Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Solana Beach triathlon predictions

Yep, my first anniversary for triathlon is coming up on the 26th.  That was the date of the 2009 Solana Beach Triathlon.  However, through the magical mysteries of calendar math (a concept I understand but am too tired to contemplate at the moment), this year the race falls on the 25th.

First off, the hotels in the Encinatis/Solana Beach/Del Mar area are expensive this weekend.  I ended up finding a Marriott for $199, but this was a fluke, because even the Days Inn was north of $200.  I have to start booking this stuff earlier, because I reckon this should have been around $89.  Ouch.

With a year under my belt, I must admit I'm approaching this race with a bit of swagger, though I know this is a mistake and I could pay dearly for this infraction against my normally balanced persona.  But even if I manage to slow the ego roll between now and Sunday, my plan is to "hold-nothing-back-and-go-all-out" for this one.

Solana Beach is a short race - 1/4 mile swim, 9 mile bike and a 3 mile run.  With the exception of a steep run up the bluff from the swim to transition, Solana is a flat and compact course.  If conditions are right (e.g. smallish surf on the swim and minimal wind on the bike course), in THEORY I can do this in under an hour.  I'll just have to string together a series of strong but previously achieved performances for each discipline.  That said, I'll probably find a way to screw this up.  My best guess is that I will finish somewhere in the 1:03-1:05 range.

 Hardest part of the course.  It's steeper than it looks...

Last year my time was 1:21.  This was slow, and I placed low.  But it didn't matter, because as I've mentioned before this was the race that got me hopelessly hooked.  On the drive home last year I may have been happy enough to (hypothetically speaking) sing along to a Michael Jackson song.  But if this (again, hypothetically speaking) happened, it would have been something cool like "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" from Off The Wall.

Race report Sunday...

17 comments:

Barbie said...

Looking forward to the report. You will smash your previous time.

KovasP said...

58:35 this year and I heard it was "Thriller." You'll probably swim faster without the sequined glove this year.

Pahla said...

Cheers to double digits instead of triples - go get 'em!!!
Can't wait to hear all about it. :-)

Julie said...

Good luck this weekend Patrick! You are going to do awesome:) You sound pretty excited for this one! Looking forward to the race report!

Laura said...

Have a great race! Good luck and race hard.

Pete32 said...

Good luck this weekend, you're going to do great. The clean legs alone will help "shave" off 10mins! I'm looking forward to a race report. PR race reports are always enjoyable read.

Jon said...

Good luck this weekend! I have NO doubts your are going to CRUSH last year's time!

Aimee said...

Good luck this weekend! You are going to do great! :)

Emz said...

rock it!

Love the serious man photo. awesome!

Matty O said...

good luck!!! you will get your goal this time!

Caratunk Girl said...

Good luck! That ramp looks dreadful! Looking forward to the RR!

Lucas R. Tucker said...

Good luck this weekend! I a praying for something as fast as 1:21 for my first event.

ajh said...

Good luck! You will smash your last year's time!

J. L. said...

Good luck! Looking forward to race report!

J. L. said...

Good luck! Looking forward to race report!

DRog said...

Hopelessley Hooked....looking forward to the one year later result!

Glenn Jones said...

Hope it went well! A least is was warmer than SF.

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