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There's something about the San Diego International Triathlon that I love. I don't know what it is. The fact that I'm out of the heat for the weekend? That the course could not be more taylor-made for me? Or that it's not another race at Tempe Town Lake? Whatever it is, I always find myself highly motivated to train hard for this race, and find myself motivated the day of the race.
This year was no different. Leading up to the race I probably put in the best four weeks of training in my life, consistent and with a perfect mixture of distance and speed. I also changed from running in the afternoon/evening heat, to running in the morning, in hopes of avoiding the overtrained state I always find myself in around this time.
The whole weekend in SD was good to. I managed to take care of myself in the 48 hours leading up to the start. Race morning I felt perfectly hydrated, feed and my legs were feeling real good when I warmed up. Everything was perfect. Having finished 3rd here last year, I had three goals in minds. First, improve last year's time (which I thought was about as fast as I could go). Second, feel powerful on the 2 mile climb up to the naval base we ride on. Third, run fast, going under 36-minutes.
Like I said, everything was perfect leading up to my walk to the beach. Then, not so good! I put my goggles on and placed my cap over them. I was just about to enter the water to warm-up when, SNAP, my nose piece strap comes undone and my goggles go flying off my face. I pick them up and notice that something had gotten on the rubber and melted it. So, I tie knots it in and replace the strap. All is good so I paddle out. Announcer says, "two minutes." SNAP! It breaks again. This time I double-knot it. All is good again . . . .
Announcer, "Three, two . . . " SNAP! [the sound of the gun!]. Oh $#%&! Guess I'm swimming without goggle [for the first time since my first high school swim meet]. When you get a lemon, make lemonade! I just put my head down and swam. Adrenaline was flowing, I can tell you that. I probably went out too fast because of it. Anyways, I swam hard but could never get into my normal rhythm.
I got out of the water and still felt like I had a good swim, but I wasn't sure. That is because my watch fell off sometime during the swim. Probably when I blindly ran into someone from the wave in front of me (I also have a nice gash across my face from it).
So, no goggles, no watch . . . just hope my tires are not flat when I get to the bike. I got out of transition smoothly. It was nice to have Melley SCREAMING at me as I exited T1.
The bike was great. I felt like I hammered up the hill. The whole time I remained in the big ring and in the aero position. When I got to the top of the hill, where it flattens out, a couple of the pros (10 minute wave ahead of me) were starting lap two. I actually caught up to them and at one point dictated the pace. On the way down the hill I put my head down and hammered. When I came into T2, the good news was that nobody passed me on the bike.
I exited T2 thinking, "take it out easy, get into a tempo, then hammer after the first mile and DON'T LET ANYONE PASS YOU!" I must have ran down a dozen people, mostly from the 25-29 wave that left 5 minutes before me. I knew I was running fast and the legs were REAL good.
I crossed the finishline in 1:35:25. That's about 50 seconds faster than last year. Goal one accomplished! I felt good on the hill. Goal two accomplished! I would later find out I ran a 35:30 10K. Goal three accomplished. Now to find out how I ended up.
By the time they posted the prelim results, I was in 2nd Place Overall. Strange thing was that (1) the person they had in 1st was from Tucson and I had never heard of him and (2) he dominated both myself and the 3rd Place person, by almost 2 minutes. Now, that's fast. Still I was happy that 'Zones' dominated this SoCal race, but I was disturbed by the fact that another FAST person had just moved to Tucson and that I would probably see him many more times.
Because we had to get our condo keys back to the rental company before 11am, I had to blow-off the award ceremony.
When I checked the results on Tuesday, after the splits were added, I saw that I actually had won the race. The Tucson guys had been removed from the results. There must have been a timing issue.
Cool, I had won! This is by far my biggest win at a Triathlon. This field was large (1,200) and deep, I had some equipment issues that I overcame and all my hard work in training had paid off. Now, I have to keep it rolling . . .
Brandon Sullivan
This year was no different. Leading up to the race I probably put in the best four weeks of training in my life, consistent and with a perfect mixture of distance and speed. I also changed from running in the afternoon/evening heat, to running in the morning, in hopes of avoiding the overtrained state I always find myself in around this time.
The whole weekend in SD was good to. I managed to take care of myself in the 48 hours leading up to the start. Race morning I felt perfectly hydrated, feed and my legs were feeling real good when I warmed up. Everything was perfect. Having finished 3rd here last year, I had three goals in minds. First, improve last year's time (which I thought was about as fast as I could go). Second, feel powerful on the 2 mile climb up to the naval base we ride on. Third, run fast, going under 36-minutes.
Like I said, everything was perfect leading up to my walk to the beach. Then, not so good! I put my goggles on and placed my cap over them. I was just about to enter the water to warm-up when, SNAP, my nose piece strap comes undone and my goggles go flying off my face. I pick them up and notice that something had gotten on the rubber and melted it. So, I tie knots it in and replace the strap. All is good so I paddle out. Announcer says, "two minutes." SNAP! It breaks again. This time I double-knot it. All is good again . . . .
Announcer, "Three, two . . . " SNAP! [the sound of the gun!]. Oh $#%&! Guess I'm swimming without goggle [for the first time since my first high school swim meet]. When you get a lemon, make lemonade! I just put my head down and swam. Adrenaline was flowing, I can tell you that. I probably went out too fast because of it. Anyways, I swam hard but could never get into my normal rhythm.
I got out of the water and still felt like I had a good swim, but I wasn't sure. That is because my watch fell off sometime during the swim. Probably when I blindly ran into someone from the wave in front of me (I also have a nice gash across my face from it).
So, no goggles, no watch . . . just hope my tires are not flat when I get to the bike. I got out of transition smoothly. It was nice to have Melley SCREAMING at me as I exited T1.
The bike was great. I felt like I hammered up the hill. The whole time I remained in the big ring and in the aero position. When I got to the top of the hill, where it flattens out, a couple of the pros (10 minute wave ahead of me) were starting lap two. I actually caught up to them and at one point dictated the pace. On the way down the hill I put my head down and hammered. When I came into T2, the good news was that nobody passed me on the bike.
I exited T2 thinking, "take it out easy, get into a tempo, then hammer after the first mile and DON'T LET ANYONE PASS YOU!" I must have ran down a dozen people, mostly from the 25-29 wave that left 5 minutes before me. I knew I was running fast and the legs were REAL good.
I crossed the finishline in 1:35:25. That's about 50 seconds faster than last year. Goal one accomplished! I felt good on the hill. Goal two accomplished! I would later find out I ran a 35:30 10K. Goal three accomplished. Now to find out how I ended up.
By the time they posted the prelim results, I was in 2nd Place Overall. Strange thing was that (1) the person they had in 1st was from Tucson and I had never heard of him and (2) he dominated both myself and the 3rd Place person, by almost 2 minutes. Now, that's fast. Still I was happy that 'Zones' dominated this SoCal race, but I was disturbed by the fact that another FAST person had just moved to Tucson and that I would probably see him many more times.
Because we had to get our condo keys back to the rental company before 11am, I had to blow-off the award ceremony.
When I checked the results on Tuesday, after the splits were added, I saw that I actually had won the race. The Tucson guys had been removed from the results. There must have been a timing issue.
Cool, I had won! This is by far my biggest win at a Triathlon. This field was large (1,200) and deep, I had some equipment issues that I overcame and all my hard work in training had paid off. Now, I have to keep it rolling . . .
Brandon Sullivan
