Pre-Race:
I got everyone packed up and on the road by 5:30am, including my Dad who came down for the weekend to visit. We showed up, found parking relatively quickly, and I was in the transition area and set up by about 6:35am. The race started at 7am, and I was in the 4th wave, so I had a little time to relax. However, the lifeguards were keeping people out of the water, so I actually got no warmup whatsoever.
Note: All times below were measured from my Garmin 910XT and Edge 500, which I judiciously started/stopped/lapped in auto-multisport mode. I have very high confidence in the accuracy.
Swim: 457 yards in 6:31 (1min25sec per 100yards, my best yet!)
Even though this is the shortest swim I have ever done in a race, it was no joke. This was the roughest surf I have tried to do an open water swim in. I was hoping our wave would be sent out between 'sets' as the surfers say, but no such luck. We had to duck dive some decent sized waves. I managed not to get tossed by any of them, but on the first big one I had to dive under, my goggles got knocked down around my neck. I was easily able to get them back on, and had no issues after that. A lot of swimmers were panicky and seemed a bit scared, and really clustered up around the two buoys we had to go by. To avoid the clusters, I intentionally swam a few extra yards around them, and this worked out well. The swim was a rectangle, so we had a very choppy and rolling swim parallel to the beach, and it is here that I gained on a lot of people in my wave. Once we rounded the second buoy and headed for shore, we got to take advantage of those bigger waves and ride them in like body surfers. I was in the water for such a short time, I wasn't even remotely tired, but plenty of people were staggering as we ran up the beach and jogged a short distance on the strand to get to T1.
T1: 3:58 (measured from the water exit, not the T1 entrance)
The transition was pretty crowded. A product of the short swim not separating us by much. One cool thing about the organization of the race was that you were racked with your own age group, so it was easy to see how you were fairing. The bike course was a climb immediately out of the exit, so I chose not to do a flying mount this time. I used my full wetsuit today, and went heavy on the trilube on the calves. The wetsuit slipped right off this time. It was a smooth, but not overly fast T1. No complaints.
Bike: 10 miles in 24:57 (Avg Speed 24.05 mph) measured with my Garmin Edge 500
I was excited for this short bike course, because it literally rode right past were I used to live back in my single days. I knew the road well. However, it was a short 3-loop course. So congestion became a humongous problem. This race is billed as extremely beginner friendly, and the bike course is where you feel it the most. I have no problems with that. Its awesome to see so many people giving this sport a shot. But yeah it definitely hindered faster cyclists. I had to sit up out of aero position for at least 1/3 of the ride to make sure I could safely avoid/pass slower riders. It was very tight, as they coned off one lane for the race, and one lane for vehicle traffic. Also, we had a 180 degree turns at one end of the loop, and two close proximity 90+ degree turns at the other end, which people really struggled with. Twice, I had a rider near me wreck because they leaned too hard into these sharp turns while going over the crosswalk paint. Despite all that, I was happy with my ride. I didn't realize how fast my average speed was until I started typing this race report, and that is off of very low avg and normalized power, due to the slow rider dodging. Also, my HR and RPE were quite low. I was very relaxed as I finally descended back down Pier Ave to the transition area, and did a perfect flying dismount, leaving my shoes on the bike.
T2: 1:09
This was a breeze. I had a decently long run in T2 back to my rack, but I was delighted to see the M40-44 racks were EMPTY! I was in first place! Apparently plenty of others had just as much trouble (and more) as I did with the bike traffic. Excited to see I was leading, I made quick work of racking my bike, dropping my helmet and glasses, and getting the shoes and bib on. As I dashed for the run exit, I saw 2nd place show up at the rack. This was going to be interesting!
Run: 3.1 miles in 23:23 (7:32 per mile)
Ok, so my running has sucked all year. But this course is pancake flat, other than some stairs you go up (and later back down). Out and back on the strand, essentially. Furthermore, it is on a section of the strand I have walked, beach cruised and jogged hundreds of times before when I lived in the area. So I knew it inside and out. I knew the likelihood of holding 1st place was slim, but I thought a podium was definitely realistic. I tried to avoid going out too fast, but that guy in 2nd caught me pretty quickly, not even at the 1 mile marker. However, I was running smart, and felt pretty good. My hip wasn't even bothering me. Once we went up the stairs, I knew the turnaround was close, so I picked up the pace slightly. Usually on the run, I am looking at peoples calves as they pass me to see if people in the wave are going by (if ages are written there, as they were today), but today was different. I was actually passing way more people than were passing me. My pace wasn't blistering (in the 7 minute mile range), but that is good for me. After passing the 2 mile mark, I felt confident that I could increase the pace and not blow up, so I did. Finally with about 1/2 mile to go, a 40 year old guy cruises past me, relegating me to 3rd. I tried to stick to him, but he was moving a litle too fast for me. However, I did increase my pace over the last 1/2 mile to minimize the damage, and that 40 year old was in fact the only person to pass me at all in the last mile. Even though it still isn't a fast run, it is clearly the best I've done all season. I was stoked to cruise into the finish, in 3rd place AG,
Total: 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run in 1:00:59 (3rd AG, 46th overall out of 559)
Officially, I was given 10th AG, 53rd overall, but read below... that wasn't correct.
Post-Race: OK, things didn't end up turning out well...
I was excited to see the results get posted, knowing that I finally got on the podium. But I was stunned when I saw them: they listed me finishing in 1:03:58, in 10th AG. WTF??? Exactly 4 minutes slow. I even spoke with the guys who took 1st and 2nd (who finished in 57 and 59 minutes, respectively) and they knew I was closer to them than that. Other guys in the AG also noticed their times were reported exactly 3 minutes too slow. So, we let the officials know, and they acknowledged a timing issue and told us a correction was coming. So I felt better. When they finally posted the official results, I wasn't any happier. They decided to do a blanket subtraction of 3 minutes to ALL people in the AG, including the people who already had correct times. I was still officially in 10th place. The winner and 2nd place were now 54 and 56 minutes, which was wrong. I told the officials there was still an issue, but they were adamant that they had resolved the problem. I was prepared to show them my Garmin data (did you read my Long Beach Tri report fiasco?) but they were not interested. So, I am in the books as finishing 10th in a time of 1:00:59. Needless to say, I am unhappy with that. I am considering reporting it to USAT as a bunch of us did with the Long Beach Tri run course screw up. And if anyone asks, I don't care what the results show... 3rd AG in 1:00:59 baby! That's what I got.
Lessons Learned:
I don't have much to say here. Everything went according to plan. Gear all worked great, I managed my energy well (other than the bike, were I chose safety over speed numerous times). Transitions were good, etc. Not a bad way to end the season, timing issues aside.
For people considering this race next year, I'd say go for it. If you want to drag a beginner out, this is definitely a great race. However, if (like me) the bike leg is your strength, you will be leaving some money on the table versus the fastest overall folks who get to be in the first wave or two. The volunteers were great, and they did run the event well. I have no clue how they managed to fudge my overall time. But I won't let that ruin the event. I still had a great time, and I'm sure you would too.
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