Bike and swim and bike...

A number of the TNT LA Triathlon team decided to do the Solona Beach "Sprint" Triathlon on August 1st to give us some practice on how to do a triathlon. The Solona Beach Triathlon is short and fast, 400m swim, 14.5k bike, 5k run but it is a chance to practice transitions and more to participate in an actual race.

We decided to swim the course at Solona Beach and then turned the day into a bike/swim/bike brick workout. We biked from Carlsbad to Solona Beach, 9 miles, then changed into wetsuites and swam 1000m or so (to the second marker and back). It was my first time in the ocean with the new wetsuite and I had a very difficult time with the swim. The wetsuite felt constricting and fits differently than my diving wetsuite. I had a difficult time finding my rhythm as I seemed to always breath while going through a wave and ended up drinking a lot of sea water. With the help of some teammates, I was able to eventually make it to the second marker, 500m or so from shore. After resting by floating on my back, I was ready to try to swim back to shore. This segment was easier, but I was getting very tired from fighting the swells and the wetsuite. Eventually, we made it to shore, though it took me an hour to do the 1000m. More time in the wetsuite and the ocean is a must!

Then it was on the bike to ride back the 9 miles to where we started. The ride was uneventuful, but I was fairly tired after the swim. It was a good workout overall and helps me see what I need to work on.