I went into this race with no goals, but looking at past results, I felt like I had a chance at top 3 in my age group.
Swim 1 (400 yards, 7:51, 9th of 15 in my AG)
The swim was a small rectangle, with all the men going out in one wave. With the water temp in the low 60's, I decided to go without a wetsuit, since I felt any time save swimming in the wetsuit would be lost taking it off. I got in before the start and did a small warmup swim, and was feeling good. Unfortunately, the race start was delayed about 15 minutes, and standing around in a wet tri suit this early in the morning wasn't any fun.
Again, disappointed with my position out of the water on the first swim. This is definitely my weakness and progress has been slow. Usually I'm somewhere near the top 30-40% in my age group, but not today.
Transition 1 (1:12, 8th of 15 in my AG)
Not much to say here, I bumbled around and just took a little too much time getting my shoes on. I had made the decision to go the entire race sockless, and I've never had issues cycling with no socks.
Bike 1 (10Km, 18:17, 22.6mph, 5th of 15 in my AG)
The bike course was a small trip to Fiesta Island, and then one loop of the island. I've never been on this path, so at times I had to hold back around some of the corners. The course is pretty flat, so it's easy to maintain a constant effort.Transition 2 (1:04, 10th of 15 in my AG)
More bumbling around in transition...
Run 1 (2.5k, 11:01, 6:58/mi pace, 5th of 15 in my AG)
As I was running out, the race leaders were just getting back, and I could hear that they were yelling something to the race officials. Apparently, the cones for the turnaround were out of place. Yes, they were. Actually, I was probably the 3rd or 4th person to run past the point where the cones had just been fixed. The first 20 or so racers actually shorted the course by about one mile on the first lap. I don't blame them, because the cones had actually been blocking the path that they were supposed to follow. There was also another spot at the turnaround spot that was marked with chalk arrows. Well, again, we weren't supposed to follow the arrows, and there were supposed to be cones there to turn back towards the run finish.
Unfortunately, I'll never know what these two course mistakes did to my final results, but I'm not too concerned either way. The race director realized what the mistake was and hopefully won't let it happen again.
Transition 3 (:51, 6th of 15 in my AG)
Swim 2 (400k, 8:58, 6th of 15 in my AG)
I think the timing mat was way up the boat ramp, which is why everyone had longer swim splits the second time around. The second swim was much easier, since the crowd was spread out by now.
Transition 4 (1:04, 8th of 15 in my AG)
Bike 2 (10k, 18:49, 21.9mph, 4th of 15 in my AG)
Not much to say here. I would have thought I might be able to go a little faster the second time around Fiesta Island since I knew the course a little better, but I could tell my energy just wasn't there.
Transition 5 (0:58, 7th of 15 in my AG)
Run 2 (2.5k, 9:35, 6:45/mi pace, 3rd of 15 in my AG)
I was able to pick up the pace a little bit on the second run. There were a couple guys that looked like they might be in my age group, so I tried to chase them down. Looking at the results, one of the guys that I passed was in my age group.
Final Result: 1:19:44.1 (4th of 15 in my AG)Later that week, the race director removed the guys that shorted the course from the official placings, which technically put me in 2nd place. I think that meant that I won a coffee mug, or something like that, but honestly, it wasn't worth the three hour roundtrip drive to San Diego to get it.
Race Analysis and Lessons Learned:
I ended up finishing 45 seconds behind the next age grouper ahead of me (Jay Prasuhn of Lava Magazine). Looking back at how much time I gave up in transitions alone, it could have been a much closer race.
Also, the shoe/laces combination I used didn't work with a sockless race. I ended up with two wicked blisters on the top of my feet from where the quick laces rubbed. In rushing to put my shoes on, the tongue of the shoes most have bunched up in the middle, exposing the laces to my tender foot skin.
Post Race:
Another bonus to this event was the pro race that followed. It was also a double triathlon, but the bike course was shorter, with multiple loops and drafting. The run course was also shorter, with multiple loops too. This made for great spectating. This same format was just done in Las Vegas during Interbike, where a multiple lane swimming pool was erected in the middle of a casino parking lot. Hopefully this format continues to grow because it makes for some entertaining races.
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| Female Pro Swim Start |
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| Female Pros getting ready |
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| Sara McLarty out in front on the bike |
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