Well, it was the complete opposite of my experience 2 weeks ago at the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon (if you'd like to know more about that, just email me back and I will send the description of my experiences at that event, which I affectionately call "The Run On The Sun").
First, let's start with the night before, where after doing quite a few of these events, I have learned my lessons about sleeping. I know longer try to get to bed too early, as I know I usually end up tossing and turning and not falling asleep until my usual bed time anyway. (and anyway, Robert Foster of PHASE IV training in Santa Monica, http://www.phase-iv.net/, who helps out the Disney Triathlon team, actually informed us the more important night of sleep is 2 nights before, in this case, Friday night). So I went to bed at about 11pm, setting two alarms, and as a 3rd back-up, having my father in NJ call me at 4:15amPT (7:15amET) just in case. But this necessitated me leaving my cell phone on overnight, which I normally do not do (we can discuss the pros and cons of this later, but just know, I have decided it is better for me to leave it off). So around 1130pm, I am slowly drifting to sleep, and guess what happens? My phone rings a jars me out of sleep. My younger brother in NJ, decided to call me as he need a question answered...needless to say, I was annoyed and did not answer the question, just kinda saying "What are you doing? I need to be up in 4 hours to do a triathlon...bye!"
Fast forward to the morning, where I was up bright and early at 415am (was up when my father called as the 3rd back-up!). Not one who drinks that much coffee -- this morning I had 2 large cups awaiting my departure. Got to Malibu around 5am, parked and made it to the set-up transition area by 530am (after parking, etc). For those of you wondering, it is still dark at 530am! On the plus side, I was up for the sunrise! After setting up my bike/transition area, I was ready to go! Had about an hour to kill, so chatted with others on the Disney team, provided advice to those who needed it, heard some funny stories. Best one? Triathlon team member Peter, who had risen at 3am, packed his car and was ready to go -- but alas, his car did not start. He called AAA, explained the situation, and had someone there pretty quickly to get his car started and ready to go....the story is only funny in retrospect, as he got to Malibu in plenty of time. But he was pretty wired when he got there and I made him take a few deep breathes to calm down!
Around 6:45am, went for a little warm-up run of about 10 minutes. This is a lesson I learned from basically doing nothing to warm up last year. Stretched a little, and then headed to the pre-race meeting with all the people participating. Instructions were gone over, Tiffany sang the national anthem and then it was go time! Back to the transition area to don the wetsuit. And then off to the beach to get ready for the swim. For those of you who don't know how Malibu works, basically, there are many different waves broken down by age group, to alleviate 3000 people starting the swim at the same time. My age group is one of the largest, so it is actually broken into two waves itself. So, while the race "start time" is 7:15am, my wave did not actually start until 7:35am (the last wave actually started 8:20am, so the pros who start at 715am, are almost done when the women 40+ actually start!). Before lining up for the swim start, I decided, like a good triathlete to get in the water and "warm-up." After a summer of warm water and doing many rehearsal swims at Malibu without a wetsuit, the water temperature was frigid...I heard it was 58 degrees, and to me, it felt as cold or colder than the water when I did the "Escape From Alcatraz" swim last October. At first, it was painful to put my face in the water. I swam for about 5 minutes and then got out of the water, as to not freeze to death, and made it up to the start area with about 5 minutes to go where I hung with fellow Disney triathaloner Nabil and former Disney triathaloner Jon (pronounced "Yon") who I have been helping with the swim.
Before I get to the race, I had a few goals this year. First, of course, a better time. Second, to do the race without a sinus infection (kinda hampered my performance last year). And third, not to have my fellow Disneyer Gerald, pass me in the swim-bike transition area. A little background, as a lifelong swimmer (from age 6 thru high school thru college), I have a little advantage as I am an ok swimmer when it comes to these things. Last year, before the race, i told Gerald (who is a good swimmer, an awesome biker and runner ...oh and an Ironman) I'd see him when he passed me on the bike! Needless to say, during my excellent swim to bike transition last year (sarcasm), he actually passed me in the transition area getting on the bike, doh! But this year, I had an excellent advantage, I was actually one wave ahead of him , so I had a built on 5 minute advantage! Now back to the race.
No, sinus infection - check!
The swim went fine. I was one of the first 3 out of the water from my wave and actually beat a lot of the people from the wave before me out of the water. Swim time = 12:15. Last year's swim time = 12:16, so I was :01 behind! Uh oh. The only other problem was the complete lack of feeling in my feet and toes. I guess that's what being in 58 degree water for 12 minutes will do! The swim to bike transition went better than last year, down to a 3:17 from a 3:52. Although after speaking with Gerald, that time sucks and needs to be much lower, and maybe I'll remember to unvelcro my bike shoes next year, which will save me at least 10 seconds -- things to work on for next year! As for Gerald, he did not pass me in the transition area, so goal #3 was accomplished!
The bike went well, much better than last year. I'll start with the times, this year = 55:38, last year = 1:02:08, so an improvement of 6:30 an average speed of 19.4 mph...that'll help improve the overall time. As for full disclosure, last year I rode an 18 year old bike, this year a one year old Cervelo Dual Triathlon bike.
Needless to say, it might quite a difference.
In addition, I stayed on the aero-bars pretty much throughout the entire race, which apparently helps ones time! So the funny bike story...about 2 or 3 miles on the bike, my training friend Jon (Ironman, excellent biker and runner, so so swimmer) who was in the same wave passed me. I knew this would happen...and instead of yelling encouragement, he let's me know that I am "still not riding low enough" (meaning i need to lower my handlebars so that I am in a more aerodynamic position while riding). Don't know what he wanted me to do right there...maybe jump off my bike and make and adjustment, but I deemed that too time consuming, so will just file that under the "things to work on next year." Oh, and by the way, at the end of the bike...still no feeling in my feet! I think it went from the cold water affecting my feet to my bike shoes being on too tight!...and Gerald had still not passed me!
Bike to run transition was on par with last year. This year 2:02, last year 1:58! My run time was a 34:20 this year vs. last year's 35:33. And...about 3/4 mile in I heard from behind me something along the lines of "well you certainly held me off well past the first transition," and looking to my right, there went Gerald zipping by me! It was after completing the first mile that I actually started getting the feeling back in my feet! Approaching the turnaround (the run is out and back), Gerald passed me going in the other direction, and tried to motivate me with the "come on, catch me"
but I knew that wasn't going to happen! Along the run, there were many other Disney athletes who passed me, who I a passed and up until about the 2nd mile they all got the "Go DisneY" shout from me, About mile 3, I was pretty much done with that and those who encountered me in the last mile, were lucky to get a thumbs up. Overall an improved run. I do think I could have run faster, and we'll also file that under "things to improve on next year!"
Overall time, 1:47.34...dropping 8 minutes and 9 seconds vs. last year and accomplishing all three goals! All in all, I was very pleased with my time, the event, the weather and my fundraising! And the post-meal race, at Dukes in Malibu (although we were not the only people that had done the triathlon and had the same idea -- the place was packed when we got there!).
So what's next? Well for those of you who I have not told, next year I am planning on participating in the Ironman Brazil ( http://www.ironmanbrasil.com.br/eng/paginas.asp?cod_pagina=92). The Ironman will take place next May 27, 2008 in Florianapolis, Brazil. Yes, ladies and gentleman, a full on ironman - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. There's a group of 20 from the Disney Triathlon team that are talking about doing, and we'll see how many actually do it (5 have already registered to do, myself excluded!). The great news for all of you, is that there is no fundraising component for this, so I wont be sending any of those annoying emails. So all the training I've done over the past 5 months means basically nothing. Soon, it will be 7 hour bike rides and two to 3 hour runs on the weekend! But that's for later. For now...
It was a great day and a great race. And, I ended up raising over $10,000 for Children's Hospital Los Angeles!
