After last week's double racing at US Super Sprint Champs in Vegas, NV followed by Tri-Cal' Pacific Grove on the weekend (both draft-legal races), this past Sunday I raced the legendary SuperFrog Half-Ironman triathlon on Coronado Island off San Diego, CA. I say this race is legendary because not only it's the oldest-running half-ironman in the country (this was its 36th edition), but also the founders of this race are the original inventors of Ironman. Also, the race is based at the "Stick" - a training center of the Navy Seals - and it was originally started to prepare the Navy Seals.
This was sort of a last minuted decision of mine, but local Boulder pro Leon Griffin gave the inspiration and motivation to enter this $7,000 prize-purse independently-owned half-ironman, which has always featured a few pros from the San Diego area, as well as world-class athletes such as Lance Armstrong (who took the win in 2012 in front of Leon Griffin and Tyler Butterfield). Unfortunately the race organizers would not want to release the pro start list for some reason, so that made me a bit nervous, as the prize-purse was only 3 deep.
So after a pretty easy week to let my body recover, off I flew on Saturday to San Diego, where my awesome homestay Dave took the greatest care of me. Best homestay award!
This was sort of a last minuted decision of mine, but local Boulder pro Leon Griffin gave the inspiration and motivation to enter this $7,000 prize-purse independently-owned half-ironman, which has always featured a few pros from the San Diego area, as well as world-class athletes such as Lance Armstrong (who took the win in 2012 in front of Leon Griffin and Tyler Butterfield). Unfortunately the race organizers would not want to release the pro start list for some reason, so that made me a bit nervous, as the prize-purse was only 3 deep.
So after a pretty easy week to let my body recover, off I flew on Saturday to San Diego, where my awesome homestay Dave took the greatest care of me. Best homestay award!
Sunday on race-day I could not recognize any of the faces racing, except for Kiwi James Cotter. The race featured a pretty intense 2-loop 1.2 miles Ocean swim thru 5ft surf, a 4-lap 56 mile bike ride on the highway (flat and windy), and a brutal 2-lap 13.1 mile run, with 6 miles of it being on soft sand. I knew this was the perfect race for me to play my one and only card: get a gap right from the start on the swim, hammer the bike, and hold on on the run!
Getting out into the surf was pretty rough, and for about 3/4 of the first loop Cotter was on my feet, but lost him coming back into shore thru the surf. On the beach run transition to 2nd loop I could see I had about 15" on him. Back in the water, back thru the surf, and picked up the pace a bit more to increase the gap. The run to transition up the beach was long, but there was a corridor of cheering people which made it cool.
Once on the bike, getting out of the base was a really rough surface and I was expecting to loose every bolt in my bike (I'm not super confident in my post-flight bike-assembling abilities). Once on the highway, it was just a matter of holding the power I "thought" I could hold for the 90k bike ride (this was my 2nd attempt at the half-ironman distance, with the first being Boulder 70.3). It was a very boring 4-laps course, with no turns excepts the U-turns at each end of the loop. I had good legs and was able to hold the power consistent, but it was seriously mind-numbing. All that kept me going pretty much was the count-down to the next yummy gel! I had stashed my bike with 7 gels each one of different flavor, and each time it'd be a surprise. Anyway, on the bike I was putting time on Cotter at each turnaround, then didn't see him after less than 2 laps anymore (double flat), but noticed this massive guy in a lime-green Zoot kit that seemed to be powering thru the course. I was taking splits at each turnaround, and my 2'-ish gap was staying constant. Later it turned out it was Karl Bordine, the 2007 USA Cycling Elite National TT Champ... go figure.
Getting off the bike I felt surprisingly good; too bad no one was ready for my arrival, and all the volunteers and course marshals were minding their own business. This caused me to go off course for a bit, before finding my way again. On the dreadful beach run out-and-back I felt good but knew it was gonna hurt on the 2nd loop. I crossed path with 2nd place Bordine, and noticed his massive stature. Hence I told to myself: "There's no way this guy can run me down!".
And sure enough, I increased my lead on him throughout the half-marathon, winning in 4 hours and 9 minutes.
So stoked on my first pro race win!
