City of Los Angeles Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic


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Los Angeles, California
United States
Pacific Sports
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 55m 20s
Overall Rank = 772/1407
Age Group = 221 + Clydes
Age Group Rank = 6/21
Pre-race routine:

Got up and drove to Venice. My wife had bought some new bread that tasted like sh** so I had to giv up my usual pre race PB and honey sandwich. Had an apple, clif bar and water instead. Parked the car, and heard the pounding surf. My wife said, "you got your wish" I had mentioned since I am a fairly decent swimmer any surf would help me and hurt weaker swimmers (sorry). Maybe, maybe not.... The sets that came in were pure shorebreak. rode 1/4 mile to T1.

I had not been able to run for the past month due to a calf injury, and I didn't know if the injury was fully healed. Was not sure if this was going to be just an aquabike or a full tri.
Event warmup:

Watching the waves, peeing in my pants :)

Got into the water and ducked a few waves to see how powerful they were. They weren't bad if you duckked early enough and grabbed enough sand.

Swim
  • 28m 37s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 44s / 100 yards
Comments:

We stood in the strt corral watching the prior waves go off, "oohing" and "ahhing" as a set came in and they'd get hammered. Clay Evans, the announcer, kept saying, "Scared?.... you oughtta be!" I am fairly comfortable in the surf, and had tested these out, but still they made me nervous for some reason.

Our start (wave 10) was fairly mild until a set came in when we were about chest deep. Honestly, most people, me included, were not charging this surf, just timing it to get through it. I was pretty timid. Had to duck two waves, no biggie.

We had collegiates and relays in our wave, so I knew I wouldn't be first to the buoy, or near it. I was wearing smoked lenses and there were only buoys at the corner points of the swim, so sighting and navigation were pretty bad. Note to self: Get clear goggles for this time of year.

The turnaround buoy was further hidden right in front of a pier, so it was hard to site, sited off the pier instead and hoped it was close. Since I caught my arm ont eh buoy at the turn I guess I hit it right on :)

Coming in, I wussed out as I looked back and saw a small wall coming towards me. I stopped, pushed off the botton (at which point my quad started to semi cramp) and went back to meet the wave, and her two sisters. What a wuss. Should have charged in and taken the tumble. Current took me 100 yards past the exit. Not sure how much I lost but sure was not a strong way to end the swim. Not happy with the swim at all.

The run up the sand to T1 wasn't bad at all, don't really even remember it. I do remember Wendy, Cat and Jeff yelling though.
What would you do differently?:

Charge the freaking swim, the waves weren't that bad.
Transition 1
  • 01m 58s
Comments:

his was a pretty good T1 time for me, considering we had to pack our suits and towels and everything else into a bag and then zip it up, and I sat to put on socks. I had set it up beforehand so the bag was half closed.

All of the technical stuff - helmet on, suit off, etc. went great.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really
Bike
  • 1h 16m 21s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 19.53 mile/hr
Comments:

OK, nothing new on race day. Except for the new bike I had ridden just the two days prior, and raising the seat the night before the race :)

Heading east on Venice into a slight headwind to start the course, I couldn't get my HR beloow 168-170. Didn't go below 170 until Wilshire.

Lots of folks drafting. One group came by, I said "hey, nice drafting guys." Guy says back "hey, I'm old, gimme a break" all of 45 or so. Only ever saw one marshall, as I was passing someone else, comign teh wrong way right at me, I had to veer right to avoid them.

On Fairfax, I got out of the saddle to crest a rise and heard a strange sound, like someone thwacking a spoke. Broken? flat? sh**..... I stopped to see what it was. No flat, all spokes felt secure. Oh well, tarry on. Turned out it was the Polar magnet hitting the speed sensor setup.

Three what I would call hills on the ride. Highland up to Sunset, middle of Sunset, and 1st street in LA. I handled them well.

For the most part I hammered in the big ring when I could.

Particular memories of the bike course.
-- Riding by the La Brea tar pits and smelling the tar
-- Riding through the intersection of Wilshire and La Cienega as the cops held the cars on either side of La Cienega
-- Hitting Holloywood Blvd, looking at the stars on the sidewalk and realizing sh**, my grandfather has a star here somewhere, how cool is it to race by your grandfather's star? (an actor, and my wife's grnadparents each also have stars, but I didn't think of that then....)
-- Barrelling down Grand at near 40 mph

Question though, the webiste says 40K which is 24.85, but the splits time as if it is 24 mph.....
What would you do differently?:

If I didn't have to stop.....

Overall very pleased with the bike
Transition 2
  • 02m 45s
Comments:

Long T2, you dismount and they say "look foor your number." I am 1503. I look, the numbers start at 1. I have a looooong run ahead of me.

I reach the row and go down to the bags. I had turned in a black bag, everyone else used the see thru bags. I knew exactly which one was mine. Took shoes out, swapped bike shoes, visor and number belt on, and the same looooong run back to the exit.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 1h 05m 40s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 10m 34s  min/mile
Comments:

OK, this was gut check time, and within the first 100 yards (which, oddly enough was still in T2) I knew I'd be fine. just pick a pace and go with it. My goal on the race was 3:00, and I hit the run at 1:49. I knew if I could hold my calf together I could break 3. I CANNOT tell you how happy I was starting out on the run

The hill up Grand I "ran." Passed a woman who said "not worth the energy" She passed me back at mile 5 or so. Not much to say about the run except that there were a LOT of aid stations with water and gatorade, drank water at every single one and felt good.

The course is an out and back, big 2 block uphill and long 4 block downhill going, reverse coming back. On the long uphill on the way back, I did walk for 30 seconds or so just to rest a bit, that's the first time I've walked since my first tri.

There were only mile markers at 2 and 3 for some reason, so after that I really had no idea where I was, but I knew I'd finish. the last 1/2 mile or so, back downhill to Grand and then 5-6 blocks to the finish were tough, but a finisher ahd come back and was yelling "gut it out, this is where you put the knife in, EVERYONE is hurting." I wasn't putting no knife in anyone, but it helped to know everyone hurts :)
What would you do differently?:

Having not run in nearly a month, nothing. Other than that, train
Post race
Warm down:

should have gotten a massage, but didn't. Just walked around, drank loads of water, ate some and met up with friends. Saw BT'er MikeB who kicked a$$.

Met up with my friend Rick, he won M 40-44.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

2 things: (1) Bad swim decisions; (2) lack of run training. Had I swam and run Breath of Life time I would have taken 7 minutes off.

Event comments:

This is a HUGE race to put on. The support from cops was incredible, TONS of volunteers, and a fun event.

It is expensive, so I'll do it again, but not every year. There are also a lot of small organizational things that they can do much better (i.e., go to Kinko's, spend $20 and have signs with "Olympic" and "Sprint" and arrows made. Relying on vounteers to orally tell Oly racers about an out and back on the bike resulted in some pros missing it altogether)


Profile Album


Last updated: 2006-05-17 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:28:37 | 1640 yards | 01m 44s / 100yards
Age Group: 1/21
Overall: 157/1407
Performance: Below average
Suit: X Terra Vortex
Course: 150 M out, 50 M south, 50 M east, 550 M north, 100 M in
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Bad Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:58
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:16:21 | 24.85 miles | 19.53 mile/hr
Age Group: 7/21
Overall: 572/1407
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Through the streets of LA - Venice to Fairfax to Wilshire to Highland to Sunset to I forget where to downtown
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 02:45
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
01:05:40 | 06.21 miles | 10m 34s  min/mile
Age Group: 15/21
Overall: 1147/1407
Performance: Below average
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4