2010 Season Opener RR

Last weekend I kicked off my 2010 triathlon season out in Palm Desert at the Toyota Desert International Triathlon. As the week progressed it began to look like we might confront some rain on race day which I wasn't too excited about. I was hoping it would rain on Saturday and clear by Sunday, but as I made my way out on Saturday that wasn't the case.

T3 Performance Multisports was making its team debut at this race and Trish really stepped up to the plate putting on an awesome pre race dinner and breakfast for the whole crew (with fresh Kona Coffee of course). She also threw together a perfect post race DRY gathering and feasting spot with the help of another spectahlete/ T3er sister who may have gained honorary membership with her performance out in the desert.

Fortunately, the rain held off long enough that race morning and transition set up was dry.

Swim: 15:47

This was about a minute faster than I swam last year, and while you never can tell with swim courses from year to year, I'll take it as a sign the big swim weeks and masters is paying off.

Bike: 57:13

Despite only having about 1.5hrs on the new Blue Triad, I went against the old "nothing new on race day" advice and took her out for a test run. About 2mi in the rain started and it didn't let up the rest of the day. It was cold, and my feet immediately decided they had enough and went to sleep. Even with the rain I still managed to bike two minutes faster than last year. The new bike and fit were great. There is definitely some "getting used to" still to be done, but given the circumstances and race conditions, I think its a good sign. I ended up with the second fastest bike split on the day, with my buddy Thomas taking the top notch.

Run: 33:23

I came off the bike not knowing exactly what place I was in but given there were some Collegiate swimmers in the group, I thought I had a few to catch. Turned out Thomas' bike had gotten him to the pointy end, and there was one other between us. Sean told me I was a little over a minute down out of T2, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. I came out of T2 with another collegiate guy who was setting a pretty good pace. Maybe I was stuck in my long course racing mind set, but I thought I could let him go a little, wait till I had some feeling in my feet and then I could find my rhythm and reel him back in.
Well, my feet didn't come back around till after the first loop and given its only a 6mi run, that strategy came back to bite me. I caught Thomas a little after the first loop, and set my focus on reeling in 1st place. I was able to close the gap some, but the guy plain out ran me and all credit goes to him. The results called it a 5:22 pace, but I can't believe that so I think the course is a little short. I need the long stuff!
Total: 1:48:41

That is a little over 4mins faster than last year, and improvement was made in all 3 disciplines so I will take it. 1st "Elite" and 2nd Overall. I was happy with it.
Charisa came out and bettered her time as well, but, as usual, we had a little wager in play. We both were tasked with beating the overall winning time from last year. We are heading out to Tucson, AZ tomorrow for a 5 day training camp and I will be enjoying a nice, well deserved bowl of ice cream on the final night, which will be made all the tastier as it will be on Mrs. Wernick's dime.

Steven was an all star photographer/spectathlete again (what else is new?). And got some awesome pics while braving the rain crouched under an umbrella. Check out Charisa's blog to see a sampling.

T3 had a pretty damn good debut if I do say so myself. As a group, we took the men's and women's elite and the mens 30-34 (Jason May) titles. We also had a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th for the rest of the crew in various age groups. Our first race and our lowest finish a 6th. I'd say its a good start to 2010.