Going into the race at Santa Barbara I was unsure whether I would participate because
of finals and other assignments. I ultimately decided to go, as Iʼve heard that UCSB is
one of the best races for its beautiful campus (other than Tritonman), and more
importantly, this is the last race I can try an open water swim in the ocean.
Unfortunately, Saturday was rainy and also a bit chilly. Since I stayed up late on
Friday doing packing and some homework, I was a bit tired on
Saturday. On the way to Santa Barbara, we grabbed an excellent fish taco which
was Andieʼs recommendation. As other team members arrived, we went on a course
preview in the middle of the rain. We checked the first quarter of the bike
course and found out that this’s going be a somewhat tricky course because of
the narrow and slippy pavement. As we got back to Ellaʼs home, we took a
shower, studied until eating more excellent Tacos and even stroked Ellaʼs lovely dog Loki! I
tried not to eat too much but I couldnʼt stop myself from eating tacos. When it was time to go to bed, I saw that the weather was rainy and assumed that the swim would be canceled.Upon waking up I found out that they actually did substituting it instead with a 1.5 mile run. Although I like to run more than swim, it was disappointing not to have
the open swim part because this was the last opportunity to practice in a real race
situation.
As we got to the campus, the sky was clear. The problem was that the course was
still wet and slippery. The first run course was going to be on the same gravel course as
the second run to the halfway. Being several paddles on the course, I tried to
avoid being pocketed. I could finish in the 10th place that part. At the Run-Bike
transition, right before the mounting line, I realized one important thing to do. “I
forgot to change my shoes to cycling shoes! (what a carelessness mistake)”. The
bike part was more dangerous than what I expected, even though we did a
preview. Unfortunately, some of the members were sadly involved in a crash. I
slipped my rear wheel on the lane line and at the moment I nearly fell down and
crashed my bicycle. By not having aero bars I think I lost my position in the
backstretch. So I pushed hard in the last uphill part of the bike course instead.
And while switching to the 2nd running portion, I made another unbelievable
mistake. This time I forgot to take off my helmet till I ran out from the transition
area. At our UCLA race, I drank too much water on the bike section and that
caused a stomach ache. This time around things were different as I learned from a mistake
and drank the minimum amount necessary for hydration. Thanks to that I didn’t
feel the ache during a run part and that make it possible to pass three people in
the last mile!
Overall, I could keep the pace I expected and the hydration worked out well
(and I enjoyed the trip with wonderful teammates and good Mexican food). I
hope this experience from a race is a good practice for the upcoming
conference (obviously I have to work on transition!) I heard that Olympic
distance is pretty different from sprint distance. Taking advantage of two weeks,
I would like to make myself ready for the MTS conference which is going to be
the 2nd last race before I am going back to Japan!

by Soichiro Tanemoto