May 23: Two things: I 'sho do miss short course racing and I can't seem to get a break. This past Sunday, I raced the UVAS South Bay Triathlon, a really awesome sprint (3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 5 mile run) race in Morgan Hill, CA. It was at this race in 1996 I believe that I won my first ever age-group race, so the race has some sentimental value. My last three triathlons have been half-ironmans or longer so it was a blast to race short. My engine rev's high and I love to go fast and short. I'm only doing this long stuff to fulfill my destiny as a triathlete (no triathlete feels complete until he/she goes long) and honestly, I am chasing some ironman demons. The biggest difference about racing this past Sunday was the confidence I had while racing. If the distance is short, I know exactly what to do and how hard to go, I was uber-confident. Though the confidence was there, the speed was not. I was first out of the water in my wave (a first for me), putting about a 45 second gap on the pack behind me. I'm convinced my fast swim times of late are due to my new Z2 Wetzoot. This suit is amazing! My legs ride so high that I have to try to keep them in the water; otherwise, I would be kicking air. I bought the Orca P-flex three years ago solely because all the top pro's were wearing them. Put simply, the Orca suit sucks in comparison to the Z2. I was unsure about the Z2 when I first felt it and put the suit on. It seemed too thick and with Zoot being fairly new to the wetsuit market, I did have some apprehension. But after my run-in with Karen (refer to the Wildflower race report) from Zoot, and having raced in the suit twice now, I'm completely won over. I had a slow swim to bike transition but didn't panic. Race day saw light sprinkles which at times became light showers which made for a slower, more cautious bike ride. Also, I was in the fifth wave behind the elites, men 34 and under, women 34 and under, and women 40 and under. Needless to say there was lots of traffic on the bike course. I felt strong but couldn't really get any speed going. Another guy from my age-group passed me 8 miles or so in the bike and his presence woke me up. I tried to race and hang with him but lost sight of him after two miles or so when I slowed to take a gel. I didn't lose any more spots on the bike and headed out on the run in second place. Once again, I felt strong, but just couldn't kick it into a faster gear. At mile 2.5 I knew I had closed the gap between first and myself but also knew that I was running out of real estate. At this point, I had to make a decision: go all out and risk bonking to chase him down or just maintain my pace and take second. Before I could decide, a guy went flying by me and I went with him. Immediately, my body told me it wasn't going to happen so I dropped back. With about a mile to go, I was about 15 seconds down on the leader and then another guy goes by me and once again, I tried to go with him; and once again, my body said no. Basically, I only had one speed on the run and I could have maintained the same pace for hours, not good for a sprint race. My brother and my nephew came out to watch the race. I saw little Tyler cheering for me and I wanted to stop and pick him up but second and first place were within 15 seconds so I just waved to Tyler and charged on. I couldn't make a dent and wound up third amateur overall, 7 seconds behind second and 15 seconds behind first. My goal time was 1:30 (my PR on this course is a 1:27) and I finished in 1:32.02 but was happy considering the cold and rainy conditions. The Zoom Team finished 3rd (me), 4th (Steven Chavez), and 5th overall (Kevin Magna), pretty cool stuff!