Bonelli Olympic Distance Tritahlon Results

No rain and near perfect conditions, we would start our day in the dark just minutes away from Bonelli park getting some early breakfast from Moniques parents house. The Bonelli Olympic Distance would be my third race at this distance and the 2nd ride on my new B2. I was stoked and felt ready to race.


Without too much of a warmup we headed out to the water to start our day with a 1.5K swim...Actually, I think it was closer to a mile and felt soooo looooong. I managed to stay with the lead pack until the first buoy and then started fading back. I finally got onto some feet as we reached the far side of the lake and pulled through the weeds in the shallow water along the shore. What a long swim! My arms for the first time started going numb near the end of the swim and I am still not sure what that was from. I thought that I was pretty far behind exiting the water but I managed to hold on to a 5th place spot and it was a quick T1 onto the bike.



The 40K bike
Three laps around Bonnelli park and the airport and I was loving my bike! I probably should have had more miles on it but I just got it back on Wednesday of this week after getting fit so I had about 9miles on it before the race. Not the best but I made some adjustments as I rode and felt solid on it. So fast and smooth. The hills did not feel bad at all and I was able to stay seated for all the climbs conserving my energy for the run.

The second and third laps were plastered with the sprint triathlon group and it was a crazy passing game. I saw Monique ripping around and I was so stoked to see her little bunz pushing up the hills. She is getting fast and she is so cute!

Into T2 and besides one of the volunteer putting their bike sideways in front of my bike rack the transition was pretty smooth. Heading out I heard a few people say that I was forth overall and I was stoked!

10K run
The run, the truth, the last push. For me it is the judgment of how I held up so far and pacing although after the California Multisport series the race felt much shorter than ever before. Ending with the run is MUCH easier than starting with the run and at just over 2hr there was not as much of a need to hold back. I gave it to the bridge (about 1mile) before I passed any condition of how the run would play out and just as I reached the end of it I saw the next runner up. My running usually sucks and I am usually just waiting for someone to run me down but things have slowly been changing. . .

I took my time and got the pass at about mile 2.5 and then pulled away to keep out of sight. So much of that slow passing on the run is mental and just as I rounded the corner I looked back and saw the same guy getting passed by someone else. Was I next? My mind shifted from focus on catching the #2 spot to getting run down. It sucks. It makes me run so much slower. Inefficient. I held on until the out and back (about mile 4) and I ran with Ryan for a while before I told him to catch that #1 spot! He looked strong and pulled away with ease. I started looking at the next runner behind me again and started running scared again. Ahhg... I saw another guy gaining on me and looked back about every 10 steps. Whats wrong with me? he he he... I got to the 2nd to last hill and could hear the footsteps behind me. Downhill to an aid station and one more hill to the finish with less than 2 miles to go so I told myself I would not look back until the I reached the top of the last hill. I let it rip down to the aid station and sprinted up the last hill way over LT. Feeling beat but after one look back there was nobody in sight. I ran the last mile in a recovery and then was back to finish strong and looking back I had put about 5min on the next guy. I think he had a stop at the aid station between the hills and I managed to get over my shoulder looks...hopefully.

Third place overall and I got a #1 for my age group 10min up from the #2 spot. Stoked!



Monique took 5th in her age group and even if it was her second ever Olympic distance she showed a huge improvement. She is ready to go long!



Official Results:
http://results.eternaltiming.com/event/BON2008
Race: Bonelli Olympic Triathlon (226)
Age: 32
Hometown: Huntington Beach
Full Results: Overall Full Course
Time: 2:19:42.490
Overall Rank: 3
Male Rank: 2
M30-34 Rank: 1