This past Sunday was the LA Triathlon. I did the Malibu Olympic 3 weeks ago and did okay considering I had only run about 10 miles between March and September. After that race, I've run another 10 miles, did a little cycling and some swimming. I did the LA Tri in 2006 when there were some bad surf conditions, and thought I would just forego it this year since I'd been there, done that, etc.
Unfortunately, I mentioned to Lynda Neuman that I was NOT going to do the LA Tri. Accordingly, due to her nature of liking to make others suffer, Lynda nagged, cajoled, and bribed me to do the race saying she would pick me up and be my race sherpa for the day, sacrificing her own training time. Hmmmmmm, I bust my hump and you sit back and watch????? I even spent the past week trying to get out of it. On Tuesday, I said I wasn't the doing race. Same on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and even Saturday when I saw her on the club ride. Well, after I dropped off my T2 bag in Marina del Rey on Saturday I was committed (not to an institution) unless, of course, I didn't mind buying a new pair of Newtons. These were some pretty new Newtons, so I was screwed. I was doing the race whether I liked it or not. I saw vicious cycle Brandon at the expo-I only mention this cause he had his shirt on, which is rare and worth mentioning for all the ladies reading this race report.
LA Tri is a nice race, but it is point to point, so having someone take your T1 stuff and meeting you downtown at the finish is HUGE. Thanks Lynda!
Lynda picked me up at 5:30am and we were in Venice Beach by 6, parked by 6:05 and in transition by 6:10. Lynda promised donuts in the car, but there were none. Johnna promised us breakfast when we got home, but there was none. Zip nada nothing. This was a doubly bad day.
We left transition area at 7 to watch the pros start at 715. There were many waves. Many waves of age group starts, but more importantly, many many many WAVES in the water. The water was warm at 70 degrees, but there were relentless 4-6 foot waves (no breaks) and a rip current. If you took too long making your way through the waves, you were pulled south and were unable to make it around the first buoy. Swimmers were being told to get out and walk back up the beach and try again. Many swimmers were taking 2-3 attempts and were taking at least 20 minutes to go the first 150 yards to the first buoy. We saw one M-Pro being pulled from the surf and sent home. We saw two elites being brought in by lifeguards. The longer we waited, the worse the surf. At least the water was warm-it was saying "come on in, I've got something for you".
Piper's wave was delayed by at least 30 minutes; this was due to two things: 1) race officials wanted to give David more time to find some duct tape for his torn wetsuit and 2) the union rule for lifeguards is that they can have no more than 400 swimmers in the water at the same time. So, they were setting off waves as the appropriate number of people exited the water. As for David's gaping wetsuit hole, he nutted up and swam in less than an ideal wetsuit in far less than ideal conditions. Piper is now running a charity drive for a new bike and a new wetsuit.
My wave finally started and we ran about a 100 yards north away from the first buoy and went in the water. The key was to move fast and dive under every wave, come up, dive again until you made it through. If you stood up, tried to go over, or took your time, you were dragged south quicker than air out of a C02 cartridge. After the jog up the beach and the fact that there were only a few seconds between waves, I was feeling worked; heart rate too high, etc. You know its bad when you dive under a wave and it goes totally black-not from lack of oxygen, but from lack of light--that's how high the waves were. I was the first to the buoy in my wave start and from there you were swimming in a rolling trough down to the Venice Beach pier to the turn around. Then a left turn and back towards the start. The current was helpful to the swimmers on the way back, as I was back rounding the last buoy in what seemed like a much shorter time than the swim down, which was the opposite of what I anticipated given the rip current close to shore. I body surfed in taking one wave feet-over-head in a nice little washing machine move that put me in a great spot to run up the beach. Swim was 23:15.
Out of T1 (2:15) I handed my wetsuit to Sherpa Lynda, and headed towards downtown via Venice Beach Blvd. to Fairfax to Olympic. I noticed a couple of Ethipoian restaurants on Fairfax and wondered what their signature dishes could possibly be. Riding east, there was a constant headwind that only got worse on Olympic Blvd. The great thing about that was that you did a 9 mile loop on Olympic to get that nice headwind twice. I knew I had no real legs for a hard run so I tried to keep the cadence high into the wind and make it there with some ability to run. Bike was way slower than I though at 1:15:02. I only saw 1 or 2 guys in my age group pass me on the bike, so my 3 minute lead out of the water was squandered :-0
Out of T2 (1:53) and onto the run. You know what's awesome-running that hill on Grand avenue not once, but twice. Don't run south on the flats towards awesome USC, run north up the friggin mt everest of hills. I saw Lynda at the run turnaround taking pictures and cheering us on. (where are the pictures Lynda?). My first goal was to not walk up either hill and my second goal was to hold on for at least 10th in my age group. I achieved both, finishing the run in 52:36 and coming in 10th in my age group by one second with a 2:35:00. I owe it all to Lynda. Thanks Lynda. Next year, you can do it.
Doubly bad day = Pounded by the waves going in and coming out + Double head wind because LA is not big enough to stretch out a 25 mile bike ride + the Grand Ave hill times 2 + no donuts and no breakfast.
BarryMan
