Today was the Pasadena Triathlon Club's championship race, which took place at the Bonelli Olympic Distance Triathlon in San Dimas, CA. I did this race last year, but as the swimmer/cyclist on a relay team. Today was my first time doing the entire race as an individual.
Pre-Race:
Since this is a local race, and it is quite close, I didn't have to wake up particularly early. I drank a bit of coffee, as usual, but didn't eat any food. My nutrition 'plan' for races of this distance is to just get liquid calories on the bike. Seems to work well for me. I got the mini-van packed up, got the family loaded up, and headed out. We arrived at the park at about 6:20am, and I was surprised to see no lines of cars waiting to get through the gate. We cruised right in, and got a very close parking space. I got my bike and transition bag out of the car, and headed for the PTC tent. I bumped into Joe and Steve on my way. The registration lines were also unusually short, so getting my packet, and getting everything set up in transition was a breeze. I found myself with plenty of time to relax, and get mentally prepped for the race ahead, and plenty of time to get suited up and warmed up in the water.
Swim: ~1800 yards in 28:33 (recorded on my Garmin as I exited the water, not as I entered T1)
With water temps at about 76 degrees, I chose to race in my new Roka Maverick Pro sleeveless wetsuit. And since the sun was out, basically cloudless skies, I once again wore my mirrored amber Roka X1 goggles. To avoid having my trisuit top hanging out, I just left it in T1 rather than wearing it under the sleeveless suit. The race officials and life guards took quite awhile getting the buoys in place for the BOD swim course, and they had to explain to us several times what order we were supposed to hit them in. Eventually, the race started, and I got into my groove on the swim pretty quickly. The pack thinned out right away, and I had very few incidents of contact. However, at about the halfway point, somebody managed to wedge themselves underneath me, and deliver a rather powerful kick to my chest, standing me completely upright. It didn't cause any problems, other than a couple of seconds getting back up to speed, but it caught me off guard for sure. The only other issue on the swim is that a few of us were guided a bit off-course to an additional yellow buoy that we probably didn't need to go around. As a result, we swam a bit long. I recorded just under 1800 yards for the distance, but when I look at the GPS map of my swim, I don't see any abrupt direction changes as a result. So I am not too concerned about it. My pace was good, and that's all I care about.
T1: 4:52
My T1 was pretty slow, for a couple of reasons: 1) I had to put my top on since I chose not to wear it under my wetsuit. It is a pain in the ass to put those on when wet. Lesson learned. 2) To avoid the issues I have been having with my wet HR monitor strap not registering, I didn't wear it on the swim. So I had to put that on as well. 3) Maybe its the new wetsuit, but I had a tough time taking it off. I have pretty big calves, and sometimes it is tough to get the suit over them (yes, I know about tri-lube, etc).
Bike: 24.96 miles in 1:15:32 (measured on my Garmin Edge 500)
Course knowledge definitely helped me here. Last year, I rode 1:22 on this course, even though I put up some pretty big wattage numbers on the power meter. This year, under worse conditions, I rode 7 minutes faster, with lower average and normalized power. Part of that is also the tri bike (I rode my road bike with aero extensions last year, versus my Centric Prolog this year). I clicked off three 25 minute laps. The only issues I had were both on the steep descent after the really terribly paved climb near the end of the lap. On lap 1, a car was on the course. I passed it doing 48 mph (I was amazed to be hitting that speed), and then he decided it would be cool to pace alongside me for a bit until a cop on a motorcycle came up and told him to GTFO. On the third lap, in the exact same spot, I was once again bombing the descent in the upper 40s mph, and a rider ahead of me made an abrupt move to the left, forcing me to brake. But other than that, it was smooth sailing. I wasn't quite expecting the wind out by the airport, but that was just a matter of not getting caught up worrying about speed, and watching the power output, and my RPE. Overall, I'm very happy with my ride. I took a quick glance at the results, and it was roughly the 15th best bike split in the field.
T2: 2:38
I had a bit of a jog to my rack spot, but otherwise, I think my transition went OK. I took the time to put on socks, and to stretch my lower back for a few seconds. Since I wasn't sure they had anything but water on the run course, I also consumed a gel packet, and swigged some water before heading out. I saw Peter Day leaving at the same time as me (he started a wave behind me) so he must have had a good swim and bike.
Run: 6.2 miles in 59:12 (measured from my Garmin 910XT)
I didn't have any high expectations from my run, other than to get through it with as little trouble as possible. I've been nursing a right hip injury, which has hampered my run training a bit. But it felt fine as I headed out, and did not bother me at all on the entire run. My strategy was to run at what I felt was a manageable pace, walk through the aid stations to give myself a chance to cool off (it was pretty warm), and make sure I was able to finish strong, but not with too much left in the tank. It worked out pretty well. I also chose to walk up one of the steeper hills on the course, as sometimes these aggravate my hip. That cost me some time, but was worth it. The first 3 miles went by quickly, as did the last mile. Before I knew it, I was cruising in to the finish.
Overall: 2:54:28 (38th Overall, 8th in M40-44 AG)
I was actually quit pleased with this performance as a whole. None of my performances were particularly great, but all of them were decent (for my ability). Anytime I can string 3 good events together like that, I'll take it. I think it also put me 2nd in the club championship, which ain't too shabby (I know some of our super fast guys were not there, but hey).
Lessons Learned:
The only things I would have changed today: 1) find a better way to get that trisuit top on, and 2) maybe practice getting that new wetsuit off quicker. Everything else pretty much went to plan.
Well, that's it. Next Sunday (Oct. 18) I have the Hermosa Beach 'Day at the Beach' sprint triathlon, and that is it for the 2015 season.
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