Hello! Yes, it’s been awhile since the last post. Time flies for sure. This weeks post is my Nautica Malibu Triathlon race report. We did the International ( Olympic) distance on Sat Sept 13th. I have to say, if you have not done this race before, you are in for a fun day and will experience a well run race. And in keeping with our year of “giving back”, this race had all proceeds and donations go to Children’s Hospital of LA. This year the race raised more than 1, 350,000. There’s a corporate challenge and entertainment (celebrity race) industry challenge too. FUN.
Here’s the short version. Super fun day.
1.5K SWIM | 40K BIKE | 10K RUN 3:14:38
good enough for 7th in my age category, 2 off from getting on the podium. Next time!
Swim: 44:56
T1: 4:56
Bike: 1:20:53
T2: 2:43
Run:1:01:09
Done – on a (mostly) plant-based diet.
Here are my tips for this race: (read below for details)
1) Bring packing tape & scissors.
2) Get to the parking lot EARLY (4:30AM).
3) Bring a headlamp.
4) For a beach start, know which way the current is going.
5) AVOID speed bumps.
6) Bring an extra bottle on the bike.
7) Get Speedlaces.
8) Just keep going. You can usually run through any ache/pain.
9) Get 2 waters at the aide station, drink one, pour one on your head.
10) Go to SunLife Organics.
If you’re in for the long version…Grab your coffee and here we go.
David (my hubby) and I took Friday off and headed up to Malibu (from Oceanside, CA) about 3 hr drive. We arrived at Zuma Beach around 1pm to pick up our race packets, timing chips & caps. Quick efficient registration/ pick-up, easy, done! OK, so I have to say this was one of the HOTT-est weekends in a v. long time in southern CA. After the pick up we headed to our hotel in Thousand Oaks. When we got there it was 102F! Just hoping it’s not super hot on race day…the next day.
We checked in our hotel and got to organizing our race numbers on bikes and helmets etc. I have to say, funny thing about this race is that everything was so well done except they provided twist ties, yes you read that right, for attaching your race number to your bike!! OK race director, this is not going to work. You’ll see tomorrow when all the numbers end up on the ground. Funny. Anyway, here’s a tip, we taped our numbers to our bikes instead of using the silly twist ties. Good idea to bring packaging tape with you on these trips, never know when it will come in handy.
As I explored the “goodie/ swag bag” that we got at packet pick-up, to my surprise, it was a good “old fashioned” goodie race bag. Meaning it actually had stuff in it, not use flyers for other races! see photo below. They also did a really nice job on the race T shirts, cool heather blue v. nice and actually true to size and fits. (sorry for the blurry photo.)
Something that was nice and convenient about our hotel (Residence Inn, Thousand Oaks) was that there were many shops/stores/ restaurants close by. We walked across the parking lot to the Natural Cafe for pre-race, night-before dinner. Good, whole foods great for fueling before the race. More on nutrition later.
RACE DAY
Since our hotel was in the valley, it was about a 35 min drive down the canyon road to the race venue, Zuma Beach, we got up at 3:15AM. So here’s the 2nd tip: Get to the parking lot EARLY (4:30AM) otherwise you could end up parking far far away on PCH with a long trek to the start area/transition. The Residence Inn was perfect b/c there was a small kitchenette in our room so we could prep our breakfast and take it with us in the car. Toasted GF-bread with organic peanut butter and Bob’s Redmill GF museli (cold) and of course, coffee.
Got to Zuma Beach parking around 4:35AM, got a great spot and started unloading our gear. Heading over to transition, it is too dark & can’t really ride your bike to transition. Tip #3: Bring a headlamp. A nice thing about this race, you have TONS of room in transition. So nice to not to have your bike and gear crammed up to the next person, only about 2000 racers for the Int’l distance. ahh lux room! Life is good…except “hey where is my swim cap?! oops must have left it in the hotel room. OK no worries…we’ll just go over to registration (yay, for race day packet pick-up) and I’ll ask for a replacement. Me: “um Hi…I left my cap in my hotel room, may I get another?” Volunteer: “OK, sure here you go.” Sweet. All set. NOT SO FAST…getting back to transition area… now it’s about 6AM. Me:” Hey where is my timing CHIP!!!” OMG, I NEVER do this. Can NOT believe I forgot my cap AND timing chip. Panic mode setting in…It’s not like me…what is going on? So back to the registration area, this time to the chip area. Me: “Um, Yes I forgot my TIMING CHIP” What do I do?” Race volunteer: “You can get another but it’s $50 charge.” Ugg. I tell them I HAVE the other chip, just left it in my hotel room and I will bring it back tomorrow to the 2nd race. (The sprint and celebrity race was the next day.) Luckily, the guy was really nice and gave me a new one (and didn’t charge me) and updated me in the computer so my times are recorded properly…super important. OK now I think I’m ready.
SWIM 44:56
The pre-race meeting was @ 7 and then you walk down the beach to the swim start. Since I was in the 45+ women, category…we were the LAST swim wave to go. Bummer gotta wait and it’s getting hot. Didn’t start until 7:55AM. So got in the water to cool off before my wave start. I have to say the water at ZUMA beach is sooooo nice! Here’s tip #4: Figure out which way the current is going.
It was going North, made sure to start on the LEFT side of the starting line or wide left of the 1st buoy. When you swim out to the 1st buoy, the current will naturally push you to the right. Good, done. Cannon goes off, quick run to the water’s edge and swim out to first buoy. This swim is point to point, which is nice. All in all, swim was pretty good. I kept trying to get on someone’s feet to draft a bit. But found myself just doing my own thing for most of the swim. The hardest part was swimming in, back to shore from the last buoy. For some reason, (current?) I would swim, swim, swim and not get v. far. Plus, this area was congested with lots of people. Finally, got it done. 44:56 (not my best time but I’ll take it . Time to move on to the bike.)
T1: 4:46
Got into transition, whipped off my wetsuit easily. Got my jersey, helmet, socks and bike shoes on. I had a small towel so I gave myself a quick dry off. Grabbed my glasses and drink of water and I was off running with my bike to the MOUNT line.
BIKE: 1:20:44
Got started and was, luckily, mostly by myself starting out on the bike leg along this service road in the parking lot. We were warned about the speed bumps. TIP # 5: AVOID speed bumps if at all possible! I, stupidly, road over the 1st speed bump and went a bit too fast and the bump was larger than I had expected. My XLAB torpedo (water bottle system between my aero bars) popped off and dumped out most of my water! I silently scolded myself for being stupid. Checked and saw no one was coming or around me and turned around, got off my bike, leaned it up on a post nearby and picked up my torpedo. There was some water left in the bottle but v. little. Anyway, got going again. Here’s tip #6: Bring at least 2 bottles on your bike, just in case, no matter how short the race! Bike portion of the race goes along PCH and is a nice rolling course, not flat. They close off one lane of PCH and you have the bike lane so plenty of room. I had a fairly smooth ride. It did get a bit congested near the turnaround and I found myself caught in a small “peloton” of 4 guys that weren’t even in the race! They were just on their “Saturday Ride” taking advantage of the closed road! Anyway, it was just for a few minutes until I turned around and they went straight. On the way back, there is a “no passing zone” so be advised to get in good position before this comes up. Smooth sailing all the way back to transition. I chatted with one of my competitors a bit too much near the end and should have been more focused to shave off a few more minutes on my time. But we were chatting about a crash that happened in the race behind us and the ambulance that was on scene. That is one thing about this race. There are many different abilities (experienced athletes on high-end TT bikes to people on mountain bikes) in this race so best to keep out of the way of people that aren’t as experienced. 18.4 mph on the bike, I’ll take it, next year I’ll be faster!
T2: 2:36
As soon as I got to my spot, racked my bike and grabbed huge drink from my water bottle I had with my gear in transition. Always good to have a bottle in transition if your doing a race that only has one transition area. Most Ironman races are not like this. Good quick transition, remove helmet, bike shoes and glasses. Slipped on running shoes. Here’s tip # 7: If your running shoes don’t already have special lacing, get some speedlaces so you don’t’ have to tie your shoes. Allows you to slip on your running shoes and GO! I grabbed my race belt, snapped it closed around me and I was off.
RUN: 1:01:32
Started the run and felt OK. Takes a bit to get your legs used to running after coming off the bike. It was getting hot and I just wanted to get this part done. About a mile or so into the run, I got a ache in my lower back and made me slow up a bit. I had to move off to the side and squat down to “stretch” it out. Tip#8: One thing I’ve learned in training is whenever I have an ache or pain somewhere in my body, if I just keep going, most of the time, it goes away. So mentally, just say to yourself, it will pass! And it did. The aid stations seemed far apart but i think it was just because it was getting HOT and super sunny. Not much shade on this course, except when you go under the bridge. Tip#9: A good way to keep yourself cool is to get 2 cups of water at the aide stations. One to drink and one to pour over your head! At Point Dume turnaround, the wind changed and now we were running into the breeze, nice. Still hot and no shade but the breeze helped. Once you get back to the beach parking lot area, you run on the sidewalk that lines the beach. Beautiful view of beach. I was trying to catch “swimsuit” girl (woman racing in a swimsuit) that was in my age group that was slightly ahead of me. We were going back and forth, I would be ahead then she would pass me, then she would be ahead and I would pass her. As it ended up, she passed me and finished slightly ahead of me. I ended up getting 7th place in my age group, 2 off the podium! Podium in this race was top 5. Something to shoot for next year. All in all, great fun race and for a good cause. Proceeds and donations going to Children’s Hospital of LA.
Thanks Malibu for a great day of racing! Tip #10: Go to SunLife Organics for post-race smoothie/juice. If you haven’t checked out this place yet, GO. It’s awesome. Right around the corner from the race venue, Zuma Beach. Big THANK YOU to Gameface Media for awesome free race photos!