Breath of Life Ventura Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

Last year I had trouble sighting on the backside leg, so this year I swam out on the course and got my bearings. There is not much high structure to sight off of, so had to triangulate between a couple spots.

Headed out on the first loop, we were wave 4. Between prior waves, and the two loops, it got pretty crowded pretty quickly, seemed much more crowded than last year. Got a little physical but nothing intentional. I spent a lot of time swimming around prior waves. It was a bit further to swim, but in the end cost less energy than coming up on someone quickly (water was murky) and losing momentum.

Didn't run quite as hard into the water for the second loop, as I recall last year I was pretty winded when I started swimming again after that. Just kept a steady pace. Sighting and lines were fairly good.

Got out of the water and was surprised (and a bit disappointed) at the time. Last year was much faster, but that's true for everyone. Last year was the first for this 2 loop format in this location, and a number of people went sub 20 (so it looks like they were a bit short). This year, no one went sub 20. 21-22 was the fastest I think, Overall ranking, the swim was pretty good.

Thought at this point that 2:30 was out of reach. Only left a little over 2 hours for the 40K and 10K.

2011 - 20:18
2012 - 24:54

Nothing

They broke this into a beach run and a T1. Nothing spectacular. I get outrun very easily on the beach. To move up in the ranks, I am going to need to improve my T times.

Race time: 28:14

nothing

Course follows Spinnaker Drive to Harbor, to a 180 degree turn around, then 3 large loops around the fields, then back to T2. Fast, open course, except for the southern leg, which narrows down to no more than 2 bike widths inside the cones.

Wasn't too bad when I started, but add the loops, then the sprint racers (1 loop), it got pretty crowded. I used the folks to my advantage and "legally drafted" my way around the course. There was some drafting going on, but given the course a lot of that was impossible to avoid. Though some was blatant. Also a mix of newbies and experienced racers, so lots appeared not to really know the rules.

Asphalt in OK shape, some areas (south end) had some big potholes that could have been marked.

Goal here was to go about 1:10. that would leave about 50 for the 10K. My PR open 10K is 52 and change, so it appeared by the end of the first loop that I wasn't going to make 2:30 even if I hit 1:10. Each loop took something like 14 minutes, but I tried not to focus too much on chasing a time instead of putting out the fastest effort I could handle and still run afterwards.

Used HED3s and aero helmet with A2 with almost full bottle of Infinit. One Roctane gel about 10 minutes from the end.

Race time 1:38:21

2011 - 1:14:44
2012 - 1:10:07

Train harder, but it was a good bike.

eh. Ok

Race time: 1:40:10

According to my watch, which I wasn't sure was 100% accurate, started out at 1:41 race time. Meaning I had to run a 49 minute 10K to hit 2:30. I played games in my head, was 2:30 like a BQ 2:30? I.e., 2:30:59? or 2:29:59? Had to admit my goal was the latter.

Open 10K PR was 52 and change. No way I was running 49 in an Oly. Had a decision, did I ease up or run hard to try to get as close as I could? Decided on the latter. Set off at a steady pace, for the first two miles, just hold a pace that was strong, next two miles, try to pick it up, last two miles, as hard as I could. History told me that this plan only meant I'd hold a pace that would get harder......

Got passed a bunch, but much less than I used to get passed. Passed a few. Passed the sprint turnaround, crossed the bridge, could see cones stretching waaaaay out into the distance. Course curves so it's hard to see the turnaround, but eventually I start seeing the people that had passed me coming the other way.

I was not keeping splits, so had no idea of pace, and was to tired to try to calculate it in my head. I thought maybe that if I hit the turnaround at 2:05 race time, I might have a shot. Hit the turnaround somewhere in the 2:06-07 range, so it was slipping away. (but thinking about it, that's a great run for me, 25 or so minutes halfway into a 10K) Coming back,wasn't sure if the sprint was a 3 or 3.1, but knew I had to hit it about 2:17 to have a chance. It was soooo damn close, and my form was breaking down.

Saw the light to turn on Spinnaker and tried to pick it up for the last .75 miles or so. It curves several times before you can see the finish, which is still pretty far off, but just before I could, my watch went to 2:30. Damn.... ease up now? Or get the best time I can?? You know the answer.

Sometimes I feel as if it's better for me to just miss my goals. That means they were well set. 6:00 Olympic PR, 1:48 off my goal, that's not bad, especially considering that I lost 5 minutes on the swim. Meaning that my bike run improvement was 10 minutes, 4 on the bike and 6 on the run, that's a lot for an Oly(i think). So overall, very pleased

2011 - 57:12
2012 - 51:35

10k PR, open or Oly, if the distance is accurate (and someone's garminconnect shows it as 6.23)

Nothing, great run, 10K PR

Top 25%.

Great race. Sub 2:30 next time :)