Oceanside 70.3 Race Report

Not posing.  Seriously.  And those aren't my abs.

      Getting older equals getting faster?  I'd always rather be younger, but I'll take faster.  First triathlon of the 2013 season was on saturday down at Oceanside.  This would be my 4th time doing this race, and my best time on the course was 5:18 back in 2010.  Some people hate this race because you train in winter and the water is on the cold side.  Racers don't realize that Ironmans held in lakes are rarely above 60 degrees.    I like this race, as it forces winter training compliance (check out my time from 2011, when I didn't comply!), and it's the only IM race that is actually local to So Cal. 

    Coach Hillary put together a December marathon plan to recover and then prepare for Oceanside, Eagleman, Vineman, and then IM Tahoe in September.   Woke up at 4:15am and noticed it was pretty nice out.  Not cold, and little to no breeze.  Ate about 500 calories, and we headed to the start around 5:30.
 
     Swim--Went off in the 12th wave, which was the 2nd group of my age group.  Water was 62 and totally flat.  When the gun went off, I just took off and didn't look back.  Coach had me doing some very specific swim training which totally paid off when I put that wetsuit on.  Ballz out all the way and tried push hard through the whole swim course.    The swim course was fast this year.  No waves even out of the harbor.   23:09 (1:13s)  PR HIM swim by 2 minutes. 

Smiling after a good swim

     Bike--Bike started out great and went great the whole way.  Legs felt fantastic.  Power was right in line as I focused on a strong controlled ride through the first 28 miles (1:18 at the half way point). The hills start at mile 29 and end at 42.   I cruised through the hills, staying in the aerobars most of the time, trying not to spike the watts.  First time on the bike that I felt I was controlling and racing the course instead of the course riding me into the ground.  Such a great feeling, which had me psyched for the last 14 miles.  I hammered (my level of hammer anyway) the last 14 miles but in a good way.  I rolled into T2 feeling great.  2:45 ride.  Power was right on my pre-race target, although I was not a slave to power, and only looked a few times.   Came off the bike in 10th in my AG--first time I've been up that high in an HIM or IM race.  It was cool to see so few bikes in rack area.  Thanks to Wheelbuilder Richie for installing and procuring my new aerobars.  They are awesome and soooo comfortable.

   Run -- Came out of T2 downing a gel.  Overall time was 3:15 as I exited T2, so I knew that I had to run a 1:44 to break 5 hours.  Felt it was totally doable.  First mile was 8:04.  Legs felt great right away, and I felt good right off the bike.  The course is kind of strange, and had I realized it, I would have started a little faster, as there are some slow sections, the first 2 miles and then miles 7-8. Narrow, weird turns up and down hills, which I found distracting.   In some sections it was challenging to pass and go around people.  Not sure why they have that out and back so narrow.  Was running easy through 6.  Felt a little slower and then tried to pick it up at mile 9 with 4 miles to go.  Took in a gel 40min in, 1:10 in and 1:30.  Splits were 8:04, 7:58, 7:48, 7:59, 7:56, 8:00, 8:16, 8:27, 8:15, 8:11, 8:43, 8:46, 7:42).  1:46:02

   

    5:02:09 -- Finished 11th, less than a minute out of the top 10 in what is usually a pretty fast race.  Course PR of 16 minutes and an 8 minute HIM PR time.  We hung around for the awards --Andy Potts gave a good winner's speech.  Then drove home in the ridiculous pre Easter traffic.  Almost 3 hours.

     Thanks to Coach Hillary for the PR, and thanks to Johnna for sherpa-ing the race in her sling, and thanks to Johnna's brother Tom and her mom Kathy for getting up so early to watch me race.   Happy Easter!

Uh oh...PASSING ON YOUR LEFT....Oh Crap

     The wife and I were out for a cruisey 80 miles on the TT bikes on the bike path, and 15 miles in, there was a crash.  I know you're going to ask, "is the bike okay?"  Yes it is.  Not a scratch.  But the wife's collarbone?  SNAP.  Not good.
      Some runner, whom she warned at least 3 times, just turned direction right into her, and over the bars she went.  I was about 2 minutes ahead, and I was stopping at the damn to regroup.  As I soft pedaled, I heard this guy yelling, and I knew for some reason, he was yelling at me.  He was totally out of breath when he caught up to me, "Your wife broke her collarbone back there."  I TT'd like a madman back to her, where I found her walking, holding her shoulder and a good Samaritan was walking her bike trying to convince her to get off the bike trail and go up to the gas station a couple hundred yards away.  As I pulled up, she told me to go on and ride. Definitely not thinking straight at that point.  We walked up to the gas station which was a pretty good intersection where someone could find us easily.
     I was definitely a bit flustered and it took me 30 seconds (seemed like minutes) to call 911.  I got someone right away, and the paramedics were there in under 3 minutes.  Amazing.  Interesting set of questions from the 911 operator.  Probably about 30 and it wasn't till question 29 till she asked me if  Johnna had any severed body parts!  I would think that question would be higher on the list, like 3 or 4 after "is she breathing" and "is she conscious'!  I'm not complaining at all, I just thought it was funny.   I was incredibly impressed with how fast the paramedics showed up, got her stabilized and when the ambulance appeared,  helped her onto the gurney. 

     The ambulance took her to Beverly, and trusted Haroon quit his ride 30 miles away, and got in his car and picked me and the bikes up.  We headed over to the hospital where they were taking great care of her.  We were home by 12:30 and the crash happened around 8:30am.  So, we hit the emergency room at a not so busy time!

      We got her to our trusted Orthopaedic Dr. Adamson at Congress Medical on monday after a pretty miserable saturday and sunday of unrelenting discomfort.  He opened a spot for her to have her surgery on tuesday.  He told us at the consult, that 50% of the time, people just let it heal with no surgery.  I thought it was pretty bad, and when he opened her up, he agreed--she definitely needed the surgery.  It was ready to bust through the skin.  Ouch.

    This picture was taken on April 2nd.  Exactly 4 weeks after the surgery.  A plate and 8 screws.  Your can count 7, and one is hidden as it is going horizontal into the bone.

     Johnna was riding the trainer after about a week for 30-60 minutes.  And after another week started adding some stairmaster sessions.  She now has the clear to swim--breaststroke only--and is allowed to ride the trainer or do the gauntlet.  No treadmill and no running.  Falling down BAD.  In another month, she should be ready for some treadmill running and maybe some actual biking on the safe streets.

Huge bummer.  Johnna was superfit and honing in on Oceanside 70.3.  Still plenty of time for Vineman 70.3 in July and Ironman Tahoe in September. 

     The silver lining on this one is two fold--she didn't hit her head, and she didn't hurt her face or teeth, and in addition, had little if no road rash.  That computrainer is gonna get some good use in the next 2 months.