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 Swim
Comments: This went really well, esp. for first tri of the year. Watching the earlier waves go out, the current was pushing them right pretty good, so I took a fairly aggressive line to the left and might have gone wider than I really needed to, but still got out to the buoy among the leaders in my wave. From the results, it looks like I was about 8th out of the water among roughly 60 in the wave. Took about 5:00 off this swim from last year's time. Course was pretty close to 1500m judging from the course plot from my Garmin 310XT, so this was probably a PR pace for the distance for me. Current and lack of surf helped--conditions were perfect--but I still just felt really strong throughout. What would you do differently?: Not much other than maybe hold my course a little tighter to the buoy going out.  Transition 1
Comments: No issues here...I just have a comparatively slow T1 routine, but usually make up for it with a faster than average T2. Long run from the timing mat to my rack position accounted for some of the time and putting on socks inevitably accounts for much of the rest. But nothing went amiss and this was a little bit faster than last year. 13th of 22 in AG. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Bike
Comments: Ridiculously short course for a supposed Oly: I remember it being about 22 miles last year and my Garmin had it at 21.7 this time. It would be nice to think I could average 23 mph, but, sadly, I only was around 20.2-20.3. Conditions were the mirror image from last year: Tailwind going north this time vs. headwind there last year. As a result, I was holding 22.5-24.0 mph northbound, but speed dipped to 18.5-20.0 on the southbound segment...and the headwind picked up significantly by the second loop. On the final southbound stretch, I was really stressing over how hard a gear to push into the wind...speed was down as low as 17.5 at one point, but I started to become concerned when I tried to push the next gear up that my quads were going to suffer for it on the run. Haven't really trained the bike for speed this year: Been riding with Liz on her long rides training for her relay leg at the Full Vineman. So I've been in the position of essentially training for an iron distance bike leg, when I'm not racing anything longer than a half this year. Not surprising that I only cut about 30 secs. off last year's time. What would you do differently?: Oly specific bike training. What speed work I've done this year since I resumed bike training after Boston has been on rides no longer than 17.5 miles. Transition 2
Comments: Another long run to the timing mat. Otherwise this went perfectly: Bike on rack, helmet off, bike shoes off, running shoes on, grab hat, go. 4th of 22 in AG for this. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: Came out of the chute from T2 comfortably sub-7:00 and decided to see how long I could hold that. Last year I was around that pace and my left calf spasmed up badly at about 3.25 miles. Wasn't in the mood for that. This time, I pretty much kept on cruising along. Felt I was a bit behind on calories, but also knew they offered Heed on the course, which I both don't like and I know never agrees with me, so I passed on the first offer of "electrolytes" and only took a small amount of Heed, chased with water, at the second aid station. Pace only flagged a bit for mile 5, but I kicked myself in the ass and really drove home the last 1.25 miles. Apparently passed a guy in my AG in the last 1/4 mile--for the second year in a row--but didn't notice it (he told me after the race that I'd passed him). Was sub-5K pace for the last 0.4 miles or so and really felt good. This may very well have been a PR for 10K (open or tri)...course was definitely a little long and my pace per my Garmin was about 1 sec/mile faster than my open 10K PR pace. Very stoked crossing the line...crushed my goal of 2:21 with a 2:19...almost 7 minutes faster than last year. What would you do differently?: Nothing. As with the swim, this was really at the top of my game. Actually, so was the run at my last Oly (Malibu, back in September). I really need to run an open 10K (and a 5K, for that matter) soon to see where I'm at...definitely feeling fast these days. Post race
Warm down: Walked around, re-hydrated, ate Clif and Luna bars. Heard one BTer (Doug/Destroyer) and saw another (Dusty/Fastyellow) pick up AG wins in sprint and Oly, respectively. Last year, I was on the massage table getting bad calf spasm worked on...not this time. Results were a shock. My time would have gotten me 3rd in the AG (by 2 minutes) last year--this time I was 7th! Ridiculously stacked AG. I would have finished higher in 45-49 than I did in 50-54 (and I would have won 55-59). What limited your ability to perform faster: Complete lack of Oly specific bike training. Otherwise, I really nailed this. Event comments: Nice race. Lovely carton of local strawberries to finishers. Just wish the course distances--especially the bike--were accurate to the Olympic standard. Profile Album Last updated: 2011-05-13 12:00 AM
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United States
USAT
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 63/300
Age Group = M 50-54
Age Group Rank = 7/22
My wife, Liz, was "race captain" for the Disney Studios tri team for this event, meaning she agreed to set up and host a team tent at the race. So we were committed to going up early on Saturday and having the tent open for anyone coming up for packet pickup then. Because of the thought that the 405 closure (aka "Carmeggedon") might make the drive back to LA around 5pm suck, Liz convinced me that we should stay in Oxnard. Motel she found turned out to be great...inexpensive and the manager found us a huge room when we mentioned at check-in that we had two bikes (Liz brought hers to get in a ride with me on Saturday afternoon).
Early night after a really nice Italian dinner. Got to transition about 5:20 (scheduled to open at 5:30) and was about 5th in line to enter. I'd scouted a rack position on Saturday and managed to grab it. Hung around and was mostly bored until leaving to head down to the water.
Ran into Liz and asked if she was going to come to my swim start. She said she was, so I went back to the TA to grab my sandals for the long walk to the Oly start, since Liz could bring them back. Got there to find some jackhole had moved my bike (and my bag) so that my wheel was sitting on one of my running shoes and my spare water bottle was knocked over. Towel for my feet was kicked aside. Meanwhile, he's set up IN THE AISLE off the end of the rack, with a folding chair setup in front of my bike. I'm like WTF dude? He's like chill, dude..."we're all here to have fun." Douchebag. I didn't pay attention to his number, but I think--looking at the results and noticing that he'd just come into and left T1 before me--that I passed his selfish, late-arriving, ass mid-run.
Anyhow, walked down to the swim start, seething the whole way.
Calmed down. Got wet. Swam a few strokes. Felt great.