Having had a whopping 1 race under my belt, I didn't have rookie butterflies in my stomach. They, too, had experience. I'm not sure why, but I was surprised by the turnout for the race. The combined beach cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach are a really active community, so I was just being ignorant.
Having lived there for a couple years, I knew that parking near the
transition area on Pier Avenue was going to be tough, so I got there early. Way early. I think I was the 3rd guy in the transition area and the 1st bike on my rack. Hey, at least I was first at something :) It filled up quickly and I was able to find some friends from work that were doing their first race. I tried to impart some "veteran" knowledge with the best being, "Relax, have fun, and you'll be fine." They did and they were.
I was in the Clydesdale 200-224 division and in the 7th wave for the swim start. The quarter mile was easy to track: out to the buoys, hang a right, go two buoys before turning right again, head into shore. At Strawberry Fields I was at the back of my wave and got kicked a lot, so I made sure I was at the front this time. It made a huge difference. I led everyone to the 1st buoy and came out of the water 3rd in my wave.
Excellent!
I still need to work on my T1. I was able to get my Xterra Wetsuits
Vortex 3 off quickly, but I still sit down to put on my bike shoes. I need to practice putting on my shoes while on the bike a couple more times
before I do it in a race. Unfortunately, I was ALL the way down the pier from the bike exit and clomped my way on the wet concrete for about 100 yards before getting on my bike.
After a quick mount, I was up the Pier Ave hill and passing a couple guys as I headed out on the 10 mile course. The 3 loops on Valley and Ardmore were ok, but the roads were narrow and groups of faster waves ahead of me passed in droves. I'm definitely going to be working on some bike speed drills. On the third lap there was a little excitement: a 1st timer was going slow in the left hand "lane" when a woman announced she was passing on his left. He went right. RIGHT. Needless to say he ran into her, she fell right in front of me -- her front wheel whipping around and catching my left leg. After a little shimmy, I was able to regain control and kept up. I got a pat on the back from one of those faster guys as he passed me so I must have done something right.
T2 was ok -- still had to run the 100 yds back on wet concrete back to my rack -- grabbed my run gear, and sped out of transition.
The 5k run was just an out and back on the Strand, a run I've done many times before. In the past I've always been a 9:00 pace, but after churning on the bike for over 20 minutes, I felt good going a little faster. I didn't realize until later that it was the fastest I've ran a 5K. PR! Woo hoo! In the last 500 yards I saw a guy pass me, checked out his age group on his calf hoping not to see a "CLY". It said 42 so I didn't worry about it and concentrated on finishing the run. Turns out that guy WAS in my Clydes division, finished 23 seconds ahead of me and took the 5th place spot on the podium. Bummer.
Overall, I had an awesome time. It was a really good swim, a comfortable bike, and a really great run for me. I was able to trade stories and times with friends and coworkers and glad to have done my local race. My goal was 1:10 and I thought that was pushing it. Got a 1:06:58 and celebrated with a Guinness. Not a bad Sunday at all.
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