Fun in the Sun: Rocky Point Triathlon

So I went to a beach party and a triathlon happened. The next  stop on my 2015 race season continues with an Olympic effort at the Rocky Point Triathlon in Puerto Penasco, MX, AKA, Rocky Point to AZ and CA locals and commonly referred to as “Arizona’s Beach” only a 3.5 hour drive from the Phoenix area.

Puerto Penasco is nestled against the northern most point where the Sea of Cortez greets the Mexican coastline in the State of Sonora. A once quaint fishing village has grown into one of the top tourist and go-to spots for ‘fun in the sun’ of residents of AZ, So Cal and NM.  Known for its warm water temps, ocean breezes and crazy tide changes, Rocky Point is the perfect venue for this race. The race takes place at the Las Palomas Resort and boasts having the best post-race party. I cannot disagree!  Although the Mexican ambiance is super laid-back with your typical Uno Mas attitude, the course is no joke featuring a rough breakwater swim, windy bike and hilly run through the resort golf course.

Making a relatively last minute decision to race Rocky Point, I was looking forward to coming back to avenge my 2^nd place AG finish (by a mere 17-seconds) of 2012 with my eye on winning my AG and a top-5 or even possible Overall podium. I hit my goals taking 1^st in my AG and 5^th Overall, and stoked with an Olympic PR of 2:12 -- only a few minutes off the OA podium.

Feeling fit and ready, Chris (Bagg, my awesome coach) has effectively transitioned me from early season long course training for Oceanside 70.3 to short course focus over the 4-weeks between races. Our work together has again paid big dividends. With a short course focus over the summer months I’m very excited about the Rocky Point outcome setting a baseline for us to build, tweak and execute as I am quite certain the competition at Alcatraz, NYC Tri, and USAT Nationals will have built and tweaked all they can and definitely be ready to execute. 

I love ocean swims and was glad to see the surf on race day, although fairly rough, had calmed from the day before when I got banged around during a practice swim. The great thing about fighting the surf going out is using it to your advantage coming in, and with a two loop course – the fight out and trip back in provided double the fun. My new Blue Seventy PZ3TX Skinsuit worked like a charm. I exited the water 7^th (out of 26) in my AG ready to ride.

 

The bike course was 3-loops of 14.4-km (9-miles) or roughly 43.2-km’s total. A bit longer than the standard Olympic 40-km distance, but what the hell, this is Mexico and they’re close. The ride out was fast and fun with a strong prevailing tailwind making the return into the headwind a grind. Either direction the key was to keep low in your aero’s to maximize or negate the wind. I had the 2^nd fastest bike split in my AG moving up 5 spots into 2^nd place. Coming into T-2, I was told I was the 7^th racer in. Feeling energized by this news – I was anxious to run.

As I exited T-2 there was no other runners in sight yet I knew there were at least 6-guys in front of me if spectator intel was accurate. I had my work cut out for me. For the first time the dry-arid Sonoran heat caught my attention forcing me to now pay closer attention to a climbing HR. As I got my legs under me I focused on keeping a steady-conservative pace in the 6:30-6:45 range. Within the first 1.5-miles I came up on the first guy and passed him.  The constant ups and downs created cramping in my left hamstring causing me to slow up on the downhills.  At mile-3, I came up on the next runner, Greg Stelzer who is in my age-group, after passing Greg I could now see the resort in the distance but still had some work to do. Thoughts of cold cerveza at the finish fueled my efforts as I came into the home stretch, rounded the last corner onto the beach across the finish line. My 10K run split of 40:33 was the fastest in my AG and 3^rd fastest overall – allowing me to secure the AG win and top 5-finish.

Thank you Chris for changing gears so quickly to short course and to the Timex Factory Team and team sponsors Scratch Labs, Blue Seventy, and Skins for the sweet training and racing tools.

The good people at Human Movement Management work hard and do a nice job organizing and putting on a great race.  So if you’re looking for a little fun in the sun – I highly recommend the Rocky Point Triathlon. Thanks for reading.