Weather was cruddy today. Cool and raining. Not many people showed up for the meet. 17 total competitors. I heard that the sprint format meet last month had a lot more. Five of today’s swimmers were older: ages 48-69. I was in this group. The remaining twelve were very young: ages 17-24. Notice the huge age-gap.

I arrived at the pool at 8 am. Louis, my coach, asked me what events I would swim. I had picked the 200 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle. He said we could start warming up. The meet was supposed to begin at 9 am. I swam about 500 or so yards in warmup. Most of it slow and easy. A couple of short 25s a bit harder with faster arm turnover. And some practice on my flip turns. I’ve been learning flip turns for 2 weeks now, and they are passable but not very good. Before the meet started I also got a chance to practice a dive off a starting block. I’ve never done that before. Louis just said to make sure I tuck my head down, which I did. No problem.

The 200 free was the first event of the day. Two heats with 15 total swimmers. I was in the first heat, lane 2 (they posted heat and lane assignments for all events before 9 am). So we got up on the starting blocks, they called the start and into the pool I dove. They had seeded us with times from previous events and/or practice times and had assigned us lanes near someone with similar speed.  Still, I really did not pay any attention to the swimmers in the lanes next to me. This was just all in my own head, against myself, trying to make myself do this swim. I had been tired and sore this past week but I still hoped I had recovered enough for a decent swim.

I went out much too fast in the first 50 though. I was aggressive, attacking, pulling hard and putting out an energy level that I could not maintain for 200 yards. I’m pretty sure that I slowed down as I swam, getting positive splits, and the last 50 was so hard to finish. Also I turned a bit far from the wall on at least one of my flip turns, and some of them were crooked. So that probably caused me to lose some time. In the end I got 3:32.44 which is certainly not my best time for a 200. But not horrible, either. I probably could have done better if I’d started off a bit slower.

I was so tired at the end of this race, too. Just gasping for breath and my legs were totally dead and arms did not feel like they could pull me out of the pool. So hard to get out of the pool and even walk. I went down to the shallow end to swim a cool-down stretch out, about 100-200 yards (I don’t remember what I swam). Later I saw Louis and said, “I don’t think I want to do the 500 any more.” Which made him sort of laugh and he said I’d do fine.

By the way, I was 15th out of 15 swimmers for this event. Dead last. I’m OK with that. The 14th swimmer, Lois, beat me by about six-tenths of a second (note that Lois is 15 years older than I am). Actually, I did notice as I was swimming the last 25 yards that Lois and I were coming in to the finish very close together.

The 500 free was the fifth event, so I had 3 events during which I could rest and recover. When we were on the starting blocks I heard Louis tell me to do my first 200 controlled. Yeah, I did not go out anywhere nearly as fast and furious as I did at the start of the 200. Definitely tried to keep a reasonable pace that I could maintain. Heck, as far as I was concerned, the first 350 could be a controlled pace. I do think I hesitated a bit getting off the starting block. Oh well. Between that, turning a bit short of the walls a couple times, a couple of crooked turns and just generally being tired to start with, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a fantastic race. Just get it done.

So this was 20 laps of 25 yards each. Longish. I was counting them off as I swam and just wanting to be done from pretty early on. After I got 350 yards done I tried to swim just a bit harder, but my legs were feeling SO dead. Tried pulling mostly with my arms. The last 100 yards I tried to build, increasing my speed as I swam, but I really didn’t have much left in me. Finished as hard as I could. Felt totally drained, unable to climb out of the side of the pool. Swam over to the ladder to get out (which is something I never do). Breathing hard and walking so weakly.

Went down to the shallow end for a 200 yard cool down, stretch-it-out swim. Now THAT felt good.

My time on the 500 yards was 9:44.45. Again, I’ve done better than that a few times in practice. We had one heat of 8 swimmers for this event. I was 8th out of the 8, nearly 3 minutes behind the 7th finisher, who was a 24-year-old guy. That means I must have been the only one still swimming for my last 6 laps (or 150 yards). I figured I would be the only one in the pool for the last 100-200 yards. But I really couldn’t tell for sure while I was swimming if anyone else was still in the pool along with me.

You know, when I used to watch my kids at swim meets when they swam on the local summer swim team, and they would be the last one finishing, it would be almost painful to watch. You feel like you want to will them to swim faster or do better. It’s a lot easier being the swimmer, I’ll tell you, than the spectator. I knew I was probably going to be last and it didn’t bother me at all.

So all-in-all an interesting experience. I guess it was fun. Still trying to decide. Exhausting for sure. I’m still supposed to go out and run six miles today. I’m going to wait until late afternoon to see if my legs can recover some first. Because I don’t feel like I have anything left right now. And it is definitely going to be an easy run today. I had thought I might do a tempo run, but I’ve pretty much tossed that idea out. Recovery run is what’s on the books now.

Discussing this afterwards with the coach, I described my performance today as “pathetic”. But realistically, first swim meet ever and after having been exhausted and sore earlier this week, it was what I had in me today. I put it all out there in the pool. I would do this again, but hopefully be better prepared and rested for next time.

Today’s events at the meet (Short Course Yards):
1. 200 Medley Relay (scratched…guess no one wanted to do this?)
2. 200 Freestyle
3. 200 Breaststroke
4. 200 Butterfly
5. 200 Backstroke
6. 500 Freestyle
7. 200 Individual Medley (IM)
8. 100 Butterfly
9. 100 Backstroke
10. 100 Breaststroke
11. 400 IM
12. 200 Free Relay (also scratched)
13. 1000 Freestyle

The sprint distance meet on October 30th had distances of 50 yards or 100 yards for all events, except a few 200 yard events…relays and the 200 individual free.

We went down to the race expo and packet pickup the day before at about 1 pm. And that’s when I found  out I had to set up my T2 (Transition 2 area) the day before the race. In other words, that very day. I had not brought any of my running gear with me. No shoes. Nada. So we had to drive back home, get that stuff, and come back. I guess next time I shall read the emails better.

Turns out Chris had some sidewalk chalk in the trunk of the car, so I copied other people’s idea to mark my transition spot (I was lucky my spot was on the paved trail and not in the dirt like some of the others). My markings were much more artistic than the others. They did help the next day with locating my rack space at the end of the bike. Basically, I put my running shoes and a cap in the Walmart bag, loosely wrapped, on my bath mat. Didn’t want the stuff just sitting out in the open overnight.

Next morning we arrived early. Parking and Transition 1 opened at 5 am. We got there shortly after 5. I racked my bike and set up my stuff in the dark. At least this time we remembered to bring a flashlight. Very useful in the portapotties.

I did a warmup run around 6 am or so, and then got my wetsuit on and headed down to the lake start area. By 6:30 am I was wondering why no one was warming up for the swim. Race start was 7 am. My wave started at 7:04 (this was very different…usually they make the old ladies go last, but this time we got to go 2nd).

So I asked one of the several guys standing at the water’s edge, staring out at the water, if we were waiting for something…like for the lifeguards to give us permission to swim or something (I’m the one in the pink cap to the left). No, they said. As far as they knew we could go in. And so I did. First one into the water. Right after that everyone else started to warm up for the swim, too.

A wetsuit was not absolutely necessary for this race. I had checked the lake water temps on Friday, and they had been 74F. I had looked at online pictures of the previous year’s race, and it looked like most people did not wear wetsuits for this race. However, I decided it would be best for me to wear one, since my tri top does not fit tight around the waist and the back pocket is loose. I thought it would create a fair amount of drag. Plus, I could use the boyancy from the suit. So, for a 1500m swim, about 30 minutes for me, I figured the advantage of the wetsuit would compensate for the extra transition time to get the thing off. Turns out, though, that pretty much everyone in this race was wearing a wetsuit. They did announce the morning of the race, that since the lake temperature was below 78F that wetsuits would be allowed. I’m guessing it was between 74-76F.

So I did three warmup swim repeats. Basically, dash into the water and do a short swim sprint out about 20 yards or so. Then float a bit and swim back in. I was less than thrilled to find I felt tired already. These warmup sprints were leaving me out of breath. I had not slept well the night before, and although I had got some good sleep on Friday night, I had several other bad nights of sleep the week before the race. And I had not tapered so much as to feel well-rested. Oh well, too late to do anything about it now.

A short time later, my wave was lined up at the water’s edge, ready for the start. I was very close to the front of the water’s edge (probably off the right of the picture above). I was still determined to charge into the water and swim pretty hard.

And we’re off. I believe I’m somewhere up near the front of the mess above. So some of the women were pretty fast swimmers. Our wave was “Women 35 and up.” I wanted to swim pretty hard, but since I was already a bit tired, I didn’t want to overdo it. I didn’t have the same aggressive frame of mind that I did for my last tri at Malibu. I was more in survival mode than attack mode. And I watched these faster women just swimming away from me. It was kind of discouraging. I would have had to kill myself to get closer to them, and even then I don’t think I could have stayed with many of them. I told myself that a lot of the women in the wave were considerably younger than me, which made me feel better, even though it was a lie. Turns out there were 10 women in my age group that were faster swimmers than me.

I also did some weird zig-zag swimming. I sight pretty well, and I could see where I wanted to swim to, but then I would put my head down, swim a bit, look up and I’d be zigging off to the left. Correct myself, put my head down, look up after swimming a bit further and I was zagging off to the right. This was really annoying and I don’t usually do this, so I have no idea what was going on. I was at the first buoy before I realized it, turned sharp right and at the 2nd buoy pretty quickly and then swim into the boat launch a short distance further and run up the ramp and out. I did have some calf-cramping about the last third of the swim, but not too bad. Tried to relax the legs a bit and not kick too hard.

I’m center front in the pink cap. By the way, after I was about 2/3 of the way through this swim, the wetsuit started feeling too warm to me and I wanted to take it off. It’s the first time I’ve ever worn the thing and felt too warm during a swim.

Swim Results: 33:23 for 1500 meters. 11th out of 28 in age group. Overall satisfied with this under the less-than-rested conditions. My 2nd best tri-swim ever.

So I was determined to have a better T1 this time than in my last race. I had used TriSlide before putting my wetsuit on. I really wanted to get that suit off fast, unlike my last race where it just stuck on me. But I ran up to the transition area and went up the wrong aisle, two aisles over from where my bike was, and got lost and disoriented. So then I had to stand there and think where my bike was. That was very disconcerting. Must have added an easy 30 seconds to my transition time. The suit did come off better than last time, but still not as easily as I would have liked.

T1: 3:29. Very bad! 18th out of 28 in my age group. Ugg! 11 women made it in less than 3 minutes.

When I finished with T1 I grabbed my bike, ran out and to the bike mount line.

I was ready for this ride. I think. Well, I knew it was going to be very hilly. I had driven the course the afternoon before, and the first 6 miles were all uphill. Turns out that after I started my quads were burning almost immediately. Not a good feeling. But I know I can push 28 miles or so pretty hard, as a result of doing a few rides up and down PCH this summer with the L.A. TriClub. So I just worked it as hard as I could. I was getting passed by lots of men, but not too many women. And there were a couple of women that I recognized as we traded places with each other back and forth throughout the bike course. One lady in particular, with a very nice bike and a “51″ on her calf to represent her age, was someone I tried to hang with. I figured with such a nice bike she was a serious cyclist (or so I told myself) so it made me feel like I was doing pretty decently if I could stay with her. Eventually I passed her up around mile 16 and never saw her again.

One thing funny that happened…around mile 17 or so a 48-year-old dude passed me and said, “Damn, fine legs, miss. Damn fine.” That made me laugh. I said, “Thank you.” Always nice to get whatever compliments you can on the race course.

Anyhow, this bike course seemed very hard. When we drove it the day before the race, I thought it seemed comparable to riding PCH north of Malibu. But when riding it during the race it seemed quite a bit harder. My Garmin gave me a 16.8 mph average reading, which is slower than I’ve recently ridden on PCH, so it makes me think it was indeed harder. Or I was tired. Or mentally psyched out. Not sure.

At about mile 20 or so the course goes from the road onto a bike path, and that bike path was sweet. Downhill and fast, mostly. Nice way to end the bike as we approached T2.

Bike results: 1:23:44. This is less than 1 second off the time shown on my Garmin. Garmin said 23.5 miles. 7th in age group out of 28. I think this is my best bike result in a tri ever. I’m very happy with this.

Garmin data for the bike: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52489441

T2: 1:17. 9th in age group out of 28. Not terrible, but room for improvement.

The run started off on the bike path. It was mostly a gradual downhill at the start, with some rolling hills. I was sooooo tired by this time, after all that pushing on the bike. I just tried to keep moving. Then after about 2 miles on the bike path, the course cut through a park and up a small hill and onto trails. From this point on it was hill after hill after hill on a twisty set of small trails, for the most part. Except where it came out onto a road and went up a BIG hill. I think this is the most difficult 10K course I’ve ever done. I did not walk any of the hills, though. I made myself keep “running”…although some of the uphill was very slow. My Garmin went a bit whacko at the start of the run course, and so not all of the run was recorded (I lost about a tenth of a mile of data and the elevation profile is bonkers). But the course was way over 6.2 miles. My watch showed it more as 6.6. My average pace, according to my watch, was 7:07 min/mile. I’m a little astounded at that. I must’ve run the downhill parts very fast, I guess. I sure didn’t feel like I was moving that fast.

In the end, I was just dying and wanting to finish. Pushed as much as I could, but there wasn’t much left. Couldn’t really kick at the finish line, either.

Run results: 48:13. 4th in age group out of 28. For what was really a training race for me, I’m quite happy with this.

Garmin data for the run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52489443 (incomplete and corrupted though it may be)

Overall finish time and results:

2:50:06 . 5th in age group out of 28. Pretty good finish.

If I were to do this race again, I would probably go out and train on the bike and run courses. I always do so much better if I know the course. I’m sure some of it is physical, but a lot of it is mental. Not sure if I will do this one next year, but it is a possibility. Try to beat this year’s time.

Official results at http://www.y-events.com/10octrif.htm

Picture set on Flicker at OC Int’l Tri 2010 (19 photos including ones shown above)

So last Sunday, September 12, 2010, I did the Malibu Nautica Classic Triathlon. This race is a half-mile swim, 18mile bike and 4 mile run: a bit longer than most sprint distance races. I really enjoyed this race. The biggest drawbacks are the cost, as it is quite expensive compared to many other races, and the fact that when registration opens it sells out in a few minutes, making it difficult to get in. But the swim course at Zuma Beach is quite nice. The bike ride is along Pacific Coast Highway from Zuma to Leo Carillo and back. The rolling hills are a bit challenging, but overall a nice ride. And then a very, very flat run along the beach. The event was well-organized and I can’t think of anything negative to criticize. Well, maybe one thing. Which I will talk about later. But rather minor.

I had been training pretty hard and going to Masters Swim classes, psyching myself up and then tapering and resting the last week or two before the race. This was my second triathlon of the season, 8 weeks after my first one in July. That one went OK, but I was hoping that now I was much better prepared, much stronger and hoping to really kick some triathlon booty.

Also, to prepare mentally, the week or two before the race I spent my time shortly before I fall asleep in bed visualizing the race. I would imagine how aggressive I was going to be in the swim start, running right out there into the waves and diving right in. I wanted to be in the front wave. I would imagine the swimming…getting my head right into the water and just paddling away, getting a rhythm going, feeling strong and solid. Just doing it for the whole swim. Running out of the water strong and hard up to the transition. Getting on my bike and pedaling strong and then the run. Most of the time I spent thinking about the swim, though, because mentally this is the hardest part for me.

Packet pickup was either Saturday at Zuma Beach from 1-5 PM or else Sunday morning before the race. I absolutely did not want to try and do it on race morning. Waiting until the last minute or rushing around on race morning makes me nervous, so we went down on Saturday. Holy L.A. Traffic! And it was cold and windy. I was so hoping that the next morning would not be windy and cold like that.

Race morning we arrived on site early, before dawn. Transition opened at 5:15 am. Parking opened at 4:30 am. We got to the parking lot at about 4:40 am. I got the 1st spot on the rack that my bib number was assigned to, so I took the end space…always nice. The next lady to arrive was a 1st-timer at triathlon, so she said she was going to watch how I set my transition up and copy me. I hope that worked for her.

The weather was pretty nice. Low 60s, overcast and calm. Good race weather, if not perhaps a tad chilly.

There is a mandatory, pre-race meeting and the first wave, which was the elites and pros, started only a few minutes after that. My wave, women 45+, was the 14th and last wave, starting over an hour later. After the pre-race meeting we filed out onto the beach, about 1500 racers, walking down towards the starting area.

My husband, Chris, had come along, my Trisherpa support crew. Also, my personal photographer who took most of my pictures. He had stepped back during the pre-race meeting, so we were separated. After the meeting I didn’t see him, so I tried to think of what to do while I waited an hour for my start. Too early to do a warm-up swim. The water was 58F and I wasn’t going to get into that until shortly before my race. I stood around on the beach just watching the waves, but started to get chilly. So I jogged down to the swim finish area, and the elites were already approaching the the finish. I watched several of them finish the swim. Then I jogged back down the other direction. Talked to some people. Thought about whether I really wanted to go use the bathroom again (meaning take off and put back on my wetsuit). Eventually I went in for my warm-up swim. And a little while after that I found Chris.

Well, not too long after that it was time to line up for the start. I really had in mind to be aggressive for this swim start. I’d been mentally rehearsing it, and I was determined that I was going to run right out there into the waves with the front of the pack and just dive right in. So I lined up pretty close to the front of the pack.

You can’t really tell in the picture above, but our wave had just over 100 in it, and there’s a LOT Of people behind me. So when the cannon sounded the start, we charged off into the water and I really did just run right out as I’d mentally rehearsed and jumped right into the waves. The waves were not very high this weekend, and we seemed to get lucky with our start and started pretty much at a lull between sets.

I put my face right down in the water and started swimming out to the first buoy. I was sighting pretty well and heading on course, and then…someone swam into me.

This other swimmer was to my left and wanted to veer a bit more towards the right. But based on what I could see, that would take us inside the buoy and I wanted to go around it. So I would not let her push me to the right, and I would not yield. We swam alongside each other for several strokes and she ran into me a few times. It kind of ticked me off. But I would not yield. Eventually either she went ahead or behind me. I’m not sure. I was so absorbed in just doing my own thing. But just glad she was not bumping into me any more.

I got to the first buoy and turned right to swim along parallel to shore. And then someone just to my right whacked me dead center in my face with her elbow as she took a stroke to swim. I’m sure she didn’t even know I was there. But it did make me take a big gulp of water and sputter for a moment. I recovered very quickly, though, and was right back at it.

After that I got into a pretty good rhythm. There were slower swimmers from the previous waves dotting the course and I mostly was able to swim around them. The water was amazingly clear and the new goggles I had just got were perfect. No problems or leaks. Easy to see. And somehow my mental rehearsing plus all the swimming I’ve been doing lately in Masters Swim just took over and I was kind of on autopilot and thinking, “Go! Go! Go!” to myself. Not really thinking about what I was actually doing. I felt like I was near the front of my wave and I recognized a few swimmers from my wave near me and tried to keep up with them as best I could. I also noticed at some point that my stroke tempo was pretty fast for me for an ocean swim. I credit all the sprints my coach has been making me do in the pool.

When I came out of the water, I felt like I was finishing the swim near the front of my wave. I was running strong out of the water towards the transition area. In the picture below, I am on the left. The lady in the white top was the winner of my age group. She blew me away on the bike. But I’m really tickled that I came out of the water at the same time that the AG winner did. The lady with the light blue cap sticking out under her navy one was swimming near me for the last part of the swim and I saw her near me and tried to keep up with her. It turns out that in my wave we had 99 finishers and I was the 9th one out of the water. Compared to my other triathlons, where I have been around the 50th percentile in the swim, this is such a huge improvement. I was so happy with it. I credit my Masters Swim program and coach for helping me to achieve this.

I also really liked this swim distance…a half mile. It was short enough that I was willing to swim pretty hard for the whole swim. I finished the swim in 18:33.

Now my Transition 1 really sucked. I do not know what the problem was, but I could not get my wetsuit off quickly. The arms really stuck on. And I have practiced at my ocean swim workouts getting the wetsuit off quickly, and it has gone pretty well on those practices. But on race day…GAH! It just went awful. I guess I will practice some more, plus I want to try this product TriSlide which is supposed to be incredibly slippery and help the suit come off easily. Also, I want to get a Bento Box for my bike, so that I do not have to stuff food into my trishirt pockets in T1 and also fasten my Garmin to the handle bars of my bike during pre-race transition setup intstead of trying to put the watch onto my wrist during T1. Also, I think that I need to take the sleeves of my wetsuit off first and goggles and cap off afterwards. A friend had told me about a “trick” to hold your goggles and cap in one hand while you pull the wetsuit sleeve off, and leave the goggles/cap inside the sleeve. And this is what I was trying to do during this race. But it really backfired for me. I felt like I could have worked the sleeve off better if I hadn’t had to hold on to the goggles & cap in my hand. T1 time: 4:09. Terrible!

Anyhow, I got on my bike and decided to eat one of my 2 pieces of PB&J sandwich while riding out of the parking lot. The parking lot has speed bumps and there are some narrow places to ride around them and avoid them, but with lots of people coming out on the bike, you would have to slow down sometimes to get in a single file line behind other riders. When this was my choice, I just slowed a bit and took the speed bump.

The course is up and down Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Rolling hills of not inconsequential size. But I decided I was going to push the bike harder than I did in my last tri. I was too conservative last time, and was sorry for it later. Ride hard, baby! I love how you can see the ages of the other athletes on the course written on their calves, so you know exactly who you’re racing against. Starting at about mile 5 or so on the bike course, I was passing some other ladies in my age group (with 48 or 45 or 47 written on their calf). But later they would pass me. And so it went. Jockeying back and forth. About 5 of us. At the turn around point, at Leo Carillo, the 48-lady and I passed each other back and forth a few times. Then I went on ahead. But at about mile 12 all of these ladies passed me, and I just could not keep up. They were stronger cyclists. Still, I tried to ride as hard as I could. I did not want them to get too far ahead of me. Hopefully I would be able to catch them on the run.

About this time I tried to eat my 2nd piece of PB&J. But it didn’t taste good to me and after a couple of bites I chucked it into the bushes on the side of the road. Also, I dropped one of my bike bottles shortly after that. Oops. I continued to ride hard, and my quads were burning. I thought to myself, “I hope I don’t need my quads for the run.”

I never did catch up to those other ladies in my age group during the bike, although I saw them riding through the parking lot into transition as I came down PCH towards the parking lot entry. So they weren’t that far ahead of me. My bike time for 18 miles was 1:00:09 which is the fastest bike I’ve ever had in a triathlon. 17.9 miles per hour average speed.

So I came into transition, running, racked my bike and switched to my running gear. At 2:12 for T2 the time wasn’t too bad. And I started my run and felt pretty good.

My Garmin says I ran my first mile in 7:00. Because I was in the last wave, there were lots of slow runners on the course, and the run course was narrow. So right from the beginning I was calling out, “On your left” as I tried to pass people, and this continued for me throughout most of the run. I could feel the orange ankle strap that was holding my timing chip kind of rubbing the back of my left ankle. Oh well, wasn’t going to stop and fiddle with it now. I kept running.

At mile 2 I passed up the 48-lady who’d passed me on the bike around mile 12. “There she is,” she said as I passed her. I passed about a half-dozen ladies in my age group during the run. I took a walk break at the water table at the turn around point at the beginning of mile 3, for just a few seconds. But not too long. I kept running and when I had only a mile left I tried to really keep holding on to the pace. I finished strong and felt really good about my whole race, like I’d done my best and hardest and I couldn’t really have done any better on that day.

After the race, while thinking about getting something to eat, or a jacket, I noticed that my ankle was bleeding. This was from that silly ankle-strap for the timing chip. It is the only negative thing I can think of about race day. So, I went to the medic tent for a bandaid. I would much prefer a neoprene ankle strap with the velcro closure. If I do this race again, I may bring my own. I saw someone else who had done so.

The awards ceremony started shortly after this, and I thought that since the awards in this race went 5 deep in the age groups, that I might possibly have gotten one. So we stayed around to see. And they called the fifth place and it wasn’t me. And they called the fourth place. Again, not me. So I was getting ready to leave, when they called my name for third place! I could not believe it.

Well, to say I was tickled would be an understatement. I was just bowled over. So happy with these race results.

Post Script: After returning home and viewing the official finish results on the website, it turns out that I ended up with 4th place in my age group. Someone who lost their timing chip on the race course had her time manually recorded at the timing tent as 1:52:44 when she went to them after the awards ceremony. I still have the 3rd place medal and I guess I will try contacting the race director about whether I can have it exchanged for the 4th place medal or not. At first I was kind of irked about this error, but now that a few days have gone by it doesn’t seem to be as big a deal.

There were 59 finishers in my age group (Women 45-49).

My results:
Overall Time: 1:54:24
Swim (1/2 mile): 18:33. 6th in AG (I cannot believe I did so well in the swim!)
T1: 4:09. 16th in AG. A lot of people were down in the 3:20-3:44 time.
Bike (18 miles): 1:00:09. 11th in AG.
T2: 2:12. 6th in AG. Actually not too bad.
Run (4 miles): 29:33. 1st in AG and 8th woman runner all day out of all age groups (almost 600 women).

More pictures: Malibu Tri 2010

Official results for the Classic Individual race: Classic_Individual

Garmin data for my bike ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48776619

Garmin data for my run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48776621

Saturday, the day before the race, we went down to the packet pickup. We got there late in the afternoon, about 4:30 PM. It was chilly and windy. After the 100-degree temps we’d been experiencing at home the past week, the tank top I wore was just not sufficient. It seemed the race might be cold the next day. Packet pickup was well-organized. Transition area was nearly set up. We drove the bike course just to see what I had in store the next day. One thing about this race, the run and bike courses are some of the flatest I’ve had the opportunity to run on.

So early Sunday morning we arose and left the house at 3:30 am. Ugg! Got to the race site about 5:10 am and got primo parking. The weather was nice. Not windy. Calm and a bit cool, but not cold. Got my body markings. Set up my transition area. Note that positions on the bike rack are assigned by your bib number. You have to find your spot and set up there. This is different from any of the 4 races I did last year where you just show up and choose your own spot pretty much. Sometimes your age group goes on a certain rack or two. Anyhow, I got very lucky with an end spot. It had nothing to do with my arriving early. It was assigned.

The spacing seemed a bit cramped on the racks, too. But the other races I’ve done have been the same, so…? Another racer complained about it and it seemed like she meant in comparison to other races she’d had more space. Dunno.

Took a walk out onto the beach to see the water/surf conditions. (It was still pretty early and we had time to kill.)

The waves looked pretty mild. Looked like it wouldn’t be much trouble at all getting out past the waves. Went and stood in line for the porta-potties. Did my warmup run.

Then it was time to put the wetsuit on, listen to the pre-race meeting, the national anthem, and parade down to the beach where the swim start would be. The olympic distance swim was starting quite a bit further south than the sprint distance, so we had to walk a ways down the beach. Things were pretty casual and people were taking warmup swims. That suited me fine. Some races I’ve been to have been very restrictive about swim warmups, only allowing them during a certain time-window and when the life guards were in position. This was pretty casual. I need a swim warmup.

The water was fairly chilly (about 61 degrees) and unfortunately the waves had gotten quite a bit larger by this time. I went and swam out about 2/3 of the way to the first buoy and then back in. Very glad I did that and acclimated myself to the swim conditions. Then we had to stand around and wait for quite a while. Women’s Olympic distance was the last wave of the day. But finally it was time to start.

I am quite confident in my swimming, at my pace, which is medium. Not fast and not too slow. A bit slow. But anyhow, I definitely don’t start in the front. I start in the middle and towards the side. We had to run about 50 feet or so down the sand to the water.

And then you had to get through the waves, and by the time my wave started my hubby agrees that we had the roughest conditions of all for the day. Still, not terribly horrible. But not as nice and calm as it had seemed at 6 am (it was now after 8 am).

I probably need to learn to be more aggressive at getting out there, but I didn’t hang back too far. I was in the middle.

And once we cleared the waves and got to the first buoy I settled down into a fairly good rhythm. Turn right at the first buoy and swim parallel to shore, following the buoys for about 3/4 mile or so, I guess. There were people swimming over me, and I was swimming between others, and around others and getting bumped or kicked. Not too bad. But in any case, I didn’t skip a beat. I’ve been practicing my ocean swimming about once every week or two with the L.A. Triathlon Club, and the practice really helps. I was not unsettled in any way by all of this. And the waves were tossing about, 2-3 foot swell, but I just kept plugging away with my head down. I really did feel like I did a strong swim. We were swimming against the drift in the current, too. Made for a challenging swim. I also thought about some of the stuff I’ve been practicing in my Master’s Swim classes…powering through my stroke, stroke below the water surface,  faster turnover/rhythm on my stroke. I’m sure it helped some.

At the last buoy, as I turned right again to go into the shore, there were two less confident swimmers just kind of stopped there and blocking my way talking to a life guard who was hanging out there. Kinda irked me. I said, “C’mon…move!” but they didn’t. Oh well, swim around them and get on with it. The life guards were very helpful as we came in, cautioning us of waves and directing us towards the swim finish area. Finally, after about 39 minutes I emerged from the waves.

We had to run up about 100 feet or so on the sand to the beach path and then to the transition area. Total about 1/4 mile from the water to transition. I do not know why, but after I came out of the water and tried to run I was quickly out of breath and panting and found it very hard to run, even an easy jog for a short distance was very hard. I guess I recall experiencing the same thing in my Santa Cruz triathlon last year, too. While I was in the water I was fine, but trying to run through the sand…out of breath. Maybe I need to practice this more at my ocean swim practices.

But a fairly decent transition and I was off on the bike. My transition was better than similar ones last year. Not the slowest in my age group. The few minutes of rest in transition let me recover my breath and I was strong and running with my bike. Passed up a few people coming out of T1. Heard Bob Frein yell “hi” to me, saw my hubby and daughter, too. You do have to watch out for some curbs and bumps as you head out. Don’t trip!

As I mentioned above, the bike course is pretty flat. There is an 11-12 mile loop. The sprint race rides it once. The olympic distance twice. Near the end of the loop is a moderate, short hill. Other than that, pretty flat. I tried to keep my power up and ride at a pretty fast pace, but was concerned about having enough oomph for the 2nd loop plus the run, so I didn’t give it everything I had. Never could get up to 20 mph, although close some times. It was exciting having some of the elites passing me (they were on their 2nd loop while I was on my first). Although this is advertised as an “open course” and that cyclists must watch for traffic and obey laws, they really did have it marked off with pylons and cops directing traffic, and I had no need to stop at any time. I was able to ride as fast as I wanted.

An Olympic course is supposed to have a 40K bike which is about 24.85 miles. This course advertises itself as 23.8 miles, so that is short, but I didn’t even get 22 miles on my Garmin 305 watch. So definitely a short bike course. 1:14 for me to ride the bike course.

On the bike I ate some little pieces of PB&J sandwiches I’d made the night before, drank Nuun and water. Also ate a Hammer gel near the end of the bike.

I got passed around mile 18 by a young woman who said to me, “Almost done.” I caught up to her in T2. She was just two bikes over from me. She was getting ready to run out as I came in. “Now comes the hard part,” she said. “No, this is my good part,” I replied. And she was off. I was pulling on my running shoes as quickly as I could. Helmet off. Running cap on. And off I went.

I was in a hurry. And I felt strong on the run. Still, I always need to be careful not to go out too fast. I can feel strong for the first mile or so and then fade or have trouble to hang on. It’s kind of funny…I felt a bit slow for the middle 2/3 of this race, but my run results actually came out pretty good. I did stop to get water 3 times during the run. The day had warmed up and I took some slower steps while drinking.

But as I ran into the finish I really hauled. So excited to be done!

Strawberries for the finishers. Yum!

My results (Bib 1055. 17 total in my AG women 45-49):

Swim: 41:40 (11th in AG)
T1: 3:08 (10th in AG)
Bike: 1:14:44 (10th in AG)
T2: 1:31 (10th in AG)
Run: 47:07 (1st in AG)
Total: 2:48:12.1 (7th in AG)

The funny thing is I felt so good about my solid swim while I was doing it. And I was passing people up on the swim, although they would have been the slower peeps from the earlier waves, I guess. When I saw how low I placed ranking-wise in my AG for the swim I was quite disappointed. I’m over it now. I realize this was so much better than I could have done last year. And this was my first triathlon of 2010 and I wasn’t even sure how I was going to be able to hold up for the Olympic distance. My recovery from my two marathons in March went really slowly and only recently have I begun to feel like my old self. So honestly, these were pretty good results. And my transitions…middle of the AG instead of at the bottom like last year. Still room for improvement, but…I need to practice them more, I guess.

But the run…which I felt I could have done better…I not only got first in my AG but 2nd for all women 40 and up. Only one lady in the AG below me ran faster.

I really enjoyed this race. Well-organized, and that is very important to me. I think I would probably fare better in the bike standings if the course were hillier, since I train a lot on hills. But that wouldn’t prevent me from doing this race again. The enthusiasm of the community and participants, the goody bags, the shirts, the after-race food…all was satisfactory or good. Also, well-marked bike and run courses with lots of police officers or volunteers directing traffic. Made for a very smooth race. I also did not have trouble on the bike course with people passing on the wrong side or preventing me from passing (due to being generally clueless about ettiquette). I did hear someone else complain about it, but it was not my experience.

More pictures here: Strawberry Fields 2010 – a set on Flickr

Official race results here: Results by Prime Time – Strawberry Fields 2010 Triathlon/Duathlon

Thank you to my Trisherpa and daughter who supported me, cheered for me, took photos, waited for me and encouraged me. They are the best.

Anyhooo… I’m 2 weeks out from the Napa Valley Marathon. March 7, 2010. Training is going “eh”. I will finish the race, but I have no expectations for my goal or finish time.

Two weeks later… L.A. Marathon. So that’s going to be interesting to see how it goes running two marathons two weeks apart. March 21, 2010.

After that, my plan was mostly triathlons for the rest of the year. But, looking at my availability, I am really not able to get to one until July. So, I will focus my training on triathlon after March. But I will do some running races until I can get some actual triathlons into my schedule.

Here is my tentative schedule for this year (2010):

• Feb. 7 (Sun) – Surf City Half Marathon – (done)
• March 7 (Sun) – Napa Valley Marathon
• March 21 (Sun) – L.A. Marathon
• April 10 (Sat) – Seal Beach 5K – Family Run. Chris, Jenny and I.
• May 8 (Sat) – Xterra Malibu Trail Run – maybe. maybe not. Have done this event before.
• June 5 (Sat) – Fontana Days Half Marathon – Running for sure. maybe a PR?
• July 4th – some 5K race? Not sure which one …
• July 18 (Sun) – Strawberry Fields Tri – for sure. Sprint or Oly? Not sure.
• Aug. 14 (Sat) – Hansen Dam Tri – Highly Likely. Did this last year. Date is a guess. The website is not updated for this year yet.
• Sept. 11/12 (Sat/Sun) – Malibu Triathlon. Oly on the 11th. Sprint on the 12th. Not sure which.
• Oct. 10 (Sun) – OC Triathlon in Mission Viejo – possibly? maybe not.
• Nov. 8 (Sun) – Catalina Triathlon – Chris says he’s going to do this too. I had a lot of fun at this event last year.
• Nov 23 (Thu) – some Turkey Trot … again…not sure which one…

You may notice, from my previous post in 2009, that I left the Ragnar Relay off. I have already taken off time from work for the Surf City Half Marathon, the Napa Marathon, the L.A. Marathon and I will probably have to take off time for the Catalina Tri. I don’t want all my vacation days to be for races. So…decided to give Ragnar a miss this year. Maybe next year. (Anyhow, my daughter Kaitlin is graduating from college this year…have to save some days off from work for that!)

For the past 3 years I’ve done the Huntington Beach 5K on the Fourth of July. May do that one again, but there are certainly other possibilities. Probably won’t be trying for a PR this year, though, given the proposed race schedule.

Also, we’ve done the Dana Point Turkey Trot for the past 3 years, also. But that event is really crowed and… dunno…might do a different one this year.

In my race schedule for this season, I had picked to do the Oxnard Splash-n-Dash on Sept. 13th. But I didn’t realize when I picked that (which I have not yet registered for) that it is a 1 hr 45 min drive from my house. Yikes. Such a long drive for a relatively short race. I was going to do the long course (1000 meter swim followed by the 4 mile run).

I looked for alternate events that have an ocean swim on a weekend between now and November when I’m not working or already doing another race. Kinda tough. Iron Man & Half Iron Man distances are too much for me right now!

But look at this: Mermaid Tri in Santa Cruz on Sept. 27th. Instead of Oxnard Splash-N-Dash Sept. 13th. Is it crazy to drive 5-6 hours on Saturday for a Sunday race? And then pretty much drive right back home? And if I drive that far, I’d want to do their Olympic Distance course, not the Sprint distance. Am I up for an Olympic Distance for my 3rd triathlon? What if we stay overnight on Sunday and drive back at the crack of dawn on Monday. My 7th grade daughter would miss school. That is wrong and bad. I shouldn’t take her out of a day of school for my race. Sigh. But I want to. Don’t want to drive right back on Sunday.

Also, my older daughter goes to UC Santa Cruz, so we would get to see her (if briefly) that weekend if we drive up. Hmmmmm.

So…

1. Which event? Oxnard Splash-n-Dash Sept 13th (“local” but pretty far) or Santa Cruz all women Mermaid Tri Sept 27th?
2. Am I nuts to do Olympic? I can already swim 1.5km and running a 10K is nothing. Just have to up my bike mileage which is pretty low right now (max dist of 15 miles).
3. Take my daughter out of school Monday or drive our butts right back on Sunday?

I should be able to make these kind of decisions myself… I guess I really just want to do Santa Cruz but driving 5.5 hours up and back Sat/Sun just seems like such a drag. Boo!

Not to worry. I did a 6 mile bike ride yesterday. And today I did my own triathlon: 1500 meter ocean swim in 45 minutes; 3 mile run in 23 minutes; later in the day 14.8 mile bike in 1 hr 6 minutes on a hilly course. Tomorrow I will swim laps at the pool.

Anyhow, I do need to sign up for events and put together some more training. And I’ve finalized my events up through March 2010. Here they are:

Aug. 2, 2009 (Sun) 5K Paws for Cause

Aug. 16, 2009 (Sun) Hansen Dam Triathlon

Sep. 13, 2009 (Sun) Oxnard Splash-n-Dash (I think the long course)

new -> Sep. 27, 2009 (Sun) Mighty Mermaid Triathlon Santa Cruz (olympic distance)

Oct. 11, 2009 (Sun) Long Beach Half Marathon (completes my California Dreaming award)

Nov. 7, 2009 (Sat) Catalina Triathlon

Nov. 26, 2009 (Thu) 10K Turkey Trot at Dana Point

Feb. 7, 2010 (Sun) Surf City Half Marathon – I think I have to do this every year. I’m a legacy runner for this race.

Mar. 7, 2010 (Sun) Napa Valley Marathon

Mar. 21, 2010 (Sun) Los Angeles Marathon

Apr 23-34 (Fri-Sat) Ragnar Relay L.A. (Santa Barbara to Dana Point)

OK, so I have to get my credit card out and start registering for some of these. And tomorrow I’m going to have to hunker down and start writing my training schedule for at least through November 2009. That is always so much work.

So, from no events to 9 events. Really, though, I’ve been thinking about most of these for a long time. Just hadn’t committed to the registration and written out my training plans. Working on it, working on it!

racechecklist.com — Triathlon Race Day Checklist

Triathlon Checklist

Triathlon Packing Checklist | Triathlon

http://www.triathica.com/resources/triathlon_checklist.pdf (PDF)

So from the above, I came up with this list for my first Sprint Distance Tri:

Wear these things in the morning:

• tri suit (tri top/tri shorts)
• socks/shoes (running shoes for me)
• sunscreen
• body glide (I actually forgot to put this on but didn’t matter)
• Boston jacket (wear any jacket you like)
• watch (Garmin 305)

Bring these things in a bag

• hat/cap for the run
• sunglasses (for bike/run)
• sweatshirt (for after)
• crocs (after race shoes)
• flip flops (slip on sandals)
• sunscreen
• goggles
• extra pair goggles
• swim cap (they give you one but…)
• race belt
• water bottles, filled (one to drink from in transition, one to clean feet with)
• bike bottle, filled
• sweat pants (for after race)
• bicycle
• bike helmet
• toilet paper (we were told they run out sometimes)

So I went over that list above twice before we got in the car and drove away. And my hubby still had to remind me to bring the bike helmet at the last second!

These are other swimmers (faster ones) in my same swim wave.

Eventually I signed up for a small local tri that fit into my schedule. Sunday June 7, 2009. The L.A. Triathlon Series which is hosted in San Dimas, California at Frank G. Bonelli Park, only about a 15 minute drive from my house. This must be the closest race to my house that I’ve ever done. I was doing the Express course, which is billed as a 300m swim, 8.5 mile bike, 5K run.

I didn’t train hard for this race. I ran the Boston Marathon on April 20th and have races planned for July (a 5K and half-marathon) that are the real focus of my training. So I just added two swims and two bike rides per week to my run training schedule. My swims were usually about 30 minutes, 1200 yards or so, sometimes as much as 1500 yards. Bike rides varied from 6 miles to 12 miles, averaging around 45 minutes. I trained on a mountain bike and just bought my road bike a week before this race. The race was only my fourth time riding my new bike.

Two weeks before the race I went on Sunday to Bonelli Park to do a practice run of the race. I wanted to do a little swimming in the lake and check the water temperature, as I was planning to do this race with no wetsuit. Also, I wanted to practice the bike course. Well, the lake wasn’t open for swimming at the time we arrived, so we did the bike first, then most of the run, and then I tried a few minutes of swimming in the lake. The water temperature was OK, probably mid-60s (Fahrenheit), but being unable to see through the water really gave me a feeling of claustrophobia, and a mild sense of panic. I was expecting to come down to the lake on a couple more weekdays before the race and practice more swimming. Unfortunately, the lake was not open for swimming on any weekdays so I couldn’t. Wish I had known, I would have spent more time in the water that Sunday.

I also did another bike ride a week before my race on my new bike. These two bike rides of the course really helped me mentally. I knew all the turns, I knew what to expect. I felt confident about the bike, which turned out to be the easiest and most fun part of the race for me.

I made myself a checklist for the race by Googling on the phrase “triathlon checklist”. You will find lots of results for that search. I wrote down the things I wanted to make sure I brought and put all my stuff together the night before. I didn’t do any kind of taper for this race, because of the other events I’m training for. I had a long run on Friday of 10 miles and Saturday was a crazy, hectic family-event related schedule. So not much rest.

We couldn't get a marked stall, so went up the curb & parked on the median strip dirt. Lots of others did too.

Last summer I had planned to do a triathlon, so I had gone to watch this event, and it really helped having seen already how the event was run. I knew the parking was going to be chaotic, crazy, packed. The lot nearest the start area was going to fill up FAST. The park opened at 6 am and registration at 6:30 am. We planned to leave our house at 6 am. However, we were running late. I got up a 5 am and had breakfast including coffee, which I usually avoid. Coffee on race mornings is allowed. Got dressed and put my stuff in bags. Went over the checklist. But we still got out the door closer to 6:20 am. Uggg. Arrived at the race site about 6:40 am and already all of the regular parking slots were full. We parked up on the dirt of the median strip. We were only the 2nd car to try this, but I’d seen them doing it last year, so I encouraged my hubby to do so. Turned out to be fine and many people also did this.

I went to check in at registration while my hubby took the bike off the van. It was pretty quick, since I inadvertently took a cut in line and the guy behind me was really nice about it. They gave me everything I needed there…cap, ankle strap with timing chip, race bib, goodie bag…all of it. This was a bit confusing, though, since the process didn’t agree with the posted race instructions. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a pre-race meeting with directions or if they were going to write our numbers on our bodies. So I asked the guy with the microphone making announcements. He said no body markings. Race instructions given at the starting line. Turns out we weren’t even required to wear our bibs at all, although they encouraged it for the run.

Partial view of the transition area, looking towards the run start end.

We went to set up my transition area next. Only racers were allowed in the transition area, so Jenny & Chris had to wait outside of that area for me. I had brought an old pink bathmat, a pink hand towel and an orange/red plaid beach towel that I hoped would be eye-catching. I found a rack where someone else had brought a cute flower decoration to put next to their bike, so I put mine next to that. I rehearsed running into the transition area from both directions (it served for both T1 and T2) and during the actual race I had no trouble finding my bike. Granted, this was a small race with just over 500 entrants total.

After I set everything up, I looked over my transition area.

When I was setting up my transition area, there were three guys at the bike rack next to mine who were talking to each other. One of them reminded the others to put the bike in lowest gear because our transition to the bike had a steep uphill immediately after the timing mat. I knew that because of my practice rides and watching this race last year, and had told myself I needed to do that. But somehow I forgot. I was so glad these guys reminded me!

Next a visit to the ladies room. Then sit down relax for 10 or 15 minutes. Bathroom again (sheesh?). Then it was now or never for the swim warmup, or no time in the water before the race, as they were calling for people to leave the warmup swim area so that the life guards could monitor the race course. I had waited until the last minute to do the swim warmup because my swim wave was last and I didn’t want to be standing around cold and wet for any longer than necessary.

I desperately needed to get in the water and reassure myself that the temp and conditions were going to be OK for me, so I quickly jumped in for short swim. Temp was supposedly around 70 degrees, and felt a bit cool, but mostly OK. Wet suit definitely not necessary, and quite a few people were not wearing them. But for some reason the lack of visibility in the water just kind of panics me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I told myself, “This is ridiculous…in a few minutes you will be swimming. You have to do it now. Just do it.” So I did make myself swim a few dozen yards and kind of felt OK with it.

My ankle strap with the timing chip didn’t feel very secure. I was afraid it was going to come off my ankle during the swim. I fidgeted with it a bit, but in the end just trusted it would all work out, and it did. Strap stayed on my ankle for the whole race. Air temp was in the mid-60s and getting warmer, so it wasn’t too bad standing around after the warmup swim, although I kept shivering, but that was probably from nerves.

Standing in ankle-deep water waiting for the swim start. I am in the purple tank top.

The race didn’t start on time. For some reason they had about a 15 minute delay. They told us this early, around 7:30 or so. After everyone exited the warmup swim area, we were standing around waiting for the other waves to start. One lady who had done this race before said the distances they report are not accurate, which I agree with. Course distances are listed as 300m swim, 8.5mile bike, 5k run. But according to my Garmin and Google Earth measurements, I think the distances are really closer to 250m swim, 8.88 mile bike, and probably more than a 5K run.

Go! I am on the left side in the purple racer-back tank

So after the other waves had gone (the longer course men and women and short course men), it was finally going to be our turn. The last start wave. We got into the ankle-deep water and waited for the start. I felt very positive at this point. And when the start sounded I rushed into the water with the rest, although I was staying to the back of the group and on the outside left. All turns on the course would be right turns.

So I started to swim, although at first I was holding my head up. Which I know is wrong. In the pool I have no trouble keeping my head down. But the dark water is scary or something. Maybe I just have to get used to it. But the first few strokes my head was up. And then I put my face down in it and tried to swim. And was OK for a few strokes, but I ran into someone. And came up sputtering and started dog-paddling or breast-stroking. I don’t remember. Floundering, really.

From this point I don’t have a clear recollection, except that I was kind of panicked. I did spend some time just floating on my back trying to pull it together. I did some backstroke. I was irritated with myself that I wasn’t just SWIMMING and turned over and tried again. I did actually pull it together again at one point and get some rhythm going and some confidence, only to run into someone doing breaststroke who was blocking my way. Back to floating on the back again. Grrr.

I thought about how I was ever going to finish this and get back to shore again. I thought, well, I certainly don’t need the lifeguards to come and get me. I KNOW how to swim. Then I turned over and tried some more. I took a lot more breaths than I do in the pool though, where I usually alternate sides every 3 strokes. Here I was breathing every 2 strokes and only on the right. I also noticed my legs were starting to feel tired and said, “Crap!” to myself. I know better than to use my legs too much when swimming, but in this panic I totally forgot and was kicking and struggling in the water way too much. At least at this point I tried to think about letting the legs rest and using mostly just my arms to save up something for the bike and run.

When I saw I had turned the last corner with the big orange bouy and was ready to start swimming to shore I was SO relieved! Almost back to shore. I swam towards it hoping to feel the sand under my feet soon. The sooner the better. Then running up to the transition area.

I'm running to the transition area to get on the bike.

I was one of the last swimmers out of the water. I was so irritated with myself for floundering, flailing, panicking. I know I can do much better, and I guess I will have a chance to do just that in the future.

I have my swim cap and goggles off as I run to Transition 1 for the bike.

I had been given advice to go slow on the transitions and that will make me fast. Well, I really WAS slow at T1. It took me 4:20 total. I sat down and spent time cleaning off my feet because I didn’t want any sand in my shoes for the run. I had a water bottle for squirting my feet clean, but this seemed anything but fast. Put the socks and shoes on. I didn’t have any of those fancy quick-ties for my shoes. Took a drink of water, donned my helmet, almost forgot my sunglasses and did forget to put on my Garmin 305. Bummer. I really wanted to time the last two legs of the race, with all the GPS data and so on.

Putting on my shoes and socks in T1.

Thank goodness I had put my bike in lowest gear in transition setup. I was able to easily ride the bike up the hill that is immediately after the transition area. Some people were really struggling with it, and even walking their bikes up.

Got my gear on and getting ready to bike it!

I had been worried about being cold and wet for the bike ride coming out of the water, but in truth I didn’t even notice it at all during the ride. I was very confident on the bike, because I had done a number of rides that were longer than this race, plus I had ridden my new bike 3 times, and done the bike course twice. I was actually passing some people during the bike. This part was a lot of fun for me and I felt good and strong. I did take two drinks from my bike water bottle, during downhill parts where I was just cruising. I did feel some burning in my quads and so I tried not to pedal too hard, because I knew I had to save something for the run that was still coming.

Just passed the uphill after T1 on the start of the bike.

Coming in from the bike, we had to be careful to slow down upon re-entering. We had to go back down the same hill we’d come up to re-enter the transition area for T2. Dismounting at the mat and trying to run with my bike to my rack. At least I had running shoes on. Legs didn’t feel too weird or wobbly. But I was tired and still had 5K to run.

End of the bike ride, approaching the transition area for T2. Feeling good.

In the transition area, I didn’t have too many changes to make. Took off my helmet and donned a cap. Put on my race number. Took a big swig of water.

In T2 almost ready to go, taking a drink before I run.

And then I was off on my reluctant legs. Well, they sort of remembered how to run. They were just a bit tired at this point. And I was running without my usual tool, my Garmin 305 that shows me my current pace. So I was trying to feel if I was going at a good clip that I could maintain throughout the entire 5K. I think I did a pretty good job on that, although I can’t be positive since I don’t have the data. They offered a water stop shortly after T2, but I’d just had a drink during transition, so I passed that by. I was running along and passing some people up. Actually, passing quite a few. It was tough, though. I did feel like I was slogging along and not really running my normal type of race. Trying hard to keep my pace up. Got to the turn around and was wishing for another water stop, but didn’t see any coming up. On the way back I passed a bathroom with drinking fountain, and stopped to use that, but the drinking fountain didn’t work. Darn. Running again, and a short bit later came to the last water stop, about a mile away from the finish. Took a cup and slowed a bit to drink. And then picked it up and started running again.

Leaving T2 and staring the run.

As I was coming around the last turn in the course and approaching the finish, I caught up to a couple of guys. But they saw me coming and sprinted away, unwilling to let me pass them. I wish I’d had enough left in my legs to go after them, but I was just all pooped out. Still, I finished pretty strong.

Here's my finish sprint...amost done!

My official time:  1:12:24
Swim: 7:23 (way too slow, whether it was really 300m or more like the 250m I believe)
T1: 4:20 (way too slow!)
Bike: 34:04 (pretty good for nearly 9 miles..works out to about 15.6 mph on a moderately hilly course. Happy with this)
T2: 1:29 (I’m happy with this but I didn’t change shoes, which would have slowed me down further)
Run: 25:08 (slow for me for a 5K. I’m usually well under 24. But I think this was more like 5.3K & I was tired)

I came out third in my age group, which was kind of cool, although there were only 4 competitors in my division (so I beat one person). The first two placers got 1:09 and change. The fourth place was almost an hour slower than I. Although it’s kind of interesting…the lady who won our age group wasn’t much faster than me on the swim (a bit under a minute) and both of her transitions were slower, and her run was slower. But her bike was LOTS faster. Almost 7 minutes faster. That’s where she won.

Hey, watch out, I will own your ass, and I have this medal to prove it.

Overall, I enjoyed this race immensely and will try to do more of this series in the future. 

What was good about this race? Small size. Friendly community. Lake swim as opposed to ocean. Short distance race. Lots of freebies/goodies handed out at the end (they had a raffle drawing based on bib numbers). I think this might be because of it is the 3rd and final race in the series.

Wharf to Wharf – ‘It’s the Best Little Road Race in California’

This is a classic event. This year will be the 37th annual running.