Nautica Malibu Triathlon - Herbalife International Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Good swim for me - stuck with what works for me, which is to just treat it like a training swim and find a rhythm, then stick with it. Actually had my best swim ever at this distance, by quite a margin (Oly PB).

Nothing. Totally happy with my swim.

This was an inexcusably long transition for me, and I know I gave up several AG places here. My tri top got stuck around my shoulders like a figure 8 sling bandage and it was an epic wrestling match to get it down over my torso. Not happy at all with my time here, but that's just the way things go sometimes.

Not forget my towel so I can at least dry off a little before donning the singlet.

This was a pretty mediocre bike effort for me. Heading outbound I just didn't have the normal "snap" in my legs and I wasn't able to punch off the crest of hills to maintain momentum. HR was spiking a little as well. I wasn't prepared for the amount of rollers and false flats either, having done no recon on the course and having been told (mistakenly) by others that the course was 90% flat with just a couple of tiny hills. Incorrect...this is actually a pretty good bike course with a LOT of rollers and false flats on the Northbound leg. Return leg I started feeling a little more normal and was able to up the speed considerably. I think my performance here was affected by two factors - I rode a 110 miler last weekend at IM pace (bad idea) and didn't get my normal breakfast - I was fueling off of mainly simple sugars (read: junk, LOL), so I was a little lightheaded before I even hit the bike. Oh well, lesson learned. =)

1. Eat a proper breakfast;
2. Not do a long ride the weekend before an OLY at relatively high effort;
3. Recon the course so I can be mentally prepared for what lies ahead;

Average transition for me.

This was a decent run for me, especially since my run training has been near non-existent since CdA. I actually felt pretty good on the entire run, except for a slight, persistent side-stitch which would not go away.

I went into this race with two-weeks notice and knew it was not going to be a stellar race for me. Just getting into build mode for IM AZ in November and looked at this race mainly as a baseline check/"how am I doing" exercise and it turns out that I'm right around where I thought I was. A little disappointed that I didn't have it in me to push a little harder on the bike, but overall, I had a good time and actually enjoyed this race. Will definitely do this one again.