Who Are Those Guys?

Sitting here at San Diego Airport with the SoCal sun streaming in I can hardly feel the saddle sore acquired in yesterday’s California 70.3. This is one of the two great U.S. triathlon centers, the other of course is Boulder. CO. This morning driving down from Oceanside, the site of the race, I must have passed at least 500 cyclists and literally thousands of runners doing their pre or post outdoor coffee house exercise. I’m green with envy.

You can read about the competition won by Matt Reid, (a 1:11 half marathon!!!) and Mirinda Carfrae on any number of sites, I’ll just stick to a description of the course and the day. It started off quite chilly, about 46 degrees which made the 56 degree water seem inviting. The swim left from the harbor at Oceanside and took a dogleg out to the ocean and back. Evidently, I was worried about the possibility of enemy submarines as I zigzagged my way for about 1.5 miles of the 1.2 mile course. On the way back in, the sun was a problem. I had a big problem finding the buoys. Andy Potts avoided this problem on his way to setting a course swim record of 21:27.

The air temperature made some upward progress as the swimmers came ashore. The bike leg’s most technical part was right at the beginning as the athletes made their way out of the marina and up to the roads that lace through Camp Pendelton. Sharp turns and quick climbs kept the riders alert. The gently rolling hills and flats encountered a major shift at about mile 30 when in the distance what appeared to be a relatively long slope with hundreds of ants crawling up it loomed in the distance. They weren’t ants; and there was nothing relative about about the slope. Just as you thought you were reaching the summit, the road curved and continued up. It was there that you came upon some walkers, all men in my case. It’s probably the length of the hill and not the slope that got to them. It was a tough hill, but nothing like the legendary Beast of St. Croix. There were some more steep hills through about mile 40, but at this point it was the wind that played a greater part in slowing forward progress. It was on one of these hills that I felt a friendly tap as Adam Zucco of TrainingBible coaching passed me on his way to a first place finish in the impossibly competitive 30-34 age group. (Obviously he was in a wave that started about 40 minutes behind me.) Finally, it was back to the marina, T2, and the start of the run.

There were two surprising aspects to the two loop half marathon. The first occurred at the beginning and happened three more times. The runners had to get off the road and run on the beach around a condo development. The soft sand between the road and the harder sand near the water made for a real trudge. The competitors got to experience and think about this sandy march as they went out and back and out and back. The other surprise was the hilly course that sprung up on a beach and town run. Just before mile 2 and 8 of the run, the course took a sudden turn up into a residential area of Oceanside. The turn was a short steep climb, from that point on it was up and down to the turn around. Those expecting or hoping for flat run along the water were disappointed.

With the exception of the chilly start, the day was perfect. For those coming from the chilly regions of the U.S. and beyond competing with the sub-species evolved in California presented a daunting challenge. Who are those guys? This was the most competitive race in which I’ve competed. This includes, Vineman 70.3, IM Louisville, and IM Wisconsin. If you want to see where you stand in the grand scheme of US Triathlon, this is the race for you. I was 7th of 24 in my ancient 60-64 age group, this, after breaking the course record for that age group in Wisconsin by 34 minutes. Who are those guys?