Da Iz Biz: Race Report: Malibu International Triathlon

A good warmup/measuring stick race en route to IM 70.3 NOLA. But boy did this one hurt. For starters, I came into the race battling strep throat just a couple days before. So plenty of snot rockets and dripping noses throughout. But I overcame that and some other race maladies to finish under 3 hours!

Race details:
Malibu, California
Swim: 0.9 mi - open water, ocean swim
Bike: 24.85 mi - road, out and back on PCH
Run: 6.2 mi - run, out and back on the strand to Point Dume

Race Summary:
As mentioned, I came into the race battling strep throat. I felt weird starting the week, but decided to keep training. By Wednesday, I could feel the hoarseness of my throat. Thursday morning, I awoke to what was strep throat and spent the next two days mostly in bed, sucking down meds, throat lozenges and tons of water. I awoke race morning and just decided to just make it happen. Never a great choice, but I'm not a quitter. In the past, I probably would've just laid down and taken the L, hoping to bounce back. But since doing the Ironman with CTF, I've come to realize that a lot of folks struggle through worse things. And so if I can do this and fight thru it, maybe someone will be inspired. It's probably not true, but hey I'm a head case and this triathlon game is mostly mental anyway!

Once there and setup and with coffee in the belly, you just start to feel it. It's amazing what can lift your spirits and in turn your body to do something like push down a cold. By the time some beezy actress/singer type sang the national anthem, I was pumped and ready to go! Like I almost forgot I was even fighting anything. But once that canon sounded and I was diving into the water, I could start to feel it come on. My first probably 100m was like getting shot out of said canon. Then I was like "whoa, calm down. it's a marathon not a sprint. AND you don't feel well. let's dial it in." And so I did. To the tune of being 2 min faster out of the water, yet feeling great while swimming! Oh and there were pods of dolphins everywhere! I counted 3 different pods while I walked to the start.

Getting to transition was where the first signs of danger came though. I jogged up from the water and over to my rack. I stopped to start taking off my wetsuit and that's when the wooziness came on. I had to grab the rack to steady myself. I bent over and tried to take off the wetsuit but almost fell backwards. It was terrible. After a few seconds, I decided to just sit down on the ground and do it all. So after getting the wetsuit off, putting the shoes on and eating a HoneyStinger, I took a breath. For some reason I looked to the sidelines and happened to see Amanda. I just gave her this look of like "oh my gosh. i feel terrible. i might not finish. this could be bad." Then I stood up, decided I wasn't falling over anymore and off I went to do the bike.

And as I got on the bike and sucked down my water/CarboPro/Nuun mix, I was actually feeling good. I didn't feel woozy, my legs were turning over real well and I felt fast in aero. Then came the under the tunnel part. At the race meeting, the mentioned that there was some flooding and so they put in a makeshift bridge so riders wouldn't have to ride through some water. It was actually really safe and convenient. But naturally, you had to slow down and ride single file so it ate up some time. Well, this genius decided that he needed to again shoot out of the canon and make that up. Poor life choices. Despite the fancy Ui2 electronic Shimano shifters, my chain dropped. And with that, so did my stomach. What had been a great swim immediately became a horrible race. I had to pull off to the side and spent about 3-4 minutes wrestling my chain back onto the chainring. It was terrible. My right hand had a cut from that debacle, I had chain grease all over both hands and had to rub it off on my kit and naturally parts of my bike. It was a mess and I just screamed in anger as I got on my bike.

Once my head cooled off and I was back to riding down PCH, I focused back to the race at hand. Push hard, but don't over do it. You're sick but have been training and this can't be terrible. By the time it was said and done, I had ridden up and down PCH to Point Mugu and back in the same amount of time as my 2015 race. So whether it was the new Felt B2 or possibly a better bike fitness level, I made up whatever time was lost in the chain drop!

Then came the run. As if a couple issues weren't bad enough, life just felt like throwing one more at me. My run fitness definitely isn't what it was in 2015 and the times showed. I ended up running a 53min 10K compared to a 47min 10K just 2 years ago. That's a lot of lost time there. But not only was I battling the cold and the added fatigue of doing the first 2 legs with it, but early on, a blister had formed in my shoe (seemingly because of all the sand that got in my shoe/sock) and I had to run most of the time with it. Boy did it hurt. Every step was like stabbing the balls of my feet. You combine that with fatigue and all kinds of people passing you and you just want to lay down and give up. But naturally I didn't. I just tried to shove the pain back, focus on breathing and my heart rate so that I could make it to that mile 5 sign. Once I saw it, I knew I wanted to power to the finish and I got that "Mario star" bonus! This is something Kim, Dave and I talk about as being the moment you just get that rush that feels like you gained a ton of power and invincibility, just like the game!

So I powered to the finish! And while my time ended up being about 4min slower than in 2015, I was still happy to come in under 3hours. With all the obstacles that came in my way and with no adversary (in 2015, I was running down my buddy Henry after he passed me on the bike) for me to overexert myself, I put together a pretty solid race that I'm happy with. And if nothing else, it gives me some confidence as well as many reminders of what can happen in a race and that the best athletes push forward. You can't change what happens, but the records will always show that I finished! :D

Map and Stats Plot:

Heart Rate Zones:

Bike HR Zone Chart: The chain drop (3mi) comprises most of my time in Z1/Z2 :(

Run HR Zone Chart: Looks about right for the run, probably could've ran harder I guess

Race Charts:
Swim:

Swim this time around was pretty good. Shaved about 2 min off my 2015 time! But you'll see next that this is about the only good news...

Bike:

There's a very obvious dropped chain point at the very beginning of my race. Looks like a lot of zeros across the board. If not for that, I actually rode this race a touch bit better than in 2015. I mean it still sucked and I was definitely struggling at parts of those elevation bumps. But otherwise not mad at it.

Run:

That Elevation Plot is kinda depressing, because it definitely didn't feel like 50ft elevation gain/loss throughout, but it was. Otherwise, this run went about as well as could be expected given the sickness and current level of fitness. I mean I ran at an 8:31 avg pace and kept my heart rate relatively low for 3/4 of the run. AND I was able to sprint to the finish for about a mile. But still, this is the biggest area that left a lot to be desired from 2015. In 2015, I ran a 47min 10K with a 7:49 avg pace...

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