Season wrapped...not quite yet...

Wetsuit Epiphany

Okay, so I have one more race this year. I am racing the Olympic distance triathlon at HITS Palm Springs on Dec. 8th. I have heard the water can be very cold, so I had a chat with Gayla at Tri-Zone, trying to figure out a wetsuit that would be good for me and for this race. 

My current wetsuit inventory: 2 surf wetsuits (one shorty and one full), 1 full sleeved (TNT) swim wetsuit, and 1 sleeveless (Xterra) swim wetsuit. The surf wetsuits are automatically out for swimming. I feel to constricted and tend to overheat in my current full swim wetsuit. I was concerned about wearing the sleeveless in the cold having worn it recently for a cold water workout, my arms/shoulders get stiff and cold. 

After my conversation with Gayla, she lent me a 2XU full sleeve suit V1. I had the suit for about a week before I actually got it put on. So on the morning before a scheduled swim/bike workout, I tried it on before I left the house, and it fit, though I didn't get it zipped. I headed out for my swim, got the wetsuit on again, though needed some assistance with zipping (as I always do). It initially felt good on the shoulders, lots of room, my main concern. I didn't feel constricted at all, though I was still worried about overheating once I got going. I hit the water at Corona del Mar and just got used to it for a while, letting the water seep slowly into the suit.

The swim 

OMG... I felt like I had nothing on, no restrictions on my shoulders as I pulled through the water and was able to recover without feeling like the suit was pulling back. It was amazing! I had never felt like this in a wetsuit before. The suit was so comfortable and there was none of the dreaded overheating. I felt faster, and felt like I was putting in less effort to maintain my speed. 

I swam just over half a mile in this wetsuit, and will be using it again in Palm Springs. 

The bike

So after the swim was a bike ride. Other than testing out the wetsuit, the other purpose of the workout was to also test the new Tri-Zone tri-top. We rode from Corona del Mar down to Laguna Beach, then back up to Corona del Mar and up through the Back Bay. The jersey performed like a champ. The pockets in the back were large enough to hold my iPhone in it's various cases, as well as my keys (one item in each pocket). 

Thanks 

Thanks to Gayla at  Tri-Zone, Raul-mechanic @ Tri-Zone & SBR buddy (swam and rode w/me on epiphany day).

LA Triathlon

Image of race shirt

As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up to do a 3 race series with Pacific Sports including the Long Beach,  Los Angeles, and Newport Beach Triathlons. Yesterday, I completed the second race in the series, the LA Triathlon.

Packet Pickup--Saturday @ LA Live

Staples Center

Nokia theater

This was my first time at LA Live, so that in and of itself was an experience. Parking was great, just pulled into the LA Live garage, and it was $5 for 2 hours...plenty of time to check out the expo and listen to the course talk. So I went through the packet pickup process, it went rather smoothly. When I went to pick up my swim cap, I was confused as to which cap to get, as this was the first time we got to pick our own cap colors (more on that later). I turned my T-2 bag, but a few minutes later, realized that my race number belt was in my T-2 bag, but I still had my race number bib with me, so I headed back to the T-2 bag booth and got my bag to put my bib on on my belt and turned it back in. I wandered around the expo a bit then headed to the course talk. I listened in for a few minutes, glad I did as the speaker mentioned the plethora of potholes on the bike course. I still had not purchased my ticket for the shuttle I would be riding to the race start, so I found the booth (happened to be manned by a friend of mine) and got that last piece of business taken care of, and headed out to make my way home.  Of course, I had to take a few pictures on the way out.

LA Live Plaza facing finish line area, taken from where race day expo would be.

ESPN Zone, now I feel at home.

Race Morning- Sunday- time - way to early

My Alarm- to wake up to Nothing
would be a nightmare to moste
for me it's just a song.

I set my alarm for 2 am so that I could be ready to leave by 3 as I was concerned about getting to parking by 4 and on one of the first shuttles. I ended up needing some of that extra time, I arrived in downtown LA just before 4 and went on a hunt for parking, no one was at the first lot I went to, so I decided not to park there, and drove around to find the other designated lot. Driving around was not an easy task as a lot of the roads were already closed to traffic. I found the other designated lot, and it was locked up tight, no way to get in, so I figured I'd better go to the first lot. I drove back around to the area of the first lot, but by now the street leading to that lot was blocked off. Disaster in the making. So drove back to the second lot, and just pulled over and waited, saw some race personnel and asked what was up, all they could say was that it was a private lot and no one was there. Then I noticed several people parked in another lot, this was the only open lot in the vicinity, but there was no one to take money. I was a little concerned, but by this time it was almost 4:30, so I waited until a few more people were parked in the lot, and got my bike and hopped on the shuttle to the race start. And when I say shuttle, I really mean "party bus" there was even a pole in the middle. It was a nice ride to the race start despite the distractions of the color changing lights.

T-1 setup

T-1 (pre-race)- Sunday- time- about 5:30 (still no sun and very cold)
I arrived at T-1, walked into transition, it was open racking according to race (both Sprint & Olympic distances were contested). So I quickly set up my gear and headed to the nearest porta-potty. Luckily it seemed as if I was only the second one to use it, so it didn't stink & there was no line. Had an apple pie (Bonk Breaker) and chatted with the people racked near me. Then once the Olympic distance started, I headed over to the water to get warmed up.


The Swim- .45 mi- 18:12
This year they decided to do what they call a "swim stream" start, similar to what WTC is doing with its Ironman races. Without wave starts, there was no need for them to have color coordinated caps for each wave. It was interesting to see the rainbow of caps entering the water with each start group. Athletes self-seed into categories based on their estimated swim time. Within these time categories, they divided athletes into groups of 25 to start the swim, your swim time did not start until you crossed the mat under the swim banner. I seeded myself into the 16-19 minute group, and was in the second group of that time span to be released into the water. It was a nice start, not to crowded, the only issue I had was running into some of the slower Olympic distance swimmers after I made my turn around. The water itself was a bit choppy, with the occasional 4 foot wave (which scared some people off). My final swim course from my Garmin showed a map the shape of a boot.

T-1-5:02
Got my wetsuit off, squirted off my feet, then packed everything up into my bag and then into the plastic bag. Got my shoes and helmet on and headed out to the bike. Probably added a couple of minutes to my usual T-1 time due to the packing of the bag.

Bike- 14.46 mi- 54:20
It was a good thing I went to the course talk, as there were a lot of potholes on the course, though there was a very nicely recently repaved section of Venice Blvd that we rode on for a while. It was a bit chilly to start as the sun was just up and I was still wet from the swim. Saw a lot of the usual on the bike, some drafting, some blocking, some crazy people on the side of the road. We had the entire side of the road, three lanes in which to ride. I tried my best to stay to the right, while still leaving room on both sides to escape possible potholes (as we were told in course talk). Try as I might, I got passed twice on the right within 15 seconds of each other, and I was moving right to allow people on the left to pass. I almost ended up taking out the second person who passed on the left. There is a reason there is no passing on the right,  so I just had to make it clear to these to boneheads who didn't know their left from their right , I screamed at the top of my lungs "NO PASSING ON THE RIGHT", that got me a bit of a fan club of the riders around me, who also saw these guys pass closely and on the right. There was plenty of room for them to pass correctly. That was the big excitement on the bike, the rest passed uneventfully as I made my way to T-2.

T-2- 5:09
This transition is usually slower than T-1 for me due to the fact I put on socks for the run but not the bike. I didn't have too much to put back in my bag, so it was an easy pack up. Took my leftover nutrition from the bike out with me on the run.

The Run- 3.14 mi- 39:16
Okay, I had been warned pre-race that there was a bit of a hill on the run. This made me think of the LA Marathon and the big hill in that race that the wheelchair athletes have to zig-zag to make it to the top. I'm usually fine with hills, as long as I know about them and don't see them coming too far out. In this case I knew about the hill, but it came into visual range a bit too early for me. At the top of the hill was the Walt Disney Concert Hall, then we did two tiny out and backs on the intersecting street, then back down the hill. I walked up the hill, but had to run down it, as my knees don't like walking down hills, and my lungs don't like running up them. I kept with an intermittent walk/run strategy, walking all the aid stations, as well as a few spots in between. I managed to run consistently the last  .3 miles, and crossed the finish line with a new 5K PR.

Who wants a golf lesson
after a triathlon?

Post Race-
After  I finished, I grabbed some food, some ice to put in my water bottle and headed to pick up my bags. First I headed over to try to pick up my T-1 bag just outside the finisher area, but there was no one there, no bags either. So I figured I'd head back to T-2 to pick up my bike and other gear. In T-2 there were still a few racers coming in off the bike (one of the things to deal with when hosting 2 distances at the same time), so we had to watch out for them. After I picked up my bike, I headed to check out the expo and maybe see if the bags had been brought back yet. No dice on the bags the second time around, so I headed back to the expo. I headed for the Tri-Lab booth and chatted with the
guys there for a while. Next to the Tri- Lab booth there was a booth offering free golf lessons, I'm to golfer, so I just passed that up. After a while, I noticed people with what appeared to be their T-1 bags, so I headed over to get mine. Once I had all my bags I headed back to the parking lot. Happy to see my car was still there, I happily paid the attendant the $10 fee and was on my way home.

Long Beach Triathlon

Okay, so it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy working...pretty much everyday during the school year as a substitute, then for 6 weeks during summer school. It took some time to really get back in the swing of training. My first race after Oceanside was Redondo Beach, a nice small, short local race that I did with a few of my friends. This was the second time doing this race. I like it because it has a long swim (for a sprint) of 0.5 miles, and a short run (2 miles). I ended up also working a swim meet that day, so didn't get to enjoy the post-race festivities with my friends.

So back to Long Beach, I signed up to do the Southern California Sprint Triathlon series put on my Pacific Sports. The series included LB, LA, & Newport Beach Triathlons. Three local races for $350, quite a deal, I thought. I had a few friends that had signed up for the race, so I decided to join them. For two of my friends (Jeff 1 & Jeff 2) it was their first ever triathlon.

Pre-race--
The usual breakfast, and I am off to the race site, parking near the LB convention center. Convention center does not come up on my GPS and I have no address, so I just go my usual route to the area That is, until I run into the closure of 2nd St. the best way I know how to get where I'm going, end up figuring out how to get around and back to where I want to go. Go park, get to transition, wait in long line to get into transition. I didn't arrive as early as I wanted to, so didn't get my usual end spot. Parked my bike and went to look to see if I could find any of my friends. Found the friends, kind of spread out in different waves, though Jeff 1 & Jeff 3 were in the same wave (racing Clydes). We all got set up and headed out to the water.

The swim-- 0.5 miles, with about 200 m sand run to transition area
The water was perfectly smooth. Had to watch for stingrays though, a guy next to me brushed one, and Jeff 3 got tagged during warm up (he still raced and finished with a faster time than his wife). Swim was wonderful, felt really fast, was breathing every 2 with the occasional 3rd stroke breath. Passed quite a few women from the wave or 2 in front of me, but a lot of them passed me back on the run up the beach. My calves were mooing at me for days, as they usually do after a sand run.

T1- uneventful, got the wetsuit off, shoes on and headed for the mount line.

The bike-- 14 miles, 2 loop T-shaped course, going over the Queensway bridge twice (each direction)

Me on the bike (thanks Lori)

I remembered pre-race (courtesy of Jeff 1) to change to the appropriate gear to go up the hill out of transition. So that hill was easy, as was much of the course. Felt amazing to be riding on a portion of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Course. The roads were mostly completely closed to traffic, the only exception was one way on the bridge, there was a lane of traffic, an empty lane, then our lanes to race. I was able to stay in my aero bars for much of the ride.

T2- sprayed water on my feet, tried to wipe off the sand before putting my socks and shoes on. Yes, I run with socks on, but don't ride with them, hoping the sand will get knocked off my feet during the ride and I'm ready for the run, but this didn't quite work as planned. Got passed by Jeff 1 (he was in the wave after me) on my way out, but passed him back up as we started the run.

The run- 3 mile, 2 loop out and back on the beach path.

Me on the run (thanks again Lori)

This was a very crowded run, especially the first lap, it was on a bike/pedestrian path, so not very wide for the number of runners on it at the time.  Did my usual run-walk and ended up averaging my fastest ever per mile for a 5K/3mi course. Crowd support was great, though Lori & Andy (our race supporters/photographers) seemed to miss me when I "ran" by them, only able to catch my backside in pictures. I crossed the finish line just ahead of Jeff 1.

Ahh, finally finished

Overall-- Hit the finish line, there were fruit and other snacks, though the Jeffs were disappointed by the lack of beer at the finish line. A great time was had by all.

Jeffs 1 & 2 wondering where's the beer?

Tri-Zone crew at the finish (missing Dr. Sean)
Jeff2, Me, Jeff1, Jeff3, Jeff3s wife Dawn

 Now on to the freak out about LA Triathlon, my first complete point-to-point race, where the transitions are more than a mile apart. EEEK!!

Ironman Oceanside 70.3

Vengeance is mine!!

Pre-race- Friday

Got packed up and left my house in Anaheim at about 1:15 pm. Arrived in Oceanside around 2:30 and headed down to packet pickup. Was the usual routine similar set up to last year, except that you didn't have to walk over to the opposite end of the village to pick up your bags, as they distributed them from the Ironman store. Walked around and checked out some of the booths. Stopped by the Lifeproof booth, my mom, sister and I all have the cases. My sister tends to lose the little screw topper, so the gal at the booth gave me a small baggie of replacement screw toppers.

Pro Panel

I stopped to watch the pro panel for a bit. Some of my favorite answers were to the question "Who do you look up to?" I was just waiting for someone to say that Mirinda Carfrae looked up to everyone because she is so short, but she said she looked up to Michael Jordan. Matty Reed- At 6'4" he said everyone on this panel looks up to him. Andy Potts- went for a woman,  swimmer, OC local, and one of my swimming heros, Janet Evans.
After the pro panel concluded, I headed back to the car to get my load up my run gear bag for drop off at T2.

T2 Run Bag

View to the left (entry) T2

Somebody was kind enough to mark my row.

After setting up T2 and making another trip around the expo, it was time to head to San Marcos to check in to my hotel, get some dinner, and do some grocery shopping.

Obligatory Beach/Pier Shot

Another Beach pic, wished I had brought my DSLR.

Race morning-

I parked over by T2 and decided not to risk a repeat of last year and walked my bike and bags over to T1 and the race start. Got to my rack, it was empty, so I got my prime end spot. I walked back and forth a few times to get my bearings, got body marked. My body marker remembered me from last year when I mentioned I had the messed up bag. Went to visit the little girls room a few times, and finally there were some other athletes along my rack, one of whom remembered my from last year, as we were on the same rack last year. Rack location was easy to remember, right across from the tech support booth. Luckily I did not need to visit tech support this year!! Ate a banana and got ready to hit the water. This time I brought a cheap pair of flip flops to spare my feet from the cold painful pavement.

The Swim-

Am I thinking this is going
 to be a long day

This is an in water start with only 3 minutes between waves. This year I was in wave 16 of about 22, so a little bit earlier than last year. My focus was to try to keep a straight line, and to not run in to any lifeguards. I tried to stay as far from lifeguards as possible. Felt good once I got warmed up. Just kept swimming trying to avoid too many collisions, but those are sometimes impossible to avoid. When I got out to the turnaround, it was completely flat, very different from last year's 2-3 foot chop. Got out up the ramp, being careful avoid over anxious volunteers. Swim time 37:27, about 10 minutes faster than last year.

Or is this the start of a great
adventure

T1-

Came into T1, got my wetsuit, cap and goggles off. Then had to thing for a minute or two, what to wear. It was still a bit chilly, so was debating between arm warmers, jacket, or jersey. Made the decision to go with the jersey, as I thought it might stay cool enough and I would be comfortable if I needed to wear it on the run as well. Ate another banana before heading out on the bike. T1 time- 9:22, about 2 minutes faster than last year.

The Bike-

Riding along with a smile on my face.

This is the long and boring part of the race. There are not a lot of spectators on the course, as it is mostly on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. This went much better than last year, I made it a bit further up the hills before having to walk. I was also pleased that I didn't have to use the bathroom at every single aid station. It felt good to have a bike that I was not scared of, after racing last year with a wheel out of true. I had been fit after the race last year and feel a lot better after making changes such as shorter cranks and better gearing. Approaching the last aid station, I overheard one of the race spotters saying that there were 50 athletes still to come by the aid station. I just rode my own back to the harbor, hit the strand. This is very narrow and split between runners, cyclists and the general public, at least they got rid of one of the barriers, giving everyone a tiny bit more room. Made it to T2 in plenty of time. Bike time- 4:26:15, about 10 minutes faster than last year.

T2-

Here is where I started doing the math. 13.1 miles left and I had about 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete. This would have put my finish at about 4:00pm and the cut off was at 4:18pm. All I had to do was average 15 minutes per mile, and I would achieve my goal. Took my time in transition, gal next to me tore her bib number, asked me if I had a safety pin. Guess what?? I did, as I had put one on my timing chip strap so it wouldn't fall off during the swim. I took it off and gave it to her, hoping this would be a bit of good karma for the triathlon gods. Got shoes on and grabbed water bottle and headed out. T2 time- 7:19, about the same as last year.

The Run-

Okay, so it was more like a fast walk, but whatever. I knew what I needed to do, and stuck to that plan. Walked out the first mile or so, just to get my legs back, kept track on my Garmin trying to maintain my 15 min/mile pace. Made sure to run all downhills (down ramps), except the steeper part of the pier ramp. I also ran whenever I felt like I was slowing down too much. On lap 1 I caught up to Rudy Garcia Tolson (double amputee triathlete), chatted with him for a bit, went back and forth, ahead of and behind him (he was on lap 2) great motivation for that first lap. I hit the split and heard Rudy's name and cheered as he crossed the line. Heading up to start my second lap, I hit the dreaded spot where I was pulled off the course last year. I told the guy standing there "Tell her I'm not getting a hug this year!" Headed out and back down the pier and back up, saw the "hugger" and shouted "No hugs for me!" To which she replied, "You won't see me until the finish line." The course, even toward the end still had people yelling, cheering, and otherwise motivating me and the others still on the course. As I approached the last aid station, the volunteers formed a tunnel, high fives and motivation the whole way. As I approached the barriers I felt the need to run just far enough make it to the finish line.

The finish line, actual time was 8:41:38

I finished!!! Run Split- 3:21:15, my first half marathon. Total race time: 8:41:38.

Post Race-

Got my medal and hat!! Grabbed some pizza and soda (ick) Pizza was cold. Sat and attempted to eat. Chatted with a guy I met on the run for a bit, then headed to pick up my bike and other gear bags. Then to my car to make the drive home, but not without a stop at In-n-Out first. Man did that burger taste good!

Aah the "ice bath"

Woke up Sunday morning and could barely move, so decided to sit in the pool as an ice bath. It's unheated and at this time of year the temperature was perfect, it felt so good to just sit there.

Then thought to myself, "Suzanne, you just finished a Half-Ironman triathlon, what are you going to do next? ....I'm going to Disneyland!!!" I actually went to Disney's California Adventure on Monday with my sister. Moving/walking helps to get rid of the soreness.

Race on the Base

AWESOME!!
Have no other way to describe the race experience. Dropped time, though there was a slight course change on the run, it was my best time in the four years I've done this race. Originally I had signed up for the first wave (finish time estimate faster than 1:39) but decided later to switch to the second wave (slower than 1:40 finish) as this was the wave that all my friends were in and I anticipated being right near the border time. The course is completely closed, on the Joint Forces training base. The run and bike are mostly on the runway/airfield, and the swim is in a heated 50m pool. It's nice not having to worry cars on the road while you bike and run. It also makes it easier to pass people on the bike, not having work with a narrow roadway, instead you have a nice wide runway.

I had no specific strategy going into the run (reverse triathlon) just to run as much as possible and limit walk breaks to under 1 minute at a time. Weather was great, not to cold so just wore my tri suit. Strategy seemed to work well.
Garmin data: Avg Pace- 12:37 min/mile, distance- 3.17 miles, avg hr- 172bpm, run split time- 39:57.

Got on the bike and headed back to the runway for my 3 loops on the bike. Being on a runway has its positives and negatives. Positive- flat, fast, no traffic, wide lanes. Negative- wind, being a runway it is set up to take advantage of the prevailing winds in the area, so there's one side of the loop that has a strong headwind. It wasn't as windy as last year. My legs cramped up last year on the last lap of the bike, but I made some changes to my Pre race nutrition and didn't cramp at all.
Garmin data: Avg Speed- 16.2 mph, distance-1.97 miles, avg hr-168bpm,  bike split time- 47:58, avg cadence- 75

Coming off the bike, I caught up to one of my friends and headed to the swim, my favorite part. Of course for me the swim is always too short. Had to swim around a few people and took my time to maneuver around people at the walls (was a zig-zag swim 4 laps of a 50 meter pool, each lap area was 2 lanes wide).  Timing mat for swim time was located at the entrance to the pool deck, not at the edge of the pool.
Garmin data: Swim split- 4:08, distance- 200 meters, avg strokes- 32 per length.
Ended up with a 1:38, a new PR for the course.

Now time to gear up for Oceanside!!

Gearing up for the season

Setting a plan for 2013
So, I have 2 races on the schedule in the next couple of months. Race on the Base on the 23rd of February and Oceanside 70.3 at the end of March. I'm looking forward to both of these races for different reasons.
Race on the Base is a local reverse sprint triathlon held on a local military base. It's a fun race to start the season, I get to see a lot of my friends at this race. The run and bike are on the base's runway so there is no traffic to worry about and there is plenty of room for passing on the bike. It's also nice as it falls near my birthday, last year it was the day after, and this year it's the day before. The only drawback is the short swim, only 200 meters, though I usually end up with one of the top swim splits in my age group.
Oceanside is an entirely different ball game. I didn't finish last year, I was pulled from the course mid-way through the run. The goal this year is to make it to the finish line before the cutoff.