Strawberry Fields Triathlon...From Behind the Camera.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to escape from the terrible heat we have been having in the Valley and spent the weekend in Oxnard, Ca. Not only was I excited for the cooler temperatures, but the Strawberry Fields Triathlon was happening at the very same time, right next to our hotel. This would be a perfect opportunity to bring my Nikon D5000 and get some pictures.

Sunday morning, I was up early and was down on the beach before any of the athletes showed up. The first thing I noticed was the buoy's for the swim course were parallel to the shore instead of heading straight out into the ocean. The second thing I noticed was the orange buoy's that marked the sprint course and they seemed to be 50 yards off shore where the waves were breaking. As the athletes warmed up in the water, I roamed around taking some random shots and then positioned my self near the water for the start of the race. The siren went off and the first wave ran down the beach and entered the water. After the first wave made it to the first buoy, I headed over to the swim finish and proceeded to shoot pictures of the athletes as they exited the water. I finally saw Liana (@fittorent) who was in the 4th wave. I walked up the beach to T1, which was the longest run from the swim I have ever seen. I raced through the park and made it to the area where riders exited the park and headed out onto the streets of Oxnard. I managed a few shots of riders leaving but a majority of the bike shots were coming back into T2.

As I was running through the park, I stopped and got a few shots of the athletes coming out of the transition area. I was looking for Sheila (@sheswimbikerun) and as dumb luck would have it...she was running by. I snapped a quick action shot and moved on to find a place to shoot the run portion of the race. The finish was too crowded, but about 100 yards from the finish, there was a nice spot that wasn't crowded and I felt it would be a good place to shoot from. I started shooting a picture of just about every runner. There was one person that really stood out....he was an eleven year old boy. I love to see kids get into the sport of triathlon at an early age. I waited for Liana to come around and finish and then I headed back to the hotel for a quick cup of coffee and back out to the bike path to catch some of the runners from the olympic distance race. I saw Sheila run by a couple of times and she was looking strong. I used this opportunity to experiment with the settings on the camera and really learn to use the camera in varied lighting conditions. I still have a long way to go with this camera. I am looking to put this race (olympic distance) on my race calendar for 2011.

Here is a link to all of the pictures on picasa

As far as training has been going...well I am still on track with 2 swims, 2 bikes and 3 runs per week. For the last couple of weeks I have been going to the LA Tri Club's Wednesday night brick workout in Griffith Park. I have met some really great people and it gives me some fresh faces to train with.(Dont worry RP...I'm not replacing you, those are big shoes to fill!) Every other Tuesday night I have been meeting Craig Moss and his Mt Gleason Runners for some trail runs in Griffith Park. Last night we did a 7 mile run with lots and I mean lots of elevation gain. I would love to tell you the exact amount but my garmin's battery died 1/4 mile into the run.
I will try and re-run it this weekend with the garmin to get an exact number.