Race 22: San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island

Date: July 9, 2011
Distance: 1.5k Swim, 40k Bike, 10k Run

I returned once again to the place where I challenged myself with my first Olympic distance triathlon. Treasure Island. The cold salt water swim would greet me with an even more chilling experience than normal, because this time I decided to do the swim in a sleeveless wetsuit. I was given a quick reminder on how silly this would be, as I would be one of only two racers in my age group to attempt the San Francisco Bay swim with out any neoprene protecting our arms.

When I first jumped into the water, I thought maybe this sleeveless idea wasn't such a good one. Immediately my heart rate would spike, and my arms felt like they were going to fall off. I kept my calm though, and let my body adjust to its new climate that it was going to have to deal with for about 30 minutes. When the starting horn finally sounded, I would be slightly more calm then when I first jumped into the water and the fear of hypothermia was slowly fading from my mind. 

The cold water swim was a risk that I think paid off. I was able to get used to the water temperature by about a third of the way into the swim, and although my swim time didn't really improve any, I felt much more relaxed when I came out of the water. 

On the bike, I really wanted to push it again and try to match my time at Lake Almaden a month earlier, but the winding, technical course and high winds would get the best of me, and I would finish just shy of my goal with an average MPH of 19.8. 

The run would again be a little difficult with spending as much energy on the bike as I did, but I would still keep a solid pace under 8 minute miles, for a finishing time of 2:42:05. A little over 2 minutes of my goal time, but I still think I impressed my girlfriend who came to watch my first race.

Links:

Website: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/SF2012-main.htm
Official Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20110709_San_Francisco_Triathlon_Treasure_Island.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Olympic+Distance+Individual~M25-29