Los Angeles Triathlon Race Report

On Sunday Sept. 30th I raced in my last race for the season, The Herbalife Los Angeles Triathlon.  This would be my third consecutive year racing LA, so I had a pretty good understanding of the course going into the race.

Pre Race:
I had three weeks following 70.3 Worlds to prepare for LA. The first week was rough.  My IT band became quite irritated following Vegas and it took about 4 days following the race before I was even able to walk without a limp.  I basically rested for a week and then slowly tried to get back into the swing of things the following two weeks.  My training was very sparse as I didn't want to further irritate my IT band injury.  In the days leading up to the race, I didn't feel close to 100%, but my body was in a way better condition than it was in immediately following Vegas.  I was ready to go.

Swim:
It seems that every year, a big swell comes in just in time for this race.  This year was no different.  There were consistent overhead sets coming in as we were waiting to start.  I was excited to get out there and swim through them.

Photo courtesy of triathlon.competitor.com

As the gun went off, I made my way through the surf and ended up reaching the first buoy with the lead pack.  I latched onto the feet of one of the guys and ended up swimming in a group of 3 for the remainder of the swim.  The sun was out and I was having a very difficult time sighting the buoys, so I basically ended up following the guy in front of me hoping he would do a decent job of navigating.  As I was swimming into the shore, a decent size set came through and I chose to just duck under it rather than trying to ride the wave and risk getting pummeled.  I came out of the water in third place with a split of 21:21, about 15 seconds out of 1st.  

Bike:
Transition went smoothly and I was off on my bike headed towards downtown.  As my heart rate started to settle and I began to get into my groove, I noticed that I felt sort of flat.  I just didn't have the kick I normally have for an Olympic distance race.  I believe it may have been all of the recovery time I required after racing in Vegas.  Although my body was rested, it felt flat.

One thing I like about the LA Tri is being able to ride through all of the communities as you approach downtown.  The bike course definitely provides a different type of scenery than I experience at most other races.

I came into T2 with a split of 1:02:09.  Comparing my bike split the other athletes in my division, I can see this is clearly an area in which I need to improve.

Run:
The LA Tri run has gotten me for the worse the past two years.  Both years I developed bad stomach cramps and last year my left ankle was injured.  Knowing that my leg was still a little gimpy due to the IT band issues I was having, I decided to hold back at the beginning a little more than I usually do for a 10K run.  This ended up working fairly well.  The run course is two loops, each with a pretty massive hill to run up.  Once I made the first loop and noticed I was feeling pretty decent, I realized that all I had to do was make it up the hill again and then cruise the last 1.5 miles to the finish.

I finished with a run split of 34:22, which on paper looks great, except it appears the run course was about 0.4 miles short.  Still, a much improved run from the previous years.

Here's some moving pictures from the race.  If you pay close attention, you will see me adjusting my goggles at 0:54.

I ended up finishing 4th in my division (elite amateur) with a time of 2:00:03.  Hmmm, this is the second time this year I was three seconds short.

Overall, I am happy with my race.  I dropped about 5 minutes from my previous year time, although I believe some of that may have been due to the run course being short.  Cracking the top 3 in my division was a goal going into the race, but some fast guys showed up and and prevented me from doing that.  I guess that's just the way things go.  It was overall a good way to end an up and down year.

Next up is vacation!! While most of the triathlon community will be focused on a little race going on in Kona, I will be making a trip to Kauai for an extended weekend to wind down from the busy triathlon season.

Vegas 70.3 World Championship Race Report

I know...who writes a race report a month after the race happened?  The truth is, Vegas took a lot out of me, both physically and mentally.  I simply did not have the energy to sit down and write a report until now...I got lazy!  I guess a month late is better than never, right?

This was my second year racing at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, NV.  My race report from last year can be found here. The race was on a Sunday Sept. 9th, but I arrived in Vegas Thursday afternoon with the hopes of enjoying a day of actual vacation before I had to start stressing about the race. The highlight of Thursday night was a meal at Shibuya Japanese Steakhouse, the best Japanese steakhouse I have ever been to. Saturday morning I woke up early and went for a short hike in Red Rock Canyon which is about a 30 minute drive east of the strip.  That was a great hike and provided beautiful views like these:

After the hike, I headed to Henderson and began the 1.5 days of race logistics including packet pick-up, mandatory athlete meeting, run gear drop-off, and bike drop-off.  I really hate doing all of that stuff, but I guess it is part of the activity.  On Saturday, I was able to get a very short swim-bike-run in just to make sure everything was working properly.  It was. 

I was all smiles race morning because I was about to do what I came to Vegas to do - race.  You will soon see that I lost the smile by the end of the race.  Here's how it went.

Swim:
The swim is in Lake Las Vegas.  Because I had done this race last year, I thought I had a solid understanding of the course and a good idea of how the conditions would be.  Last year I remember the swim being quite pleasant. The swim this year would likely have been just as pleasant other than the fact that the water temperature was a little warm for my taste at 83F.  At the start of the swim I found the lead pack and immediately latched onto the lead swimmer in my wave.  My goal was to stay with him and take advantage of the draft, a strategy I used last year at this race.  Unfortunately, this guy was a little fast for me to stay with and he dropped me about 400m into the swim.  From then on, I was pretty much alone as I couldn't keep up with the leader but I was able to pull away from the rest of my wave.  About halfway through the swim, the hot water temperature got to me and I started to feel awful. It felt like the heat was draining all my energy and I knew I still had a lot of racing to do.  As I approached the swim exit I was more than happy to get out of the water and cool off on the bike, even though the air temperature was about 90F.

I came out of the water 4th in my division with a split of 27:02. That was about a 30 second improvement from my split last year and coming out of the water in 4th was a good place to be.

Yay, I'm out of the water! Onto the bike...

Bike:

As I started the bike leg, my heart rate felt like it was still pretty high from the uncomfortably warm swim.  Once I made the climb out of Lake Las Vegas and started to descend into Lake Mead Recreation Area, my heart rate dropped to a comfortable level and I was able to get into a groove.  The bike seemed to go fairly well for about the first 2/3 of the ride.  During the last third, my energy seemed to seep away more and more as I got closer to T2. In retrospect, I think I may have pushed it a little too hard on the bike. When racing the Half Ironman distance, I sometimes forget to hold back a little and end up pushing it like I am racing an Olympic distance race.  I did this earlier in the year at Vineman and was OK, but in the hot Vegas heat I was not able to get away with it.

The last 8 miles of the bike consist of a gradual climb to T2 in Henderson.  As I was approaching T2, my legs were feeling fairly drained and despite drinking a lot of water while riding, I still felt dehydrated.  I knew a challenging run was ahead.  I came off the bike 13th in my division with a time of 2:28:57.  I was just under my bike split from the previous year and am happy with that, but I am surprised to see that dropped me all the way to 13th going into T2.  There were some fast riders out there.

I like busting out a cheesy smile for the professional photographers at FinisherPix.

Run:
The run course is a three loop course where each loops contains a 2 mile uphill run followed by 2 miles downhill. The elevation profile can be seen here:

Coming out of T2, I was hoping my tired legs would regain some energy now that I was off of the bike.  I realized that would not be the case about a mile into the run as I started the first of the three uphill stretches.  The first loop was hard but manageable.  As I started the second uphill stretch, I began to have doubts as to whether I would be able to make it to the top of the climb and especially whether I would be able to do it one last time.  At that point I basically blew up and went into survival mode.  I was overheating, cramping, and fantasizing about laying in a giant martini glass filled with cool jello. I ended up running the last 5 or so miles at a slow jog and walked through aid stations while dumping every single cup of liquid that I could get my hands on over my head.  This death march resulted in a 1:43:09 run split, about 12 minutes slower than my split from last year.  That is obviously not good but it is what happens when you go from racing to just trying to survive.

This picture of me approaching the finish line is pretty much enough to show how I felt at the end of the race. I was completely drained.

  

I ended up finishing 27th in my division, a significant drop my 9th place finish last year. Here are my splits:

The basic fact is that I was not able to handle the heat.  I was unprepared for it and caught by surprise by its severity.  I know there were many in the same boat as me. There were also many people that conquered the heat and had awesome races. One example is my Team TriSports.com teammate, Sarah Jarvis, who finished 3rd in her age group.  Mad props to Sarah and everyone else who an awesome day. It just didn't work out for me.

Thanks as always to TriSports.com for the support throughout the season.

Next up is my final race of the season, the Herbalife Triathlon Los Angeles.  Oh shit, that race was last weekend.  I guess I better write a race report for it.

Vineman 70.3 Race Report

This past weekend I raced Ironman 70.3 Vineman. My last half IM distance race in Switzerland did not go as planned as my tire flatted during the bike portion, essentially ruining my chances of making the podium.  I was hoping to bounce back from that disappointment at Vineman.

For those of you who don't know, there is a lot of preparation in the hours leading up to the race.  Luckily for you, I have some pictures to illustrate some of the most important items that I have to tend to on race day.

First, I make sure my GPS watch is working properly so that I can waste time analyzing a bunch of data in the days following the race...

I next seek out someone to zip up my wetsuit. Luckily, Team TriSports.com teammate Craig Pansing was around to assist with that task...

It's also very important to make time to pose for pictures with fans...

...and pose for more fan pictures...

Once the fan photos are done, I put on my tough guy face...

Finally, I can saunter into the river to get ready for the swim...

So, here's a recap of how it all went.

Swim (24:03):
I like the Vineman swim because it is flat water and warm.  My strategy as usual was to go out with the lead pack and seek some feet to follow. I did just that and ended up behind another swimmer who was going just about the right pace for me to draft.  Within a couple hundred meters, the two of us pulled away from the rest of the wave.  I ended up following him throughout the whole swim while we weaved through swimmers from previous waves (a lot of them walking during parts where the river was really shallow).  I figured my drafting strategy was a good one as I did not want to expend too much energy trying to pull away on my own. There was still a lot of racing left.  I exited the swim 2nd in my wave, a couple seconds behind first.

Bike (2:24:34):
I had a pretty fast T1 and ended up starting the bike leg in the lead of my wave. It was a little chilly when I first got on my bike, but it did not bother me too much and I hoped that the air would remain cool throughout the morning.  A few miles into the ride I got into a rhythm and focused on maintaining my lead. Around mile 15 I got  passed by someone in my division. He did not pull away, so I decided to just stay with him without re-passing.  About 10 miles later, the two of us were passed by another guy our division (the eventual division winner, Reilly Smith).  He was trucking and started to pull away.  It seemed like the guy I was originally following was starting to fade, so I passed him and went after Reilly.  I figured I could not catch or stay with him, but I did not want him to put too much of a gap on me, so I started to push a little harder.

The bike leg did not feel strong overall.  I felt like there was a headwind the whole way.  I mentioned that to others following the race, but was not able to get anyone to convincingly agree.  Maybe the headwind was just on me?  Or maybe I need a faster bike.  That's the easy out...blame it on the equipment, right? Regardless, my bike split was not bad, but I think I could have done a little better. On the bright side, I did not get a flat! :)

When I reached T2, there was one bike on the rack a couple spots down from mine.  I knew I had some work to do on the run.

Run (1:24:46):

I have been plagued by stomach cramps during the run of the last three half IMs I have raced and my fear going into the run was that I would get them again.  About three miles into the run, I was pleasantly surprised that I had not developed any cramps and was quite confident I was going to be cramp-free. Yay! I generally don't continuously monitor watch my watch and try to maintain a certain pace.  I just run at the pace that feels well.  I did check and see my pace for the first 5 miles was about 6:15 min/mile, which was a little faster than I thought I could keep up.  I was feeling fine though, so I thought what the hell, and kept going.

Around mile 3, I passed my sister and her husband and they snapped a picture of me.  Looks like I was all alone at that point.

I did not think my run conditioning was as good as it could have been going into the race and it showed as my pace eventually dropped to the 6:50 min/mile range towards the end of the run.  I did not bonk and let my pace drop off a cliff, but towards the end of the run I definitely did not have any gas left in the tank.

Overall, I was super happy with my run split.  I dropped about 6 minutes from my previous year split, largely due to the lack of stomach cramps.  It wasn't quite enough to catch the lead, but enough to hold on to second place in my division.

Mug shot. I need a hair cut...

Final Tally:  4:17:39 - 2nd AG, 6th Overall Amateur


Thanks to TriSports.com for their continued support and to my family and friends for traveling to the race with me.


Next race is the 70.3 World Championship, September 9th in Las Vegas.

San Diego International Triathlon Race Report

I went into the San Diego International Triathlon (SDIT) looking to rebound from my unfortunate equipment malfunction at Switzerland 70.3 and I did just that.

SDIT was my first attempt at racing in the elite field which brought extra butterflies leading up to the race.  For those who do not know, most triathlons in the US are sanctioned by USA Triathlon (USAT) and therefore you must have a USAT elite license to race as an elite (a.k.a. professional) in those races.  I do not have an elite license, so therefore I am racing as an amateur (a.k.a. age-grouper) for USAT sanctioned events in 2012.  A main difference between racing elite and racing as an age-grouper is that you are eligible for prize money in the elite field but not as an age-grouper.  SDIT is not sanctioned by USAT, so I was able enter in the elite field and test myself with the fast guys. I was super excited to do that. 

Enough acronyms and explanations, here's how the race went...

Night Before: Ate dinner at Devine Pastabilities, which is a small Italian restaurant that serves Torpasta - a hollow garlic roll stuffed with pasta. I ordered the lasagna torpasta and it was delicious! I was pretty tired all day so I had no trouble falling asleep before 9pm and slept well all night.

Race Morning: Woke up at 4am to eat early enough to let the food settle before the early 6:35am race start.  I rode to the transition area, set up my stuff, and headed to the swim start...standard stuff.

Swim: The swim was a nice 1000m swim in the San Diego Bay. No waves or currents, so it really felt like swimming in a pool. I had no idea how things were going to pan out, but my plan was to try to position myself in the lead pack and hopefully enter T1 in a decent position.  About 200m into the course, I found myself swimming side-by-side with my buddy Kosuke Amano.  Kosuke is a fast swimmer and is usually one of the first out of the water, so I knew if I just stuck with him, I'd be in good shape going into T1.  For the remainder of the course, Kosuke, myself, and another swimmer all swam side-by-side leading a pack of about 9 swimmers.  The pace was just about right for my comfort level and I felt pretty good going into T1.

Photo by John Gibbins U-T

I think I am the swimmer farthest to the left in the picture below. 

Photo by John Gibbins U-T

Below is a picture of Karl Bordine, the second place finisher and previous year winner, in T1 about to get on the bike. I am not in the picture, but my wetsuit is draped over the bike rack.  What that means is I am already on the bike course and eventually going to get passed by Karl, who easily had the fastest bike split of the day.

Photo by John Gibbins U-T

Bike: The bike course was a 30km out-and-back course with a short climb at the beginning followed by rollers and a descent leading to T2.  Throughout most of course, I found myself riding in a pack with two other guys.  They were about the same speed as me, so the three of us stayed near throughout the ride.  Mentally, it seemed like the bike portion was over before I even started.  I guess I have been on the saddle for longer durations lately, so the 18.5 miles went by quickly.  Nothing too eventful happened during the ride (like getting a flat, thankfully).


Run: I came off the bike not knowing for sure where I stood within the field.  Right out of transition I passed   one athlete and then about a mile later I passed another.  Miles 2 and 3 of the run were a big loop which provided a good chance to assess where I was within the field.  To my surprise, I realized I was in third place.  I was about 2 minutes behind the leaders, who were running side-by-side, and about 1 minute in front of 4th place.  At that point, I figured I didn't have a chance to catch the leaders, but I knew there were some super fast guys trying to chase me down.  I did not want to let them catch me.  From that point on, I simply ran scared...scared of getting caught.  That fear helped me hold a pace which I've never held for a 10K at the tail end of a triathlon.  At about mile 5 I was starting to have doubts that I could keep it up, but I managed to hold my position and cross the finish line in 3rd.

Run data for you data geeks:

Male and Female Pro podium (minus 2nd place Female, Lesley Paterson):

I earned a huge novelty check!

I rode my bike from my hotel to the transition area prior to the race not expecting to have a huge novelty check on my possession following the race.  One of the toughest parts of the day was riding my bike while carrying that huge check.  Riding one-handed with all of my gear and fighting the wind as it pushed and pulled on this big piece of cardboard was a challenge. I probably looked awkward but luckily I made it to the hotel and didn't have to face the embarrassment of crashing my bike.

I do not have any more pictures to share as all of my friends at the race were also racing with me. A cool photo gallery of the top two female finishers, Heather Jackson and Lesley Paterson, battling it out for first can be seen here.

Looking back at the race, I think I can say I'm pretty damn happy with my performance. I took a shot at mixing it up in the elite division for the first time, and I ended up with a podium spot!  I see that as a great way to get back on track and hopefully I can carry my progress onto the next race.

Thanks again to TriSports.com for their support. Remember to use coupon code MTRIPP-S for 10% off of your purchase!

Next race is Vineman 70.3 on July 15th.

Riding and Running Around Europe

Following Switzerland 70.3, I spent about 1.5 weeks exploring Switzerland and Northern Italy.  During that time, I had the chance to swim, bike, and run at some pretty cool places.  I have posted pictures below from three of these outings.  The first set is from a run in Cinque Terre, Italy, between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza.  The next two sets are from rides in the Mountains of Switzerland.  The first ride was to Grosse Scheidegg Summit.  The second ride was to one of the famous mountain passes in Switzerland, Grimselpass.

Cinque Terre, Italy - Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza

This run was a short (but very hilly with a lot of steps) run along the coast of the Ligurian Sea.  It was very scenic.

There are vineyards on the hills hovering over the towns.

It was cloudy in the early morning, but the sun soon came out.

I think this is the best picture I took of the coast.

The next day I went for a swim in the Sea.  It was a very nice change from the chilly Pacific Ocean.

Grosse Scheidegg Summit (Switzerland)

This ride was a nice loop from Interlaken.  The first half was essentially flat.  The second half of the ride was about a 5,000 ft climb to the Grosse Scheidegg Summit with some pretty steep sections followed by a descent back to Interlaken where we started.  My couch surfing host, Hayden, joined me on this ride. 

There were a lot of clouds, but still some beautiful views.

I made it to the top.  Now it is time to take it easy on the descent so that I don't lose control and smash into a tour bus.

Grimselpass (Switzerland)

On this ride I had planned to do both Grimselpass and Furkapass.  Those plans changed for two main reasons.  The first reason is that I needed to head back to Zurich in the evening so I realized I did not have enough time to also do Furka.  The second reason was that when I got to the top of Grimsel it was essentially 0 deg Celsius.  I realized that if I descended towards Furka, I would need to come back over Grimsel on the way back and I don't think I could have handled the cold.  Even though I only ended up doing one pass, it was still a great ride.  I'll just have to come back again (later in the season) to ride some more of the passes.

This video was about 10 miles into the ride. Turn your speakers down before watching this video...the wind noise is pretty loud.

Such a calm lake.

The early morning view of the mountains across the valley was beautiful.

This is the valley with the town Innertkirchen. The start of the climb to Grimselpass is right in the center of the  valley.

Stopped to take some pictures before I got to the snow.

I caught up to another rider from South Africa at the beginning of the ascent to Grimsel.  We chatted for a while and then I went ahead on my own.

As I ascended to the to of Grimselpass, it got colder and colder. So, I didn't want stop to take pictures...I just wanted to push up the mountain so I could rest and grab a coffee when I got to the top.  I finally stopped for a picture when I made it there...

Panoramic view of the top of Grimselpass.

Not very scenic...but very cold.

I packed cold weather gear, but I was still cold.  I had to stop several times on the descent so I could let my hands warm up.  That allowed me time to take pictures.

Switchbacks galore...These make the Ranchos Palos Verdes Switchbacks look like nothing.

I think this is a cool view of the road.

Just below the cloud level.

I thought all of these little water streams running down the mountain looked neat.

Later in the day, my bike was all packed up and I was on a trolley thinking of when I was going to come back again to ride through the mountains in Switzerland.