Mission Bay Tri Recap

Last Sunday was a special day – it was not just my last race of the year, but it was also the 100th race that I’ve ever done.  Marathons, half marathons, 5Ks, mile races, triathlons, Spartans, Ragnars, virtuals (I raced them all hard in 2020 like they were in person). It was also fitting because number 100 was just like number 1, a triathlon. I didn’t plan it that way, it’s just the way the stars aligned.

This was my fourth time doing this race. Coming hot off the AFC Half in August, I spent the past eight weeks getting back on the bike and in the water. Knowing that my aerobic capacity was riding high from training for the half, I could focus on hammering on the bike and maintain my efforts on the run. For the swim, the goal was to get comfortable for the distance. I’ve never been a fast swimmer and have a bit of anxiety about getting in the open water. But I also know that by getting the training in, I can be ready for it on race day (I’ve done it plenty before) and not be nervous about the water.

Training was a quick turnaround of getting comfortable in the pool and the saddle for a couple of weeks, pushing the pace on the bike and hopping in the bay for another few weeks, and putting together some bricks and mock tris the last few weeks to practice transition. Thank goodness for years of experience to help me make it all feel fairly comfortable!

Race day for a triathlon is an early, long day. Three thirty alarms are never fun. I used to be getting out of the club at that time back in the day! How things change. Wifey and I are out the door in about an hour to get to Mission Bay by 5a when transition opens up. I hate being stuck in the middle of the bike racks, so I’m hoping to snag a place on the end. It gives me a bit more room to set up and makes it easier to maneuver when I’m popping in and out of transition. Luckily, I’m able to snag an end, rack my bike and drop my pack. I spend the next hour doing the race routine – a bathroom break or two, running into friends, talking with wifey, setting my gear up.

Short distance triathlon makes you be super organized because, transitions matter. The clock keeps running as you’re getting out of the water and coming off the bike. So fumbling over your gear can kill your PR or podium potential. Even if neither are a possibility, it just makes you more stressed and keeps your heart rate high when you’re trying to take a breather between sports. Cycling shoes unstrapped, socks cuffed open, helmet unstrapped resting on my aerobars, bike in a favorable gear to get going,  running shoes sitting behind bike shoes, race belt unstrapped, shades resting on top of them.

Before I know it, it’s almost go time! Time to wrangle myself into the wetsuit. Body Glide gets slathered on the forearms, calves and neck first. One last look at my setup to double check things and I grab my swimcap and goggles and down to the beach I go before transition closes.

I want to get in some warm up yards in the water before the race to get the butterflies out. Man it’s cold! It was about five degrees warmer last week! What a difference! BRRRRR. I stand in it about thigh deep and chat with friends and others about it. Welp, it’s not gonna get any warmer! It is what it is; might as well just dive in and get it over with. The water is cold on my face and down my spine as it seeps through the zipper and neck. I try to relax and settle into it. “I’ve been in colder.” But it’s still cold! Warm up gets knocked out and I figure that’s plenty enough. Other waves have already gone off to race and it’s a waiting game for my wave. I keep with some shoulder windmills, squats, lunges and the like to get the body loosened up dynamically.

Finally, they call our heat up to the start. I say a quick pre-race prayer, like always, and get the goggles back on. Three, two, one, go!!! We all start jogging into the water. I’m in the back middle of the pack and wade into the water. I’m letting the lead fishies get going before I actually dive in. I know where I stand with the swim. The goal is to slowly reel them in on the bike and the run if I’m lucky. This second dip into the water doesn’t feel as cold. Or at least it feels familiar. I’m glad I warmed up!

The swim course is a horseshoe shape. Out, to the right and another right back to shore. Surprisingly, I feel pretty good heading to the first buoy! I don’t feel exasperated, breathing feels relaxed, strokes feel comfortable! It’s pretty crowded and the usual bumping of legs and arms happen as we all jockey for space. I stay chill through it all and find my lane. I get to the first buoy and don’t give space as I turn around the corner. Y’all gotta move around me! I follow the bubbles ahead of me. We all gotta be going in the right direction, right? As I get some space away from the crowded buoy, I pop my head up to sight for that next buoy. I lock in a landmark in the distance that’s easier to see than the buoy. It makes it easier for me to find when I do pop up than trying to look for the buoy. As I get closer to the buoy, I can zero in on that instead.

The back stretch of the swim is going just as good! It’s rare I have a good swim for tri, so when I do, I embrace it! I plug along with my unorthodox rhythm of breathing – four strokes, breathe, two strokes, breathe, two strokes breathe, four strokes breathe. I can do the four strokes, breathe, four strokes breathe in training, but it all goes out the window during races. I’ve nearly given up on fixing it and have learned to just go it it and make the best of it. I’m feeling comfortable and feel like I’m actually passing folks up! I’ll take it! I finally hit the buoy directing us back to shore and again, I take space and zip around the corner.

Fatigue starts to creep in the shoulders, but I shrug it off. “You’ve done this distance and more in training. You’re fine!” I stay focused and I push on. I was right, it was a fleeting thing. I’m eyeballing how much is left and I start to pick up the pace the last one/two hundred yards or so. Again, another rarity! I see a guy stand up about stomach deep and start wading into shore. I keep swimming. I was taught to swim until I grab sand before I stand up. You’re going to be fast swimming than trudging through that much water, plus expend more energy. I know this is true, because I’m swimming past him as he’s high stepping it. Sand is tapped and I stand. Water is about knee high.

Fighting to get my hand out the sleeve and keep the goggles and cap inside.

I run through the race arch and work the wetsuit zipper down my back. I pull off the swim cap and goggles with on swipe and pull the sleeve off my right arm that holding them. It don’t peel off as smoothly as I’d like, but I get the job done and the cap and goggles are tucked into the sleeve. Off comes the other sleeve as I get to my bike. Surprisingly, there’s a ton of bikes still racked! Usually, it’s a bit sparse when I get out the water. I’ll take the win! Wetsuit gets pulled down to my calves and I stomp out of them while pulling it off my heel with my hands. Rinse my feet off from sand with a spare water bottle and slip the socks on. Cycling shoes on and velcroed. Helmet plopped onto my dome and chin strap clicked together. Pull the bike off the rack and I’m jogging through transition to the bike start. Click clack, click clack. We get to the mount line and I hop on and click into my pedals. Off on the bike I go!

Bike course is all flat. The only “hills” are the ramps and overpasses from the roads feeding into one another and different spots. The course also uses a good chunk of the same route as another triathlon, so I know it fairly well – where the inclines are, how to handle the tight turns/turnaround points, where the potholes are. I heard there were a ton of first timers racing so I’m expecting crowded streets. As I’m starting out, I take a big swig of electrolytes and carbs from my water bottle to rinse out the salt water of Mission Bay.

The streets aren’t too crowded to my surprise as I hit the first tight turn. I’m pretty good and speeding into them, taking it wide, slowing down just enough as I cut in tight and power out of them. As long as there aren’t other riders in the way. The second turn is a bit crowded so I hang back and let them get out the way before we all hit the long straightaway towards Fiesta Island. The stretch of road on Sea World Dr is full of potholes! Always has been. While the race organizers do a good job of spray painting circles around them, it’s still a minefield waiting for someone to hit a hole and pop a tire or worse. When the road will be repaved? Who knows. That’s for a different blog! Anyhow, I bob and weave around potholes and cyclists, trying to get the legs cranking and warmed up. Finally we hit the turns taking us onto the island.

I had done a training ride or two around Fiesta Island because I knew it was part of the course, plus it’s the training ground for cyclists wanting to get their time trial on. With barely any car traffic, the four miles around it is perfect to hit the jets on your bike and see what you’re made of. During the race, I’m reminding myself of this and work hard to match the efforts I did during training. Glancing occasionally at my watch, I see similar speeds being hit at different point along the way. The incline on the back side of the island reminds me that hills pay the bills. I definitely need to pay more in that regard! Nonetheless I do my best to power through. Finally, I hit the big turn and drop on the south end and hammer away in aero position to take advantage of the mini descent. I hit the turn taking me back off the island and work my way back onto Sea World Dr, powering through the turns, tapping my brakes because I’m hitting those corners almost too fast. Back to the start we go!

I love the bike course for this race because there’s this one section where you drop down the connecting ramp from Sea World Dr onto Ingraham St., ride Ingraham a short distance and the the connecting looped ramp onto Mission Bay Dr back towards the race finish. It’s such a blast to drop your bike into a hard gear down the ramp, get into aero position, hammer, hammer, hammer as hard as you can to ride up the looped ramp onto Mission Bay Dr. If you do it right, you’re flying up the ramp in aero and sling shotting out of the loop onto the straightaway without losing speed. The loop is two lanes and we’re taking up one lane, cars have the other. It’s fun to race the cars and pass them up! I know this well and haul ass on this section to make that happen. Along with passing cars, I’m passing other cyclist too – some that had passed me earlier on the course. We make our way back to the turnaround for lap one. I do my tactics of taking it wide and cutting close one more time before starting lap two.

Lap two is more of the same. By now the legs are very warm and flushed with blood. I’m working through the burn, trying to maintain a strong speed. At times, I’m hitting 18mph others, 22mph. It depends on where on the course I’m at. A gel gets eaten somewhere on lap two; I’ve been drinking from my water bottle every fifteen minutes or so. I’m feeling really strong on the last straightaway on Fiesta Island. Some of my fastest times are hit on this section. As I’m taking the straightaway back to the fun zone (the on/off ramps) I’m going through points where I got mad energy and everything isn’t a struggle and points where the legs are cursing me and I’m working hard. All within this short 1.5mi section. The on/off ramps come and I push harder to make this second fun zone worth it. I zip around more competition and hit the long final straightaway towards the bike finish. Hammer, crank, hammer, crank. The turn into the bike dismount area is a bit crowded, but experience with the bike allows me to weave around the crowd safely on the outside and zip fast into the bike chute. A hard brake and I hop off the bike at the dismount line.

Crank, pull, crank, pull!!

A bunch of us funnel into transition once again to get our run gear on. I’m hustling past people that are clumsily trying to run in their bike shoes and control their bike at the same time. No diss, I’ve been there before. I’m pushing my bike with one hand on the saddle and my other arm unclicking my helmet. Bike goes back on the rack, helmet on my handlebars, bike shoes get ripped off. I slide into my running shoes, grab my race belt with my bib and I’m off to start the run. All of this – hopping off the bike, changing into run gear, running out of transition, happens in less than two minutes. Again, having my set up organized - and my mind as well, let’s me be crazy efficient with it.

The first steps after riding your bike always feel goofy. I’m hobbling like a new born deer. By now, my legs feel pretty cooked after hammering on the bike. Oh well! I got 9K to run! I try to take it easy on the first mile to get a feel of what I got left in my legs and to not go out too hard and hit the wall. My hamstrings want to cramp. “Naw, homies! This isn’t the time. We good!” I work through the discomfort and find a solid pace. By now, I gotta pee! So I hit the park bathroom out on the course and take care of business. Back on the course, we head onto the boardwalk of Bonita Cove. The run is where I hope to shine. I’m passing up a good chunk of runners. I’m not really sure if their doing the sprint or international distance. I try to pick out those with the same color or bib. I pop one last gel before I hit the water station. Doing the race math in my head, I know it’ll hold me over until I’m done.

The sun’s poking out a bit by now and it’s somewhat warm with the light bouncing off the white sidewalk. After drinking some water, I pour the rest over me to cool down a bit. By now, I’m on the boardwalk of Mission Beach, still passing people up. The watch beeps here and there as the miles tick off. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. The miles are getting faster as I go. Legs still aren’t happy with me, but they’re going to work!

The run is two laps around the bay and beach, so as I’m turning to start the second lap, others are headed down the street toward the finish line. I know most of them are doing the sprint. But I also know a good handful gotta be doing my distance too. Focus on my race! Back on the bay boardwalk, I start doing the math in my head. Roughly twenty minutes left. One more pass at the water station for more fluids. I’m listening to my body to figure out how far out from the finish line can I pull the trigger and take off. It’s like double-dutch. Hop in too soon and you’ll run out of gas and have to slow down or cramp up. Too late, and you leave too much left in the gas tank when you hit the finish line. I’m finally back on the south end of the Mission Beach boardwalk. Double-dutch time! I’m cranking and the watch beeps off another mile. It’s slightly slower than the last mile – so there goes my chance at negative splitting the entire run. Oh well. I shake it off and focus on this last bit! The heart rate goes up along with my pace. I’m trying to control my breathing to settle into it. The right turn off the boardwalk onto the grass happens. It’s a slight, short incline up and down. People get passed up. We cross the street and turn left towards the finish. Everything burns. I pass the signage telling folks to turn for the second lap. I keep straight into the gauntlet of spectators cheering us all on. Pass up more folks. We slide over onto the grass and turn right towards the finish line. I’m catching up to a handful of guys all pushing hard to the finish. I know I got them and run them down quickly the final twenty meters. Arms go up as the announcer calls my name and I hit the timing mat!

Victory is mine! Grateful I get to do this!

2:12:01

I’m tired, sore, winded. But I feel accomplished. It’s new PR for me racing this course by over six and a half minutes! What a way to end the race season!! Makes all the work put into it worth it!

Race Splits

Swim - 23:01, 2:06/100yd

T1 - 2:54

Bike - 1:04:10, 19.76mph

T2 - 1:53

Run – 40:05, 7:10/mi

With my Ride or Die at Race 100!

Just like she was at race 1! Love you mija!