Pacific CRUST 2008!!

I'm calling it "Pacific Crust" because that's what I felt like after the race.....a hot freshly baked piece of crust!...... Salty crust!

The day started off well with a swim in the Wickiup resevoire, which they announced was 64 degrees. When we found that out at the race meeting everyone cheered. It ended up feeling more like 66 or 67 degrees....so just nice and refreshing. Swim went well, started off fast for a few minutes and then settled into pace. Came out at 32:09 (65th place) which is a good position for me in a race of 600 people. The Zoot Ultra Zenith wetsuit feels really really comfortable. My arms/shoulders dont get nearly as tired as they used to.

Quick 1:27 transition, could have been faster but took the time to stick a tube of SCaps and my trusty Gu-filled Gu Gel Flask in my side pockets. We also had to stuff our wetsuit and towel into a T1 bag so they could transport to the finish since its a point to point course.

Bike was tough but not as tough as I anticipated. The first 27 miles are a gently rolling slight incline. ...but I was flying out there with a tempo effort at 24-25 mph up and over those hills. Miles 27-38 are were the race is won. You pretty much have three challenging climbs with little break in between each one. I think I took it too easy on this as I let people pass me (thinking I would see them later on the run course) and didnt really let my HR rise like i normally do huffing it up those hills. I held back. Was hoping that would make me fresh for the run. After mile 38 its all down hill 14 miles then flat for 6 miles (58mile bike course). The only thing that sucked about the downhill was there was a headwind and I did not make up as much time as I thought. 2:35:53 (about 22mph) and 24th fastest bike and now in 24th place. I also raced today on the bike and run with my new TN Sunglasses I found these listed on Ben Greenfield's blog and boy are they awesome. There was no fogging when putting them on after the swim, they were light as a feather and I could actually see through them while in the aero position (my old shades hung down on my nose so i was looking over the top edge of them when in the aero bars).

T2 was great....57 seconds...fastest over everyone including the pro's!!

Run- went out at my goal pace 6:10, huffed it for another mile at 6:42, after that I would not see the six's again. Every mile was well over 7 minutes. There was just no snap in my legs that day. On top of that It was sooooooo freaken hot. After about mile 5 i lost my competitive spirit and it was just survival. there was no shade on the run course, no wind, just hot dry still air. Everyone was in survival mode. I thought I was running terribly. I had to stop at every aid station and take in water and pour water over my shoes to cool my burning feet. But everyone else was baking out there as well. I ended up running a 1:34:03, but passed 10 people and finished in 4:44:30 (14th place overall). I really really would have liked to go sub 4:30 on this course and I know I can.
I was a little disapointed that my running didnt show up for the half marathon. Even with the heat I should have run a 1:25 or 1:26 half....that would have put me in around 6th or 7th place overall. I have been training to, and know I can, run a 1:20 half marathon off the bike.....but I still need to prove that in a race!
I am happy that I gutted it out with all the other troopers that day. My hats off to everyone who competed, spectated or volunteered in that heat. And it was great having Pops and Coach out to support (once again)! One of my best friends ADM even watched me race for the first time.
Oh yeah, Matt Lieto defended his title this year fending off 70.3 specialist Kirk Nelson by 3minutes. Kirk was within 40 seconds of Matt at one point during the run. But the heat was taking it out of everybody and Matt ran hard to keep the title.
Now I get to take this whole month of July off from racing and just recover and train. Second half of the season starts in August (Midsummer Tri @ Blue Lake & Hulaman)