Nautica Malibu Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Seemed like everyone wanted to start on the outside like I always do, so I was resigned to some contact. Earlier wave starts showed that there was going to be a big current pushing us...elites got pushed way inside the first buoy and had to veer left to get around it.

Took a nice easy run down the beach and into the surf. Our wave got lucky and mostly had swell rather than the big beach breaks that pounded some of the earlier waves. Made a beeline for the buoy and had to fight my way through a pretty big scrum. Once I made the turn though, I found myself in clear water the rest of the way, with warm water temps and a big current...zoom!

Generally good navigation...I've swum this course over a dozen times over the last three years, I guess, so I know what to sight off of. Got to the final buoy surprisingly quickly and knew I was having a good swim. Once again, got pretty lucky on the swim into the beach: No breakers.

Goal for the swim split was between 15 and 16 minutes...took a split on my watch when I got up out of the water and it was right around 14 minutes, so I was pretty stoked. Split on my watch as I entered transition was under 15:30, so I was even more happy with that.

Nothing. Pushed the pace enough that I could tell I was having to work to maintain my turnover rate the last 300m...good sign that I wasn't leaving anything on the course. Definitely the most comfortable and effective I've been getting through heavy traffic.

After a good (top 25% O/A) swim at my IM in August, I'm starting to feel good about my swim in general.

First time I took off my wetsuit just by stepping on it. Can't afford to damage it, but I had a towel down under it, so I took a chance on it. First time I went without gloves for the bike. Did have to reset my bike computer, since it goes to sleep when left unused for long periods and I wasn't using my Garmin 205 on this ride.

Always a bit of a C.F. at the mount zone at this race with all the newbies, but I got through it okay.

Nothing comes to mind.

I've wanted to crack 20mph on this course and haven't in the past...last year I was crushing the course...then I broke a spoke and that was that.

Made the decision to ride this at a higher than usual cadence...~92 rather than the ~86-88 I normally ride. For an 18-mile ride with no major climbs, I thought I could get away with that. I think it was a good decision. Got passed much, much, less than I have been in the past (even though I was out of the water ahead of most of the guys in my wave). Tactically and technically, I felt like I had a good ride. More importantly: No problems at all.

Might have pushed it more on the hills, but I was trying not to kill myself for the run, having been undertrained due to my hamstring injury in July, right before Vineman.

Good. Was going to strap on my Garmin 205 on the run out, but decided to just take the 4 or 5 seconds and do it at my rack. Got bike shoes off, running shoes on fine. Hat. Race belt. On my way.

Put on Garmin on the run out. But my goal was to be around 1:30 and that wouldn't have gotten me there. Malibu is a very, very, long transition area...hard to get a short transition time.

Oy. I was just completely boxed behind four slow runners in the narrow chute that starts the run course. I tried to be patient, but finally just blurted out, "Sorry, guys, let's pretend we're on the bike course: On your left!" They all kinda turned then slid right...and I felt a bit like the Road Runner leaving them in the dust.

I really was hoping for a sub-7 pace this year, but not having trained much since I popped my hammie on July 12 made that a shaky possibility. I got to mile 1 in 7-flat, but looked at my Garmin about 1 km later and I was around 7:30...probably wasn't going to be a PR for this run course.

Malibu is an narrow out-and-back course, so you're passing runners going the other way the whole time. Great opportunity to cheer on Disney teammates (which I did). I was passing people constantly (as usually happens on tri runs for me) and was only passed three times the whole run...and I overtook one of the three shortly after he passed me.

At about 1.75 miles, I saw a cluster of Disney uniformed folks heading back from the turnaround and yelled out encouragement...as I got closer, I saw it was Teri Hatcher and the couple team members who were assigned to run with her for safety/protection from paparazzi. It occurred to me that I was enough faster than them that I could possibly catch them by the finish, so that became my goal...no particular reason, just seemed like it might be fun.

Miles two and three were okay, but not stellar and I figured I wasn't going to manage my sub-7 pace, but would be close. Passed a ton of people on the return leg down the beach walk. Really picked it up the last half mile. My stomach was not happy with the last gel I'd eaten along the way...thought I might become one of those classic posters of some guy puking while on the run, but was too close to the finish to let that slow me down.

No sign of Ms. Hatcher and Co., though. ;)

Really kicked it home and finished in 1:42:24 by my watch, making my goal of sub-1:43 for the race. Exiting the finishing chute, I was right behind the Hatcher posse...just missed catching her, apparently.

I might have gone harder on the run, but the near-puke section in mile 4 tells me that probably wouldn't have worked too well. Just barely missed last year's time for this run...if I hadn't been stuck for so long behind the slow runners in the chute at the beginning, I definitely would have PRed this.

Walked around. Fought my way through the reporter/photographer throng around Teri Hatcher. Got some great food at the celebrity/fundraiser brunch...got a plate to take to Liz, since she'd had bad luck with there being food left when she finished (late wave start combined with ~2 hour time on the course). Needn't have worried...lots more food this year.

This might be my last tri for awhile: I recently was diagnosed with a hereditary blood disorder that's going to require a series of blood withdrawals that will leave me pretty anemic for awhile. If they go well, I'll be back to full training in late December, but won't know for awhile. Nice to have my last couple races of the year (this and Disneyland half mary last week) go well and to be all the way back from my freak hamstring injury that trashed my first IM on August 1.

Also nice finish to the tri season that Liz got the annual "Team Member of the Year" award from the Disney Tri Team. Well deserved--she's come a long way from the couch to become an effective fundraiser and event organizer for the team and took on the challenges of her first marathon and first half iron this year, all while mentoring two newbies on the team. She had a good race, too, so nice day all around, capped off with a photo with Macca, who was hanging out after racing the sprint just for kicks and chatted with us for a bit.


Just a general lack of conditioning...rode almost no hills at all after my hamstring injury and only just resumed a reasonably full running schedule about two-and-a-half weeks ago...only to have my chronic foot problems flare up. Managed to get everything squared away and got back to full health for this race, but that doesn't erase the lost weeks of training. If I trained properly, I think I'd have been closer to 1:40. As it was, in my third time racing here, I P.R.ed everything but the run and only missed that by 5 seconds. Really happy to have gotten comfortably over 20 mph on the bike...I've only ever done that on a very flat course previously.


Really unique atmosphere with something of the scale of a typical IM or 70.3. Celebrity participants lend an interesting flavor to the day (which some people find annoying, but I enjoy). Very long sprint race, which makes it a rare race that is appropriate to both experienced and newbie participants. Always nice swag: quality (cotton) t-shirt, embrodered ballcap, and towel, as well as an attractive medal.