I completed my second LA Triathlon this past Sunday, my fourth triathlon since I started racing. Due to some “real-life” events, I have only been training about 2-3 times a week for the past 4-5 weeks. I wasn’t expecting the performance of my life, but it turned out okay. Here is my mini-race report.

Pre-Race
The LA Tri is a point-to-point race. The race starts in Venice beach in the ocean and ends up in Downtown LA, approximately 20 miles away. I arrived to T1 at about 530 and set-up. The Pros were to start at 645, and I wanted to watch them start because they are always amazing. For some reason, the swim buoys were not in place by 645. The pros were waiting in the corral for at least an extra 10 minutes; they didn’t look very happy with the delay. As we were waiting for the race to start, we were watching the waves. Holy crap! The waves were huge. The pros had to go through at least 6-foot waves. Since I was in Wave 6, I fully expected to be seeing the same waves. I can’t say I was very excited about the swimming prospects. It’s always reassuring when the crowd watching the race collectively says “Oh, my…” after watching a wave break. Good times!

Swim
I was very lucky getting out through the waves. I dove under one huge wave and I was out in the water. The wave did hit the end of my feet as I dove under it, though. I couldn’t imagine getting caught by one of them. My swim was fine except for about halfway through when I realized that I missed putting BodyGlide on my right side. I felt the burn for the last 700m+. I also was very lucky on the exit of the swim. As I was coming in, I was looking back for waves. As I looked back, I realized I was “caught” at the top of one of the big ones. I rose about 4-5 feet above the people behind me. Thankfully, the wave broke about 5 feet in front of me. I swam like hell after the big wave broke. One of my friends in the race was not quite so lucky. He got caught in the waves for a few minutes and ended up losing about 10 minutes. The race organizers moved the entrance to the transition zone from last year’s race. Last year it was a straight shot into T1. This year, we had to run ~25m North through the sand and then about 75m south along a bike path to get into the transition. It probably added about 2-3 minutes to my swim time (running in wetsuit + running in sand = slow running).

Swim time – 35:14 (1.5K)

T1
Except for the long run into the transition area, T1 was pretty uneventful. I don’t wear socks for Olympic Distance races, so my transitions are usually okay. I need to learn to put my shoes on while they are clipped in to save some more time

T1 Time – 2:27

Bike
If you ever get the chance, do this race for the bike leg. You get to ride on Fairfax and Hollywood Boulevard by the Walk of Fame and by the famous venues and theaters in Hollywood with empty streets. If you’ve ever been through LA at any time of the day, you’ll realize how amazing it is to be on the streets with no cars. And, best of all, the course is pretty flat with only 2-3 “hills”. My bike leg went fine. I think I was only passed by about 3-4 people. I wish I could have gone harder, but I didn’t have the training in my legs. The only bad part of the bike leg were the other riders. I’m not a yeller on course if someone is doing something wrong (e.g. “Stay to the right!!!”), but I really wanted to during this race. People were riding on the left, cutting you off as you came by, not letting you pass, drafting, etc. It was a bit annoying, but, with triathlon getting bigger, we’re going to have to deal with it. Small beans, really.

Bike Time – 1:16:31 (40K)

T2
T2 is in downtown LA. The area is long and narrow. IT stinks if you’re in the sprint because you go out of T2 on the same side you come in on. I would say it adds at least a quarter mile if you’re in the last few waves. Thankfully, my age group is usually early, so I was up front. I put on my hat and shoes and grabbed a bottle of water.

T2 Time – 2:02

Run
I’ve been working hardest on this leg of the race. Unfortunately, my mid-summer speed training was a non-factor due to my weak training schedule weeks before the race. I just wanted to go faster than last year (which I did by about 2 minutes).

The run is completely in downtown LA. The course is pretty much an out and back (It has a little loop near the end). There are two major hills (one real nasty), but it is otherwise very flat. The first hill is the nasty one, and it’s about 1.25 miles into the run. My right calf was a bit crampy (Is that a word?), so I walked for about 30 seconds up it. Afterwards I felt great and ran the rest of the way.

Also, I decided to carry a sport water bottle with me on the run. I’m a big sweater and usually over heat during the run and thought a water bottle might help…and it did! I had a couple drinks out of the bottle, but just sprayed most of it on my head; I felt nice and cool during the entire run! I’ll probably be using the same technique on the next half-ironman I do next year (undecided which one yet).

Run Time – 52:07 (10K)

Total Time – 2:48:21

Wrap-Up
I didn’t end up going as fast as I wanted to, but I did pretty well given my training.

What made this race stand out was that two of my friends participated in their first triathlons (Sprint Race). One, my old roommate, is a smoker and was a non-athlete, but he trained hard and ended up loving it. He even wrote me an email yesterday:

“K,

Swim time is messed up ..... it took me like 2 and half minutes to get out of the sand.

Swim --> 0:19:01
T1 --> 0:06:58
Bike --> 1:21:23 (16.53 mph)
T2 --> 0:06:30
Run --> 0:33:22 (10.67 min/mile)

Total --> 2:27:12

I know I can do better next year”

He’s says he’s definitely in for next year. Too cool! My other friend is a runner, but she bought a road bike and started training. Although she didn’t have fun in the big surf, she says she’s going to try another one in some freshwater without waves. I’m so happy to have turned on two of my friends to a sport I truly enjoy participating in. That’s what it’s all about, right? Thanks for listening!

Kenny
kennymejia.blogspot.com