The Day at the Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Okay, I just have to say, that the SWIM did not take me 12 minutes and 59 seconds. I was out of the water in 10, but it took me 3 minutes to get from the water to the transition area. So, although my swim kind of sucked, it didn't suck as bad as a 12:59 would imply.

The gun went off and we had to run to the water. I hate that. I was situated at the front of the pack, but am a crappy runner, so I was already middle of the pack by the time we hit water. Great. I was off to a slow start, but kinda figured I would be. This was my first race with waves, so I planned to take it slow and easy to get through them and not stress out. They were only 2-3 foot waves, so it was no biggy. I wouldn't say I did a stellar job of getting past them, but it wasn't too bad.

I got past the breaking point and was now swimming toward the first buoy. These buoys were nice...big and red...couldn't miss them! As I rounded the first buoy I started to get discouraged. My arms didn't feel so great. I felt lethargic. This is the one sport of the three that I'm good at and I just felt really tired. This should be the best part of the race, and I felt like crap. I rounded the second buoy feeling no better and headed back toward shore. I kept swimming and just let the waves wash over me. I wasn't able to bodysurf any of them.

I stood up, popped off my goggles, and was out of the water in 10 minutes. Not too great. Based on my Long Beach pace I should have been out in 7, but waves do make it tougher. I was glad the swim was over, but very discouraged with both my performance and my energy level. Maybe I was tired from lack of sleep. Maybe I was catching my daughter's cold. Maybe I hadn't trained enough in the weeks since Long Beach. Who knows. All I know is that the thought of quitting actually passed through my head. I actually thought "I'm not up for this. I should pack up and go home." Definitely not the good attitude I'd had at my first race. It was frustrating.

I need to get in a lot more wave practice. This is my only wave tri this season, but I plan to do some next season. I need to spend hours out in the surf dolphining, diving under waves, practicing ins and outs, and bodysurfing. Also, I need to try to do a better warm up. In retrospect, I realize that about 10 minutes into an open water swim is often when I get into a groove where I feel I could swim forever. Today, I was out of the water in ten minutes. Maybe the feeling of malaise was because of that. I know that I'm better at longer distances. In high school, I was better at the 500 than the 200, and better at the 200 than the 100. I think I perform better with a longer swim. Go figure! Ultimately, my average per 100 was 2:15. That is worse than Long Beach, but still better than both my open water races this summer. Really, not as bad as it felt at the time.

Ugh! As I got out of the water, I jogged just past the Brightroom photographer. Don’t want to look too pathetic in my overpriced picture. Then I walked. I was tired, I was frustrated and I didn't want to do the rest of the race. I couldn't believe it. I didn't care anymore. I slowly walked the rest of the way to T1. I knew from Long Beach that running on soft sand tore up my calves, so I walked...slowly. People were cheering me on and it felt patronizing, not encouraging. I also missed not having someone to cheer me on. I thought it would be no biggy to be there without family, but it kinda sucked.

I kept walking past the bathrooms, across the timing mat and to my bike rack. I was so slow in T1. I just didn't care. I planned to continue with the race, but was apathetic about time at this point. I basically wanted to finish so that I wouldn't have to tell everyone I got a DNF. But, I didn't care about my performance anymore.

It took a while to get changed and get my bike. I slowly walked it to the bike mount line. I already felt defeated, but I was there, I was in bike clothes, I had a bike, ready or not...I was riding. It also sucked to see so many of the men running back in to get ready for the run. Of course, because of the long 7 minute intervals between waves, there was probably a guy or too done with the whole race before my wave got into the water!

I really need to practice running barefoot on soft sand. It uses all different muscles and is a strain on my calves. So far both races have required this and it is a skill I've never practiced. It will be part of my off season training.

I also need to compete in the transitions. I was sort of slow at this and at Long Beach and thought I'd do better, not worse this time. I also need to not get discouraged. I need to treat each part of the race as it's own race and not let how I did on one part affect the others.

I mounted my bike and basically had an intersection to cross before I'd be heading up the hill on Pier Ave. that I dreaded. I got on and started pedaling. Before the climb started I went to change gears on my front chain ring and the derailleur moved, but it didn't shift. Oh shit! I can't climb this hill in low gear! This had happened briefly in Long Beach on one of the climbs, but it eventually switched and I was okay. But, I wasn't so lucky this time. I barely got up the hill and couldn't go anymore. I had to stop and WALK THE FREAKING BIKE UP THE HILL!!! Okay, this was NOT helping my negative, defeated feeling. It only fueled the fire. As I did the walk of shame up the hill I was passed by many people. Great.

I got to a point where the road had mostly leveled off so I got back on the bike. Because there was a slight incline still, it was hard to get on and I almost fell off. Nice. I got on and couldn't move the pedal. Now what??? I got off again and moved the front derailleur back to where it was before and tried moving the pedal. This time it worked. I got back on and started pedalling. It seemed to be okay. So, I began heading toward Valley. I was frustrated, but at least I was actually riding the bike now.

I made the left turn onto Valley. It was a nice street. I was going easy as I often do the first mile just to warm up. I realized that I was going 17 mph at one point. I wasn't going as slow as I thought I was. Then something kind of kicked in and I decided that I wanted to get a better mph at this race than Long Beach, so I started racing.

I rounded Gould and turned onto Ardmore. I loved Ardmore it was a nice long downhill and I got some great speed. I was getting passed, but also passing a lot of people. The course felt a little tight, but I got used to it. I turned on Second slowly as we were warned about this turn. I was now back on Valley heading back toward Pier. I found the time to get in a quick gel and some fluids. I realized that I hadn't drank enough fluids and vowed to take in more on the second lap.

The second lap started better than the first. I was keeping a good clip, for the most part. My watch wasn't showing my splits the way they usually do so I wasn't sure if it was recording them or not. Oh well. I got onto Ardmore and was looking forward to the fast downhill part. I decided to take a sip of gatorade before getting into a tuck. Now, this is why I should never laugh at anything anyone else does in a race. I have read several race reports about people getting dehydrated and bonking during the run because they had dropped their water bottle. I thought, "how hard is it to hold onto a freaking water bottle?" Well, turns out it is harder than I thought...it slipped through my fingers and fell to the ground. Damn! I yelled sorry to the women behind me and kept on going. I had only had about a third of it. Now I worried about dehydrating and bonking. Great. One more thing to stress about. I figured, no use crying over spilt gatorade, so I went into a tuck and hit some of my fastest speeds of the race.

The rest of lap two was uneventful, until I got to Pier Ave. A volunteer stopped the bikes because a fire truck had to get through. I heard a woman with aerobars get pretty mad. I slowed way up and was able to stay on my bike and ride through. As everyone started picking up speed, one woman turning left and one going straight almost got into a crash. Luckily they didn't!

I started lap 3 and at this point it was pretty much all women on the course. Kind of nice. I love men...they're great...but the women just seem more encouraging and less aggressive. As I turned back onto Ardmore for the last time, I wondered if I would see my water bottle. I wondered if I should stop and pick it up. I did see it and decided that I had a good pace and didn't feel like stopping and dealing with it. After all, it was a cheap, 12 year old bottle. Actually it was my husband's bottle. Oh well...I'll get him a new one!

I finished out lap 3 and turned left to head back down Pier toward the transition area. Pier is much easier to ride down than up! Ha! I was feeling better as I was pretty sure that I had gotten a personal best on the bike. I feathered my brakes and took the hill slowly. I dismounted and walked it into T2. My feet were numb, as were other parts I'd rather not discuss. Good times.

I now know that if I'm going right into an uphill, I should just have the bike in high gear already. I also need to keep a better hold on my water bottle. The shifting on my road bike was a pain. The shifters are on the down tube, not the break levers, so they're a real hassle on a course like this with rolling hills. I need to get a road bike with better gear shift levers. Overall, my average was 14.3 mph (which does include the uphill walk and stopping to figure out gear freakiness, so my pace was much higher when I was riding)...better than the 13 mph at Long Beach.

Well, on the heels of a personal best on the bike, I was feeling more optimistic. I was kind of slow in T2, but not because I felt defeated, just because I had a long run ahead of me and didn't want to rush. Lots of people were done and leaving, but I tried not to think about that and started running through T2. When I left the area, Tim saw my hat and yelled "Yeah LA Tri Club!"

I need to run in with the bike and get dressed quicker. I also would like to find running shorts that go on faster. Mine always get caught on my shoes.

As I headed out on the run, there were a ton of the athletes that were already done there to cheer us on. My legs felt good, but I went out a little slower as I always do, just to make sure that my shins weren't going to flip out or anything. Now, this run was blind. I have never been on the strand and didn't get to check it out ahead of time. Oh well...seemed straightforward enough...run up the beach, turn around when they tell me to, then run back down the beach.

Since my HRM was acting up I couldn't keep track of my pace. This was most frustrating on the run...but the theme of today was technology failure, so this fit right in. A lot of people were passing me, which is par for the course on the run. I kept going, my legs felt good, and I finally saw the one mile marker and ade station. Bummer...just water, no gatorade. I looked down at my watch and couldn't believe it! I had gone a 16 minute mile. At Long Beach my first mile had been 17 minutes. This really kicked my ass into gear. I realized that I had a shot at getting my rest run time as well and wanted to do that, so I sped up.

Not long after we had to go up a small staircase, then turned and I believe were now in Manhattan Beach. I kept waiting for that turnaround...and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...where the hell was it? Oh...there it is! Finally! The volunteer yelled "you're halfway there" and I think I yelled "fuck yeah!"

Now was my chance to see how many people...if any...were still behind me. Luckily there were several...but not a ton! Knowing the run was half over, I sped up. As I went back down the steps I thought "hey, that house looks like the 90210 house." Don't know. Oh well. I saw a million cups on the ground and got all excited to be at the 2 mile marker. I looked at my watch and was STOKED! I had gone this mile in 14.5 minutes. This was my first sub-15 minute mile this year! Woo hoo! I was TOTALLY on track for a personal best on the run. This fired me up and I started running faster. Then, I realized I didn't have it in me to keep that pace, and backed off a bit.

I saw a woman in front of me with "ATH" on her calf and knew she was in my age group. I totally had to take her! She was walking as I jogged up to her. When she saw me she started running. She wasn't going to let me pass her without a fight! So, I remembered how I used to race in high school and I ran right behind her. I figured if she was walking before, she'd probably walk again. Sure enough, she did and I passed her. At least I knew I wouldn't be last in my age group.

The finish line was now in sight. I was speeding up and got a fast clip going! People were cheering, and I felt good. Until...I hit the freaking soft sand. How cruel is that! I've got my best pace of the day and now it's like I'm running through molasses! Ugh! So, I slowly pushed my way through the quick-sand to the finish. Woo hoo! I did it! As I crossed one volunteer handed me a participants medal and another handed me a towel soaked in cold water. Brilliant! Whoever had the cold towel idea is a freaking genius! It felt so good! Although I didn't realize it at the time, but I went a 12.5 min mile at the end! Woo hoo! That's way faster than the 15 minute mile I ended on last time! I love it!

Once again, I need to practice running on soft sand. Other than that, I think I pulled out a good run. I'm really happy with it.

After getting my cold towel and some water, I started walking. Last time I didn't cool down properly and was determined to this time. I walked five minutes down the strand then 5 minutes back up. I went into the transition area and got my endurox and cell phone. I called my husband to let him know I was done, then went to watch the awards.

I went back and got my bike and bag. I drove home but couldn't get off the 405 in Long Beach, because the marathon was still going on. I had to get off in Seal Beach and back track my way through the marina. I was surprised that I ended up getting to park literally across the street from the entrance to our condos. Not too bad. I called my husband and he and the kids met me across the street for a late breakfast at Hof's Hut.


For the most part I did perform faster. However, I think that being tired this week didn't help. Also, I did very little training between Long Beach and this race. I was sick a week and a half from the mutant water and by the time I got back into training, it was time to taper! Also, the faulty gears on an old bike played a factor in the bike leg.


This race was a rollercoaster for me. On the negative side, I had a rough swim, I felt tired, I was slow in transition, my bike gears failed, I lost a water bottle, and I didn't have any friends or family there to cheer me on. On the plus side, I got my personal best on the bike and a much improved personal best on the run. When I started this whole triathlon training thing, I was afraid that I'd barely survive a sprint tri. Now I know that even on a day where I feel like crap, I can still finish a race and even pull off some good times. I just need to keep the negative attitude in check. Whenever I get discouraged again in a race, I'll remember the race where I almost quit, then went on to get two of my best times.