The Orange County Triathlon is one of our favorite triathlons because it is our home triathlon. The swim takes place in Lake Mission Viejo, the bike rides through Santiago Canyon, and the brutal run goes through Mission Viejo. We've done this race for the past three years, since they brought it back in 2008. I hope I am always able to do this race.
The great thing about having a local race is that we don't have to get a hotel room and we don't have to get up super early. But that doesn't mean it's not still dark when we arrive at the race venue.
The OCTri has two separate transition areas. Most races do not have this because it requires set-up on the previous day. We dropped off our running shoes and any nutrition we would need the previous day at T2. The morning of the race, we only had to set up our swim and bike gear.
I don't have any pictures from the race, so this is going to be a little wordy. The lake temperature was pretty nice, a lot warmer than the ocean will ever be. I felt that my swim went pretty well. I thought I would have a faster time from last year since this year I was wearing a wetsuit, but my swimming has really sucked this year. My swim times have been slower in every race I've done this year. I need to fix that.
Skyler Swim 28:51
Elise Swim 31:00
I always have a hard time getting my wetsuit off quickly, which is reflected in my T1 time. This race was no different, but my T1 time was actually really, really fast. I'm not sure what happened, but I hope I can do it again.
Skyler T1 2:15
Elise T2 1:42
The bike course should have been a snap for me. Since this is a local race, I have been practicing the actual race course on my bike. Every Saturday I would ride through the canyon and back to practice. I had it nailed, or so I thought. I think the problem is that I've been focusing too much on my distance training instead of focusing on my shorter-distance training. So I could climbs the hills of the canyon really well, but I wasn't pushing it fast enough on the flats. I should have been way faster than last year, but I was about 30 seconds slower. Argh! I was so mad when I got off my bike. In order to beat last year's time I would need to have a killer run.
Skyler Bike 1:09:43
Elise Bike 1:19:55
T2 was a quick one. I had my shoelaces pre-tied so I just had to slip them on and pull the drawstring tight.
Skyler T2 0:52
Elise T2 1:08
My running has improved a lot this year, so I knew I still had a chance of beating last year's time. I also had the goal to beat my time from the Malibu Triathlon, since it was the same distance. (In reality, you can't compare different races because there's too many differing factors.)
The run course on this race is interesting. The first 1.5 miles is a slight downhill, so there's time to get your legs moving again. I knew I needed to fly on this part since the rest of the course is tough. Then you hit the 2-mile mark and you start climbing. The hill isn't too bad, especially compared to the hill at the 4-mile mark. No walking took place on my part. I had one issue though: I didn't know how fast I was running. I forgot to wear my Garmin watch and the run course wasn't marked. I've never seen a race that didn't mark the miles. I felt like I was running fast, but I just didn't know. After I reached the top of the brutal hill, I flew down the other side. I am a great downhill runner and can usually make up a lot of time. I knew what my finish time had to be to beat my Malibu time, so I pushed hard. And then pushed harder. But it just didn't happen. I missed the mark by one minute. One minute!
I ran through the finish line and started crying. Skyler didn't know what was wrong. I told him I didn't beat my time and he tried to comfort me. Then I told him that I did beat my time from last year at this race and he realized that I was crying for nothing. I really was. You can't compare races. I had beaten last year's time by just 20 seconds or so, but I did it!
Skyler Run 45:21
Elise Run 50:07
Skyler Total Time 2:27:02
Elise Total Time 2:43:52
Skyler finished 4th in his age group and 98th overall. I finished 2nd in my age group and 214th overall. Yeah! This was my first time getting on the podium at a road triathlon! I was so excited! So we had to wait around for the awards ceremony (a first for us).
My friend Kelly also raced with us. This is her second road triathlon, the first being the Malibu Triathlon that we did the previous month. We trained together, biking through Santiago Canyon a lot, so it was fun to have a friend to race with too.
The absolute best part of racing is having a husband who shares a passion for triathlon too! I love Skyler and I love that we have triathlon in common between the two of us.
Ironman Arizona is less than two weeks away. All of Skyler's hard training for the past year will finally be put to the test. I know he will be amazing, no matter what the outcome. As the day gets closer, I will post the tracking information for his race so everyone can check his progress throughout the day.
3 comments:
Great race, congrats on winning 2nd place!!!
Woe Elise I didnt know you had another tri. Congrats. And to Skyler to. How's Pumpkin? I think we need her to come over and chase away the Tabby cat that is on the naughty list this year.
Wow great race Elise!
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