3/30/2013 - Oceanside 70.3

The first race of the season for me, while I should be saying I was in shape and ready to race, I was not. But I am confident in the fact that this is where I want to be early in the season this year. Two reasons for this mainly starting training very slowly to avoid injury and simply because I am going to be racing through mid January 2014 this season. So the best part of the trip to Oceanside each year is the annual Zoot team camp, which did not disappoint this year yet again. I figure even if I am not 100% ready to race, if I am going to be in Oceanside I might as well race even if it is going to be a training race. I arrived less than 24 hrs prior to the race, but got in a shakedown run and bike, pro meeting, and met up with the Zoot crew, everything fell into place quite nicely. Race morning I parked well away from T2 and rode there dropped off my new Zoot Kiawe prototypes and headed to the start. Even though this race had such a stacked pro field I did not feel much pressure since I knew it was just a training race. The water temp was about perfect 62 F, the start was normal male pro aggressiveness. But I like to swim to the outside even if that means swimming a little bit further, you waste a lot of energy playing around in the water with other athletes. I was a bit suprised at the pace that was set by the guys, Andy did not even get a chance to pull away, I led the 2nd group into T1 just outside the top 10. The bike is where I knew I was not in shape to ride with these guys, I have simply not put in the time yet this season. I lost a lot of time on the bike and was passed by many, no big deal I thought just want to see how the run feels. The run surprisingly went very well I ran a 1:26, while that is nothing to write home about all my previous seasons injures seem to be non issues which is great. I even ran in racing flats for the first time in a 70.3 and loved it. So I guess you can sum up this race as getting my ass kicked, but for me it was a a training race and it went very well.  The rest of the weekend was filled with Zoot team camp, dinners, photo shoots, kayaking, and lots of beach walking.  For now it is still snowy here in Boulder so the season continues its slow progression, but I am not worried one bit, after all this is all for fun, right?