Race Report: Redondo Beach Sprint Triathlon

Well Year 5 started off mostly as expected. The race was a great start to the season and I hit another Redondo Beach PR! But not all is well that ends well as I missed the sub-1hr mark by a whole 21 seconds!?!?!?! I hoped that maybe the clock was slightly off or something, but official times were not adjusted. Oh well... I guess there will just have to be next year...

Race details:
Redondo Beach, California
Swim: 0.5 mi - open water, ocean swim
Bike: 6 mi - road, 2 loops, mostly flat, 1 down then up hill
Run: 2 mi - run, loop around Redondo Pier

Race Summary:
During the race, I felt like I gave it my all and not much could really have been pushed harder to get under 1 hour. After the race, I think I could pick at a couple different areas:

-Prob could've tried to be more aggressive at the swim start and swam a little straighter (see map)
-Prob could've freaked out less when a wave threw me to the floor and I lost my goggles
-Only fumble in T1 was that I didn't get my sock on completely and had to do an extra tug
-And while the wetsuit add a few seconds to rip off, the swim benefits were worth it
-Mounting the bike prob too a few sec too long
-Maybe could've taken the downhill faster and tried to rip it uphill quicker
-Figuring out how to U turn
-Prob shouldn't taken a water bottle sip during T2
-Find an 11th gear for running when already at the 190s BPM
-Run faster uphill I guess

I mean that list is long. Prob could've gotten a few seconds here, a few seconds there and got the goal. But that's all part of not having quite a perfect race. In sprints, it always seems like every little detail must be perfect in order to really hit your goal. Because every distance is so short, there's not a whole lot of time to be made up for little mistakes. Oh well. I guess we look forward to next year!

Historical Race Breakdown:

This is what happens when you're an engineer and suffer from OCD and extensive performance analysis issues. You take your data, meticulously record it and try to make some sense out of it...

I think most people would take away the improvements in Total Time. The first year being a n00b made for a pretty slow time. But every year following has been about a minute improvement year-over-year. But still, clearly obvious and painful is the lack of a sub-1hr time. Hopefully I can keep the trend going and be there next year...

Breaking it down, it seems that wearing a wetsuit produces the best swim time by far! And while it does add about 20s compared to the year before, it's right around the same time as the other years. What's a little surprising is that I had a SLOW bike time. I know I had some trouble clipping in at the start, but to have my slowest time is pretty disappointing. I've been working so hard on cycling too! My only guess would be that I took the downhill too slow and sucked at the U turns. Otherwise, thinking thru it, I feel like I pushed hard and turned over pretty well on the flats. And the run was damn good. It apparently wasn't my best, but seeing a 15 there is a positive sign.

Map and Stats Plot:

Heart Rate Zones:

Bike HR Zone Chart: Pretty much about right for the bike

Run HR Zone Chart: Life in Zone 5 for the run

HR Zones pretty much tell the story that I was going hard and probably not giving up all that much in the effort department.

Race Charts:
Swim:

Garmin was a little off here because I hit start/stop and not lap. But it looks like I swam a tad bit out of line and Garmin did say I swam 1237yds instead of the closer to 1100yds the swim should be.

Bike:

One key is that a max of 29.6 is kinda slow for this downhill, so I guess I could've taken it harder and riskier. Also, the initial bike clipping took about 10 sec based on Garmin time markers. Otherwise, it looks like maybe I didn't come off the uphill and start pounding it as hard as maybe I could have.

Run:

Well this is about as expected for me. BPM pretty much stayed in Zone 5 and only kept rising. Pace peaked up early and clearly started to drop off (aka fatigue). But Run Cadence was pretty solid as light blue and purple indicate a very high turnover rate. I think the green towards the end correlates with the stairs and uphill parts.

Pics:

Race gear packing and Friday night carb loading

Race morning breakfast and transition racking

Chillin with the homies

Found at the start and a sweet triceps pic LOL

Kinda like this photo getting out the water with the pier in the background

Running to and in T1

Some sweet bike pics in aero (which I apparently was not in 100% of the time)

What effort and pain looks like captured in photo LOL

Finishing and the sheer disappointment (and pain and tiredness)

The support crew!

The race crew finished! And repping Honey Stinger!!!

Post race brunching noms!

Post baseball (which I played 8 innings after the tri) noms which were also earned

Year 5... Here We Go!!!

4 years ago, I was suffering from severe FOMO and had this crazy idea... With no training, no equipment and no knowledge of what it took to do this thing called a "triathlon," I was athletic enough to just "show up" and do it because a bunch of my friends were doing it.

(photo credit: https://www.mememaker.net/meme/chill-bro-i-got-this/)

Now granted, a bunch of my other friends were in the same predicament. And really, only 1 of them knew what they were doing and the other two had experience before. The rest... well we were a bunch of crazy n00bs!

I mean that day I showed up with the following gear:
-Surf wetsuit, something thicker and much less suited for speed like a tri wetsuit
-Tri top and bottoms purchased LITERALLY the day before from REI
-Mountain bike borrowed from a friend (with suspension unlocked for added hilarity to spectators)
-Mountain bike helmet
-No clip ins
-An extra shirt to change into which also had my bib pinned to it

I mean I really need to find my external hard drive. It has the series of photos from that day that was both a spectacle of sheer will and also amazing bouts of ridiculousness. What a day it was! Naturally, I only posted the following 2 pics to Instagram:

Flexing, because of course the uber bro has to flex! And a snapshot of my borrowed mountain bike. No clips, suspension unlocked and wide tires optimal for downhills. I mean this was me 4 years ago!

But oh how far I've come!

In that time since, I've gotten quite a bit healthier. I've done an Ironman and several 70.3s. I've done marathons and half marathons galore. I mean I have more bling than I can even find space for. And really, this whole obsession has changed my life. I'm on a path to longer term health and a much higher activity and fitness level. I'm hoping to buck any hereditary diseases or at least put them off longer than those in my family have. But just generally having a much healthier life, more confidence and a different outlook that is much more positive has contributed to a better life.




And so here I embark on Year 5. The journey keeps going exactly where it began. The Redondo Beach Sprint Triathlon will always have a special place in my heart. It'll be the day I started it all. The first day I really pushed myself and came out ahead. The day I really began striving for more. The day that I truly realized that you can go through a journey, stumble a bunch of times, push beyond your limits, do hilarious things and... by the very end... you'll have crossed the line. You'll have completed the journey. And while the results matter, what matters is that you got there and the real story is in every little detail, both good and bad, that helped you get there!


And just because I love gear (and swag), here's what I'm showing up to the race with this year:
-Tri wetsuit, designed for speed!
-Proper road bike with aero bars and Zipp wheels (not pictured, but also designed for speed!)
-My favorite helmet (aka the Robocop helmet because of the visor)
-Clip in triathlon bike shoes, because clips give you speed!
-Newton running shoes, lightweight with arch supports
-Honey Stinger waffles and gels and hat, because being sponsored is awesome!
-Nuun tablets, because being sponsored is awesome!
-And all packed up in my Ironman bag (which has the awesome, colorful block pattern btw!)

Race Report: 5 Boro Bike Tour

Another fun ride in the books! This one was partnered with CTF for a tour around NYC. I think my sentiment on these "fun rides" is that they're not all that exciting for the competitive juices that run through my body. I really wanted to pedal to the medal but a bunch of slow, inexperienced riders makes it really difficult to do so. I mean I'd rather go really slow that take on some road rash and injuries! But oh well. At least it was cool to ride through NYC's different burroughs!

Race details:
New York City, New York
Bike: 40 miles

Race Summary:
Oh boy was this event huge! I mean they said like 40,000 riders and they weren't joking! There were 5 different waves and each wave was PACKED! I mean 4 lane wide streets with no cars and still packed for blocks and blocks. I mean the start was a big, crazy mess! But that kind of stuff also makes rides like this pretty exciting and gets you pumped early on!

They did have a nice feature where they funneled everyone into a chute at the start so you kinda get this feeling that the ride is smaller than you expect. And early on you definitely feel a little bit like the ride is gonna go super quick and there won't be tons of people. But you soon realize that's not the case. People catch up quickly and the endless amounts of riders makes it pretty crowded. Also, we experienced a lot of this throughout the duration of the ride, but the streets weren't completely blocked off. I mean this was to be expected in a metropolis like NYC, but they had to allow some traffic through. So I'd say there was a decent amount of starting and stopping. That was kinda frustrating for me and many of the riders we chatted with while waiting at lights had similar opinions. A common phrase I heard shouted was "is this a bike ride or a bike walk?" LOL

I'll hit the highlights below, but my favorite was biking through Central Park. You can do that anytime on a cheapo bike, but the road won't be closed off to riders only. I think that was super cool. Running through it for the NYC marathon will be even cooler, but I definitely enjoyed this part. Biking on the bridges was pretty sweet too. It's nice to be a strong cyclist and easily climb the bridges while others struggle or even walk their bikes. But the views from the bridges were spectacular and something you would rarely see unless you chose to walk them.

The biggest struggle though happened just under halfway thru the ride. Amanda was keeping up relative to her biking level and things were going smoothly. We came to the Queensboro bridge and since she was struggling, I decided to charge up ahead so I could take some pics. After not seeing her for a bit and having lost cell signal, I sped to the end of the bridge and then checked for her location. I saw she was still coming over it, so I just hung out and waited. When she finally came down, I saw that she was walking her bike. As she approached, I noticed the bad news: her rear derailleur was done. Like just completely bent and torn up, the kind of thing you usually see at Wildflower at Nasty Grade.

We hurried over to the nearest race marshall who said that the mechanics probably couldn't help us and we should just quit the ride. My heart dropped. We traveled across the country to do this ride for charity and now we're being told we should just end here. Not satisfied with her response, I rode ahead 2 miles to the next rest stop and chatted with the mechanics. They could try they said. By the time Amanda arrived and we got the assessment, they said they didn't have the equipment and parts, but a local bike shop could helps. This bike shop was just over a mile away. Walking a bike a mile when you know the SAG van is picking people up is a terrible feeling. But I ran the bike that far, got it fixed for a cool $50 and we were on our way! (This short summary doesn't do justice to the long detour that it was and that various dark places my mind went during this time).

The rest of the ride was just a battle of attrition for Amanda. Fatigue set in plus the weather went sour quickly. It went from nice and sunny to SUPER cold and even rainy at various times. We would push through, but it was pretty miserable and cold by the end. Even the post race festival wasn't that enjoyable as it was raining and the beer just really didn't warm you up.

The biggest bummer was that the ride itself was technically only 37 miles. Then you had the finish festival when you thought you were done. Then you rode another 3+ miles to get to the ferry back to NYC. And these miles were considered part of the ride but they were pretty lame.

All in all, a cool event with a unique experience, but something I probably wouldn't do again. I think for me personally, racing is the way to go and not just casually riding. I like to go fast haha

Some sweet highlights from the ride include
-Riding through Central Park, it's an awesome experience
-Biking over the bridges and taking in the views
-Biking down Avenue of the Stars and past things like Times Square and Radio City Music hall and the Rockefeller
-Biking through the 5 different burroughs and seeing them from a different view

Map and Stats Plot:

Heart Rate Zones:

If there wasn't a sign that this ride was super easy, the time in Z1 makes it obvious. Also, hate that these things have batteries and can shut off. Didn't notice it and so missing some HR data...

Garmin Splits:

Pics:
Took way more pics this time!

Starting line pics! So crowded!

Central Park! My favorite spot!

Various bridge and tunnel views!

Panoramas from the rest stops!

Finish line fun!

Post race noms at a NY fave! Halal Guys!

This is on here because it was just one of those cool NYC moments. We randomly decided to hit up a comedy club later that night to take in some laughs and relax. Well little did we know that KEVIN HART WAS IN TOWN!!! He made a guest appearance at the club and his whole set was full of laughs! He ended up going off to several different venues later that night, but I caught a pic of his drink that he left on the table. LOL. What a NY moment!