Life of a Multisports Dad: Race Recap: LA Triathlon (9/29/13)

After a long break (5 months) from triathlons, it feels good to race again. Since IM St. George 70.3, I've been dealing with some nagging knee pain, along with a few weeks sidelined by a little wakeboarding injury. Yes, father time is catching up. I was able to keep up with some consistent swimming and biking, but my running has been real sporadic.

Anyway, here goes....

Race Goal: Top 10 (out of about 70-80 that are typically in the age group). In 2012, top 10 meant 2:29 or better.

Swim: 1,500 meter ocean swim at Venice Beach, CA (water temp: mid 60's)
This year, the race organizers switched from age group waves to "SwimSmart," which basically replicates the corral system used at many marathons. Your time starts when you cross the timing mat, and there is a continuous flow of people into the water. I did like how low stress the start was, but honestly, I've never been too freaked out about the swim starts. Yes, anxious and nervous, but never to the point where I was scared or freaked out. The downside, you really don't have an idea where you stand amongst your age group.

The water was relatively calm and there wasn't much of a swell to deal with getting out to the first buoy. I did do a warm up swim, but didn't notice the small current. This current slowly pushed me off-line on the way to the first buoy, which was the them for my swim...not swimming in a straight line. Instead of swimming straight to the buoy, I was approaching it at an angle. Around the buoy, there's a long stretch to the turnaround spot. Swimming towards the pier, made sighting much easier, but again, I kept swimming a little to the right and way wide. Not much else to say, left arm, right arm, breathe, repeat, blah, blah, blah.

Back on to shore, there was about a 100+ yard run in the sand to the transition area, which oddly, is where the T1 timing mat was. This just makes the swim time a little long and the T1 time a little short.

Swim Performance: 31:17 and 25th of 68 in my age group
Gear: BlueSeventy Helix Wetsuit, BlueSeventy Nero goggles
Lessons Learned: One open water swim in five months doesn't help improve open water swimming skills

Transition 1: 2:36 and 24th of 68 in my age group
Lessons Learned: Know where the transition entrance and exits are. I assumed I knew where the entrance to T1 was, and I was wrong. This meant that I racked my back in a horrible location. In a situation where it's first come, first served, this is an easy way to lose or gain time. I figure this little mistake cost me 20-30 seconds.

Bike: 40 kilometers, approximately 25 miles
When do you get the chance to bike on Venice and Olympic Boulevards, with no traffic? Basically never, and that's what is so cool about this race. This is a relatively flat bike course along city streets of Los Angeles. My legs felt heavy for the first half hour, and since I had forgot my Garmin at home, I really didn't have a solid idea what my pace or heart rate was. Since I don't have a power meter, I'm accustomed to monitoring and controlling my efforts based on my heart rate, so for this race, I was relying on PRE (Perceived rate of exertion).

Anyway, the bike course is relatively flat, and I only had to get up out of my aero bars for a couple short climbs. Overall, I felt good on the bike, and since this wasn't going to be a windy day, I chose to go with a deep front wheel and disc rear wheel.

Bike Performance: 1:07:40 (22mph) and 12th of 68 in my age group

Transition 2: 2:26 and 32nd of 68 in my age group
Apparently, I taped by T2 bag a little too much. The bags were taped shut to make sure your stuff wouldn't fall out between the time it was dropped off the day before and when the volunteers place it at your spot in T2. So, between putting on my socks and messing with my bag, I ended up spending about a minute more than the top guys in my group.

Run: 10 kilometers, 6.2 miles
The run course is a 5k out-and-back, twice, with a killer hill (Bunker Hill) right before the turnaround. Again, no Garmin, so I was running on feel. The first loop felt good, and after the climb on the second loop, it was all downhill until the finish line, and that's when I decided to pick up the pace a bit.

Considering my running training leading into this race was pretty light, I'm pleased with my time.

Run Performance: 45:04 and 17th of 68 in my age group

Total Time: 2:29:01 and 18th out of 68 in my age group.
I fell a little short of my goal of getting into the top 10, approximately 4 1/2 minutes. I know that if I clean up my transitions and squeeze a little time out of each portion of the race, I'm right where I want to be.

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