2011 Newport Beach Triathlon Race Report

Newport Beach Triathlon – Oct 23rd 2011 
Newport Beach, CA
Race Totals: 1:14:25
Swim: 14:55
Bike: 39:42 ( 22.7 mph avg) 
Run: 17:54 ( 5:58 per mile avg) 

Pre-Race:

This was my last triatlon of the year. I was feeling healthy and my confidence level was high. I knew it was going to be a fun race because in addition to all my usual LB tri club peeps my buddies Stephen and Russell were doing it with me. With all this excitement I decided to make a lofty goal for myself. Try and beat my coworker mark tripp’s time from last year. This would be no small effort. This man got 8th or 9th in the IM 70.3 World Championships this year for Mens 30-34. However last year we were both new to the sport, so I figured reducing my last years time of 1:21:14 into a 1:12:58 was in the realm of possibilities.

A little info about myself: I’m 30 years old, weigh 150 lbs, my FTPw = 225watts, and my VO2max = 69.2 (320 watts)*. My pre-race goals were 12 min swim, 37:30 bike, and 18 min run.  Was hoping for a top 3 AG finish, and a top 10 OA finish.

* Power & VO2 Testing done May 2011

4:15AM I ate a Waffle-wich ( Pamelas Gluten Free Waffle mix w/ bannana , Fried Egg, 3 strips of bacon, slice of munster cheese), and some Locally Roasted True Beans Coffee ( yes I’m a coffee snob ).  ( 600 cal )

5:45AM Arrived at transition

7:00AM Honey Stinger Gel chased w/ water. ( 120 cal )

7:15AM Race Start ( Wave 2 )
 

Swim (0.5mi):
I’m not a strong swimmer so usually I just try to survive the swim and not to fall too far behind. Last race i tried something new for me. GO ALL OUT ON THE SWIM. It worked well in long beach and didn’t hurt my bike run times, so I figured I would give it a shot again. Unfortunately I had been skipping a couple swim workouts towards the end of the year and it showed in my time. Congrats to my friend Russell who in just his second triathlon was first out of the water in our AG with a 12:36 and had the 7th fastest swim time overall.

Swim Total: 14:55 (5^th 30-34AG, 44^thOA)

T1: 1:02 ( boom, quick T1 !!! )

Bike (15mi):
Since this was a sprint, there wasn’t much strategy involved other than I basically biked as fast as I could the whole time. Looking at my data I was booking it the whole time.  For the data junkies, I averaged 237 watts during this race ( same as Long Beach Sprint ).

Bike Nutrition:

• 0-30min: Watered down PowerBar Perform ( 50 cal )
• 30min: Single Shot Block ( 30 cal )

Bike Nutrition Totals (+/-):

• Calories: 80* (120 per hour)

*For reference, raced at ~150LBS (Hourly Caloric Intake (Bike):  0.80 calories /LB) 

Bike Total: 39:42 (2^nd 30-34AG, 14^th OA)

T2: 0:53 ( putting on socks always kills my T2 )

Run (3.0mi):
Goal for the run was 6 min pace for the first 2 miles, and then use everything I got to sprint the last mile. This strategy instantly went out the window because my garmin didn’t pick up a GPS signal until almost the first mile marker and my first mile split was 6:14. Then the second mile there were some turns and a hill, so 6:18 was my next split. TIME TO SPRINT !!! I’m glad i ate a little food on the bike because the last mile went really well. i almost killed a spectator in the finish chute though. i guess thats why you look both ways before crossing the race course around a blind turn. Looking back I probably could have even gone a little faster on the run, it seemed like the race was over before I was even warmed up running.

Mile 1: 6:14 

Mile 2: 6:18

Mile 3: 5:23

Run Nutrition:

Misc: Drank ½ cup of water at every aid station

Run Total: 17:54 (2^nd 30-34AG, 4^th OA)

Race Total: 1:14:25
1st M30-34
7th OA

Lessons Learned. This was a great race. I took about 7 minutes off my time from last year, and got first place in the Mens 30-34. As an added bonus I got to edge out Mike Long in the overall rankings. I’m still humbled by his biking skills. He had one of the fastest bike splits of the day. I did not beat my goal time, but I swear the swim was long this year ...   Thanks to Pacific Sports LLC for putting on a great race. Thanks to trisports.com and thanks to lb tri club and all my friends that did it with me. Lessons learned for this race … Stop slacking with masters swimming and go all three days a week. Maybe buy a faster bike. Train harder. 

2011 Tri-Carson Reverse Sprint Race Report

Tri-Carson Reverse Sprint – Oct 15th 2011 
Carson, CA
Race Totals: 58:26
Run: 21:08 ( 5:56 per mile avg)
Bike: 31:59 ( 22.3 mph avg)
Swim: 2:56

Pre-Race:

I originally wasn’t planning on doing this race because i don't like to do back to back races, and the Newport Triathlon was coming up the following weekend. But then i got an email from Long Beach Triathlon Club with the following bet attached: “Anyone who beats Tri Club co founder Chris Morrissey, will be treated to dinner, prepared and served by Chris.” Knowing that Chris is an amazing cook, and good company as well, i figured why not give it a shot. I called up my buddy Stephen who is always game to do a triathlon on 3-4 days notice and we both signed up.

As i sat in my office at work thursday before the race, i was looking over the times from last year, and for the first time i could honestly say that i probably have a chance to be in the top 3 OA. This largely depends on who shows up that day, but it was looking good. I was starting to get both nervous and excited for this thing.

Friday morning the hype got even bigger when Charles Johanson, the Race Director, starting fueling the fire even more with some banter & taunting on facebook between Chris, Louie, and I.   

Since this was a reverse sprint, mass start, my pre race goals where to keep the #1 runner in my site, bike like mad, and hopefully get into T2 in the front of the pack.

A little info about myself: I’m 30 years old, weigh 150 lbs, my FTPw = 225watts, and my VO2max = 69.2 (320 watts)*.

* Power & VO2 Testing done May 2011

4:30AM Decided to switch it up, ate a Waffle-wich ( Pamelas Gluten Free Waffle mix w/ bannana , Fried Egg, 3 strips of bacon, slice of munster cheese), and some Locally Roasted True Beans Coffee ( yes I’m a coffee snob ).  ( 600 cal )

6:00AM Arrived at transition

7:00AM Honey Stinger Gel chased w/ water. ( 120 cal )

7:30AM Race Start ( Mass Start )

Run (3.1mi /3.55mi per garmin):

10 minutes to start time, I was feeling nervous and trying to prepare myself mentally for the race. I was slightly zoning out listening to the pre race meeting, but in the middle of the talk, the Race director yelled “Brian Mott, raise your hand.” i felt like i was getting called on for not paying attention in class. I tentatively raised my hand, “ This is the guy to beat “ he announced “ so try and keep up with this guy.” Great now i have a target on my back. i just went from slightly nervous to super nervous.

Despite all that, I love mass starts. There is no guessing with different waves about where you are in the race. If there is a guy in front of you, he's in front of you. my goal here was to run 5:48 - 6:10 pacing depending on how i felt and how everyone else was doing. i wasn’t going to sprint at the start just so i can be in front.

As usual there were a bunch of sprinters that faded after the first 1/4 mile. I started the race a little faster than i wanted but after 1/2 mile i got into my groove and settled into a good pace. At this time it was pretty apparent who the good runners were. Vidal Estrada was booking it and was clear that there was no way i could keep up with him, Nick Stanton was at a slightly slower pace about halfway in between Vidal and I. I wanted to catch Nick and not let Vidal out of my sites. After the second lap i made it happen and was running side by side with Nick running into T1 hoping that these two were poor bikers. I had beat Vidal at the Long beach tri, and i knew he was a strong runner, but i wasn’t sure if his weakness was the bike or the swim.( Side note, Vidal made a wrong turn and lost about 15-20 seconds of his lead )

Mile 1:      5:52 pace
Mile 2:      5:53 pace
Mile 3:      6:08 pace
Mile 3.55:  5:56 pace

Run Nutrition:
Misc: Drank ½ cup of water at every aid station

Run Total: 21:08 (2^nd 30-39AG, 3^rd OA)

T1: XXX ( quick T1, but error in timing mat )

Bike (12mi):

I was second place OA rolling out of T1. I had a little trouble getting out to the main road. My heart rate was way up, i was trying to get my shoes on in between the speed bumps, trying to start my bike computer, and there were cones blocking the exit out for some reason. After shouting panicked at some of the volunteers (nicely) i was able to find my way out, and they fixed the cones for everyone else.  Once getting onto the main road it was a great feeling to actually be able to see the leader,  Vidal, and it gave me a mental target to bike my little heart out. The course was a 4 Lap square, and i’m a pretty confident biker so i just needed to catch him by lap 3 or 4.

Side Note: I had another little course snafu on the first lap turn point after biking down at 30+mph and needing to take a hard right turn, i thought the square was longer and i almost plowed into a bunch of cops when i tried to go straight. I noticed for the later laps they moved a squad car to block where i tried to go. you can all thank me later. i probably lost about 15-20 seconds there as i almost didn’t make the turn and got down to about 3 mph before i went up the hill.

Back to the race. Biking behind Vidal was a bit demoralizing. This guy must have quads of steel, he was out of the saddle pumping almost every time i looked up at him and i literally gained no distance between us on the first two laps.  However i think my aerodynamics might have trumped his power, because on the last lap i passed him. HOWEVER just as i had enjoyed the lead for about 15 seconds i hear the  WHIR WHIR WHIR of a disc wheel and Mike Long flew by me and took the lead.  This guy had some serious speed. i was going something like 33 mph down the hill, and he passed me with +5mph at least.  I scrambled to catch him on the last 1/2 lap, but he was able to get into T2 before me. Another snafu here for me, i dismounted off my bike at the prepare for dismount line, instead of the dismount line, and was frustratingly just coasting in on one side of my bike until i got to the real dismount line.

For the data junkies, I averaged 243 watts during this race.

Bike Nutrition:
Watered down PowerBar Perform ( 50 cal )

Bike Nutrition Totals (+/-):
Calories: 50* (100 per hour)
*For reference, raced at ~150LBS (Hourly Caloric Intake (Bike):  0.66 calories /LB) 

Bike Total: 31:59 (1^st 30-39AG, 3^rd OA)

T2: 0:22 ( ripped off my jersey, and threw my goggles in a flash)

Swim (150 meters):

Not that i gave up at this point, but its always almost impossible to pass people during the swim part of reverse triathlons. You can pretty much go as slow as you want and block the person behind you if needed. I was 15 seconds or approximately 1 lap behind the guy in front of me I tried my best to catch the guy in front of me, and talking with him after apparently gave him a heart attack around every lap, but did not succeed in catching him.

Swim Total: 2:56 (1^st 30-39AG, 3^rd OA)

Race Total: 58:26
1st M30-39
2nd OA

Lessons Learned.

This was a fun race. All the pre-race taunting & bets were great. It was awesome to have all the support during the race from the volunteers and fellow LB Tri club members. It was great to be the leader of the race, even if it was only for 15 seconds. Special thanks to Charles Johanson, Denise Marufo, LB Tri Club, and all the sponsors for putting on a great race. Thanks to trisports.com and thanks to all my friends and club members that did it with me. Lessons learned for this race: know the race course. The course foiled me at least 3 times and cost me some serious time in retrospect. Besides that i gave it my all and was happy with the result. I can’t wait to enjoy my dinner, prepared and served by Chris. Next year, ill have my eye on that course record. I just need to go 5 seconds faster on the run, 5 seconds faster on the bike, and 5 seconds faster on the swim. Next stop Newport Beach Triathlon.