Well, the pace and time for this swim was to be expected. All my swim sessions had put me right at the 2:00/100 m mark. I had hoped to get closer to 1:50, and I actually did get closer to that, but unfortunately I didn't swim in a straight line!! Looking back at my Garmin, the swim line was a little all over the place. And somewhere in the middle, I totally lost track of the buoys so I didn't know I had reach the last buoy until someone swam perpendicular to my line, and I looked up to see everyone making the right hand turn. I need to put a lot more time in the pool to get better on technique and endurance. This is by far the weakest of the three events for me. I don't have a solution for it right now, but hopefully it will come.

One more thing, this was the first time that I had actually swam 1500 meters all in one shot. I was pretty winded when I got out of the water to run to the transition area. Took awhile to snap out of it.

Need to work on open water swims more (spotting and distance). Basically, I need to swim a shit ton more.

Still being winded from the swim, I didn't have that much pep in my step. I know I can get through this transition a lot quicker, I just need to do it.

go faster

Finally onto the bike where I have actually made big gains on during my training this year. This is the part of the race which I enjoy the most. Mainly because I like riding, and also because I always trained more than enough on the bike. I always rode 35-55 miles per ride, so I knew I would be able to put forth a nice effort on this ride.

I was able to settle in pretty quickly on the bike, and start to get into a nice rhythm. I am a cadence guy, so I base everything off of the cadence plus my perceived effort. Yes, I know, I would love to get a power meter, but that just isn't in the cards for me right now. So cadence and feel is all I got.

In looking back, I might have burned a little too much on the bike, but I think I might have lost more spots in the run, if I didn't create the gaps I did on the bike. It was a pretty nice feeling to get out of the water in 31st and off the bike in 6th. Of course I didn't know that at the time, but I didn't notice a lot of bikes in my area were gone when I started the bike, and then a lot of those bikes were still gone when I got off the bike.

Not too much. Keep working on the speed work and over all bike fitness. I really don't feel like I had to ride that hard to keep my pace.

Pretty decent transition for me. I think I lost around 10 seconds or so, because I wanted to make sure I took some hammer edurolytes before the run. It was starting to get really freaking hot, and there was no wind, so the run was going to be hot hot.

Get shoes on a little quicker and take the pills before I get off the bike.

Okay. Here is where I messed up on the training, and where the wheels came off the wagon. My mistake in my run training was I didn't run enough minutes in my training. Not miles, but actual running minutes. All my training runs were pretty consistent around 5 - 6 miles and in the 40-45 minute range. I had absolutely nothing to give on this run. I also didn't run enough flat training runs. I live in a pretty hilly area, so most of my runs had hills in them. I had always though to myself that would help me during the triathlon. The flat will make it easier. Boy was I wrong. My turnover (cadence) was not moving fast enough, in fact it was pretty much moving at the same pace as my training runs where I was tired running up hills. Well, lesson learned.

The first mile clicked off just like my brick sessions, but then every mile after that the pace just started dropping. At this time, I was really just trying to finish the run and not walk dammit. I didn't walk, but my pace dropped so far down that it felt like I was walking. The three spots I lost in the run were pretty early on and two of those guys went on to place in the top 5. So now, all I could think about was all those guys I passed on the bike. I didn't want any more from my age group passing me. Honestly, that is the only thing that kept me running. And I made sure to look at every calf that passed me. I kept looking at the ocean, thinking I just want to go and lay down in that wet sand. The last mile was grueling, but I finished.

Need more run training (time! and distance) plus a lot more track and speed work. I need to be able to have different gears on the run. Run Forrest. Run.

This was definitely an eye opening race for me and I want to do more. I want to be able to complete the race and not feel like garbage at the end of it. The first 30 minutes were a little rough after completely the race. But in thinking back, I would definitely do it again, and I want to do more at this distance for sure.

BEST PART of the day was saying hello to Dusty Nabor and Karin Langer. I have been reading their blogs/race reports for years now (Dusty since 2011) and they are the main reason I ended up doing this race. They were super nice too, and I hope to see them at another race soon. Congrats Dusty on winning the age group!


Lack of run training and proper interval work, plus I just need to get faster and straighter in the swim.


This is a really great race. It is well organized and the size of the event is perfect. I plan on doing this race next year. More importantly, the fundraising for the Children's Hospital of LA is top notch. It was an honor to be apart of it.