Malibu Race Report

First, this has always been one of my favorite races.  The course, the location, the time of year (someone’s birthday) and the atmosphere makes this event one of the best.  Also, I have always had great success here, and it was continued this year as well in the Olympic distance race (1500m, 40k, 10k).  The end results are 2nd place in the age group, and the third overall amateur.

My wave started one minute after the pro field took off.  The tide was high and the water was approximately 66F.  Surf was moderate and once you got past the break it was smooth for the most part.  I passed a lot of the pro field in the water, some rather quickly and some towards the end.  The swim took 21:10, which I am fine with considering the surf entry and exit, and about 200m run on the sand into transition.  I was first out of the water in my wave by 45 seconds.  It was onto the bike after a quick transition.

But as soon as I went to mount my bike, at the mount line, I went to step on my left shoe which was already clipped into the pedal.  Then “snap” it clipped out.  I had to take a step back, get my shoe and put it on before continuing on the course.  After that quick scare I figured nothing else bad could happen, and I was actually very relaxed.  I looked down at my power meter and said, time to ride.  I set out, hoping to swallow up some of the slower cyclists and the women pros who I did not pass in the swim.  I had an idea of keeping around 260-270 watts on the flats, which would put me around 25MPH.  I wanted to cap my effort on the uphill portions of the course at no more than 330 watts.  It was a good plan of attack, and I executed it well.  I passed three females on the bike, leaving only three in front of me on the course.  Two male pros passed me on the bike course, but still no sight of anyone who was in my wave until the turn around, and I saw one guy about a minute back.  I came off the bike in a time of 1:01:24, which is right at 24MPH with an average wattage of 258, which is nice considering the down hill sections of the course as well, my maximum speed was 39.8MPH.  Onto the run course I went, hoping to defend my lead.

The third place female pro was in front of me, and I had my sights set on her, I was passed at mile 1 by a male pro who is an amazing runner.  I held my pace, and hunted down the female in front of me.  I eventually caught her around mile 2.5, after seeing Caue running with then second place Laura Bennett in the female pro division.  I continued to run, pushing the pace, because I knew someone was behind me, and the mile markers were not that honest, as my splits varied way too much.  I was eventually caught by my pursuer and he stayed on my shoulder for the last 1.5 miles.  We pushed the pace more.  As we approached the line he took off with about 200m-400m left and ended up beating me to the line by 10 seconds.  I was slightly disappointed that I did not have enough left to take him down, but after the race I learned he ran the 800m on the track in college.  I decided getting out kicked my him was okay, also considering I posted a 36:18 10k split.  For those of you keeping track of what happens, that is a 5:50 mile, and more than 2 minutes faster that my 10k at San Diego International 2.5 months ago.

The old man had a strong showing, finishing 7 minutes faster than last year, and getting 4th place in his age group to earn him a medal and spot on the podium.  Congratulations old man.  In other fun facts from the weekend, Ryan Borger, was the guy who beat me to the line.  Last year in the shorter race, he finished 3rd to my 2nd in our age group.  He is also a former accountant, chasing the dream of a pro triathlete, moving to Colorado in the future to train.  I also managed to beat some of the male pro field, actually getting to the line faster than Caue by a mere 15 seconds, and only being bested by the top 2 female pros.  Not a bad weekend, I feel good and have the OC race coming up in two weeks time.  I will post some photos soon as I get them.  Should have some good shots and maybe video courtesy of camera whiz and avid triathlete, Bill Hayek.