Oh the panga driver missed Zuma woulda been a hell of a post race party

Damn, i didn't see the drug boat.

I thought the race was really really well put on. Up there w/ the best I've done with just a couple of exceptions

1. The opening 3 miles of the half marathon were very narrow and very very crowded w/ the BOP olympic runners, after that it opened up.
2. The aid stations on the run didn't have ice during my run. I heard they got some out there for the later finishers.

Will definitely do again.

I saw that boat, but not the weed.

Overall I thought the race was well done.

I was annoyed by the riders I saw constantly drafting. There was a point on the ride back before we got to the big rock where I was passed by a pack of at least 20 riders. The officials didn't come by until after the next small climb and descent so the pack had spread out more by then and probably didn't get penalized.

Also there were plenty of riders crossing to the left of the cones to pass which is supposed to be an instant DQ. I got passed by at least 4 riders in the no passing zones, and at least 6 riders in that giant pack passed on the left of the cones.

They needed to do a better job stopping traffic for the faster Oly riders. I saw one of the faster bikers have to skid to a stop coming into the turn around because of 4-5 cars speeding by at 30+MPH. IMO he should have come into the turn slower, but in most places they did a better job of controlling traffic.

Yeah, but what did you think about the new course, rather than the weather, the wind, things you saw ...
How was the Las Posas loop on a tri bike. What did you think of the two run loops on what is already a pretty boring loop to begin with. Was the run loop crowded with the Oly runners.

 


I like that the course commits to being fast; the bike is pretty darn flat and the run is totally flat. The road surface is VERY good. I looked at the bike in 3 parts:

1. Mount line to Las Posas - this is all PCH and many know it well. There are some rolling hills but not many and they are pretty soft - and almost every climb is preceeded by a descent so you can carry through.
2. The AG fields - this part is pretty much entirely flat. The smell of freshly harvested cilantro was beautiful. The "double back" bit on Cawelti was fine because the entire road was closed, the shoulder's wide and it was safe/easy/etc.
3. Las Posas to the Dismount line - the energy coming off water is really good. In the right mindset you can take the waves coming to shore and imagine them pushing you a bit. It's stunningly beautiful. A tail wind is what one expects here and to have a head wind for that final hour was tough.

The good of the run is that it's flat - for someone who likes to run fast on flat. The out-n-back helps those who are racing others and not the clock. Having the ocean beside you for much of the run is just a joy.

Nothing is easier than complaining on the internet - nothing. I will take swimming in that super-fine water, riding on the coast of Southern California (and place so f*cking beautiful that it's location to probably 30% of all car commercials), the perfect pavement, etc. etc. etc. for a run that pretty meh.

I'm good with it......as far as non-draft, paved triathlons go. The whole idea in such a race is put your chin on stem and go as fast you can. For me I'd rather race gravel tri, mtb tri, draft legal tri, swim/run in some breath-taking beauty like Orcus Island - but if you're gonna do a non-draft tri on pavement and you want to shoot for a PR this is a good one.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

I thought it was a great course and well organized. I think they should look into a better timing chip company that has maps or more updates (spectators had no idea where participants were and that led to bad crowd support).

Can someone comment on the waves the year before, heard there were a lot of rescues.

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IG -frebay | Strava

I was probably one of the few unlucky ones on the double back. Even though the road was closed a huge RV turned left onto that road from one of the intersections in the middle of that stretch maybe 50 yards in front of me. They had to stop at the second turnaround and wait for volunteers to move some cones so they could get out. Since they took up most of the lane I had to go to the inside and make a very sharp u-turn at the turnaround instead of coming in wide like I normally would.

This was in no way the race organizers fault. Luckily it wasn't too crowded when the RV entered the course.

I loved the course too, but in no way thought it was a PR course. I went slower than in any half I've done in the last 3 or 4 years for the same power on the bike, the swim was against the prevailing current, and the run was hot. If the weather is perfect maybe it's fast, but I went 10-15 minutes faster at Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa

You have "peace" in your screen name so I default to you.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Hey Ian,
Nice to see you on Saturday, thank you for the encouraging words during the race, and sharing a bit of Ice was least I could do for all of the years of encouragement you have given me in Triathlon.

My view on the race is:
****NO TRIATHLON in Malibu will NEVER see a day with better conditions than what we had on Saturday. Period!!! (No Pink Font)****
A sunny cloudless day.
The water was warm, flat, and EZ to swim in.
The bike great views of the Ocean, smooth clean roads, with a few rollers and some wind to keep it interesting. The headwind on the way back in was different than usual, and was an unexpected surprise.
The run was great on iconic Zuma Beach. Plus, I like the temps to be a bit on the warm side.

Overall, I really enjoyed the long course race. I think they did a good job of putting a good race together. Although the conditions did make it easy (Not that putting on a race is easy!).
If we had a year of Cold Water, a bit of Surf, Damp roads from Beach overcast and gusty winds on the bike would this have been as smooth of a production?

It will be interesting to see what they do with this race. Blocking traffic that far along PCH cannot be cheap, so will they keep it small and as a value add for the weekend. Or will they expand it? Then what about the Olympic?
The bike did have a few points where it bunched up a bit and even got a little "drafty" between Big Rock and Encinal. So expanding to 2000 athletes like an MDot race might be tight squeeze on the bike. But probably nothing worse than what we see at several big races.

I have no idea, how you get up the next morning to do the Classic either?

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

To be fair I didn't really "race" the Classic on Sunday....
The next day I swam strong (stood up along side Dana Staggs who went on to get 2nd in AG), had the fastest T1 of the entire race and executed a brilliant flying mount (where's my podium for that?) and then immediately shut it down - thank god, because I had nothing left.

I cheered on every athlete I came across. I stopped to fix a flat for a lovely young woman who was carrying her bike. I stopped to put on two dropped chains. I stopped two dudes whose helmet straps were just blowin' in the wind like braids, I picked up a dropped number belt, I kicked 3 dropped bottles to the curb, I taught 30 people how to shift, I educated one dude about drafting and another about littering. I was on my road bike so it was a lot of short, sharp efforts to the next drama with tons of freewheeling, soft pedaling, and even two double backs to check on things. And on the run I cheered on tons of folks, picked up maybe 50 gel packs stuck to the hot asphalt, thanked every vol on the course, did a bunch of double backs to encourage some of the first timers. I had a ton of fun and it was a great way to keep the streak alive - I need to count my bibs but I think this might have been Malibu #26 in a row for me.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

haha touche

I loved the course too, but in no way thought it was a PR course.//

Form the sounds of it, seem like you got a headwind where there is usually a tailwind. I think Ian says the course will be a fast one, given the normal conditions, or even better than normal..It would be super fast for me if there were surf, cloud cover, and the prevailing tailwind coming home, after a non wind situation going out early in the morning. That is what could typically be there, with cloudy conditions on the run even on a lot of days.


So as long as all the courses you are talking about are measured accurately, this one should be a fast one on most days. You just hit it weird on that last part of the bike this weekend, and then got a little hot on the run...

I absolutely loved the course. One of my favorite 70.3s and races period. The check in the day before was seamless and the fastest I’ve ever done before. There was tons of parking for that and also during the race. The swim was pretty calm, maybe a bit of up current the majority but nothing crazy. The bike has to be one of the most scenic race rides I’ve been on period. There were a few spots on the pch where there’s no pass zones that get a little tight but luckily didn’t have really anyone around. Roads were also some of the best I’ve rode on as there wasn’t really any potholes or cracks at least I could see or think of now. When it merged back with the Olympic it did get a little tight but that’s only the last 8-10 miles and it was only tight in a few spots. The run course while not the most scenic I enjoyed. The point section ( the second out and back before the turn around) was definitely not my favorite. Would have loved to continue it more along the road but would be hard again with traffic and the bike course coming in.

The volunteers and the cops....tremendous!!!! Cannot say that enough. By farrrrr more volunteers and law enforcement than any Ironman branded race I’ve ever done. Also some of the friendliest.

There were two spots of flooding that they went ahead and made ramps for. This goes beyond anything I’ve witnessed in an Ironman race or really any race.

Put this on your todo list. Kudos nautica Malibu triathlon.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/11645943 https://www.instagram.com/timeforicecream/

I haven't done a 70.3 Distance Race since 2014 due to various circumstances, and as a past competitor of the Malibu Olympic Distance in 2014 I thought that when it was announced that a 70.3 Distance race was happening in Malibu that this would be the perfect opportunity to get back into longer distances.

And did it disappoint ..... absolutely not. I thought the course was ideal easy swim, flat bike and run course.
The swim staggered start was great and easily navigated, although I felt that the swim was slow, but that must have been the current as I know I can swim faster than 31mins.
The bike route was ideal, and yes I was hoping for headwind initially, and tailwind on the way back, but all in all I thought easy ride and enjoy the view. The few no passes areas I can understand for when its crowded, but with a faster swim I had a pretty empty road, and only once I hit the Olympic route on the way back that cycle traffic picked up. But still ok, with most cyclist hearing my shouts if I wanted to pass.
The run route although flat was well thought out in regards to drink and nutrition support, especially as it was so hot. The only part I did not enjoy was the part running on PCH. I felt that they could have changed the layout to make us Long Distance athletes run further up the beach path towards Trancas. The run was also my worse part, with slight lack of running training taking its toll combined with the heat, and resulting in the slowest Half Marathon I have ever run. Survival at its best. But it was great hearing so much support and shouts of encouragements along the way.

I did not really check out the Expo or the food at the end, the only thing I did notice that walking through the sand at the end of the race is a killer.

Will I come back and do it again ....... yes if I can time it right next year, as I traveled in from Germany to do this race, combined with some work.

And yes, getting up at 4am the following day to do the Classic Distance was painful with all muscles feeling aweful and taking the first 200m of swim to loosen up. I defintley did not manage to sprint it, with myself taking T1 and T2 at a very casual walking pace, but at the end with 1:39:00 I can be happy enough.

Next up is Indian Wells 70.3, and I m looking forward to Malibu next year.

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N+1
Strava

Were people wearing ear/headphones during the long course? I ask cause I watched my wife do the sprint on Sunday and it seems like 50% were wearing earphones or full on headphones. Never seen anything like it.

Bike times looked pretty fast with a slower run, I know it got pretty hot once the run got going.

I've done the Classic countless times, would consider the Long next year

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

Last year’s waves were big. And relentless. For people not used to it we watched the early waves (I’m 45-49 so a lot of people come before me) literally get pushed back wave after wave as they waded in and tried to swim past only to get hit by the next wave and pushed back to shore. The race announcer was telling people if they couldn’t swim past the breaks then they shouldn’t be doing the swim at all from a safety perspective.

Once you got past waves the swim was fine but then you had to come in and people were getting slammed from a wave behind them and then pulled back in. It was all a bit comical.

This year the waves were so little there were none to worry about.

The only is always one of my slower Oly swims but one of my faster if not fastest Oly bike splits. The run is just meh and sometimes pretty crowded and you have to slow here and there to get around people. Same on bike too sometimes.

I actually wish they would do a double challenge like Chicago’s triple challenge, where you do Oly on Sat and Classic on Sunday and both your times are added up for placement in a double challenge category.

It's been suggested to MESP many times. They did not seem interested.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Looks like the sign up for next year is up - and it got moved to the last weekend of September.
I am thinking of signing for the 70.3 while the fee is under $300.....

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Well the good news is that is simply cannot be hotter than it was this year. I like it. It's a fast course too.

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan