For some crazy reason, I thought this race would be a good idea. It would be my 4th 70.3 of the year, and it was right in our own backyard. The ocean by the Ritz in Dana Point is fantastic, the bike ride up Ortega highway is not something you can do at all unless its closed, and a flat run along the beach sounded like a piece of cake.
Check in was on saturday and you had to sit through a tortuous orientation for almost an hour and then get in line with everyone else for your packet. I got there around 4pm and got to my hotel around 6pm. I was staying 5 minutes from the start, which meant I could get more beauty sleep.
I had my pre race chicken parmigiana and caesar salad combo with my brother in law Tom. I enjoyed a couple of sierra nevadas to get me ready for bed. Hey, it worked at Vineman.
I woke up at 3am to eat about 800 calories and then went back to sleep til 4:30am. I got dressed and was in my car by 4:50 and to the parking lot by 5:00am. It was pretty dark out.
I set up in transition, and took a little nap on the grass and then headed out to the beach at 6:30. I was in the 5th wave at 7:12am 7am start for clydes, elites and relays, then a wave of all women, then 2 waves of men, then my wave. The walk down from transition to the beach start was at least 1/2 a mile. And you had to walk down a pretty steep dirt hill, which we would re
turn to on the run--twice. Run up it once in a wetsuit, run down it twice on the run.The starting area was pretty high tech for the swim. Some volunteer dragged her foot across the sand, i.e. the proverbial line in the sand. Good for some, bad for others. My wave went off, and I was the 3rd person to the first buoy and then I drafted off a guy in my age group for about 1500m. He then couldn't swim straight so I passed him and cruised in for the last 400m. Swim was pretty flat, as you can see behind me. Only one little breaker to get through of about 1-2 feet. A little kelp. Water was 67 and felt really nice. Swim time was 25:20.
I came out of the water and then trudged up the hill pulling off my wetsuit. I breezed out of T1 and the first thing you do, is climb a steep path through the tunnel and out of the Ritz Cove. T1 was 3:53 (long due the ridiculous run from the ocean).
After climbing out of T1, the bike flattens and then has one steep downhill at mile 2 and then flat for 8 miles until you get to Ortega Highway. On this section there are about 10 miles of rollers and then 10 miles of grade at an average of 4-6%. Overall, there is 3,000 feet of climbing on this ride. The turnaround at Mile 28 leads you into pretty much a fast downhill back to T2 except for that big hill at mile 54. Didn't realize it going down, but coming up the grade was 12-14%. Nice little leg crusher before you hit the run! Great group of spectators on that hill though. Bike time was 3:03:14 which is close to where I thought I would be. Only bad thing about the bike was that the aid stations had gatorade sport bottles, but arrowhead water bottles with no sport tops. I asked for a water got that and it all spilled out in the first half mile. And then I missed gatorade at the last aid station. I rode the last half hour without anything to drink -- bad mistake on my part.
T2 was set up well for the in and the out. 1:28 total. On to the run. Remember I said I signed up thinking it was a flat run like Oceanside? Well, I got that wrong. Run was on a very hilly cement bike path with 2 loops. I felt okay on the run, but when I got to quarter point in the run, I was already at 3.5 miles, and immediately knew the race hadn't been marked correctly. In this day of GPS, how can you make that mistake. When I got the end of the first lap, which is identical to the 2nd lap, I was at 7.2 miles. Son of a beeyatch! Anyway, I trudged through the 2nd lap, and my garmin said 14.3 miles in 2:07:03.
Total tim
e was 5:40:59 for 16th in AG and around 71st overall. Considering the long run, which was confirmed by everyone on the course, my overall time wasn't too bad considering the amount of climbing, both on the bike and on the run.I would say this race is way harder than Oceanside, harder than Vineman and as hard or harder than Wildflower. I wonder how it compares to the worlds course in Vegas. Believe it or not, I think the Wildflower run is easier. I am pretty positive on the race except for the following:
1) Swim waves need to be farther apar. 3 minutes is not enough. I caught the next wave after the first turn buoy.
2) Real water bottles with sport top openings on the bike course? Did someone procure the wrong item or what?
3) Frigging get out there and properly measure the course, especially for the run. Running an extra 1.2 - 1.3 miles made me go a little mental, as I was assuming my watch was wrong and I was just running slow.
4) We don't need a lecture on the red tide at the orientation.
5) Soda, at least some cola, at the race finish.
6) No beer tent.
I might do this event again, depends on timing of other races. It was the weekend after Nautica and the same weekend as LA Triathlon.
