practice sprint race and it’s not like I was expecting much. I mean, actually I was expecting a good run time, which was disappointing because it didn’t happen.. but I can’t really complain with all the busy crap that’s been getting in the way of my usual training. I guess back to back trips to South Carolina and Alaska might have inhibited my normal training routine leading up to this.

Now we’re looking to the future and the upcoming hectic craziness that is the back half of the 2011 Tri Season!

I’ve got zero races for the rest of my time in California. I wanted to keep it more mellow this summer because of the job and the fact that I have so many races in the Fall with Stevens and whatnot. The new addition that just recently happened was my entry into the USAT Age Group National Championship in Vermont on August 20^th! After a short-lived scare of thinking I wasn’t getting in because I was put on a waitlist, I got a confirmation email and I am now good to go for Vermont!

I’ll put up a post sometime later to highlight the upcoming NECTC Season and Age Group Nats!