Goleta Beach Triathlon Race Report

RACE PREP:     After the Redondo Beach Sprint Triathlon last month, in which I placed 9th in my age group (M25-29) and 112th overall I was determined to do better then that. Looking around for some other sprint triathlons, there were 2 that caught my eye, Carlsbad Triathlon and Goleta Triathlon, both in July. Well, I think the choice was obvious, Goleta. Show my home town whats up.

Now in all fairness, I was talking some trash on the Goleta Race, talking about how it was a small local race, and that I'd show the locals how it's done by getting on the podium. But then realization started to set in when on Saturday evening, the night before the race, I was sitting with my mom going over my projected splits, based on my training routines, that obtaining a podium finish was all but a foolish dream. Based on the 2014 Results information, I estimated that I would have to finish under 1:04 live up to the smack talk. However, my breakdown quickly made me realize, that I was in trouble. Here's my pre-race prediction:

1/4 Mile Swim -      8:00
              T1 -           2:00

11 Mile Bike -       36:00

               T2 -          2:00

2.5 Mile Run -       20:00

            Total -    1:08:00

So yeah, I needed to write a pretty big check to cover what my mouth was spitting. After some Trash talking from my mom, about no need to stay late for awards.. yada yada yada... I fell asleep on the couch, only to wake at 4:00 to start getting ready.

RACE MORNING:     Getting to the Transition set up at 5:30am to insure a parking spot was easier than I thought, it was one of those mornings where everything fell into place. With a prime spot near the Bike out area, I was determined to have some good transition splits. I opted out of using a wetsuit and instead decided to swim/bike/run in only the tri-kit I was wearing, to save some valuable seconds, because I was going to need second to live up to the dream.

Sound of the horn and we're off, Wave 1, consisting of about 40 athletes in different age groups, and I wanted to get settled into a pace and just survive with some sort of lead pack. At the turn around spot, I had a good line, and was feeling good, I may have gone out a little too fast, but I wasn't going to stop now, no time for rest! Getting out of the water (by my parents estimates about 12th of 13th out of the water) and usually the time where I have a hard time getting into a good run pace to transition, however, since it was a short 1/4 mile swim, I felt good, passing up one of the swimmers while still on the beach running to T1. Officially my swim split was 9:28, already behind schedule!

The Transition to Bike was smoother than I thought, I had strapped my bike shoes to the bike, in order to save time from strapping the shoes on, and then clipping in at the mount line, this way I could do it with a running start and just slide my feet into my shoes once I was out on the bike, again saving valuable seconds, which I desperately needed now. Officially my T1 split was 0:49 seconds, only 9 racers in the sprint triathlon were able to achieve a T1 split under a minute, mine was the 6th fastest.

Since I was in the lead half of the swim group, there wasn't much action for me on the bike, all I could hope to do was not lose any spots on the bike and just maintain momentum. The bike course was flat and quick, where I was able to only get passed by 1 other biker, but I was also able to pass another, so my position was neutral. Officially, my bike split was 32:32, three and a half minutes ahead of my predicted time, and averaging over 20 mph during the bike portion. I had made up some valuable time, however, at what cost to my run.

 I was able to slide my feet out of my shoes and jump off the bike and into a sprint to enter the second transition, and since my bike was near the bike in/out area, I didn't need to run too far to rack it. Since I was already barefoot and the run portion was short, I decided to go sock-less, less time in transition. Bike Racked. Helmet off, Run shoes on, sip of gatorade, and I'm out of T2. Officially my T2 time was 0:36.

While out on the run, my legs felt good, definitely not "fresh" but no where near the point of needing to walk or cramping up so I just pushed on. Seeing that the run was a 2 lap course, I decided to pace the first lap, to see how the legs felt, and then pour it on during the second lap if needed, that's precisely what happened. I was able to push harder and faster than I thought on the run, and was able to maintain sub 7 minute. Within only a couple minutes of being out on the run course, I was able to run down the only racer who passed me on the bike, however, I had no idea where the other racers were, I wasn't sure who was ahead of me and which age group they were in, so I just kept digging. Offically my run split was 16:59.

Official Race time: 1:00:22, I had beat my prediction by almost 8 minutes, and ahead of my prediction for where I needed to be on the podium, but still unsure as There were a few racers ahead of me.

Waiting around for 15-20 minutes until there was a results page posted, I quickly ran over and saw my name, Steven Burkett 3rd M25-29! I had done it, I got on the podium! WINNER, ME, I DID IT!!! Well, now we HAD to stay for awards, which wouldn't be for another hour or so. Waiting around, I got a feeling that maybe they would update the results for any bad chips and I would be bumped from 3rd down to a much disappointing 4th. After some time, I re-checked the results and was delighted to see they had moved me, instead of down, I got bumped up to 2nd place. AWESOME!! I was awarded 2nd in the Mens 25-29 Age group Division.

All roads lead to ironman

With everything going on, both Stephen and I haven't posted much on this blog.. the last post being Stephen's race recap from April. We've completed quite a bit since then... so if you don't like reading.. go no further.

13 days after Ironman 70.3 California Oceanside we had another extreme adventure ahead of us, We again signed up for the Ragnar SoCal Running event, except that this time we decided to do an ultra team. Normal Ragnar, crazy enough, involves 12 people split into two vans and running 200(ish) miles from point A (Huntington Beach, CAa) to point B (San Diego, Ca), but an ultra removes 6 people and 1 van from the equation. Each runner, ran between 30-40 miles in the course of 32 hours, running 6 separate times. No lie, it's run, change, try to sleep, stretch, run, repeat. The spirits were high the whole time we had a blast, with the exception of a couple stress fractures in Stephen's foot, that he still managed to put up 20+ miles on the run, impressive.Discipline will be my key, it will be the reason I will endure the long road ahead of me.. wish me luck.

In May of this year, I ran the Orange County Half Marathon and received legacy status, running either the 1/2 or full marathon for 3 consecutive years. Nothing major to say about the race, I ran it in 1:42, about a 90 seconds off of my PR, but I went out there to pace my friend Troy who was determined to run his first half marathon in under 1:45. At about 11 miles Troy turned the boosters on and went ahead finishing in 1:41, a solid performance for his first half marathon.

The next adventure 6 weeks later was the Born to Run Ultra Marathon Running series, where Stephen was gearing up to run 30 miles on trails, I was fortunate to be able to run the first lap or roughly 10 miles with him, I have no interest in running more than 26.2 miles in 1 sitting, however, there may be a time in my day when I do an ultra marathon, just to say I've done it. I'll let him discuss this race further, if he does a post race report on it.





With a few more training races between now and November, the last 4 months of training is when it get's real, the daily training sessions will be the base and core of what will get me through the ironman. Sometimes there are times when motivation is fleeting or non existent, and I find it hard to get off the couch, or out of bed to go for a run. Oddly, one of the most motivation things I've read was something anonymously posted online, when someone asked how to stay motivated.

"It's a fickle and unreliable little state that isn't worth your time.

Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. Force yourself to do things, to get out of bed, to go the gym, to work harder and smarter; force yourself to do stuff when you don't feel like doing anything.

Motivation is fleeting, and it's easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you, you don't even have to chase after it.

Discipline is reliable; motivation is momentary. The real question isn't how to keep yourself motivated, it's how to train yourself to work without it."