Los Angeles Triathlon Race Report

Stick a fork in me...I'm done. With my triathlon season, that is. On Sunday, September 25th I raced in the Los Angeles Triathlon which served as my last race for the 2011 season.  Right now I am starting the off-season by enjoying some rest and recovery. Despite my reduction in training volume, I've still been fairly busy and haven't had a chance to write a race report.  I still hope to, but for now here is a picture from the awards ceremony.

Time: 2:05:43
Place: 4th Elite Amateur

Ironman 70.3 Worlds Race Recap

On September 11th, I raced in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Henderson, Nevada. I gained entry into this race by earning a slot during Vineman 70.3 back in July. The following two months allowed me enough time and preparation to feel fairly ready for the Championship.

I rolled into town on Friday and picked up my race packet.  As I got to the expo, I looked around and soon realized that everybody around me was super hardcore. I was suddenly surrounded by loads of compression socks, Ironman tattoos, shaved legs, and $8K rocket ship bikes. People even had cars like this:

It soon became apparent to me that this race was a big deal and held a significant amount of prestige.  Following packet pick up I checked into the hotel and settled down for a bit.  Dinner Friday was Shabu-Shabu followed by a short night out in Vegas. 

The swim was at Lake Las Vegas which is about 10 miles outside of Henderson.  The lake is not normally open for swimming, but they did allow the competitors to do a course preview for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. I guess I was practicing sighting when this picture was taken.

Following my swim course preview, I went on a short road trip to check out the Hoover Dam. 

The Hoover Dam is a pretty remarkable place and quite an engineering feat. It's a big ass dam! I'm also very impressed that it only took 5 years to build.

Following the dam tour, I headed back to Henderson and spent the rest of the day dropping off my gear at race check-in and tending to final race preparations. Dinner was a tasty lasagna dish at a nice little Italian joint, Buon Gusto, followed by some relaxing at the hotel for the rest of the evening. I hit the sack right after Michigan's exciting come from behind win over Notre Dame and slept fairly well considering the big race I had ahead of me the next day.

The water temp was about 80F on race morning which meant no wetsuits. As I said, everybody at this race was super hardcore, so most of them had swimskins to wear for the swim. I'm only partially hardcore so I elected to go old school by going topless and just rockin' the jammers.  Can you find me in the mess of people?  

It seemed like we were treading water for about 15 minutes waiting for our wave to go off.

Although the weather was supposed to be in the mid-90s by late morning, the early morning weather was very comfortable and the swim was greeted by a nice sunrise across the lake.

While treading water at the swim start, there was a race worker on a stand-up paddle board giving us an indication of how much time was left before the start of the race. As start time came closer, he gave us a 20 second warning.  Ten seconds later, the horn went off. Oh, I guess I better start swimming.

My age group was split into two waves and I was in the second of them. During the swim, I soon found myself in a lead pack with two other people. After quite a bit of jockeying for drafting position, one of the guys dropped behind and I hung on the feet of the other guy until the swim finish. I ended up 5th out of the water in my age group.

On to the bike...

The bike course took us into Lake Mead National Park until until a turn-around at about mile 22.  At that point we returned towards Lake Las Vegas and then went about 15 miles further into Henderson. The entire course was rather hilly, which I tend to like.  Over the final 10 miles, a pack of riders from my wave caught up to me and it was evident that there was a bunch of drafting going on amongst them. The drafting is likely a result of fairly equal talent levels, but more likely due to egos getting in the way.  Some people just can't deal with getting passed. For the rest of the ride, I hung near this pack while trying to keep out of their little drafting game. I ended losing one spot on the bike and coming into T2 in 6th place in my age group.  

The run course consisted of three laps over a loop that was half uphill and half downhill.  There were no flats. The first mile of my run felt fine until I developed a nasty side stitch that lasted until about mile 4. After that I got into a groove until I started to feel the effects of the heat at about mile 6. At every aid station, I would grab multiple cups of water to dump on my head. The wet sponges that they were handing out were also clutch. The second half of the run was simply a matter of surviving.

The final mile was downhill and I just opened up my stride and let it all out. When I crossed the finish line I was completely exhausted, more than I have ever been after a race.  

Luckily I gained my composure quick enough to take a goofy looking picture in front of the Ironman backdrop.

Final result:

• Time: 4:32:17
• Placement: 9th AG, 36th Amateur, 76th Overall

Looking at the top 15 in my age group, it is evident what area of my race needs to improve at this distance: the run. I know that with fresh legs I can average a whole minute per mile faster over a half marathon. With proper training I believe I have the potential to drop at least 20 sec per mile from the pace I held at this race.  Looking back at my training leading up to my race, I may have not put in enough distance on the run.  Another thought is perhaps I am taking the bike too hard and not leaving enough in my legs for the run. Maybe I could dork out and get a power meter for my bike to determine if this truly is the case?  Nah, I think I'll just train better. I'm happy with 9th this year but hopefully next year I can work towards cracking the top 5.

Thanks again to TriSports.com for their continued support.

Next up is the Los Angeles Triathlon on September 25th, during which I will be racing in the elite amateur division.  Unless something changes, the LA Tri will likely be my last race of the season.

Hello Vegas

I will be leaving for Las Vegas (Henderson, NV to be exact) in a few minutes! Why? To compete in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship this Sunday (Sept. 11). I was able to earn a qualifying spot back in July while racing at Vineman and thought I shouldn't pass up the chance to participate in this race, so I took the slot and now here I am about to leave for Vegas. Compared to my days leading up to Vineman, I feel more prepared for this race physically. I have no major injuries and have had a good taper over the past week. Other than getting through the rush hour LA traffic while driving to Vegas, my main concern for the weekend is the hot Nevada heat. This is about how I believe the sun will appear to me during the race:

Because I live in a coastal area, the majority of my training and racing is done in a cool climate. I have tried to train during the hottest parts of the day over the past month, but I'm not sure it has been enough to prepare me for the race day conditions. I guess I'll just to stay on my game with hydration and see how it goes. The good news is the Sunday forecast is showing a high of 88F in Henderson compared to the 110F highs over the past couple weeks.

I will try to ignore the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" rule and have a nice race report following the race. So, remember to check back early next week

Camp Pendleton Race Report

Two weeks ago I raced in the Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon. Yes, two weeks ago. I know, a report on a race that happened two weeks ago is old news, but I've been busy. Better late than never, right? Anyways, onto the race.  

This was my second consecutive year doing this race. Last year, the first through third overall finishers got huge trophies but unfortunately I ended up coming in 4th. I don't think I've won a trophy since when I was 13 years old and playing baseball, so my goal was to place in the top three this year and go home with some hardware. 

This race is unique because it is on a marine base and the transition area is at the bottom a long boat ramp that is used to launch hovercraft into the ocean.  Unfortunately, spectators aren't allowed down near the transition and swim start, so they have to watch from above on a hill.

The swim was short but difficult due to a nasty northern current.  It was so bad that the first wave got swept up shore and had to basically swim backwards to round the first buoy before proceeding on. I was lucky to be in the third wave and was able to learn from the mistakes of the swimmers before me. I compensated for the current by running south a little on the beach prior to entering the water. It worked well as I don't recall having to swim against the current while going out to the buoy, and I ended up having the fastest swim split.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture from the swim, so below is a picture of me at the end of the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier swim that I raced in the previous week.

The start of the bike course takes you up the big boat ramp and then on an out and back course into the Marine base.  They say the course is rolling hills during the 1st and last quarter and flat in the middle.  It actually has a gradual climb going out and then nice gradual descent on the way back.

I lost the race last year on the bike so I wanted to focus on getting a good bike split this year. I decided to pretty much put the pedal to the metal for the whole bike leg knowing that I didn't really need to save much for the short 5K.  

About a minute out of T2 another runner caught up with me from behind. At that point, I had a good feeling that I was leading my wave and saw that the guy that had caught me was in a previous wave, so I didn't get bothered.  It actually turned out to be a good thing because he was a speedy guy, so I just hung with him the whole way and let him help pace me. He ended up having the fastest run split and the carrot that he was holding in front of me helped me run to the second fastest run split.

For the entire 5K we ran together. His fast pace helped me run a 16:40 5K split.

The run was around the ACU-5 portion of Pendleton where they have hangars to service the large hovercraft.  It was a flat and fast course that felt like it was over before it even started.

At the end of the race I was told that even though I was in the third wave, there were only two people that had physically crossed the finish line in front of me. I knew I was in good shape and simply had to wait to see if there were some fast older guys (in later waves) that beat me.  

Here's where things get interesting. When results were posted, I went over to look and saw my name was nowhere to be found.  I thought, OK, there must be some glitch so I'll go talk with the race organizers to get things straightened out. I walked over to the timing tent and explained the situation and gave some information to one of the workers. Soon after, a lady (I assume to be the race director?) came over to me and said*, "We timed you at 1:13:53 and Heather Jackson finished in 1:16:05, so we want to make sure there is no funny business going on."  For those of you who don't know, Heather Jackson is a local pro triathlete who has numerous top 5 finishes at 70.3 races this year.  The RD was essentially accusing me of cutting the course short because I had a faster time than a (female) pro. My reaction: What??!!! I was shocked. I didn't know that this triathlon was actually a quadrathlon where the 4th event was defending your finishing time. I also later found out that they did the same thing to the 2nd overall male finisher, but because they thought he was too "old" for his time (he is 42). I was eventually able to explain that my time was legit and soon the results were updated. I guess I should take this whole incident as a compliment, but it left a weird feeling in me for the rest of the day. 

I ended up coming in first overall with a 2 minute margin over the second place finisher (Heather). I was sad they didn't have trophies this year, but am happy to have my plaque.

*Note, I'm not sure if that is the exact quote, but I know she did compare my time to Heather Jackson's and dropped the "funny business" accusation.

For you boxing fans, I later found out that in preparation for his September 17th bout with Floyd Mayweather, WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz raced in the Pendleton Triathlon last Saturday. He came in 9th in the 20-24 age group with a time of 1:36:56.

Next up is Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Henderson, NV on Sept. 11. With only three weeks left, I'm continuing to focus on shifting my mentality towards longer distance and trying to prepare for the Vegas heat.  It should be a fun one.

Vineman 70.3 Race Recap

After a week vacation in Oregon, I flew back to Santa Rosa to race in Vineman Ironman 70.3. Oregon in general was quite damp, cold, and cloudy, but the sun usually came out during the afternoon so the beach could be enjoyed.

This race was going to be my first half ironman distance race and there was a lot of uncertainty in my mind on how things were going to play out.

I had a few ailments going into the race including shin splints in my right leg that were still present as well as a blister on my foot that was not fully healed. To treat those ailments, I packed a mini medicine cabinet along with a gel pack brunch on the top tube of my bike. My plan was to take two Advil around mile 40 of the bike to prep me for the run and prevent the shin splints from acting up. I also traveled with two strips of mole skin that I planned to place on my feet during T2 to prevent the blister from bothering me during the run. The Advil ended up working perfect for preventing the shin splints but the moleskin disappeared during the run and my feet ended up blistering. The blistering ended up being the least of my problems as I will explain later.

The swim leg was in the Russian River which was an interesting experience. Parts of the the river were so shallow that I had to alter my stroke to prevent myself from scraping my hands on the bottom. Many people were actually walking at these shallow points which was a weird sight to swim through.

At the start of the swim I tried to find a fast guy in my wave to draft off, but I kept on swimming up on his legs so I decided to take off on my own. Overall, the swim felt fantastic. The water was the perfect temperature and there were no waves or current. It felt like I was swimming in a pool. I actually wish the swim was longer, which is usually not the case for me during open water swims. I end up leading my AG out of the water with a swim split of 24:37.

Because I was in the 11th wave to start, there were a lot of people already on the bike course in front of me. I actually liked that because it provided targets to catch up to during the ride. I was expecting the 56 miles on the bike to seem like for ever but the time went by quite quickly. The scenic vineyards and overcast weather helped make the ride a fairly pleasant experience.

I maintained the lead of my age category coming into T2 with a bike split of 2:20:51. I really like the pic below :)

After a really strong swim and bike, all I needed to do was bring it home with a strong run.  Unfortunately, that was not the case. The run is where my race went south. In the past, I occasionally had stomach cramp issues that I attributed to the jostling of liquids and gels in my stomach. To prevent the cramps, I went light on the Gatorade and gels towards the end of the bike leg and into run. This was a mistake.  

By the time I got to the loop around the winery at the half way point I was losing it both mentally and physically. My mile pace had dropped from just over 6 minutes to well over 7.5 and even pushing 8 minutes. I was definitely bonking and I knew I needed to get some fuel in my body stat. From that point on, every aid station was like a Vegas buffet to me.  I was double-fisting coke and Gatorade while I had an energy gel hanging out of my mouth. I actually thought I was going to have to open a tab for all of the refreshments I was taking. I eventually got some energy back around mile 11, but it was definitely too late to make up for the majority of my run. I ended up with a meh 1:31:20 half marathon...something I know I can improve on with the correct nutrition.

I was happy to have made it through my first half ironman distance race and definitely think it was not as grueling as I was expecting.

Final Results:
     Time: 4:20:15
     Placement: 3rd AG, 9th Overall Amateur

The third place finish was good enough for me to capture a slot in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, NV on Sept. 11th. I am looking forward to it and know what I need to improve on...mainly, be smarter with my nutrition and get ready for some heat.

Special thanks to my Parents, Aunt Sue, Uncle John, and Cousin Steve for traveling to the race to take pictures and cheer me on.

As always, a special thanks to TriSports.com for their continued support. I suggest venturing over to TriSports.com and browsing their extensive selection of multi-sport products. If you find something you like, you can use coupon code MTRIPP-S to get 10% off your purchase. Using the coupon code will also help support me with my triathlon endeavors :)

You can also check out an excellent gallery with some additional photos of the happenings at Vineman at TriSports University. There happen to be two pics of me in the gallery.

Next up is the hometown Hermosa to Manhattan Beach Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim on July 31st.

Oregon Trail

Sunday was my last day in Portland before heading to the coast. I got my swim on in the morning and then explored Portland a little looking for some tasty coffee. While walking around, I ventured past this sign:

Apparently, if you ride a bike with no front wheel you might fly over the handle bars. Good thing I now know. I also came across the "Brewcycle". I was just imagining riding past that in the middle of a race or seeing it racked in the transition area next to all the TT bikes.

The coastal destination was Lincoln City, OR, which is approximately 100 miles Southwest of Portland. On the way to the coast, I met my sister and her husband at Left Coast Cellars for some vegetable soup, carrot cake, and pinot noir.

I got dropped off and rode my bike for the final 25 miles to the coast. There was a pretty nasty headwind, but luckily the majority of the route was flat or downhill.

The Oregon coast weather pattern this time of year consists of cold, wet, foggy mornings which eventually clear up in the afternoon.  Below is a picture of the beach near our vacation home on Monday morning.

I went for a ride late Monday morning after the fog cleared and the roads started to dry. The green Oregon landscape is a nice change of scenery from Redondo Beach.

Part of my ride took me past Chief Kiawanda Rock. Looking at the rock from the shore, I thought it might be a neat open water race to swim out, around the rock, and back to shore. Only downside is that the water temp is around 50F, pretty cold even with a wetsuit.

Lincoln City is right on the Oregon Coast Bike Route. I rode North for 27 miles and then turned around and returned on the same route. It was generally rolling hills other than a 3 mile Cat 3 climb at mile 6 and 48. The first climb was fun, the second...not so much. I believe the temp stayed around 60F which was sort of chilly.  It's going to be quite a change later this week in Sonoma. Overall, I only lost two oxen and luckily my carriage did not get stuck in the river.

Me at the end of the ride...

With the wet roads, my bike was quite dirty at the end of the ride. It's OK though because I already cleaned her up.

Oregon

I'm in Portland! Yesterday was the first day of my 12 day vacation along the west coast. I started by driving from LA to the Santa Rosa Airport then jumped on a plane to Portland, which happened to be my first time flying on a turbo-prop. It was a good experience especially because they served complimentary micro-brew IPA and the flight attendant noticed my Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt and started talking Pink Floyd with me.  

I'm going to spend a couple days in Portland at my sister's pad, then drive to Lincoln City on the coast for a family reunion next week.  Below are a couple pictures of the view from my sister's condo in Portland...nice change of scenery from the rooftop views I get in Redondo Beach.

Next Friday I will drive back to Portland and hop on a plane back to Santa Rosa where I will stay until the following Tuesday. During my stay in the Santa Rosa area I will be racing in Vineman. So, that's an overview of my next 1.5 weeks, and of course, I will not be thinking of work one bit during that time.

Now that I'm back on track with the running portion of my training, I decided to go on one last long run before the race next weekend.  I did a few loops along the river and over the bridges shown in the pictures above. It seemed to be quite a popular running spot with some fairly fast runners out there today. Probably due to the proximity to Nike and U of Oregon.  Overall, I think I put in about 10 miles and my legs are feeling good.  I plan to throttle down and give them some rest over the next week.

More vacation/training updates and photos to follow...

MRI #2

I just got back from having my 2nd MRI taken this year. Back in February, it was on my right shoulder and that resulted in a laundry list if issues: torn labrum, impingement, arthritis. After going through several weeks of physical therapy, my shoulder is now feeling fine. The MRI taken today was on my right leg (tibia area).

Three weeks ago, I saw the doc because I was experiencing pain in my lower right leg during and following running. I had an x-ray taken and pointed out where it was hurting. Based on the location of the pain and lack of anything seen in the x-ray, he suggested that I had medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints) and that there was little chance that it was a stress fracture. I was told I could continue to run and to follow the standard practices to get rid of the shin splints (run on soft surfaces, stretch, ice, use shoe insoles, etc.). So, I continued to run and the pain started to go away but then slowly came back when I started to increase my distance for Vineman. When I went back to the doc for my follow-up appointment this Monday, I showed him where the pain currently existed, which was higher than previously...about halfway between my ankle and knee. He indicated that the location of pain carried more risk of being a stress fracture and advised that I have an MRI to take a better look. That explains the reason for my 2nd MRI procedure this year. Good thing I have a nice insurance policy!

I now have a follow-up appointment next Wednesday to go over the MRI. If it shows nothing, I'm good to go for Vineman. If there is indication of a stress fracture, it is likely that I'll be told to not run. At that point I'll have to figure out what to do for Vineman. Walk the half marathon? Just stop after the bike leg? Not sure...I'll cross that bridge if I have to come to it.

I haven't run since Monday and my leg is feeling OK right now. I think I'll test it out with a couple mid distance runs over the weekend. This is not an ideal situation two weeks before Vineman, but I guess that's life. On the bright side, my swim and bike are feeling great right now.  

Completely unrelated, but here's a pic of a turkey wrap I made while camping at Wildflower. Mmmmm...

Redondo Beach Sprint Race Recap

Paparazzi caught me sabotaging the swim corral before race start with a slippery loog.

OK. That picture was sorta disgusting, so here's (hopefully) a better one.

This past Sunday I raced in the Redondo Beach Sprint Triathlon.  This was my second consecutive year racing in the RB Tri, which is a super short race: 1/2 mi swim, 6 mi bike, 2 mi run. Leading up to Sunday, I was unsure if I was going to race due to shin splints. I got the doc's approval to race last week, so I decided to go ahead with it and I'm glad I did.

My strategy as always during the swim was to latch onto the draft of the fast guy, or if I found myself to be the fast guy, try to pull ahead of the pack so they can't draft off of me. Yes, I know that doesn't sound fair, but this is racing. Not so much give and take, but more take. I ended up being the fast guy, so I pulled away and pretty much swam alone the whole way.  I think I need to work on my open water swimming and sighting as I'm pretty sure I didn't swim the most direct route. The thing sticking out of the water between the boat and lifeguard in the picture below is my arm.

There was a long run on pavement into T1. I was worried about it bothering my heel, but I took the run gingerly and didn't have any issues.

My hear rate was pretty high when I got on the bike, but with only 6 miles on the saddle, there was not enough time to allow my heart rate to drop and get in a groove.

I pretty much put my head down and pushed as hard as I could on the bike.  Coming out of T1 I knew I was in the lead of my wave and I think I increased that lead on the short bike route.

The run course weaved through the Redondo Pier and the surrounding area. With the many turns it could have been an easy course to get lost, but there were plenty of volunteers at each corner directing me which way to go. Overall, the run felt fairly good. Last year I had a mean stomach cramp throughout the run, but this year the cramping managed to stay away. I started to develop a cramp right near the end, but it was close enough to the finish to not bother me.

Lots of fanfare comes with being the first to cross the finish line. First, I was interviewed by the local newspaper...

Then, I was given a case of protein shakes by the mix-1 ladies...

Unfortunately, there was a faster guy in a later wave that beat me by 16 seconds.

Final Results:
     Time: 42:02
     Placement: 1st AG, 2nd OA

The Easy Reader wrote a nice article on the race.

The overall winner, Jason May, won for the second year in a row. Last year, he beat me by almost 3 minutes and this year I was able to close the gap to 16 seconds. It seems like I'm moving in the right direction. I keep on thinking how things would have played out if we were in the same wave and were able to race head-to-head. Likely the same results, but it at least would have been more exciting. I got edged out by a Kona qualifier who swam and played water polo at UC Berkley. I guess I'm OK with that...for now.

Special thanks to TriSports.com for their support.

Now I'm going from the shortest race I've ever participated in to the longest. Up next is Vineman 70.3 on July 17.