The Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon is an iconic race. Today was its 40th Anniversary. It starts with a 1 mile ocean swim and is followed by a very hilly (nearly 2000 feet of climbing) 34 mile bike ride and culminating with a 10 mile run. I’d looked at results from previous years and had set a goal of finishing in under 4 hours.
My last ocean triathlon swim was at Mike & Rob’s Most Excellent Triathlon in 1994. I did make sure I swam into the surf before the start to get my body used to the cold water and to get the feel again for swimming in the ocean. At the start I ran into the surf with my wave and when the water was up to thigh level I leaned forward and started swimming. It was a foggy morning, making it difficult to see the buoys and I found myself drifting a bit to the left. I corrected my course correction and made the right turn to swim parallel to the shore. The fog made it next to impossible to see the buoys, so I did my best to follow the other swimmers and finally got to the turn buoy with a little bit of weaving.
I had done a one mile pool swim a couple of days ago at 1:45 pace and a stroke rate of 28-29 strokes per minute (spm). I tried to keep a similar effort, though swimming in the ocean it’s usually best to take shorter strokes. My stroke rate was 33 spm and my pace ended up being 1:45/100 yards. My swim time was a very respectable 30:03.
Running up the beach and into transition might have been my first clue to the fact that I actually had “running legs.” A solid transition time of 2:29 bespoke the fact that I’d racked my bike in the “overflow” area, causing me to run an additional 100-150m through transition compared to others in my age group. I also had trouble getting out of my wetsuit. I usually pride myself on my transitions, and in this case my running legs actually saved my transition time.
I ran with my bike to the dismount line and put my right foot in the bike shoe already clipped on the pedal only to accidentally jam the heel into the back of the shoe. Another slight delay which I fixed, got both feet in my shoes and headed out on the bike. I was wearing an aero helmet with a visor and the fog made it a little difficult to see, but I managed to ride, albeit a little carefully. My power meter didn’t connect, but I’m good at riding by feel, so that’s what I did. There are three major climbs on the course and I rode comfortably to the first climb, which didn’t feel too hard. The bike course is open to traffic and has some narrow roads, so I rode pretty carefully. Before I knew it, I was on the second climb, and somehow I felt like I was getting my “bike legs.” Normally, I get passed by people on climbs, but today, that literally never happened. I was passing people throughout the bike. The downhills, which should have been an opportunity to gain some time, required some care due to the roads and my foggy visor. Near mile 20 I came up to a truck that was taking up the whole width of the road. I had to slow down for a couple of miles before he finally turned off. The third climb had a fairly steep section, but I was fine. I rode comfortably to the end, getting out of my bike shoes shortly before the dismount and did a flying dismount. My bike time was 1:53:47, or 18 mph. Considering that the course had 2,000 feet of climbing, this was a very solid ride. I had also planned to try to go into the run with good legs. In fact, during the last few miles I began to get myself mentally ready for the run.
Again, T2 required an additional 100-150m of running, but that really wasn’t a big deal. In fact, my time for T2 was a very solid 2:56. I quickly put on my socks and running shoes, my hat and grabbed my race belt and ran out of transition.
This was what I’d been both preparing and waiting for. I’ve completely changed my run training and have been running 40 miles every week. In fact, I’d already run 35 miles for the week and was looking forward to seeing how my run would pan out. I started the run comfortably and looked down at my watch. My run pace was about 8:30. If I could just run comfortably and keep that pace, I knew I’d be in great shape. I did the first mile in 8:34 and the second mile in 8:18, all the while feeling good. There were hills and net elevation gain for the next two miles, and I listened to my coach’s advice and just ran easily up the hills in 8:46 and 8:50. Mile 5 was flat and I was back to 8:34. At the end of the fifth mile I picked up the pace and the effort, knowing that the next two miles were net downhill miles, which I ran in 7:56 and 7:36. With three miles to go I had one more downhill and then 2 ½ miles of flat running. This was what I’d been preparing myself more. Mile 7 was done in 7:37 and I began to bury myself. Literally bury myself. I was breathing super hard and definitely suffering, but I was committed to maintaining my pace. The lap pace on my watch during the last two miles showed 7:55 and I wouldn’t let it go up. I held the pace while the effort increased until I crossed the finish line.
The best part of doing triathlons with a wave start is that you start at the exact same time as your age group competitors and you all have your age on your left calf. Shortly after starting the run I passed someone in my age group. After the turnaround I came up to three more guys in my age group over the next couple of miles. As I came up behind each of them it was obvious that I was running faster than they were. Nevertheless, after settling in behind them for about 5-10 seconds, I surged past each of them, quickly putting 20 yards between us. They couldn’t respond. In the past, that would have been me. In the end, I put an additional 8 minutes on the first three and two minutes on the last guy. It turns out that he won the age group two years ago.
My final time was 3:50:00, ten minutes faster than my goal and pretty close to as fast as I thought I’d be able to go. This time put me 2nd in my age group. It turns out that the winner of my age group lives in Santa Barbara and is an excellent swimmer. When I came out of T1 I was 9 minutes behind him. At the finish line, I was 2 ½ minutes behind. Three more miles…
In eight weeks I’ll be toeing the line at Ironman California. I’m looking forward to finding out how my run holds up for 26.2 miles.
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