Long Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was one of the few and the proud who went wetsuit-less this day. I made friends with another girl who decided against the wetsuit who indicated she was offered wetsuits by several people. Nobody said anything to me, but if they had I would have just said that the water was warm (it was warmer than the air, prob around 70 degrees F!) and we're only in it for 15-20 min tops! Babies. :) My wave was the 5th to go in and I did get a bit chilly waiting around for my turn to get back into the water. I was near the back of the pack and started swimming as soon as I was knee-deep in the water. No waves in Long Beach Harbor but there were a lot of people that I passed on the swim portion. I got to the halfway buoy and peeked at my stopwatch - only about 8 minutes had passed, I was stoked because at my last open-water swim of the same distance (Crystal Cove, complete with surf-able waves) was 19 minutes total time. I passed people wearing all different color swim caps which was awesome (they were from waves before mine). I did some drafting, like we had practiced, but never went full-force, I was trying to be conservative on the swim and also rested my legs a few times and swam arms-only. I felt strong coming out of the swim, and honestly could have swam for hours. I wasn't the least bit tired. I sprinted up the sand the 300 or so yards to the timing mat to get a good time.

Nothing. It was awesome! I know I'll get better/faster with time, but I've only been swimming for tri training for 6-7 weeks.

I had technical difficulties removing my swim cap, I had it pulled down lower in front than I normally do and was pulling it from the wrong spot. Hubby got some nice shots of me struggling and smiling. Doh! No wetsuit to speak of so I sprinted into T1, threw my goggles/cap on my towel and hosed off my feet with my extra water bottle. Threw on my socks and shoes and tied my shoes as quick as I could. Threw on my helmet, had a couple shot bloks, and grabbed my bike and jogged for the bike out.

Already ordered lock laces to eliminate need to tie shoes next time. Need to hustle a little more.

This was a fun, fast course! No stoplights, no cars, pedestrians or dogs to look out for. Just lots of cyclists. There's a slight uphill coming in from T1 but I had planned for it and had my bike in a low gear. I passed people on the course and was passed on my first loop by all the guys with the disc wheels going 25-30mph at least on the flats (they were on their last loop, those elites). Impressive.

There were a couple of speed bumps in the Queen Mary parking lot but I already planned for those and slowed it down coming into the area. There was a guy off to the side whose bike was down and he was telling the volunteers he thought he'd broken his arm. Ouch.

After the first loop I still felt good and hydrated some more. I'm still getting used to the skinny tires on the road bike so riding one-handed while getting out my water bottle is still tricky for me, so I only did it twice, on a slight slight downhill so I could stop pedaling for a few moments to minimize potential mishaps.

The bridge "hill" was fine the first 2 times over, but beat me up the last 2 times. I as in the lowest gear and felt sooo slow but I actually passed people going up and over. The downhills were awesome. I was able to coast and rest my legs a bit while attaining speeds of 25-30mph according to my bike computer. Sweet! I noticed I passed a lot of people on the downhills too, I guess I'm not afraid to go too fast anymore. ;)

I felt good coming in at the end of the bike course, it's a slight downhill and people were falling off their bikes everywhere, so I was on the brakes the whole time. I almost crashed into someone whose bike fell over right in front of me but was able to get around without any issues.

A little more hill training. A little more practice overall on the road bike. I only had the bike for 2 weeks prior to the tri and had previously never ridden a road bike in my life, but I'm getting better at it! 80% of my training was done on a beach cruiser though I did do some hills on the road bike a week before once I realized the course wasn't 100% flat. :)

Nothing special. Racked my bike. Was jazzed when I saw that the girl who had been next to me at the end of the rack wasn't back yet with her mountain bike. She had beat me back in the swim. Little victories. Took off my helmet, had another gel and a splash of hydration, grabbed my visor and bib/belt and was off on the run out.

Nothing other than hustle a little more.

I had done a few mini-brick workouts and was fully prepared for the jello legs post-bike, but I guess my couple of minutes in T2 helped do away with that. I felt fine, but felt very slow. Without my RunKeeper app on my iPhone to alert me of my pace (and my PodRunner app at 180bpm to keep my high cadence pace) I had no idea how fast/slow I was going. I would have guessed I was at 11 min per mile or thereabouts. I did pass a lot of people, and did get passed myself. Every time I passed or was passed by a gal, I looked at their legs to see if they were in my age group, my main competitors, heh heh.

I must say that though I've been running far longer than doing the bike or swim training, it was my least favorite leg of the race. I would've rather ridden the bike for longer or swam for longer and just wanted to be done. But unbeknownst to me I was running at a pace that matched right up with my last 5K race at the end of July, and this after having swam and biked beforehand. Sweet.

Grabbed a cup of water at the 2 mile marker and threw it on my face/head and kept slogging away until I could see the finish area. Picked it up and sprinted the last 1/8 mile or so. Didn't pass anyone here but didn't get passed either. As I saw in photos, there were a couple of people right up behind me so I'm glad I sprinted as fast as I did in the chute. Felt good to be done! Took my timing chip off from around my ankle and gave it to the timing chip lady.

Paid better attention to my pace without the aid of electronics. :)

Just walked around, in the sand and on the pavement. Stretched. Hydrated. Gathered my stuff together from transition and got my bike so I could head out. Wanted a shower and food.


Lack of experience. Will get better with more training. Only did swim/bike training twice a week for 6-7 weeks total time. 2 non-pool swims to speak of prior to the race. Only 2 weeks total time training on a road bike for the first time in my life. I'll just keep it up and I'm sure I'll make improvements here & there as I continue with this.


Overall I did better than I expected, and had an absolute blast. I figured I'd finish in 1:40-1:45 but ended up finishing in 1:32 which blew my mind. Also my run time blew my mind, I didn't expect it to be quite that fast (for me).