1st at San Diego Triathlon Classic

It has been some time since I last won a triathlon an yesterday it happened again. This time at the San Diego Triathlon Classic.

But let’s start from the beginning:

Before coming over to San Diego for my Kona prep I had signed up for the only Olympic distance that was held here during my stay: San Diego Triathlon Classic. The race is put on by fellow Tri Club of San Diego members and owners of San Diegos best bike shop Moment Cycle Sport: JT Lyons and Cory Osth and thus it was a must do while being in town.

When I arrived in town one of my first stops was Moment Cycle Sport to have them look at that creaking Zipp wheel of mine. Within no more than ten minutes Cory had found the problem, a 2mm spacer someone had put in the hub where there was not to be any spacer. Ever since then the wheel works perfectly. Thanks Cory! I then told him that I was going to compete in Saturdays race and returned the day before the race to pick up my race number etc. Only then did I notice that even though some 700 people in total had registered for the race, it was only going to be five guys racing in the Elite category I had signed up for. That made me very nervous as I was sure that whoever it was, everyone would drop me in less than 100 meters into the swim. Nonetheless they had given me bib number 2 and even reserved some port-a-potties just for me – lucky me.

I then racked my bike at just the perfect spot and right next to me another QR CD 0.1 was racked. In the end it was going to be these bikes that would post the fastest bike splits for the day in both the male and female category. Not a bad testament of what that frame is capable of, right?

A lonely swim

When we entered the water the fact that it was only five guys really hit home with me. It was going to be a lonely swim today I suspected. And that it turned out to be. After the gun went off, I tried to keep up with the feet in front of me for perhaps ten seconds then looked around for another pair of feet but everyone had taken off like a rocket and so I was on my own. When I saw the competition slowly disappear on the horizon I began to think whether I would rather have signed up for the age group race. But it was too late for that now. I setteled in to a good rhythm and may have swum at a pace of about 1:30min/100m. Quite decent for me but way too slow compared to the others. At least three times I was really shaken up as the planes taking off at SD International Airport flew past me not 200 meter above. Quite a sight to see. When I approached the one but last buoy I saw the competition exiting the water already and had another 2-3min to swim. Well, I thought let’s play catch up then!

A really good bike

Even if I was really far behind the leaders the crowd at the swim exit still gave me a lot of cheers but perhaps that was just out of courtesy. Perhaps I could impress them a bit more with my bike split I hoped. Thus I grabbed my CD 0.1 and was in no time off onto the bike course. This takes you first through one of San Diegos many military bases, then heads up a 7% grade hill for about one kilometre and than it’s out and back to the Cabrillo National Monument. You then go back to the military base for a second loop before you head back to the transition/finish area.

As everyone else in my wave had exited the water more than two minutes ahead of me it was quite a lonely first five kilometres until we went up the hill for the first time. I was putting out a steady 330 watts and it felt good at the time. Up the hill I increased the effort a bit and there I could see two of my competitors for the first time. I noticed that I had already made up some time on them. At the top of the hill I had nearly caught up to the first guy and passed him on the out and back section to Cabrillo Monument. At the turnaround I checked how far I was back on the leader and that gave me some hope. I was only 1:30min back at the time. So I was making progress. On the second part of the first loop I overtook a second competitor and thus found myself in third place. As we started the second loop things got a little confusing as now we were sharing the road with athletes from later waves that were on their first loop. The overtaking though did not mean any slowing down but rather gave me another push and I think the second ascent up the hill was even faster than the first one. It was only when we left the loop that I did not see any competitors in front of or behind me. They had also pulled out the lead motorcycle on the second loop so there was no way to know where I was. Approaching the transition area I got out of my cycling shoes in order to get off the bike as fast as possible. But – this should remind any reader of looking a course maps very closely before a race – there was another two kilometres as we past transition on another 1k out and back section in order to ride all of the announced 40k. So I had to put my shoes back on and while doing that on way back on that out and back section I saw two guys about 90 sec behind me that I had not noticed overtaking. There were just too many people on the second loop.

And only when I entered transition and the announcer said something about the lead cyclist entering did I notice that I had really overtaken all my competitors - two of them without even noticing it. He also said that I had broken Maccas bike split from last year’s race. So my legs seem to be alright - at least on the bike.

The crowds were amazing by the way. I had put on my Tri Club of San Diego jersey I always race with when in the US so I got even more encouragement in the form of “GO TRI CLUB!” cheers, than I would have normally got. Thanks tri club!

Now they play catch up!

I was out on the run course in no time and even had a lead cyclist with me. The two lap run course is just about perfect to keep track of your competition. There are three turnarounds on each lap giving you six splits in a total on those ten kilometres. I had a lead of roughly 1:30min at the 1k mark on two guys running side by side at the time. And they were looking fast! Faster than me, anyway. And so my lead was down to a mere 30 seconds after the first lap. I was already settling on the thought of being caught by at least one of the guys but still a podium finish was secure so I would not have minded much. But at the first turnaround of the second lap it was still 30sec and people told me that there was only one guy left chasing. I kept my speed of about 3:45min/k up and also on the one but last turnaround I still had a 30 second lead on him. I then decided to push one more time to perhaps distance the guy before the last turnaround and it worked. At the last turnaround I had 40 seconds again ant it was only about a kilometre left to go. I had really pulled the thing off. For the first time for I don’t know how long actually no one had overtaken me on the run. When I approached the finish line the announcer was cheering on the crowds and I high fived a lot of people as I took my time in the finish chute. I was really stoked!

The guy chasing my, Eric Nau from Ecinitas finished exactly 30 sec back. Third across the line was William Jones from La Jolla.

At the winners ceremony we had quite a blast as the race sponsor Barefoot Wineery gave us champagne to have fun with! And I got one of these:

Results: here

4th at Superfrog Triathlon on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 2011

Superfrog Triathlon... sounds strage to a German ear but it's been around for a while (it was created in 1978 by the Navy Seals as their preparation race for the Kona Ironman). And you don't mess with those guys because, not even over race names... well you know why!

My host here in San Diego – Flo – suggested doing the race when we talked me staying at his place for my Kona prep. Awsome, down to the roots, fair and challenging were some of the terms he used to describe the race. Well I thought, even if it’s the day after the day that I fly in to San Diego, I’ll give it a try. And it was worth it. Even if on the day before the race I was awake for a continuous 27 hours I still had a blast.

Race morning: Oh, overslept!

The day began with a shocker: Flo and I had agreed to get up at four o’clock in order to have some breakfast before heading out to Imperial Beach and the late check in from 5:15. Thanks to our neighbours here even I did not sleep well and, when I woke up for an umpteenth time that night thought… is it really only four o’clock? It was exactly five o’clock and that meant: Red Alert. With in 10 minutes we had packed our things I had grabbed two bagles and off we were. In the end we were fine because the Navy base the race is on doesn’t open before 5:15 an we arrived at 5:38 am. I grabbed my race number at the late check in and racked my bike. On the way to the bike I was introduced to race director Eric Rehberg and after a little chat he found out that I would have rather registered for the elite category but as that was named “PRO” in the online registration process had not dared to do so as I don’t own a German Pro License. Well, it took Eric five minutes to check with the timing people and off the bike rack I took my QR cd 0.1 and racked it with to Pros. Strange feeling that by the way. So now I had to deliver.

Whitewash!

he 7am swim start of the first wave saw some 7ft high waves at breaking about 150 meters off the shore. Had I mentioned that my last ocean swim dated back to last years Ironman Florida and that I am not familiar with how to dive through under those bastard waves. Well, I had my first lesson today – the hard way. Twice on the way out and before I had even reached the first buoy the whitewash crashed into me.

At roughly 65°F the water was not too warm and to be submerges for 3-4 seconds without being therefore prepared is nothing the I really liked. After the second time and exactly 1:47min into the race I seriously thought about quitting. I was hyperventilating and had a really hard time. Nonetheless what would Flo say if I called it quits no two minutes into the race. So I kept on trying and made it to the shore after lap one. Not though with out learning the had way that also on the way back to the shore you should at times look back to check if the next wave sucks you up or not.

This is how it looked from the shore. I am sure that this guy initially also wore swimming goggles.


In the end the swim time of 28min flat was not too bad but the course might have been a bit short. I didn’t mind though, today. To my astonishment there were even a few guys that exited the water after me so I did not embarrass myself too bad.

Where are those watts?

Once on my noble steed I let the real race begin – or so I thought. The adrenalin might be pumping in my veins but you just can’t wipe away the quite strenuous travel from Frankfurt to San Diego. So some numbers were low and some high. Regrettably it was the wattage that was low and the heart rate that was high. Nonetheless I kept overtaking people and made steady progress on the four lap course that is quite pancake flat. For a rouleur like me that’s usually ideal but after some 10km I was overtaken. That does not happen too often and in even rarer case I am not to keep up with those people at all. In the end the guy turned out to be the overall winner of the race, Josef Major from Hungary. So I continued on and saw the wattage get lower and lower but was in the and able to accept the fact that today was going to be just a hard training session with supplied nutrition. When I exited the loop to transition Flo told me that I was in fifth place and I was a bit surprised at that. But still a bike time of 2:10h for those 90km was not too bad in the end.

The sandbox!

They had told me before the race that about haft of the run course would be on the beach. Not the beach promenade but the beach itself. That meant running in part through deep sand an gradually make your way to the hardpack section that the water forms when it washed ashore. Still it’s a lot slower that concrete or even gravel tracks. And it was strenuous. Nonetheless that’s what I like: challenging courses and conditions. At the first turnaround I checked the distance to 4^th and to 6^th place respectively. 4^th place was way out of reach an ran a lot faster than I did. 6^th though was some five minutes back immediately followed by 7^th place. So there might be a chance to make it to the finish without surrendering my spot. A first that would have been in 2011. But when the course went off the beach again and I had to cross the loose sand again and run uphill I really suffered. And at that point I made the decision to leave the race at that and to really continue it as a long brick session. So I ran about 4:40min/km on the gravel and paved sections from then on. When I hit the beach for the second time it was time take splits again and surprisingly 6^th and 7^th place were still more that two minutes back. Still they had made up more than three minutes on the first lap and I was expecting them to surely catch me before the finish line. But in the end money was only up for grabs for the top three finishers and I was in fifth place. What the heck did I care! What the hell did I care until I reached mile marker 12! At that point neither the Navy guy nor the fellow TCSD member had run past and I began to think the Top5 had a nice ring to it after all. So I accelerated to approximately six minute miles to perhaps make it after all. At the last aid station though I heard the staff cheering on somebody no ten seconds after they had stopped cheering me on. Still able to do a little math I suspected it to be one of my two followers. And as I could check at the last turn around about half a kilometre from the finish line I war right. The Tri Clubber who goes by the name Dave McMahon was no more than 10 seconds back. So it came down to sprint after all. I hit the pedal to the metal and went to sub six minute miles. A few frightened looks confirmed that Dave dropped back. So with a half marathon of around 1:38hrs I allegedly in 5^th place I crossed the line. Total time something at 4:18hrs.

4th not 5th in the end!

It turned out a few minutes later that the first guy across the line was a runner from a relay team so I had actually finished in 4^th place… grrrrr…. Once again no awards for me in the USA. The cowboy was a little frustrated. ;)






In a way that fits as finished 6^th in my age group for three times already (IM 70.3 CA & Wildflower 2007 as well as at Ironman Florida last year.

Nonetheless I had a great day at a really great race. Honest course, though conditions, great people good food afterwards. Innovative trophies in the shape of a detonator (see pic) that regrettably did not get one of.







And as a quite wise guy I know once said: There is not much I demand off of a race: Correct distances, a fair and well policed the course and enough to eat & drink for everyone are really enough.. Today that was the case and I appreciated that very much. I can really only recommend this race to anyone searching (a) a race for their Kona perp in California and (b) those that want to experience something completely different than WTC races.

Thanx to you Navy guys!

Tim