First Race Back

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in San Diego for work—July is a good time to be away from Tucson. It just so happened that Sunday was a day off—and the Carlsbad sprint triathlon was that day. This is one of the oldest continuously run triathlons in the country, and is held on beautiful beach-front roads with nice pavement and a lot of spectators. Not a bad place to make my comeback into racing after 15 months off.

[Note: For you who may be reading for the first time I decided to see how much force it would take to rip one’s foot off their leg in a mountain bike crash 15 months ago. It took 6 months on crutches, 5 surgeries, countless medications and antibiotics, several setbacks, and a few thousand prayers, and only last month was I able to fly again. I’ve been able to swim and cycle regularly since March, and am only now running. This was my first time putting the swim, bike and run together since then.]

The race started in waves, and I was in the first wave with the pros and all the guys in my age group. This is a good place to start! The swim went OK—as good as I expected for not swimming much in the last few weeks--it's been a busy few weeks and the swim lost out. (I guess the once-a-week aquathlon exclusively isn’t the best swim training...who knew?!) I was out of the water feeling good, but was a ways down in my wave. The water was a bit cold, but the Zoot Zenith wetsuit was great!

My ankle was tight in T1, but once I got on the bike I felt great. There was a longish, steep climb right out of T1 and a good descent at the top. I didn’t understand those who put their shoes in the pedals in T1—I passed 5 of them on the climb out before we got up to speed! I immediately passed more people and held a good pace on the ride and pushed for 280 watts on the flats and descents, and going to 300-310 on the climbs and accels. I love the Slice paired with the Reynolds SDV66 wheels—it’s solid and fast. Average power = 274 watts.

In T2 I again had to deal with the tight ankle, and running barefoot isn’t my favorite thing anymore. As I started on the run I twisted my ankle on a timing mat and thought I was finished. It began to loosen up slowly, and by the time mile 1 rolled around I was feeling good and was able to pick up the pace and run well. I left T2 with the top woman and lost quite a bit in the first mile, but held my position after that. I don’t have time splits on the run, but it felt like a 9 minute first mile and 6-flats after that. Surprisingly I was only passed by one guy—a pro. Pace = 6:25. (Oh, if you don't have Zoot Ultra shoes, get them!)

At the finish line I really felt good. This is a good feeling—to be “back into it.” The excitement of the race I hadn’t felt in a while was refreshing and exhilarating. I finished 2nd in my age group with a mediocre swim, a top-10 overall bike split, and a descent run. To have my first sub-20 minute 5k on a rolling course after a hard bike ride was a victory to me. To see old friends on the race course and spectating was sweet. To have Jill yelling and having a good time was wonderful.

I’m back!