This was an easy and nice swim. It was about 100 yards to the water (which was COLD). I had a nasty cold this weekend, so I took a little Dayquil. THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE. Dayquil makes me a little light-headed. However, this gets magnified exponentially when your pulse is at race intensity. I am a strong swimmer, but I got stuck behind the pack in the water and had to run the obstacle course. It took me awhile to figure out that an open area free of swimmers was a thick kelp bed. I was so dizzy coming out of the water, I had to have two hands on the handrails for the 2-3 flight stairs up the cliff.

1. Chosen the cold over Dayquil.
2. Fought to get ahead of the weaker swimmers at the start.

I almost considered dropping at this point. I was dizzy and fell down taking off swim suit and needed to sit there while prepping until the world stopped spinning. My pulse was higher from the stairs than from the swim.

Again, never take Dayquil on race day.

I started really slow because I was afraid of how dizzy I was. However, by about mile 6 of the bike ride, my head started to clear and I was able to make up some progress. Also, my wheel was slightly warped, but rideable. (I had avoided an accident on the 101 and slammed on my brakes. I think that the kid's stroller whacked into the rear wheel). I did not feel a major difference in my ride, but I did need to avoid a few gears that felt funny. My chain came off in the last real hill. After I fixed it, thinks did not feel right back there. However, overall, it was more of an annoyance than anything.

1. I need to train longer rides. I need to get to the point where my legs are sore, I am winded, and THEN I can put in some race mileage.

2. Trust in my game plan more and stick to it. I got too distracted by all the people passing me in the beginning. If I stuck to the plan, I probably could have picked more off when I got my head back in the game.

3. Not gotten lost and ridden an extra mile.

4. Stop trying to bring the family. Had I gone alone, there would have been less gear in the van, and I would have been able to work on the bike more before the race.

5. One more time. NO DAYQUIL.

Yeah, I suck.

This was 1-2 min/mile slower than I wanted. However, I was sick and behind.
I was able to keep a consistent pace in all but the more difficult hills.
Traditionally, run is my worse part, but I had such a bad bike ride that the only race going on was against my Garmin. My calf was threatening to cramp, but never did. This first sprouted up a week before.

1. Train more hills.
2. Been more proactive about stretching and rehabbing little problems in training.

Walked back to the parking garage with my bike and a bunch of the kids stuff.

A good stretch.


1. I was a little sick, but taking the Dayquil made thing 100 times worse. I switch to back stroke one to clear my goggles and thought, "Wee, I am floating." Not a good sign. I was almost an hour into the race before stopped feeling dizzy.

2. I trained consistently, but I need to get in more long sessions. I need to run 3 miles AFTER my legs are fried. I need to seek out areas with more hills, as I live where it is flat. I need to bike 20 miles AFTER my legs are fried.

3. After 5 races (2 without my family), it is obvious. I need to stop trying to bring my family along. Although I want to include and motivate my kids. They are too young. I spend too much time worrying about the kids' gear and helping out my wife. Maybe when they get older, but I need to concentrate on my race before and after.

4. My training has been focusing more on losing weight than race performance. Once this weight contest (where I can win $1000) is over, I can focus more on Tri.


I had a really bad race, but I loved the event and the course.
I look forward to doing it next year, but doing things correctly.
You could not ask for better surf, weather, setting, etc.
The course was a little challenging, but not too much.
All of my problems were my problems, not the races.

They could do a better job marking the course.

Granted it competed with the LA Marathon, but the community strikes me as one that could support a full expo on race day.
It is obvious that there a lot of run and bike races there, and the old markings make it hard to see the current.

More volunteers on the bike course.