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09-12-05, 06:56 PM
Hey! Thanks for all the support on my last post, I figured I would start a new thread so people looking for the details could find them easily.
The race is the Pacific Coast Triathlon and it's held at Crystal Cove State Beach in between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. The distances are 1/2 mi/12 mi/3 mi.
So the week before the race I decided I was going to taper...mostly because my shins and knees were killing me and I wasn't feeling strong during any of my workouts. Taper really turned into rest as I didn't do anything on Sun, Mon, or Tues. On Wednesday I got a sports massage which felt pretty good but my legs still felt like crap for the rest of the week. Thursday my new tri bike was ready so I picked it up and did a short ride. The position was so different that I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to ride it in the race. Friday was another rest day, and Sat I took a 30 min spin on the tri bike. After a good night's sleep on Saturday night, I was up at 4:45 AM, ate a couple of bananas & a bagel, and headed out for the race at 5:30.
After all that rest, I still felt crappy...oh well. I went out into the surf to warm up. Crap, my goggles are leaking...adjust...swim...still leaking...adjust...crap. So I swim back to where I can stand up and am messing with my goggles. All of a sudden I look up and WHAM, I get knocked over by a rouge wave that was over my head. I'm laughing at myself while I'm tumbling because I grew up at the beach and I couldn't believe I was so stupid as to not pay attention to the surf. OUCH...the wave slammed me against the bottom. Dumbass. So the morning isn't going that well.
OK, I get to the start line and am joking around with my buddies...there goes the horn. I always start in the back of the swim just to stay out of the way. About 20 yards out I settle into my stroke and am purposely taking it nice and easy. I notice that I'm passing people like it's going out of style. This is strange but what the heck. All of a sudden I notice that I'm feeling pretty good. The water is about 62 degrees and feels pretty nice, my stroke is relaxed, the current is noticeable but not terrible...Hey! This is fun. I exit the water in 18:18, about two minutes faster than last year in 62nd place out of 116 in my age group. Not quite top half but pretty close (about 18 seconds according to the results). Overall for the men, I was 366 of 670.
Out of the water, across the timing pad that is 10 yards from the ocean, run across the beach and head up the "ramp". The transition area is about 100-125 above sea level so up the ramp I go. Last year a guy gave me a tip to do a fast walk up the ramp rather than run because it will keep my heart rate lower. OK...I did more of a slow walk. At the top, I'm running toward my bike and I see my buddy, who is much faster than me, leaving the race. Wow, I'm not far behind him. Off with the wetsuit, on with the helmet, take a swig of H20, on my way. T1 time 4:46. Not as bad as the 7 min I thought it was...so I'm about 4:00 ahead of last year.
Now I'm on the bike and I'm pedaling with my feel on top of my shoes. DOH! My right shoe comes out of the pedal and is lying in the middle of the road. Crap. I turn around, pick it up, and put it on. It probably cost me at least a minute. Right turn and down the hill which immediately transitions to the worst hill on the course (Topo of the course is attached). At the bottom, I was probably doing 36-38 mph, at the top I'm down to 9. U-turn and back down the hill. The bike course is two loops on Pacific Coast Hwy and is rolling most of the way. I didn't feel great but I didn't feel awful. Passed several people...I'd say it was an average ride for me. My time was 41:41 which was 64th in my age group and 369th overall. I'm not sure when I became a better swimmer than a rider...weird. I took my time in T2 because I wasn't looking forward to the run...my weakest sport so 1:57 later I was out on the course...about 7:00 ahead of last year.
Out on the run...I was slow. In fact, I was the slowest in my age group and 648th out of 670 men. There's really no reason for it except that my weight makes it difficult and I get a lot of knee and shin pains. Subsequently, I don't train the run very much. What the heck, I know I can improve there. Even though I was DFL, my time of 35:46 was about 5:30 faster than last year.
My official time was 1:42:27 vs. 1:55:00 from LY and as Aquagirl said, I felt much better this year after the race. In the end I was 94th out of 116 in my age group and 513th out of 670 for the men.
Next on the calendar is The Pumpkin Man Int'l in Las Vegas - Oct 16th. After that, I am signed up for the Honu Half IM on June 3, 2006. I will probably do the Oxnard Sprint in March and the Palm Springs Int'l in April as well.
Thanks for reading and thanks again to everyone for all of their support!!!
The race is the Pacific Coast Triathlon and it's held at Crystal Cove State Beach in between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. The distances are 1/2 mi/12 mi/3 mi.
So the week before the race I decided I was going to taper...mostly because my shins and knees were killing me and I wasn't feeling strong during any of my workouts. Taper really turned into rest as I didn't do anything on Sun, Mon, or Tues. On Wednesday I got a sports massage which felt pretty good but my legs still felt like crap for the rest of the week. Thursday my new tri bike was ready so I picked it up and did a short ride. The position was so different that I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to ride it in the race. Friday was another rest day, and Sat I took a 30 min spin on the tri bike. After a good night's sleep on Saturday night, I was up at 4:45 AM, ate a couple of bananas & a bagel, and headed out for the race at 5:30.
After all that rest, I still felt crappy...oh well. I went out into the surf to warm up. Crap, my goggles are leaking...adjust...swim...still leaking...adjust...crap. So I swim back to where I can stand up and am messing with my goggles. All of a sudden I look up and WHAM, I get knocked over by a rouge wave that was over my head. I'm laughing at myself while I'm tumbling because I grew up at the beach and I couldn't believe I was so stupid as to not pay attention to the surf. OUCH...the wave slammed me against the bottom. Dumbass. So the morning isn't going that well.
OK, I get to the start line and am joking around with my buddies...there goes the horn. I always start in the back of the swim just to stay out of the way. About 20 yards out I settle into my stroke and am purposely taking it nice and easy. I notice that I'm passing people like it's going out of style. This is strange but what the heck. All of a sudden I notice that I'm feeling pretty good. The water is about 62 degrees and feels pretty nice, my stroke is relaxed, the current is noticeable but not terrible...Hey! This is fun. I exit the water in 18:18, about two minutes faster than last year in 62nd place out of 116 in my age group. Not quite top half but pretty close (about 18 seconds according to the results). Overall for the men, I was 366 of 670.
Out of the water, across the timing pad that is 10 yards from the ocean, run across the beach and head up the "ramp". The transition area is about 100-125 above sea level so up the ramp I go. Last year a guy gave me a tip to do a fast walk up the ramp rather than run because it will keep my heart rate lower. OK...I did more of a slow walk. At the top, I'm running toward my bike and I see my buddy, who is much faster than me, leaving the race. Wow, I'm not far behind him. Off with the wetsuit, on with the helmet, take a swig of H20, on my way. T1 time 4:46. Not as bad as the 7 min I thought it was...so I'm about 4:00 ahead of last year.
Now I'm on the bike and I'm pedaling with my feel on top of my shoes. DOH! My right shoe comes out of the pedal and is lying in the middle of the road. Crap. I turn around, pick it up, and put it on. It probably cost me at least a minute. Right turn and down the hill which immediately transitions to the worst hill on the course (Topo of the course is attached). At the bottom, I was probably doing 36-38 mph, at the top I'm down to 9. U-turn and back down the hill. The bike course is two loops on Pacific Coast Hwy and is rolling most of the way. I didn't feel great but I didn't feel awful. Passed several people...I'd say it was an average ride for me. My time was 41:41 which was 64th in my age group and 369th overall. I'm not sure when I became a better swimmer than a rider...weird. I took my time in T2 because I wasn't looking forward to the run...my weakest sport so 1:57 later I was out on the course...about 7:00 ahead of last year.
Out on the run...I was slow. In fact, I was the slowest in my age group and 648th out of 670 men. There's really no reason for it except that my weight makes it difficult and I get a lot of knee and shin pains. Subsequently, I don't train the run very much. What the heck, I know I can improve there. Even though I was DFL, my time of 35:46 was about 5:30 faster than last year.
My official time was 1:42:27 vs. 1:55:00 from LY and as Aquagirl said, I felt much better this year after the race. In the end I was 94th out of 116 in my age group and 513th out of 670 for the men.
Next on the calendar is The Pumpkin Man Int'l in Las Vegas - Oct 16th. After that, I am signed up for the Honu Half IM on June 3, 2006. I will probably do the Oxnard Sprint in March and the Palm Springs Int'l in April as well.
Thanks for reading and thanks again to everyone for all of their support!!!