California 70.3 Sherpa Recap and training..

On Friday, Formulaic and I headed down to Oceanside for California for his 70.3. Jump on over to see if he has posted his race report. He will have his own views of the race as an competing athlete but I have mine as a Sherpa on the scene.

The packet pickup and check in was a little on the down side compared to IMCdA but all went smoothly and there was no problems. The Expo was smaller than I had expected for venue of this caliber and pretty much the standard was on hand and nothing out of the ordinary. I did mention to Form that I was a little bummed on the whole expo as I thought it would be in comparison to IMCdA but then again, CdA was my first real triathlon expo too.

After packet/expo stuff we started heading over to our hotel and were driving around Oceanside near the beach area and seemed to notice that it was not the place or streets in town. At one of our turns waiting for the light to turn green some lady was having a problem with another lady across the street and was yelling as loud as can be at someone.. "Trick Baby"!! Your momma's a Ho.. Trick Baby!!! Take your Ho ass down the road Trick Baby!!" It was very funny and the Trick Baby verbage quickly became a laughing saying for the rest of the trip!

We got checked in and went to eat at Sizzler! Yeah Buddy, the feed bag was on. Some how I forgot I wasn't racing and seemed to eat just as much as Form or even more but as a Sherpa I had to set a good example right? Once finished it was back to the room to digest and finish out the night.

Light were out by 9pm as 4am comes really quickly but not long after we were asleep the guests next door seemed to lack Parenting skills and were letting there kids run crazy and scream for quite some time, waking me up and Form wasn't even asleep. I quickly turned on the air conditioner to drowned out the noise as much as possible although it didn't help that much. After about 30 more mins I told Form All I know is that they are not going to like us at 4am!! Paybacks Biatches!!! So come the Late Tom Bodet Wake Up Call, as we were already awake.. It was TRICK BABY!! Time as Form and I started to make noise and get things going! Trick Baby was yelled a few more times before we left the room.

We got parked and Form had to ride about 1.5 miles to the transition with everyone else and I had to hope on a bus taking sherpas to transition and walk about 1/4 mile after that. Form was all set up and ready to go and then it was waiting time as the Pros started about 6:30am. From didn't start till 7:45am but the time went by fast watching everyone else start the swim and seeing the pros come through along with the Challenged Athletes Foundation - Operation Rebound, as Oz Sanchez was on hand to do his race. I saw him through tout the day a few times and it was great to cheer him on.

Once From was out on the swim I waited and watched and took up my camera spots and soon was back near transition to watch him come through when all of a sudden I could hear "Trick Baby!" and saw him running up the T1 path. He quickly did his T1 and was off on the bike. Nice job but I did get some great pics of him sitting around taking his time, hahah!

Once Form was on the bike I jumped the bus shuttle back to the car and changed out my clothes and headed out for run on the course. I was able to hope in about the 2.5 mile mark and started running along with several other runners that morning along the course. It was quite interesting to run through the aid stations and see everyone patiently waiting for the leaders. I hit the end of the turn around on the run, ran past it a few blocks and came back but as soon as I was back on the course I see a bike with a sign that says Race Official. I thought oh crap he's gonna yell at me or something but he was very nice and asked if I was training for any races and I quickly answered and he just wanted to let me know that the Lead runner was coming through so to stay to the right. Sure enough, like 30 seconds later over the hill here comes Matt Reed hauling ass! He made turn around and quickly passed me like I was standing still and then I see a 2nd pack of runners with Andy Potts and others chasing away. As Reed passed them they ALL checked there watches to see how much time difference there was, it was really cool to see. Then all of a sudden the pack passes me like I'm still standing still and I tell out to Potts to keep going and he's doing good!

As they all pulled out of site I had been noticing that my right calf was having some burning pain and not feeling very well. It started making me nervous and I pulled over at one point and spoke with some local residence who didn't know much about triathlons, gave them the 411 on things and watched as the lead female came running past. I was stretching my calf out on the curb but it didn't really seem to be getting any better. I began to run again and it was a little better but as I got back to the starting point it was not feeling any better and actually felt a little worse so I stopped running and was only able to 5 miles on a 11 mile planned run, UGHHH!!! Sucks every time for my long runs something is happening. I got cleaned up and headed back down to the transition area to wait for Form on the bike in and run out area.

I saw Form coming and started yelling.. Guess? Yup!! Trick Baby!!! LOL.. he quickly saw me and knew where I was on the run out. As he made his T2 and came by I got some good pics and off he went. Then it was just cheering all the runners on as some made there last pass and others had to start the 2nd run loop. Soon I see the great blue Jersey of the Las Vegas Triathlon club coming, grab some more pics and Trick Baby starts his second loop. During this whole day as a Sherpa it's your job to keep the significant other posted on the race and so I was in text mode with Mrs. Form to let her know how things were going.

I moved closer to the finish line and listen to Mike Riley and Greg Welch announce the athletes as they came across the finish line and just a short while later here comes the LV Tri Club Jersey!! It's Form and he's looking great coming down the finishing chute. As he gets closer I yell out.. You Go Trick Baby!! Your Almost There!!! he passes and I head over to the transition area to meet up with him.

He shows up pretty fast and is looking a little tired but overall Great! And he even has pizza for his Sherpa!! but mostly I was able to get some water and Gatorade from him as that is one thing I totally forgot to get on the way back down to watch T2 and it sucked cuz there was no place to get anything to drink. Once he got situated it was a long 1.5 mile walk back to the car! and Form changed out and we went to eat at this place called LoneStar BBQ..!! Great Texas BBQ as the owner, Richard, was from Chorpus Christi and yes, he had authentic Texas BBQ!

After all the recovery food it was back to Vegas and I had to send Form on his way with lovely Mrs. Form who was very kind to meet us about 1/2 half in Vegas land so I didn't have to drive all the way to there house, Thanks Mrs. Form! Great Hair, btw!!

Overall the race was great, I had a lot of fun and I would totally like to race this venue sometime in the near future!

Now on Sunday I headed out to Lake Mead for quick swim and then hit the bike course for Rage and I was able to really push my envelop to see how things would feel. I did good on the course but just not to sure I can bike that hard coming out of a 1.2 mile swim and then have to run 13.1 afterwards we shall see. The Calf seemed to be fine but after the ride my low back and foot were hurting so those are more problems to deal with. I must add that I have using PowerBar's Recovery Drink and I love this stuff as the hot day seemed no problems after downing this stuff after that ride, thanks PowerBar!

Friday its back to West Coast California, Mulholland area in Calabasas to ride out the bike ride Form and I signed up for a few months ago. It's a Century and has me quite nervous!!

I will post Pictures tomorrow..

rockon`