Kring & Chung Newport Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Overall, I felt okay. Fell back into my pattern of poor sighting and veering off course. I "pull" to the right as I swim, and lost some time because of it. Shoulders felt tight again, but not bad. Also the swim was a bit more rough and tumble this time, though maybe that was just the guys I happened to be around. In the end, I can't complain much. I barely trained for the swim, and did alright considering. Once I get the bike and run in order, I think I can cut time here.

Twice per week swimming needs to come back. I can only rest on my laurels so much in the swim. I also have to consider a new wetsuit. The tight shoulders things isn't resolving itself, even with great attention to putting it on right.

Went into this one promising myself to "bust ass" in transition. I did better, I think, but still have room for improvement. I didn't let myself rest any, as in times past, and skipped the Garmin to save a few seconds, but still got hung up on my wetsuit at the feet.

Practice taking off my wetsuit more. Consider/practice with no socks.

The bike has been a point of emphasis the last few weeks. I know, six weeks isn't time to do much, but I've been trying. I felt stronger than last time. At least I passed as many people as passed me this time. Part of that was that there were more beginners (haha that I have the nerve to say that), part I think was that I was stronger and more determined to give a consistent effort.

As I mentioned above, I blew it on the first climb, but handled it well the second time. I also felt like I was stronger the second lap, but it's hard to tell without data.

Oh yeah, that's because the wheel widget on my cycling computer apparently got bumped in the racks and it wasn't reading as I started the ride. I reached down and tried to nudge it into place and - PING! - it blew off into the street after getting buzzed in the spokes. Oops.

Still need a lot more time in the saddle. Progress is being made, but I need more leg strength to climb out of the bottom 1/2 here.

Getting better. First race with the Zoot pull-ons. That helped. No laces equals good.

Not much.

I think I need AA for Garmins. This was my first outdoor run in a while without my 305. I missed it. I intentionally didn't bring it, both to save time in T1, and so that I wouldn't let it mess with my pace. I wanted to go out hard, and was afraid I'd use the pace splits to justify slowing down. By that measure it worked.

As for the run itself, my legs felt pretty funky to begin with. Toes asleep and legs wobbly. I felt stiff and slow at first, but loosened up soon enough. I have no idea how fast I was going the first half, but felt pretty good, though breathing got labored and I worried about hitting a wall. Made it up the hill in good form, and felt good about not walking. Kept it up coming back, though weak-sauced it and walked twice for about 10 seconds each. Pretty dead by the finish, but tried a kick of sorts anyway.

Overall, felt good. The time was nice for me, about 3 mins faster than the Hermosa Tri late last year over the same 3 miles. The McMillan training paces continue to do their trick.

HTFU and not stop. Jeez, it's a 3 miler, dude. HTFU.

No formal warm down. Wandered around and picked up the free Gatorade and snacks.


A number of things, including a busy work schedule and oft sick kids, conspired against me to limit full training the last few weeks. That, as well as some nits noted above, are about it.


Nice event. I'd do this again, easy. Good flat, fast course. Seem well organized except for a thing or two.