Its easy to be a thinking man on a beach.

For those of you looking to make a trip to a future Santo Domingo, DR race, it is pretty easy. Find a good flight, book an Airbnb in Zona Colonial and haggle a taxi for $15-20 to get you there. There are plenty of grocery stores in the area, just make sure you boil your water or buy bottled, wash your food and don`t walk around with your phone in your face. Most places take credit cards and you can get by with about $200 USD for race registration and your off- the-street purchases. Make sure you get a coconut from a local vendor, only 50 pesos. ITU Santo Domingo is a great race for the end of the season closer.

Stay hydrated

The forecast was for rain, but it turned out to be a little cloud cover and racing at noon meant it would be hot. I froze some water bottles for intake and for pouring on my head to keep my core temperature down. We had a beach start with about ten meters to run toward the water’s edge. A section of the stretch had some soft sand causing your foot to sink a foot when planted. I bunny hopped that to ensure I would not be thrown off balance.

Bike Recon

Once we hit the water, there was only about five meters of running before the water was up to our waste or we were hit with a wave. The beach was steep which created one big wave with small riptide after the water peaked on the shore and drained back to sea. I had a starting number of fifteen so I had more options to choose my start position and there is a little strategy involved.

Enjoying a nice race warm up.

I was going to line up close to Tommy Zaferes, fast swimmer, but he lined up on the far left which required more swimming. I decided to line up closer from the right, fourteen starting spots toward the middle. The sand was compact there and that is where I had previously practiced my water starts. Too close to the right would have meant fewer people to draft off of and it would also require a tighter line to the first turn buoy.

Olympic Training Center Pool

Immediately when I dove into the water, my face hit the water perfectly causing my goggles to slide and fill with water. I practice swimming without goggles or with goggles filled with water just in case this happens. If this misfortune finds you, just swim normally and feel for splashing feet. Sometimes it’s better to just accidentally pull your goggles off and get a new pair later. Stopping to adjust is not ideal unless you are one of the faster swimmers.

I do enjoy swimming in water that is super clear.

I made it to the first turn buoy still in good position and did not get beat up too badly at the turn. Unlucky for one guy that I felt submerged underwater around the turn as his head hit my chest. I kept trying to maintain my position to the second turn buoy before heading back to shore because that would mean I would only have 350 meters left. I did lose some feet but just jumped onto someone else`s feet as they swam past me. After we turned to go back to shore, I had made a friend who continued to stay as close as he could to me and bash into my side until we reached the shore. I managed to catch a wave as we approached the shore so I did not have to fight the small riptide to exit.

Swim Course

I could see when I stood up that there was a big pack of swimmers 20 seconds ahead. As much as I wanted to sprint all out to catch them, it is just hard to do after you stand up after swimming really hard. I had a smooth transition and jumped onto my bike to try and catch that group of riders ahead. Within the first 4 kilometers, I formed a small bike pack with some riders and we slowly approached the main chase pack. We only managed to get within 10 seconds of them before their bike group got organized.Ours was not big enough to not be organized. Finally, when I noticed we would not catch them, I decided to put my feet into my bike shoes.

If the shoe doesn’t fit, then I put them on backwards.

Low and behold, I had made an unintelligent mistake and clipped my bike shoes on the wrong side. Holy moly, I have to ride this whole bike on top of my shoes. I just made my bike harder and it was too hot for that. Throughout the bike course, we had about six to eight speed bumps to navigate each loop, with 3 loops in total. The race organizer put metal isosceles trapezoid coverings over each one, which made it much rougher to ride over.

On the way downhill to complete our first loop, I hit one of the metal covering hard enough with too much weight forward, causing my back wheel to come off the ground, popping a front wheelie. I felt like I was about to get thrown over my handle bars but was able to sink back down onto my bike`s top tube, feet dangling since they were not secure in my shoes. My bike and I wobbled a little as my chest hit my handle bars and my groin with the rest of my body weight came down on the top tube. I managed not to lay down my bike on either side or get rear-ended by any of the competitors behind me with the sudden drop in speed.

Metal Covers of Terror

Eventually, I recovered but the time it took me to get my pedals turned right-side up, my feet on top of my shoes and finally raise my butt back onto the seat, I had lost a lot of momentum and the bike group was now 15 meters ahead. What made it worse was that this happened right before the turn around. When I made the U-turn, I could not accelerate like everyone else since I was not shoed in. As hard as it is and the more energy it takes to take a U-turn at the back of a bike group, trust me, it is even harder to do so without being strapped into your shoes.

Great place for a bike turn around

Nevertheless, I gave it a go to try and catch up and before the small hill was over, but only able to close five meters. I spent the rest of the bike by myself until about 3 kilometers out from the finish of the bike to be caught by a small group of five. Three of which got away after the last U-turn because of the lack of my power output around the turn.

Transition Zone

Going into transition, I was hot. Given the heat, I ran out pretty conservatively until the first aid station with water. Thankfully, they had cold water bottles for us every half mile on each of two loops of the run. The more I got water to cool myself down, the more I was able to increase my pace. I was too far behind to get any good placing but still had to run against the clock to be within 5 percent of the winner’s time and into top 30 for ITU points. I passed several individuals throughout the run to make it into top 30, but was right outside of the time percent to keep the points I would get. The top five raced fast enough to make the time cut off top twelve, which I knew I could have gotten if I had stayed with my initial bike group.

Should of, could of, would of, right? To come all this way to learn the lesson to put your shoes on right, was a little irritating. Check Your Bike shoes! But in hindsight, there will be more races, so I did not dwell on it too much. I just can`t be making these mistakes when I am forty. I went out with some athletes for dinner, twice and headed to Boca Chica Beach, the closest quality beach to Santo Domingo the next day to do some snorkeling, without a snorkel, and have a relaxed dinner.

We saw one small shark, puffer fish, several hermit crabs and some small fish. A nice day on the beach always makes up for a bad race, especially when the shoe doesn’t fit. I will not be participating in any races for the first part of the year due to knee surgery to fix a minor bipartite patella issue that I have has been bothering me since early summer 2016. Additionally, I will not be a part of the United States Military Endurance Sports Elite team but will stay involved with the club team in 2018. I applied to be in the Major League Triathlon Series; However, I will watch from the sidelines since I did not get selected.

I am a true believer in eating and promoting a plant-based diet for maximum nutrition, performance, and recovery. Furthermore, I encourage the pursuit of living life and searching & holding onto quality relationships—be true to yourself and live life with others. Revel in the journey, not just in the destination. I’m pleased to be apart of the club team US Military Endurance Sports. I would only be half the athlete and man if it were not for the wisdom of my coaches and mentors, Tim Crowley and Louis Tharp and all my family, friends and supporters, like Vasa and Sabble Water Optics. Go chase your dreams too!