Goleta Beach Triathlon - Long Course - TriathlonLong Course

Started in 2nd wave and seeded in front to the right. My swim to the 1st buoy was good but I swam a bit too wide due to congestion but compensated as quickly as possible to the 2nd buoy onward. After that I was going on the straightest lines I could swim through while drafting off the faster swimmers I came close to.

Don't swim too wide no matter what!

Putting on my bike jersey really slowed down my transition time but I knew about this going in. There was cloud cover so I didn't need to reapply sunscreen on my back.

Nothing minus taking better care of myself from the sun.

I set my bike tire pressure to 80/85 to compensate for the roughness on the bike path but it was much better than it has been. No huge bumps minus the one entering the segment heading north. My HR shot up to Z5 quickly but didn't match my RPE so I kept going. I knew my HR would decrease as I hit some of the turns so I didn't worry about it so much.

Once I saw my HR hovering in sub threshold (low Z4) I kept my effort and cadence in control. Used small chainring to manage the one major hill on this course. I negative split the 2nd lap by increasing my effort slightly while being careful around the parent/child racers who were on the course. This didn't bother me too much since the kids were staying on their side most of the time.

There were a total of 3 or 4 bike crashes this year one of which I may have caused. I was tailing a group of 3 cyclists and as I made my pass I said, "on your left" and gave him lotsa space (I was over the middle line) but he over compensated to the right and went off the bike path, lost control and crashed. I felt really bad this happened but I had to shift my focus back into racing.

2013 time: 1:14:12
2014 time: 1:12:04
2015 time: 1:07:40; PR!
2016 time: 1:12:02
2017 time: 1:08:07 HR: 72% Z4, 21% Z5
2019 time: 1:11:10 HR: 21% Z3, 69% Z4, 6% Z5

Nothing.

Took helmet off while running to my transition area. Took off shoes and sprayed on some TriSlide. I forgot my race belt so I didn't have to worry about my bib as I pinned it on the night before. Hydration belt on, socks on, and shoes and almost ran out without my watch. I racked my bike the other way so I had to go around and get it off my aero bars.

Rack bike the way I did at race start and mount hydration belt while running out.

It was still overcast but despite this I still applied more sunscreen on my neck and face just in case. My running legs came on shortly after mile 1 about the time I started drinking my Infinit. I drank the last of my bike Infinit approaching T2 so I didn't wanna overdo the nutrition intake.

Kept my HR in low Z4 the first mile and increased it to mid to high Z4 2 to 3.5. After that I went as hard as I could despite my left outer knee area bugging me a bit. This feeling may be due to my lack of strength training.

2013 time: 54:06
2014 time: 44:36
2015 time: 43:50
2016 time: 48:06
2017 time: 42:23; HR: 24% Z4, 48% Z5; PR!
2019 time: 42:26; HR: 53% Z4, 42% Z5

More strength training and speed work but then again, I started training in mid to late April with speed work done only on the bike.

Walked around and stretched then walked around some more. Took pics and chatted with some finishers.


Running speed work and swimming an avg of 2/week. Recent 70.3 and Baldy Beast may have affected me as well.


Always a pleasure to race in this venue. Next year I might make it a vacation spot and take a few more days off.