Race 17: 2010 Sandman Triathlon

Date: August 1st, 2010
Distance: .75 Mile Swim, 13 Mile Bike, 4 Mile Run

One of my favorite races of the season is the Sandman Triathlon at Seacliff state beach. This year would be no different. Again, my main goal was to improve on my time from last year. Being 3 for 3 on that goal this year, I wanted to make it 4 in a row. It was a shorter course, so any little mistakes would end up being more costly toward my end goal.

I'm in there somwhere...

The swim started down the beach from the transition area, and forced us to swim around an old tourist attraction dock before heading back to the beach. Every year, the swim has been difficult for me. The salt water makes me dehydrated, the waves make it difficult to navigate the course, and the water is very, very cold. I did my best to conquer these as I started at 8 a.m. that Saturday morning.

Exiting the water, I put a lot of my bike effort into the first few up hill miles before settling into the saddle and keeping a strong steady pace though the whole thing. That day, the roads were fairly slippery with some water that had not dried from last nights rain fall, so turns had to made cautiously. I even had to watch as one of my fellow competitors ignored the slippery roads and take a spill around the half way mark of the ride. Luckily he was near an aid station, and had people there to help him quickly. The sun just started to show from behind the clouds when the bike portion ended for me, and the ran began.

The run was changed this year to be a straight out and back along the beach instead of though the campgrounds. Apparently racers routinely got lost in there in years past, so the simpler, faster course along the beach was the new option. Realizing this I turned the seconds half the run to be a negative split to finish the course in 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 32 seconds. Almost 10 minutes faster than last year! Count that 4 for 4 in 2010.


Links:

Website: http://www.sandman-triathlon.com/
Official Results: http://www.scsla.org/sandman/results_2010.html