Toyota Redondo Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The ocean was flat flat flat. But erosion had created a deep section right on shore, so racers would run in and immediately be up to their necks.... and then thigh deep 20 yards out. The waves were less than 1 feet, but because of the channel they'd rear up a little and break right on shore. We had about 3 coming in at our wave start. As soon as I hit water I dolphined in once, then twice, then off to the races. We had a pretty good group, I can usually get clear of all but one or two by the first buoy, here we had a few guys grouped together.

There as a jet ski in the water, that crossed my path. Ever try to swim in jet ski prop wash? And the fumes???

We turned right, heading for the pier. I had one guy in front of me that I was sighting off of. One guy right behind me. The buoys were nice and big and yellow and easy to see. I got a little tired about 3/4 of the way through, then caught a second wind.

Right turn to the shore, overcast so there was no sun to blind us. Have to say, we were weaving through the two prior waves like a slalom course.

I was out of the water at about 14 minutes, but there's a long run to T1. No waves to catch in unfortunately, I ran up the beach, on the bike path, up the stairs (past my wife who was volunteering there). Jeff told me I was 4th in my AG, but we had 3 AGs in that wave, so no idea if it was Clydes or the other AGs. Turns out I was 4th. Took forever to get to my bike......

Took one minute exactly off last year's swim

Nothing

Everything went pretty quickly. I didn't see many bikes that had left.

nothing

Bike time includes T1 and T2

Two loop course, with a very short but kinda steep hill at the end of each loop and a hairpin turn at the other end. It's always hard to catch my breath getting on the bike, and only having 6 miles to go, there's nowhere really to let up. Got up to speed, got passed by a few, passed a few, but hard to know where people are.

First lap got passed by the first Clyde I saw. Second lap, another CLyde, didn't know which lap he was on. I had my watch on, but didn't take splits, so had no idea what my bike time was. A little bummed that it was clear I was losing places, but nothing I could do. Just settled in to race my race.

Picked it up a bit the second lap. 6 miles just goes so fast. Just concentrated on keeping the cadence up on the false flats and hammered the downhill sections.

Took almost 2 minutes off last year's time of 22:37, 5 minutes off two years ago.

Nothing to it but to ride more.

My rack was right into T2. Bike up, shoes off, step into shoes, quick drink, grab hat and race belt and off. Felt pretty fast.

Not much

This is a funky little course around the pier. It's part of my regular run from the gym, so I knew every section well. Just started out with a high cadence, maintain as strong a pace as I could. I knew I could beat my goal of 56, but knew I'd been passed. Mile 1 came quickly enough (where I got passed by the number 1 female), and decided to try to pick it up just a little...... Knew there wasn't much pain left. Another clyde passed me. No way I can keep up. In the last 3/4 mile I decided that no more Clydes would pass. They didn't but 3 in the water, 3 on the bike, and 1 on the run, leaves me......

I crossed the line and I knew I had made my goal, but no idea of standings. Turns out I was 8th in Clydes. The clydes that came this year were FAST compared to last year. Last year 55 would have won by 3 minutes. It's good for the race though, better competition.

Took nearly a minute off last year's time of 18:37, and almost 4 minutes off 2 years ago of 21:07. I would have seen a little better improvement, but as a friend said, :45 seconds per year off mile split isn't bad. And this is the first tri where I've run sub 9 minute miles :)

more base, more base

I really can't be that disappointed. It's like school where there's a curve. All you can do is your best, whether you win anything or not is (a) irrelevant -- although fun -- and (b) all depends on who else shows up. Last year I would have smoked 'em. But, last year I couldn't smoke 'em.

This was my first tri ever two years ago, and I've taken ove 7 minutes off my time, which is pretty darn good considering my swim has been about the same all three years. Almost 4 minutes off last year's time, which in a course this short is a lot.

It's not the greatest race, but it's my local race. All of my friends and training partners are volunteers or RDs or coordinators. There isn't one part of the race, from swim start, to ext, to T1, to bike in, to run out, to the announcer, where I didn't hear a little extra cheering. It's pretty cool. I'll be back, either as a racer (of course, now I need to shave another 4 minutes off my time and.....) or volunteer