Breath of Life Ventura Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

Best ocean swim to-date. Felt comfortable throughout...not much surf or swell. Navigation spotty, esp. towards the end, but I was much better able to follow the pack this time then in some other races. Caught people from the previous wave by the first buoy and from the wave before them by the time I was turning for the shore.

When the results were posted, I was shocked--they had me 28th out of 35 in my AG. And that was with a credited time five minutes faster than my watch time...definitely fast. I looked more closely and they had the first seven in my AG at times around 50 seconds per 100 yds. All of it pretty F'ed up. I've never been below MOP on the swim ever and my credited time would have had me in the top 10 in the AG last year. Don't know if I'll ever find out where I actually placed on the swim...my best estimate would be about 12 out of 35 based on my actual watch time.

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Update on 7/1: Online results (as noted above) at first seemed to fix the problems--they got my time just about where I had it and placed me 19th of 39 in my AG, which feels about right. The final results, however, dropped me to 23rd of 38, which I don't think gibes with reality. Supposedly--per the official results--another guy in my AG crossed the mat into T1 at virtually the same moment I did...but I sure don't recall that from the race. Not sure how they ultimately addressed the problems with the swim splits, but it looks like their first attempt was more accurate than the final one...at least for my teeny little corner of the race. Oh, well.

Not much, really. Stood up too soon at end and a wave knocked me down for a second. That's about it. Plenty of energy for long deep-sand run to transition...passed a number of people during the run.

Not sure why this was so slow. I got my wetsuit off fast. Struggled a little with my socks. Put my Garmin on. That's about it. Those things could have contributed to the slow time.

Dunno. I'm just more comfortable with socks on the bike and this was the first time that slowed me down at all. May just be one of those things.

After how trashed my legs were at the Desert International, I was being very careful to monitor them here. This was also the first race on my new bike...I knew from training that I would likely gain 1.5 mph or so over my old bike. So my hope was to be over 20 mph for the race. Mission accomplished. For my overall goal of sub-2:30, I knew I needed to get more like 21 mph...I ended up coming close...did about 20.6.

Had planned to do one gel at 25 min. into the ride (i.e., about 55 min. into the tri) and possibly a packet of Shot Bloks near the end. Did the first...blew off the second...grabbed a gulp or two of G2 in T2.

In general, uneventful and I had enough left to finish strong. I did get into a shouting match with a couple women who were riding two abreast and blocking me on a narrow section with traffic passing to the left. Clueless...but--of course--wearing high end tri gear. When I said something to my wife about it in transition after the race, not one, but two other people in earshot had seen the same thing and said they'd been pissed off at them, too. Anyhow...passing them and giving them both an earful after nearly crashing gave me plenty of incentive to hammer the last six miles and drop them.

Could maybe have gone faster...definitely had plenty of energy for the run...but my legs were feeling it throughout. I have plenty of aerobic conditioning at this point, just don't really have the cycling fitness to really push things.

Couldn't find my damn spot. The run in was on the opposite end of the racks from where everyone expected and so my cute chalk hieroglyphics were for naught...though I found my row quickly enough, I guess...but coming from the other end, I just couldn't spot my gear.

Not get lost for 30 sec. or so...

10K PR for me. Not a distance I've run often, but my best open 10K was 45:59. This course only measured 6.15 miles on my Garmin, but if I'd run another .07 mi., it would still have been a PR by about 40-45 sec. Really surprised me...but, then again, I'd equalled my open 10K PR in a 15K training run recently, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise.

I knew going out on the run that I had basically no chance of breaking 2:30 for the tri. However, I was shocked to see my 7:06 first mile split. I actually had an outside shot at my goal. But as the run progressed, I was able to hold that pace, but couldn't consistently push beyond it, even the last mile or so. Dipped down below 7:00 pace on my Garmin a couple times and never got above 7:40 or so. Good solid kick to finish strong.

As is typical, I passed--literally--dozens of people on the run and was passed by exactly two (both women, interestingly...one in each lap). Felt like I made good decisions on drinking...took just a swig of water at one aid station on each lap...at one station (around mile two), a volunteer yelled out "Gatorade," so I grabbed a cup. Yuck! It was that vile Heed crap. (I'm sure the Hammer folks would be delighted to know that someone was calling their product "Gatorade" on the course...)

Nothing really. This was like night and day from my first international distance race where I was in agony coming off the bike. Best 10K ever...I'll take it.

Walked around, packed my gear. Waited for Liz to finish. I'd pegged her for around 3:15 and she cruised in feeling comfortable at 3:18. After she packed up, we got a couple free burgers and a beer.

The posted results were a mess. They had me officially at 2:27...nice given my sub-2:30 goal...but my swim split was way off. People were being announced as winners in the wrong AGs. Big mess.

Best part of the day was when Liz finished. She had her Disney Tri Team shirt on and Konrad Ribeiro, who was announcing, used to be a teammate of hers (in point of fact, Konrad's the one who talked her into doing a full tri at Malibu last fall and not just a relay...which was what, in turn, dragged me into this damn sport). As Konrad saw the Disney jersey coming in, he looked down at his laptop screen and IDed her...and proceeded to spend what felt like 30 sec. of narration for her finish: "Here comes Liz Covert from the Disney Tri Team. Liz is a relative newcomer to triathlons...but here she is finishing an Olympic Distance Triathlon...looks like she's addicted now...good job, Liz..." Funny thing is that Liz was so focused on the finish that I think she didn't really hear all the narrative from Konrad.


Still have a ways to go on the bike. But at least with my new Scott S40, I have a better tool to work with. Transitions still a sore spot.

(E.T.A.: Now that official results are up, it's interesting that I finished higher overall on the bike than the swim, but higher in my AG on the swim. Only the second tri--along with my AG win in the Bonelli Steamboat Express--where I finished in the top half of the field in all three disciplines.)


Nice event...can't beat the free BBQ and beer (though they were running out of stuff by the time my wife finished and cleaned up her gear). Tons of volunteers (and probably the most appreciative bunch I've seen). Very, very, flat course on both the bike and the run. Good race for anyone making a first attempt at an Oly. I'd give this a "5" rating, except for the degree to which the results were screwed up.