Long Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Long Beach, California
United States
Pacific Sports
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 24m 54s
Overall Rank = 490/992
Age Group = Clydes
Age Group Rank = 30/80
Pre-race routine:

Prepared everything the night before, had a horrible night's sleep, up at 5 for the drive to Long Beach. PB and honey on wheat pita, banana and water for nutrition.
Event warmup:

Quick run down the beach, quick swim in the water.

This was an equipment failure test today. While pumping my tires at the car, I blew the rear valve. Quick change, in the dark, then later noticed the front was getting slightly soft, just as we had to leave the transition area. Spent the swim worrying I'd return to a flat.... but didn't.

While warming up for the swim, went to put goggles on and "snap", one end of the strap breaks off. The strap was OK, the plastic holding it to the goggles was busted. Jimmied it together, so the loop from the broken end was wrapped around the piece of plastic between the eyepieces. Not pretty, but it worked. Once I figured it out and got them on securely, had to walk around like that so I wouldn't have to figure it out again. I am sure people thought I was crazy :)
Swim
  • 12m 49s
  • 875 yards
  • 01m 28s / 100 yards
Comments:

Felt very good about this swim. Lined up at the front, dolphined my way in to the flat harbor and found mysef #2 in my wave at buoy one. Soon passed that person. It was a point to point, with large triangular buoys making tem relatively easy to sight. It's hard when the wave in front of you has orange caps and the buoys are also.... orange.

Passed a number of people in the wave ahead of me, as well as a number of white caps, red caps, yellow caps, etc. Found myself swiming in and around people from earlier waves. Trying not to swim over them, but that was frustrating. Nearly got kicked in the gut from a breaststroker, but saaw it just in time, felt his heel brush across me....

About 1/2 way in, decided to slow a bit and maintain, so I wouldn't come out of the water trashed. Exited the water about 11:15, but then had to run the 500 yards, mix of soft and hard sand. Thought I was first in my wave out of the water, and was determined not to let anyone pass me. Thought no one did, but I believe there were one or two guys at my wave's racks when I got there........ Ended up somewhere in the 12 minute area.
What would you do differently?:

Get better at running in sand after the swim
Transition 1
  • 02m 19s
Comments:

Could have been a little faster. Nothing particularly went wrong, just too methodical. Bike jersey went on easily.

There was a backup at the T1 exit timing, they made us go in single file, endd up walking waiting for other people.
What would you do differently?:

More practice
Bike
  • 38m 7s
  • 11 miles
  • 17.32 mile/hr
Comments:

Mostly flat, on a wide 6 lane highway, the one they use for the LB Grand Prix. Passed a bunch, got passed by a bunch, some people can just go really fast without seeming to work very hard. First tri with aerobars, rather liked them, very comfortable.

What I HATE is the 13-15 year old kids who can keep up, one even on a mountain bike that sounded like it had a raccoon in heat stuck in its spokes, keeping pace almost the whole leg. As he passed me and another guy, I said "boy it sucks to be passed by that". We traded passes all throughout. Frustrating.

This course should have been super simple. It was, but there were four inclines total, over a causeway. Ended up granny gearing that.
What would you do differently?:

Much much more cycling base
Transition 2
  • 01m 50s
Comments:

Again, too methodical. Decided to run without socks, which saved time, but I didn't switch over the speedlaces from my prior shoes, which cost some time.
What would you do differently?:

practice
Run
  • 29m 49s
  • 3 miles
  • 09m 56s  min/mile
Comments:

I thought recent run work would make this feel better, but it stll feels so slow. I see other people passing me with muh higher cadences, and I try to get there, but can't do it. Calves started to hint at cramping at the beginning, but never really did.

Actually passed a couple people that were not walking, that is a first for me. They only had the 2 mile marker up, so it was hard to know where I was. Soon after 2 miles, I picked it up a bit, and even re passed people that had passed me.

Don't have the splits yet, but I think it was about 29:00, which is actually not bad for me. I actually started to not enjoy it during the run, which is typical for me. 5K just feels so far after the swim/bike. I just have to put my head down and do it.
What would you do differently?:

Need base training
Post race
Warm down:

Walk around, talk to my wife, talk to a couple friends, eat a little.

Slept poorly, up at 5, and a tri, I was wiped. Wendy and I went for breakfast, than I came home and napped for nearly four hours!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Extra weight, slow running.

Event comments:

Pretty good race. LOTS of cool volunteers. My goal was 1:22. Hit 1:24:54, so not bad. 490 out of 1001. Solid MOP'er. I misjudged my cycling ability, and need to speed up the transitions. It's a nice local race, and actually glad I did it instead of Malibu. I will do it again next year.




Last updated: 2005-09-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:12:49 | 875 yards | 01m 28s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/80
Overall: 97/992
Performance: Good
Suit: X Terra Vortex
Course: Point to point, 100 yds to buoy, 650 straight, 100 yds in
Start type: Run Plus:
Water temp: 60F / 16C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:19
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:38:07 | 11 miles | 17.32 mile/hr
Age Group: 44/80
Overall: 508/992
Performance: Average
Wind:
Course: Shoreline Drive
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:50
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:29:49 | 03 miles | 09m 56s  min/mile
Age Group: 55/80
Overall: 832/992
Performance: Average
Course: Along the shore around the marina. Very pretty
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3