Santa Cruz 70.3 - Now that's more like it.

Countdowns to racing always seem so far away until all of the sudden they are right smack dab in front of you. Especially big ones. 8 weeks separated the Magog ITU CAMTRI American Cup race and the Santa Cruz 70.3 race. However with plenty to keep me busy, it didn't really hit me until this week. A mini panic that I wasn't was quickly put to rest when I looked back at the work I did, and numbers of hours I put in. I need not worry, plus what good does worrying about something the week of do? With no more fitness to be made I took the week pretty light as this was to be my peak triathlon for the season. It technically also was my first full 70.3 race, since Waco's swim being cancelled last year. Still I could aim to improve from what at the time was one of the roughest finishes to a race I've had. Which is saying a lot because I've put myself out there quite often in race. (This is just a nice way of saying I go out too fast) With Waco in the back of my mind over these 8 weeks, I set about fixing what went wrong the previous year. Two things standout in particular. The above mentioned pacing, where I took it out way to hot for the hills I was about to hit. The second being nutrition, something I hadn't really put much thought into over the years at least on race day. I put down a single bottle of water and a few bloks in Waco, my calorie deficit and sweat loss was too much to overcome and I suffered for it. This year I hit from all sides and go into detail in the bonus section below. The summary was that I needed to take in liquid calories and good amount of liquids if I wanted to stand a chance. Oh and not go out to fast, did I say that already?

The journey to Santa Cruz began bright and early, Blake and I did our traditional pre-flight jog before he dropped me off at the airport. Only a matter of hours later and I was in the San Jose airport waiting with my bags for quite a pricey Uber. Luckily the drive to Santa Cruz was through the gorgeous forests and bluffs, which made it a bit more worth it.

The drive by shot doesn't do it justice...

My AirBnB was about 800 meters from the ocean and I made sure to tell everyone about it back home. I guess I'm also bragging to you reading this as well, because it was just plain awesome. Upon arrival I started to unpack my bike, but decided I should treat myself to some local food considering I hadn't had lunch yet. For those of you who know me pretty well I love cats, so when I found a cafe called "Cat and Cloud" on google maps I was there in a heartbeat. In classic hippie/California fashion I got some delicious avocado toast and a sugar filled mocha. (It's race week, treat yourself here and there). Full of food I decided to head to the coastline and see where I could swim. Unfortunately, while my AirBnB was super close to the ocean, the closest access point for actual swimming and not just surfing was Main beach just under 3 miles away at the race course. Noted for next California trip. Not too stressed about getting a swim in that day I thought of an elaborate plan to get one in the next day at minimal effort and cost. Yes, 3 miles both ways with swim gear was too much on the body. Also, Uber was $10 each way. For a short swim, I figured I could wait a day. Instead I assembled the bike and went on a course recon. I got to check out the swim start, the first few miles of the bike, the run course, and even managed to get a little lost. Don't worry I made it back in one piece and was pretty stocked at how beautiful it was. A little surprised at the hills, guess I read the original elevation map wrong. Wouldn't be the first time! Back at a decent time, I explored around the area a bit. Eventually got hungry, ate Chinese, and passed out for 12 hours. Very exciting night I know.

Pretty awesome shop super close

Now that's some good food.

The ocean. Enough said.

Run Course Preview

Bike course preview.

This was much bigger than it appears.

Now with the mandatory food pictures out of the way, on to day two aka the day before the race. We had a mandatory pro race meeting at 12:30 so I decided to grab my pre-race run beforehand. I knocked out 5.5 miles in 38 minutes with 3x40 seconds on, 20 seconds off. Feeling pretty good! Next up was the implementation of my master plan to save money, but also get everything in. It started with riding to the race course with all of my stuff (strength training because the bags???), having the meeting, open water swimming, and walking/Ubering back. Everything went to plan, the meeting went well, setup the bike in transition for the next day, got to swim in the beautiful ocean, and ended up walking the way back. Stopping for pizza along the way for lunch! Everything felt great! I only got tossed by the ocean one time onto the beach.  Did you catch all that? Good!

With all that behind me I relaxed the rest of the evening. I ordered in some pizza, put my race numbers on, and watched some comedy shows as is my tradition started back in my college racing days. The big day loomed in front of me. A great mixture of excitement and anxiety hit me, so I took that to bed nice and early. Up next, race day!

Swim Course.

Beach Street Pizza!

The goods, part one.

The Goods, part two.

4 am my alarm went off. I stumbled over to my running shorts and shoes after the first alarm, my second alarm reminds me that I need to turn off the third so I don't piss off the host. Before I know it I'm shaking out on the streets of Santa Cruz. 2 miles to wake up the body and prepare the mind. Rightfully titled my Strava run was "Getting all the last minute demons out of my head". I was ready to race. I ordered an Uber to the course (which takes a lot longer at 5am...) and ate a bowl of oatmeal while waiting for it to arrive. A quick ride to the course made easier by the fact I don't have to park, Uber for the win. A brisk morning greeted us, with a thin layer of condensation on our bikes. We setup transition, joked around to get out the last minute butterflies, grabbed our warm ups and headed down to the race course.

No fog to delay or shorten the swim, so we splash around a bit before they call us to the line.

6:50am - BOOM! The cannon fires, and we sprint into the water. I luckily time my dives almost perfectly so I come out in a good position. Then I relax. Yep, that's correct! In 2017-2018 I started experiencing mini panic attacks that resulted in me turning over to catch my breath. A pro who can't handle the swim? It happens. I don't know if it was the cold, going out too hot, or just panicking because I needed to have a good swim. So in the summer of 2019, I focused on relaxing and being in the moment during the beginning of the swim. I figured out if I focused on this the first half, I can push the second half and come out of the water in decent position. Back to the race, I took to the left side despite being a right side breather. It gave me a moment to get into the rhythm and tempo. After about 300 meters of swimming on some feet with nobody in sight since I was on the edge and only looking one direction, I decided to swap sides and get into the race. The transition to the right side went relatively smooth and before I know I saw that I was in a decent position without too much of a gap to the leader. Before I knew it, I was on the final straight after coming around the wharf.

After fighting  for position out of the water, I came out in 24:44 for the 1.2 mile swim. Happy with holding 1:11/100yds I took full advantage of the long transition to the bike, passing several people. The wetsuit came off smoothly (good thing I practiced in the bathroom two days before, thanks for the suggestion Emma), and I was out on the course. A technical first 4 miles meant getting passed by Andrew Talansky rather quick, thought it wouldn't be until out on Highway 1. Oh well, I was out and feeling good. Eventually, I started working the course with Marty Andrie (Another draft legal ITU guy), we got into a good rhythm with me pushing the hills and descents and him taking the flats. About 19 miles into the bike the wind really picked up and another athlete caught up to us. We worked with him until the halfway point. Which is where I realized I was sitting in 16th place. A great position going into the run. However, once we had the tailwind I began running out of gears on the flats and descents, so I got passed by two more athletes. I came off the bike in 18th (same place I came out of the water), posting a 2:16:03 for the 56 mile bike. For reference to how strong the wind was. I took it out at 1:14, and came back in a 1:02. Yet still got passed in the second half. Guess I need a bigger front chain ring. (If anyone has a 55 tooth, I'm in the market for next year.) Regardless I was still in a decent spot considering I finished 20th the previous year in Waco and the run is my specialty.

Crushing it on the bike. Photo Credit: Justin Luau

After the screeching descent to transition, I racked my bike, took off my helmet turned on my watch, put my shoes on (decided last minute no socks because I wanted to get rolling), and jogged out. I put my watch on and belt on as I ran out. Found Chris Dougall pretty quickly and we began working together. Our first mile was 5;38, which was about perfect to what I wanted to start out. However, around 3 miles in he began to pull away. Most times I would have panicked and chased him down rather quickly. This time I settled into a good rhythm and let him go. I told myself that the second half is where I would make up the ground. I didn't take in anything with calories on the run, but I took a lot of ice and water. The reason being that I took in everything I wanted to during the bike. 1.5 liters of precision hydration 1000 mix, and two gels. Already with more in my body than the previous year I felt good crusing along near 6 minute miles. Before I knew it, I was on my favorite part of the race. A gravel/dirt 3 mile loop that took us past halfway. I flew in relation to my competition during this section and passed a few people, and before I knew it I was at 9 miles and Chris was back in my sights. Having a target that is fading can be so empowering as you pass them. I would pass people with purpose every time. Finally, I was within the final miles and sitting in 14th place. Make no mistake I was hurting up until this point, but I wasn't really miserable until the final mile when I just wanted it to be done. Luckily I had enough of a gap to hold on to 14th place, my highest finish at a pro Ironman race. (Yes I know it is only two, but still progress is progress) In a lot of pain, I walked straight to the ocean and let the waves hit me while I sat there staring off in the distance. 

After sitting there for a while, I got up and began the walk back to transition. I caught up with Andrew and we chatted all the way back to get our bikes. I talked about ITU draft legal racing and he talked about how he used to be on a cycling team. (A super humble guy who happened to race in the major grand tours, including the Tour De France.) Eventually, we wanted to get some food so I stumbled over to the post race pizza and cookies. After soaking it in for a bit I realized I still had to bike back to my AirBnB. I crawled back rather slowly, getting passed by several locals. Hopefully they saw my sweat stains and thought i just finished the race, instead of being a slow homeless guy with a nice bike.

14th place in strong professional field.

Bonus Content:

So as I mentioned above I will be diving into a bit of my nutrition during the lead up and the race event. Being that I train quite a bit, I am constantly eating. Since I am putting down a bunch of food, I can't be as picky as I once was. I have a decent breakfast consisting of a few slices of toast, eggs, and most likely some leftovers from the previous night. Lunch isn't anything crazy, as I snack all day something simple like sunflower seeds or peanuts. Then I eat a bigger dinner late at night post training. Oh and I have dessert most nights because the day is too short not too. That is my typical day, but in the lead up to Santa Cruz I took the final 3 weeks to really focus on eating clean/ getting my nutrition down. I still would eat a lot, but now it would be way more veggies and fruit. 

I would wake up have oatmeal with some fruit and maybe a little protein mix thrown in. I also would kick off with a 1500mg Precision Hydration mix on harder workout days to get my body used to it, and ready to roll. The reason being? I can replicate this pretty easy come race day.

I continued with my snacking throughout the day, but for lunch I decided to find a way to get more veggies in while keeping up my fats and proteins. My solution? I would go buy and an eat an entire salad kit ($3) for lunch. It takes a little longer to put down since you are chewing for what seems like a lifetime. This is both easy and allows for  me to get veggies in easy without to just buying a head of lettuce and eating that. (I don't recommend it, mostly just water) I also would include another bottle of 1000mg around 3pm to prepare for my evening workouts. 

Post-Workout Dinner I would aim to have some more greens, but also include a quality protein and some carbs to replenish from the workout. 2-3 times a week I would have fish and the remainder I would have some meat or a meat substitute. Carbs wise I had rice, couscous, or pasta in rotation. I would wrap it up with a glass of chocolate milk to give me that dessert like feeling without going overboard. Nestle Nesquik mix for the win.

My workouts mimicked my race in many ways nutrition wise, I slowly worked my way off the gummy bears in training to gels so my stomach would handle it better. I also would aim to knock out two bottles of the PH mix during my longer stuff, plus a few refills of water. In TT position I would take down that 1.5 liter bottle every ride I could.

Overall, this lead to feeling a lot better during the race and few pounds down race week. Now to eat back those pounds and get ready for the next season. Thanks for all the support!!!