Have you ever wondered what it is like to ride 46 miles and run 6 miles in one weekend? Have you ever woken up on a Saturday morning at 6:00am to go to a Mock Triathlon practice that started at 8:00am? Well... as of now, I have. :-)
This weekend was the infamous (in TNT speak) Zumaman triathlon - a mock-triathlon that emulates the Malibu Classic Distance Triathlon: 1/2 mile swim (which we didn't do - unfortunately the surf was too high and could've potentially been dangerous to the newbie swimmers), 18 mile bike ride and 4 mile run. This is shy of the big race I'll be doing in Hawaii, however it was a great learning experience and definitely showed me some things that I need to work on. For example:
1.) Perhaps I should get there earlier than 30 minutes before the gun shot, as I was running around frantically about five minutes before the race trying to make sure that i had everything set out in my transition area, all my numbers written on me, my wetsuit comfortably on my body, etc.
2.) Always pin your number to your shirt BEFORE the race starts
3.) Definitely look both ways before crossing PCH, or Zuma Beach Parking Lot - I think there were like 8 crashes on Saturday. Not bad for a days work, i'm thinkin...
So here is how the day went down: I woke up bright and early at 6:00am and left my apartment to make the drive up to Zuma Beach by 7:30am (yes, it takes an hour). I arrived on time (barely), got my registration materials (my number, transition entry band, and two stickers to put on my bike and my helmet that had my number), had people write my number on my left bicep and my age on my left calf. I frantically organized my transition towel, put my wetsuit on, and got to the group meeting just in time for our coaches to go over the course. We trudged out to the water, and right as we were about to get into the frigid cold of the Pacific, coaches informed us that, due to the level of the surf, we would not be doing the swim, but that we were getting in anyway and going under and thats when our race would start.
Bam! We were running from the beach to the Zuma parking lot, where our transition area was located.
The whole time I had a smile on my face because I was thinking that we all probably looked completely ridiculous running frantically from the ocean up to the parking lot, a cluster of human bodies flailing around trying to remove wetsuits, goggles, swim caps, putting on bike shoes, helmets, shirts, etc. I realized just as I was about to take off that I had forgotten to put my number on my shirt so I had to take a second to do this. I was one of the last out of the transition area... DOH!
I hopped on my bike, thinking that I had some headway to make up. I trucked it out of the parking lot and began the 18 mile ride up Pacific Coast Highway. Whew! What a rush! Cars were driving by and honking, the fun and adrenaline rush of competition of the other triathletes on the road. As we returned to the transition area after the ride, I quickly realized how much it helps to keep your own items close to your small area. As you can see in the picture, there was crap all over the place! Who's wetsuit is sitting on my towel?
Why is there a bottle of sunscreen lotion leaking on my helmet? Who's Speedo is this? (OK - that last one really didn't happen, but you get the idea!) I came onto my little towel and realized that all I needed to do was rack my bike, take my helmet and gloves off, and take off running - luckily most of the stuff I needed I already had on, so I was pretty good to go. Maybe grab a drink of Gatorade or something quick. Gotta go! And I was off. I started my run in 7th place and I finished the race in 6th place (after not swimming, my best sport, mind). 
After the race, there was a general group high from all the endorphins our brains just released into our bodies. We sat around for a bit waiting and cheering for the rest of the teammates to finish the race while eating bagels, drinking redbull, water, and gatorade, just generally having a great time.
This was such a great experience and it served to really get me back into focus and get really pumped about my training and my race. I was so inspired, actually, that on Sunday, I rode 27 miles on my bike from Santa Monica to Pepperdine University. See my route here.
Whew! What a fun and busy weekend. I thought my legs were going to fall off on Monday but I had a great time and I'm hoping that this week will prove to be a nice little recovery week before our last build!
I'm at $2,700 - just over halfway there to my goal of $5,500. Please donate here! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far! I really appreciate all of your thoughts and support. Only five more weeks until the big race! Whoo hoo!!!
chris
