Santa Rosa 70.3 recap

Nytro Girls hamming it up 

I loved Vineman and was really sad to see the race go away...but was optimistic that Santa Rosa would be just as epic.  And it did not disappoint.

For me it was a good day, I came up short on my goals for each leg but considering the short taper and fatigue I was carrying into the race I will graciously accept the results and I found my happy place on the top of the podium.

Swim: 28:29 Off  by over a minute.  Rolling start and while I dislike this from a "where is my competition" stand point it made for a nice swim with 3500ppl and for an early start.  AG start at 6:25 so I was in the water a minute later.  Lake temp 63- ideal and water is murky but feels clean.   I just did not have the extra gear and swam a steady pace and tried not to get upset knowing I was not digging deep.

T1: worst part of the race.  The run up the boat ramp was fine, less than .1 of a mile on carpet but the next .25 is up hill on chipnseal and it was treacherous and cold. Air temp 43 to feet were painful and running barefoot nearly killed me.  I dropped the F bomb about 1000 times.  Dear Race Director with all $$$ you pulled in for registration fees, drop a runner of padding.  I had socks on to keep my feet warm but did not put them on, nor would I stop to put on socks to run back up.  But I HIGHLY recommend some slide that you leave off to the side and jump in and run up.  If you have any feet problems this could be the death of your feet.  There were at least 100 smart people who lined up their shoes, it looked like the entrance of a temple.  Anyway that was COLD

Bike: 2:37:42 I was hopingfor 2:33 and on fresher legs I could have done it.    My power was dropping at mile 40 and the fatigue set in.  But it is a great course!   But, you know there is a but as I am not all about rainbows and butterflies.  Remember the crappy roads of the old Vineman, ruts and potholes and rough roads?  Remember how they finally repaved the entire course and how awesome that was?  Well forget that and re-remember the old course. The roads are mostly crappy, makes for a rough ride and lots of lost nutrition.   BUT the scenery is stunning.... all you think about is drinking wine, ok maybe that was just me.

always honored to be up on stage

Temp- it was cold.  43 degrees and I elected to not use my genius sock arm warmers, because i am an idiot and learned nothing from St George 2016, and I dropped my gloves and was too focused lazy to pick them up.  So I was cold, shivering cold for at least an 90 min or actually 93 minutes when I realized I was not shaking.  Not the smartest plan.  At 30 min I went for my glukos bar and my hands were like claws and I hit a bump and dropped it.  Ok so there goes 200 calories.    For this time of year- you want arm warmers and a vest and gloves!   I had toe warmers on which were helpful.

Nutrition:  1 glukos bar, as I donated the other one to the pothole  2x bottles with 100 calories of OSMOS, 1 glukos liquid pack gel , 1/2 bottle gatorade  = 650  calories.  I backed off on the sodium as as I figured I was not shivering out salt, so I took in 1600 mg for the entire ride vs 3200 as planned.

There are NO steep climbs although I was still happy to have a 28 cassette on there.  Mostly aero riding - just watch out for the giant seams in the road, as in 4 inches high and 3 wide and 2 feet long in the middle of your side of the road, most were marked, a few were not- if you hit that it would really bad.  I rode at 81% but the power was dropping the last 10 miles vs Oceanside where I was holding strong, so I knew I was struggling.  VI 1.03 so pretty even on that front.

D3 crew having fun post race

Wind- all kinds, tail, head, and cross winds- a bit squirrely as times.  I had a  Enve 6 in the front and was fine with that, but if you are tentative in wind I would not go deeper than a 404.  Disc in the rear and no issues.

T2  with 3500 bikes and only 4 rows of bikes it was a LONG transition, as in there were 3 traffic lights in the row, 3+ city blocks.  More running with bike in hand

Awesome to meet athletes face to face :)

Run:  1:47.14 I knew from the beginning the run was going to be a challenge. Plan was start at 8:00 min pace and the drop from there. In Oceanside those first few miles we so easy, hard to run "that slow", where as here it was not easy.  As the miles ticked by the pace was increasing a few seconds each mile as the the pain increased.  Coming off Oceanside where the run is packed with people this was  different run. After the first mile you left town, but not have hard right turns, stairs and a few weird loops all slowing the pace.  Once out on the river it was nice, shaded and crushed gravel but lonely and when you are hurting it was even more lonely.   The first loop is about 9 miles with too many hard turns and up and down curbs but I was taking it one mile at a time.  I hit the low point around mile 8 and had a serious chat with my inner voice to suck the F up and stay in the race.  1- thanks to whoever shouted to lean forward and 2- Andrew Shore who smacked me hard on the ass- that was what I needed!    I would not call this a fast run course and that is not because I ran slowly all the turns and ups and downs take away time, but that is my humble opinion.

D3 in the house

Without John to give me intel or not being able to see my competitors  I was racing blind.  The deal went like this " Julie if you want to drink wine and eat Nacho's you have to hold your pace. If you slow down, give up or think about walking you are eating carrots and drinking water for diner"  Around mile 11 I added a chocolate bar to the deal and was heading for home.  Nutrition was good 3x Huma gels and a few mint Shot Blocks- new and yummy!  Water or gatorade every aid station and 4 motivators at the 1 hour mark to stay caffeinated - 250 mg of caffeine for the race.

It hurt but that is racing...It's easy to reflect today, I could have run faster, but alas, I did what I did on that day.

Ah the benefit of racing in wine country 

The trip was great...with Liz, Bud, Courtney and Mike as housemates and so many D3 athletes and SD Tri Clubbers around, it was almost like a hometown race!   The topper was racing along side Jen and Teri my 2 athletes.  And we had a great post race party at our place with D3 and Nytro Racing Team.

Love this race and recommend it!

                                

                                  DIV      GEN      OA      SWIM           BIKE              RUN                FINISH

Dunkle, Julie    USA     1        40        255       00:28:29      02:37:32        01:47:14          05:03:01