Race 18: Big Kahuna

Date: Sept 12, 2010
Distance: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run

I've already done a race recap of the Big Kahuna triathlon, but I'll still go over the highlights of what happened in this race, and if you want to read the long version you can find links below.

The swim took place around the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf for a total of 1.2 miles. Being in the pacific ocean, the water was cold, very very cold. However I have been getting better swimming in cold conditions, and the fact that the air temperature wasn't very warm made the transition to the water easier. I did not bother with a warm up swim for this race, as I figured I had plenty of time to warm up during the swim. The swim around the wharf went well for the first half. I was pulled off course a little bit, but kept my line fairly straight. After the turn around though, I seemed to have gotten caught in some sort of rip tide, because no matter how much I swam towards the shore, I didn't really move anywhere. I had to swim parallel to the beach back towards the wharf before I could make any forward progress. Once I figured that out, I was back on course and headed to shore.

I think the guy on the seadoo is cheating

Coming out of the water, I didn't feel as tired as I thought I would have been. The air temperature was still a little chilly, but I opted not to wear the arm warmers that I brought with me, assuming the sun would come out and start to warm up. I was wrong. The entire bike ride I wished I had brought them with me. The air was cold, and the road was damp. Crossing the only set of rail road tracks 12 miles into highway 9, we were advised to dismount from the bike and walk across, because the roads were that wet. A female competitor was lying on the ground being attended to by race volunteers after she decided not to heed the warnings approaching the tracks. I felt bad, but she was well attended to and I just took her fall as a warning to the conditions.

By the time I came back for the run, my legs felt tired, and a little jelly. I haven't had many rides at that distance and it took its toll. What I didn't know either is that about a quarter of the way into the run my hip would start to hurt a little bit and force me to walk almost all of the up hills of the course. This would later turn out to be a case of tendonitis in the hip, but never wanting to quit, I continued on the run, running what I could when it was flat or downhill, and walking the up hills. I would finish the course in just over 6 hours and 18 minutes. I was hoping for a sub 6, but considering the hip injury I took the time as an accomplishment, and something to improve upon one day.

Links:

Website: http://www.firstwave-events.com/races/Big-Kahuna-Triathlon-2012-Santa-Cruz-Beach-Boardwalk.aspx
Official Results: http://resultsarchive.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=218713&rsID=99020
Previous Blogs for Big Kahuna:
http://ironmikecanada.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-349-6-hours-18-minutes-and-17.html
http://ironmikecanada.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-351-big-kahuna.html