Race Recap: Coyote Carrera

This past weekend, I found myself lining up for my first triathlon of 2011. To say this event was long awaited would be quite the understatement. The strange part was that a certain calmness was present over me from the time I woke up. The nerves were controlled and it felt my mind and body were at peace (perhaps, “the calm before the storm”). Thursday I looked at the start list and was impressed by the talent that was starting the race. Matt Gonzales, who is a good friend and one of the fastest runners in New Mexico triathlon, was ready for his second race after an outstanding performance in the Phoenix Triathlon the weekend before; Hector Tovar is one of what I like to refer to as the *“big 3 of NM”; Jaime Dispenza; and Richard Sena were all ready to race; quite an impressive. Matt and I text most of the week; we talked about tactics, who’s racing, and what to expect. Matt is quite an athlete and has come a long way from last year, which was his first season in the sport. I was extremely excited that we would be lining up side by side for my first race of 2011.

Tactically, my race was superb. I needed to stay close enough to Matt while gaining time on Hector during the run. Matt took off, as expected, and I ran with him until the turnaround. It was pretty awesome Matt and I ran shoulder to shoulder all alone for a chunk of the race. That itself made it a special day. Shoulder to shoulder with a good friend in a race, not training… Pretty awesome! Once we hit the halfway mark we had some time on Hector. I made the decision to let Matt drop me coming back, so I could save a little more for the bike (I’m not sure if I could have kept his pace much longer anyways!) The bike: Hector’s strength. I hammered to the turnaround catching Matt much later then what I expected. Coming back on the narrow pedestrian trails, that weren’t closed to the weekend traffic, kept me on the edge of the saddle. Swerving in and out of tandems, kid bike trailers, guys on inline skates, and racers trying to pass one another going the opposite direction made the ride back to transition fairly interesting. Hector caught me coming into t2. I was confident that I could out swim him, but until you jump into the pool after a hard ran 5k and 12 mile time trial, you never know. I sat on his hip for 100 meters and was at a comfortable pace. I was prepared to sit on him until the last 50 meters and let it come down to a sprint, but he let me pass (a pass with quite a bit of physical contact). Once I opened a small gap my lead continued to grow. I was trying to stay composed the last 150 meters. I had the win in my hands with 100 meters to go. I’m sure to Hector this was just another race, but to me it was a huge accomplishment. To beat one of the guys that set the bar for NM tri was truly a special feeling.

*The “big 3 of NM”, the other two would be Clay Mosely and Sir Mike Montoya. Between these three guys they win most of the races in the state. All three are amazing athletes and a true inspiration to us younger guys coming up in NM.\

Results, splits, and a little video! http://www.chasing3.com/cctriresults/

Matt and I at the start... Always good to have a friend to race beside

 The top 3

What a fast podium.  I wasnt old enough to take home the prize!

Great photos courtesy of Matt's lovely sister Jenn

Tri-Dreaming

As I sit at the end of my bed typing, my legs continue to twitch uncontrollably. These unexpected spasms have been quite common here lately. I take the twitching as a sign that my legs are ready to race. The past few months I’ve only been able to talk about how excited I am for the season to start. The anxiety continues to build and overflow into my muscles and… dreams?

Yes, even my dreams are being bombarded by the triathlon lifestyle. A few of these dreams were very clear and had a very real feeling to them (kind of creepy). One of the first dreams, and possibly the strangest, was that Seton Claggett (Trisports.com CEO) bought the fast-food franchise Arby’s. He then held a meeting where he invited all of the Trisports.com Triathlon Team members. During this meeting he encouraged all of us to buy Arby’s stock. Mark Tripp and I were the only two to accept the business offer put on the table by Seton. We thought, at the time, that it would be a great idea and our new team could be called Trisports.com presented by Arby’s. Long story short- the paperwork fell through and I eventually woke up.

Unfortunately, not all of the triathlon related dreams were this lighthearted. A few years ago I read a psychology article discussing how stressful dreams can be. I would soon learn this was a very true statement. During one of these more stressful dreams I drove for hours to a race and didn’t realize until the swim warm up that I had forgotten my water bottles. In other dreams I forgot my wetsuit, missed a start time, lost my goggles, and even locked my keys in my car with all of my tri gear still inside. FYI- I have actually experienced each of these scenarios in real life throughout my two seasons as a triathlete.  Around the third disastrous dream I woke up covered in sweat and my heart was pounding.  After these vivid and quite colorful events I think the season needs to start pretty soon.  I’m not really sure where I was going with all of this, but hopefully it will get a few reads and lighten up someone’s week just a little bit!

Safe Training and Keep Dreaming