San Diego, California
I enjoyed this race experience as a whole a lot more than I expected. First, let’s start with the hotel and accommodations. I really liked the hotel. From our bay view balcony on the 10th floor you could take in the ocean, the pier, the bay, the bridges, the pool below, the swim for the race, and the bike for the race. We watched part of both the elite women’s race and the elite men’s race from our balcony. It was neat to stay in the hotel with pros from all over the world. Below is our hotel in the center of the picture. The Pro swim takes place in the bay at the top left where I put a yellow square. The expo, finish and grand stands I marked with a pink square also in the top left. The bridge marked with a red square is the bridge they crossed over and over on the bike course. I thought it was a great set up. I definitely want to do this one again and bring the girls. You can walk to Sea World from our hotel. The age group race takes place on the bay to right. The bike course is completely different and I will tell go into more detail on the course shortly.
The Swim:
The Transition area was very nice. They had these luxurious blue mats that I warmed up on. There were plenty of bathrooms. The swim was great and I had a good swim.
The Bike:
I was not a huge fan of the bike course. It was quite difficult, and in my opinion dangerous. It was not the kind of course in which I tend to do well. My time was horrible. I was happy with both my swim and my run times, but my bike was an hour and 37 minutes. The course travelled rough choppy roads with very few areas that I could get a good rhythm going. I got bounced out of my aero bars more than once. It must have been a logistically very difficult race to pull off for there were so many crossings and so many police controlled intersections. Despite that a black SUV almost took out a woman right in front of me. Both of us were traveling about 35 mph at the time. The real challenge of the course is this very challenging hill which you must climb twice. On my first climb I made the mistake of taking it too hard not realizing how long it was. It hit over 7% grade and was over 2 miles long. Once you reach the top you go down a wicked decent. I don’t enjoy that either. It was a little better the second time because I knew what to expect.
I checked a few of the hilly races I am planning over the next year or so. Leadman, Buffalo Springs and even Escape from Alcatraz. None of these races has a hill that equals the one I took twice in this race. Leadman comes close with one level 4, but it is not as steep as the hill in this race. Ironman 70.3 Buffalo springs has much shorter 5’s, and even that killer hill in Ironman 70.3 Oceanside is only a shorter 5. What this means, is that I will not face a more difficult hill in any of the triathlons I have planned and I did that hill twice! This is a huge confidence boost for me. I know I can take the hills on those courses now. I looked it up and even the fabled ‘beast’ in Ironman 70.3 St. Croix, is a shorter 4 than the hill in this race. After this hill (Twice) I feel I can take on any of those hills. Of course I am not saying that I took it fast, just that I took it. Twice!
The Run:
The run was a two loop course with what I thought was a great route. I like two loop 10Ks because everyone who goes by me on the first loop I see again on the second loop. The way I run a 10K either has a negative split or others just fade, either way I tend to pass all those people on the second loop that passed me on the first loop. I don't know why, but I get stronger and faster as the 10k wears on.
