Super Seal Race Report
Okay since I dont think anyone has wrote a blog let alone a RR I figured I'll kick it off.
Before the Start
Water temp was about 60ish...it was nice though compared to the cove over the past week. The military started in wave 13 so 35 minutes after the original wave. Before the start there was a large group of us from Camp Pendleton, MCRD, and else where around the country that gathered had a few pics and got in a quick swim.
The Swim
So we start out in angled at the first buoy and for some reason between the angle of the beach at the start, the land mass that stuck out towards the buoy and the buoy location, there was not a good pack a good draft or a good angle to take at the bouy. I was all over the place and finally as we approached the first buoy I felt like I was in some "clean water" and could site without for the next buoy....well let's just skip to the end of the swim because honestly nothing really exciting happened....site, swim, get off course, correct, swim over the top of someone and repeat....that's me in the open water....hilarious...the good part was Cody Thacker (MCRD) got out of the water with me, Ski was just ahead, Maj John Hatala was just ahead and little did I know but Trip Littleton wasnt too far ahead of us either...so there was going to be a good group of us throughout the race.
The Bike
So if you know me you know this is my forte'. With the California 70.3 six days after this race I had pondered how I wanted to approach it....well I basically decided lay it all out there because I'll regret it if I dont...so I did. I dont have my bike split yet but let's just say it was good...okay great. I left T-1 with my trusty steed in hand and could see two fruity pebbles jerseys ahead of me (Ski and Maj Hatala). The fastest bike split last year was about 1 hour flat and I wanted to beat that (well I wanted to destroy that) so I knew I needed to average over 25 if not 26 or more in case the course is long. I passed Maj Hatala first then rolled up on Ski at about the 6 or 7 mile mark and he stayed with me for a while. Long story short, the splits will tell the tale but I know I broke an hour and was very happy and still feeling good when I got off the bike.
The Run
Okay I can run but I'm not a runner, I went out at a good clip thinking 6:30-6:40's would be about right for the first 3 miles and hope to hold that pace or pick it up the back half if I could...luckily I didnt go out too fast because the last 3 miles was windy...not blow you over windy but still enough to make you say hmmm....I feel this. At about 3.5 miles I got passed by a guy who I thought may be military so I picked it up a little to try and keep him close. At the turn around I could also see Maj Hatala closing so the last 2 miles were pretty hard. With .5 miles to go the guy who passed me (he is a Soldier from Ft Irwin) really accelerated and got away from me but I held on for what ended up being second military.
The Marines that raced all did awesome...I believe we were 2,3,4,5,6 military, and the results page isn't working right now so I cant pick out all the others but there were a lot beyond that that did fantastic. There was some good competition in the military and everyone who raced would have done some serious damage in their own age groups as well. Anyways since this served as a qualifier for the Armed Forces Championships I think it shows we should have a strong team to put together (from the West Coast and Texas at least).
Before the Start
Water temp was about 60ish...it was nice though compared to the cove over the past week. The military started in wave 13 so 35 minutes after the original wave. Before the start there was a large group of us from Camp Pendleton, MCRD, and else where around the country that gathered had a few pics and got in a quick swim.
The Swim
So we start out in angled at the first buoy and for some reason between the angle of the beach at the start, the land mass that stuck out towards the buoy and the buoy location, there was not a good pack a good draft or a good angle to take at the bouy. I was all over the place and finally as we approached the first buoy I felt like I was in some "clean water" and could site without for the next buoy....well let's just skip to the end of the swim because honestly nothing really exciting happened....site, swim, get off course, correct, swim over the top of someone and repeat....that's me in the open water....hilarious...the good part was Cody Thacker (MCRD) got out of the water with me, Ski was just ahead, Maj John Hatala was just ahead and little did I know but Trip Littleton wasnt too far ahead of us either...so there was going to be a good group of us throughout the race.
The Bike
So if you know me you know this is my forte'. With the California 70.3 six days after this race I had pondered how I wanted to approach it....well I basically decided lay it all out there because I'll regret it if I dont...so I did. I dont have my bike split yet but let's just say it was good...okay great. I left T-1 with my trusty steed in hand and could see two fruity pebbles jerseys ahead of me (Ski and Maj Hatala). The fastest bike split last year was about 1 hour flat and I wanted to beat that (well I wanted to destroy that) so I knew I needed to average over 25 if not 26 or more in case the course is long. I passed Maj Hatala first then rolled up on Ski at about the 6 or 7 mile mark and he stayed with me for a while. Long story short, the splits will tell the tale but I know I broke an hour and was very happy and still feeling good when I got off the bike.
The Run
Okay I can run but I'm not a runner, I went out at a good clip thinking 6:30-6:40's would be about right for the first 3 miles and hope to hold that pace or pick it up the back half if I could...luckily I didnt go out too fast because the last 3 miles was windy...not blow you over windy but still enough to make you say hmmm....I feel this. At about 3.5 miles I got passed by a guy who I thought may be military so I picked it up a little to try and keep him close. At the turn around I could also see Maj Hatala closing so the last 2 miles were pretty hard. With .5 miles to go the guy who passed me (he is a Soldier from Ft Irwin) really accelerated and got away from me but I held on for what ended up being second military.
The Marines that raced all did awesome...I believe we were 2,3,4,5,6 military, and the results page isn't working right now so I cant pick out all the others but there were a lot beyond that that did fantastic. There was some good competition in the military and everyone who raced would have done some serious damage in their own age groups as well. Anyways since this served as a qualifier for the Armed Forces Championships I think it shows we should have a strong team to put together (from the West Coast and Texas at least).
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