Keeping up in Costa

Hey all! I just returned from Costa Rica, where I finished my first “Rev 3” series race and first race of the new year. Rev 3 specializes in family friendly triathlons, and also treat their professional racers really well. I was fortunate enough to have them put me up in a sweet location down there, and can really recommend the Guanacaste region in Costa Rica as a vacation spot if you are interested in a beach sort of vacation.

Sunday happened to be my first ocean water swim race and first Olympic Distance race as a pro. Conditions were pretty warm, if not downright hot. I learned at least two things from my race down in Costa: (1) I am not good at Olympic Distance, on account of the length of the swim. (2) I am not good at ocean water swims, yet. That said, I was really pleased with my bike leg (1:01 for 40k including a gigantic hill) and run (34:30 for 10k on a really hard course) in the race, and gives me confidence that I am getting back into shape. It also tells me that I have a lot of work to do on my swim before my next race.

On another note, I was really pleased with how my Kestrel Airfoil performed, and estimate it is about 1 mph faster in all conditions than any other bike I have ridden before. Now the rider just needs to get a bit faster! Seriously though, I can tell that the bike is really well engineered, with every measure made to make it more aerodynamic, light weight, and stiff (see pic). Now that’s a triple threat!

I would like to thank Krista from Rev 3 for her hard work helping all the pros out down in Costa. Things can get complicated pretty fast when you are racing in a foreign country. My next major race will be Duathlon Nationals on April 30th in Tucson. So look for it!