Camp Pendleton International Triathlon 2007 RACE REPORT!

Triathlon Forum
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CAMP PENDLETON INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON 2007-

PRE-RACE:
Since I’m 6 weeks out from IMC, I considered riding the 28 miles to the race this morning, but I was afraid I might flat on the way and be stressing, so I bagged that idea. Big bowl of Total Raisin Bran and banana and I was out the door around 6am. No big hurry as the drive is only 25 minutes and the race starts later than most races around here. One of the benefits of a race on a military base. Drank a bottle of G’ade on the way.
Arrived at the race site and got my chip, t-shirt, cap without a hitch. Gotta say, this race has a TON of volunteers, obviously mostly Marines, and they do an AWESOME job! I love the announcements like “TIME ON DECK, OH 7 THIRTY!”.
Ran into Longboarder and his wife and chatted a bit, and met LazyBen as well. Saw Mike Plumb also. We had sun when I left San Clemente, but it was overcast in O’side, but I knew it would clear by the time the run started. I was going for a sub-2:30 time here. Last year, I was :51 over that mark, but was pretty confident I could chop :51 off my race time.
As advised on ST, I put Baby Shampoo in my goggles and rinsed them in the water to stay fog-free. Hope it works!

THE SWIM:
As usual, started on the outside and by the first turn, I was near the front of my AG as far as I could tell. Goggles were fogless and working like a charm! Didn’t really encounter much bumping or drafting, but did have a guy drafting off me for a bit. With about 500 meters to go, my left eye started stinging. I figured I must have missed some of the “No Tears” baby shampoo and it was getting in my eye, so not wanting to give up a few seconds, pressed on opening only my right eye to sight. Then, shortly thereafter, my right socket completely flooded. Awww shit! Now, it was either open my left eye and have it sting, or open my right eye and sight through the water that had flooded it. I ended up sort of alternating between the two and made it back to the beach glad to get the goggles off! My watch indicated 26 1/2 minutes which was about right on target for me and good for 6th out of the water in my AG. Here’s where I could have made up some time. It’s a long run to T1…maybe 300 yards, most of which is in soft sand. I “should” have removed my bibjohns right there out of the water so I could run faster. That would come back to haunt me later!

T1:
Went pretty well, though I wasted about 3 or 4 seconds fumbling with a Mojo bar that I never ended up eating. Damn!

BIKE:
Decided I was going to have to hammer the entire 40K to have a hope of breaking 2:30. I did just that. I know the course very well fortunately and just pounded the pedals, trying to remember to have an efficient pedal stroke, something I’m not great at yet, but I was holding a 21.5mph average for the first 1/2 of the bike and was at 35 minutes at the turnaround. I was on pace for a 40K PR if I could hold this pace. I am not a great cyclist and as usual, was getting passed a bit on the bike, but I was also passing alot of folks especially on the uphills (the one thing I am decent at on the bike!) and seemed to be passing alot of guys in the 35-39 AG who had started the wave before mine. Only saw a few of my AG on the bike. Saw one dude with an aero helmet and disc drafting off a car that was slowly trying to drive through along the course (which is open to vehicles). I guess that’s legal…whatever.
So, I managed to only lose a minute on the return trip on the bike and came in at 1:11, which I believe is a PR for me for 40K. I usually do that distance at around 1:20 in training.

T2:
This went well. Quick in and out, and off on the run. I checked my watch when I crossed the timing mat. Oh jeez…cutting it close! I had to run the 10K in under 47 minutes. It was going to be tight as my PR is around there.

THE RUN:
I was a bit beat from hammering the bike, so I wasn’t confident I was capable of a 10K PR, but I was going to try. One bummer about this race is there are no mile markers, so I was unable to get mile splits and I really needed them on this race to pace my 10K. I had to really watch my pace so as not to blow up. As was the case last year, the sun was out by now, and running east was HOT with the wind at your back, but any other direction provided enough wind to keep you SOMEWHAT cool, so I chugged along feeling pretty depleted by the end of the first loop. I checked my watch and saw that I was about 1 minute behind where I needed to be to finish in under 2:30. Damn! I guess if I’d gone softer on the bike, I would have had to go faster on the run, so I guess it all balanced out.
Anyway, the plan was to step it up and empty the tank from mile 4-6.2, so I did that as best I could. I was barely on the edge of being out of breath as I increased my stride length. I looked at my watch after the little turnaround that is a bit over a mile from the finish and I had to run just over a 7 min/mile to easily break 2:30. I was going as hard as I could and did one last check of my watch. It was going to be really close! In the final 500 yards, I was in major pain and just unloading whatever was left, running on fumes really, and passed a guy in my AG in the last 50 yards, but couldn’t get the guy in front of me who finished one second ahead of me officially. I checked my watch. Sonofabitch! 2:30:04! 4 stinking seconds off my goal!

POST RACE:
It was a bit bittersweet. I was glad that I’d beaten last year’s time, but bummed that it was only by 45 seconds or so. I was thinking that I guess I haven’t really improved much since last season, but I have been focussing a bit more on the long course racing and training and not really on speed. My cycling is lacking, but I’m unwilling at this point to put in the time it takes to get REALLY fast, but feel that working on my pedaling technique could help.
Ran into Mike Plumb who took second in his AG, and kept thinking I’d see Longboarder finish, but never did. Saw he placed 11th in HIS AG. Good job guys.
Had an orange and a banana and some G’ade and then drove up to Las Pulgas road for a post-race training ride.
I was hammered, but really wanted to completely exhaust myself, so I did a 15-mile ride to San-o Power Plant and back and then headed home feeling super-hungry and tired. Downed two Tri-tip sandwiches and a Pepsi and then took a nice nap! Ahh yes!

Next up? Some run/swim events during the San Clemente Ocean Festival next weekend and then of course, Ironman Canada!

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Great report, sorry you did not break the 2:30. I did the strip off the wet-suit and then run, I ended up wrasslin with it and got all sandy (i.e. chaffing on bike/run) and probably lost more time that I would have had I kept it on. A fitting end to a disaster swim.

Do they lump the transition times all on the bike? Like you I kinda over-cooked it on the out portion of the bike. I was @32 and was 1:05 at the dismount. It was a bit toasty on the run, I was cramping after that 2nd down hill. I was really happy with both my bike and run. Now if I could swim and somehow move a bit faster in the transitions.

Good luck down the road.

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Outstanding report as usual! I was hoping for a 2:25…Got a 2:29::13…Swim was good considering I have only swam about 6 times since returning from overseas in April! Still working on the run! Usually faster than that, but I felt fine. That run from the swim to the bike was awesome! Sand SUCKS…I did stop for a bit and let the Marine rinse me off really good with that hose! BIke was good. First time I used a disc wheel…Just got a Renn Kaiser and put it on the day before. It did feel faster on the flats and of course the downhills…uphills, maybe slowed me down a bit.
That is one hard OLY to PR in.

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Jay
Great RR, as always. You had a good pace going on the run as you passed me. The goggle thing is kinda funny. Good job.

I was happy with my race. 11/20 “MOP” My swim was ok. Hit the beach in 27 and change. I opted to take off my suit in the H2O. I felt it was a little windy on the bike but after riding the river trail, it felt like a slight breeze. My run was 101. I know, I know, very slow. I will start to work on my running this week. If I could/will drop 5-10 min, I would move up 5-6 spots.

Stacy was the last swimmer out of the water. That was 12 min better than the last time she did Camp P, our first tri in 04. She’s not a water person. Her bike and run were uneventful.

It was good talking with Lazy Ben, Mike Plumb, and you Jay. Sorry I missed the rest of you guys but great job everyone!

P.S. The Marine volunteers were great!

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That’s great that Stacy has shaved so much time off her swim! She should be stoked!

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Hey Jay - Great report. Kind of wish I did that race… oh well, I’ll be there for the sprint. Don’t get too worked up about your time. Every race, even at the same venue is a different race due to wind, rough seas, different person marking the course, whatever. Looking at the splits, I think the swim might have been long. The times look more like a half-IM swim (1.2 mile) time, rather than 1500M. If so, you did great!

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Thanks Steve. Yeah, I was checking my swim times from '05 and '06 and was faster both years (granted the run to T1 is added to swim time), but after finishing I was thinking the swim was a bit long. I know I’m a faster swimmer than I was two years ago. Oh well.

You racing any of the Ocean Festival stuff? I’m going to do the “biathlon” and the run/swim/run I think.

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Nice to finally meet you Jay. Also good to see Longboarder again and meet Stacy.

Congrats on your good race, shame about those 4 seconds. I was 10 minutes slower than my last olympic at bonelli a month ago, I always seem to meltdown at pendleton, that run is too hot for me (about a minute a mile slower than usual) and I don’t know the bike course well enough to pace it just right. The total lack of swimming lately was really my downfall though :slight_smile:

After last year I decided to get out of the wetsuit at the water and not melt during that long run to T1…like the other poster I got my wetsuit covered in sand and it took ages to get the bibjohns off (I use a T1) without anything to lean on, I nearly fell over and my calves were on the verge of cramping. Might go back to the old plan next time.

That race looks easy on paper but always bites me in the butt…one year I’ll nail it. I had the same goal as you but was over 2:34 by the finish. Back to the drawing board before LA in september :slight_smile:

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Great RR, Jay. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet.

I think the swim splits included the long run to the entrance to the transition area, which explains the slow times.

Its a tough course, but a good one…I love the rolling hills along the coast. It was my first time and I’ll definately be back next year.

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JP, you rocked that course! Great result! I was checking splits and I was 6th out of the water in my AG this year, and obviously lost 5 places somewhere along the way. I can’t even imagine going as fast as you did though!

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Yep, I’ll be at the Oceanfest. It looks like the schedule is different from last year with the stand-alone 5k first, then the swim-run, the swim, etc. I’ll probably skip the 5k as my legs cramped up last year on the mile swim after running the 5k. So I’ll most likely do the biathlon (aquathlon?), the stand-alone mile swim and the swim-run-swim thing.

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For those of you interested in a swim->run, there is the Shri Chimnoy (sp) on Saturday. It is a swim from La Jolla Cove → La Jolla Shores and then a 10K on the beach (1 mile laps). Low key and a fun event.

For you guys who can swim, what is the best way to get faster? Coach, sprints?

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Nice RR, Jay. Soooo close.
As the king of slow transitions, I’ve learned: don’t mess with anything except glasses, helmet or shoes at T1or 2, at least not in an Oly.

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Nice RR. And even if you didn’t hit 2:30 (but were soooo close) you still improved over last year. The marines were awesome but my favorite cheerleader was the little girl at about mile 5 on the run (the top of the hill once you turn around). She was up there ringing her two cowbells. I cheered for her as I passed and she lit up with a HUGE grin. After passing her I think I dropped 15 seconds off my next mile split. I always forget how much better a cheering section can make you feel.

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Good race Jay…it took me a while to figure out why you would want to go on a training ride after that race, but i guess if you ramping up for IMC then that would make sense.

I really enjoyed this race. My first Olympic distance. The national anthem, with all the military folks at full attention was awesome! I thought the swim would be a challenge but i felt very comfortable out there…until I had to run through the sand. The bike was good going out to the turn around, averaging about 21 mph. Coming back, at Camp Las FLores, the wind hit me square in the face and it hurt. I was happy with the race so far but I have been really sucking on the bike to run transition…need to brick more. I was dieing on the run. I was barely shuffling between water stops. After the last turn around at the fire station I felt like i needed to at least try to get home in some sort of respectable time. I finished passing about 5 people and was really happy about that. I didnt have a lot of expectations about the race so I wasnt worried about finshing in just under 3 hours. I left the race thinking about how lucky i was that I could do a race like that in a place like Pendleton…finish time becomes somewhat irrelevant.

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After reading your post, I also tried the baby shampoo with similar results. Very clear goggles, but my eyes started stinging within about five minutes of swimming. Clear goggles are really a big help in swimming in a straighter line. J I came out feeling good and judged it to be an adequate swim based off the time the waves behind me started passing. The ride was great fun as usual on the rolling course and I felt pretty smooth and fast throughout, though I think the wind might have been a little stronger than last year.
Inexplicably, I had no run legs, and was about five minutes slower than last year, but I held it together enough to finish. Oh, well, at least I learned how to keep my goggles from fogging. I’ll just make sure I rinse them out better next time.
Chad

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Interesting you had the same goggle problem with the stinging eyes! The weird thing is on a training swim this morning, I used the Baby Shampoo and my goggles still fogged up in the pool! WTF?

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Great Race Jay! It was a nice day out there and the race always go without a hitch.

Regarding your comment:
As advised on ST, I put Baby Shampoo in my goggles and rinsed them in the water to stay fog-free. Hope it works!.

Why don’t you just use spit? Spit never fogs.

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Sorry I missed out and didn’t meet any of my ST brethren…maybe next time. As for me, had a blast as the Camp Pendleton base is in my backyard and I ride through it a lot. I was slower than last year overall, and my swim was 2’ slower…so I was a little bummed. Had a great bike and run though that almost made up for it. Finished in 2:25…got 3rd in my AG…time to get to work on my damn swimming!!!

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Lar Dog, You ran past me like you stole my wallet or something. We were approaching the 1 downhill, you on lap 2 and me on lap 1. I recognized you but I A) didn’t want to mess with you focus and B) could barely breathe let alone yell “Go get em Lar Dog”.

Great job on your 3rd place.

Andrew