Saturday is the first race in California Triathlon’s National Race Series. The team is taking 101 athletes to Oceanside. The team dinner is Friday night at 5pm and the cheer station will be on the run course. Now to the important part of getting dialed in to race.
- EARLY SEASON. It is early season and Christmas went into New Years which went into Valentine’s Day and so forth. And of course there is that nagging injury from that off-season marathon you thought you would squeeze in. A nice percentage of athletes I am hearing from feel under-prepared and that is perfectly fine. At a minimum you are getting an early season data point that you can use later in the 2016 National Race Series calendar.
- HEAD LAMP. You are going to get there early and it helps to have a head lamp when you layout your gear.
- WEAR LAYERS. It can get cold and damp in the morning so wear some layers. You can always take them off but you don’t want to start off your day chilled.
- SWIM COURSE. Bring a small bottle of water with you to the start so you can continue to hydrate until the horn. This is definitely a wetsuit race so make sure you bring your favorite XTERRA Wetsuit to the start line. The swim is a “dog leg left” loop in Oceanside Harbor and the Boat Basin. It is a protected swim and typically only has a few rollers. On the return you can sight off the pier on your right hand side. It is also advisable to wear a pair of tinted swim goggles if it is a sunny morning.
- BIKE COURSE. The bike course can be broken into three parts. The first 25 miles are flat and fast and after a few minutes on the bike you should start warming up from the swim. Then you will hit a series of rollers and hills. Remember to use constant output on the hills. There is one particularly sharp descent that has a 25 mph max speed. You have to make sure you are under 25 mph or you will be DQd from the race. The second half of the bike course typically has some strong head and side winds. Don’t get sucked into hammering your legs in an attempt o maintain your speed. Get aero and use constant power. As for drafting, yes, you will see packs of cyclists drafting at Oceanside. They are weighing the risk/reward of a faster time versus a penalty. You will want to avoid drafting so that the time you get is the time you earn.
- RUN COURSE. Flat and fast although it can get hot the second half of the run. The Cal Tri cheer station will be on the run course and so will our photographers looking for the Cal Tri kit. Here are the photos from 2015. The run is a double out and back. At the half way point you will experience the sensation of the finishing line crowd getting noisier and then quieter after you flip the run. It can be a bit disheartening unless you are prepared. Take the first mile at about 30 seconds slower than your race pace and decide somewhere on the second half of the run if you want to increase your race pace to negative split. Again, constant effort here too.
- CAL TRI – EARLY & OFTEN!