Race — Lack of Hustle

IN BRIEF

A decent race all around. I showed up fit, relaxed and ultimately executed pretty well. I had a steady swim that set me up to hit my goals on the bike and run. I finished the day in 6th overall, winning my age group and crossing the line as the first amateur. While this was my best placing in a race to date, I definitely left some room for improvement. Overall, I had a lot of fun racing the Malibu Tri for the first time and look forward to doing it again. As a long-course guy, I’m really enjoying these short races…

FINISH TIME 2:08:44

SWIM (1500M) 24:13
BIKE (40KM) 1:03:38
RUN (10KM) 36:50

BACKGROUND

I signed up for this race a few months ago as a way to stay sharp during the final stretch of my Kona build (race was 3 weeks prior to Kona). Given that I live in Venice, it’d also be very easy logistically and seemed like a fun race.

With focus 100% on Kona, just like the NYC tri, I’d be treating it more as a training day than a key race. I’d be going into it very fit, but also pretty fatigued from a string of big training weeks. In the days prior to the race, I felt solid though and was excited to get out and race after weeks and weeks of just training.

RACE DAY

PRE RACE
With the race starting at 7am, I got up at 4am and had my standard pre-race breakfast of apple sauce and a banana along with a strong cup of coffee. I like to have this in the system ~3hrs prior to the gun going off. After chilling for a bit and doing some final prep, I loaded up the car at 5am and headed towards Malibu on the PCH.

It’s been a while since having done a race where you check your bike into transition the day of the event. It actually made life pretty easy since it meant that I could park on the side of the PCH a few miles away and then just ride my bike to the start. It was still dark at this time — maybe 5:45am — so I rode the 2-3 miles very slowly. I got to transition around 6:15am and took 15-20 minutes to set up my gear.

SWIM

M30-34 would go off at 7:05am, 5 minutes after the male pros and 29 and under. With time to spare, I got in my wetsuit and went out for a 10 minute warm-up swim. I’m glad I did this since it allowed me to get a feel for the waves. We’d definitely have some rollers coming in that would require a bit of tact in getting out beyond the break. Watching the pros & under-29s go also made it clear that getting out could be a bit of a challenge.

We went off at 7:05 on the dot, starting from the beach and running into the Pacific. Our start was coincidentally timed pretty well with the waves, and getting out wasn’t too much of an issue. I quickly got into a rhythm and found feet after hitting the first buoy, which was maybe 500m from shore (and where we took a 90-degree right turn and then swam parallel to the shore). Sighting wasn’t too big of an issue with buoys and a ton of lifeguards on surfboards lining the way. I kept things really chill and just relaxed while sitting in a small pack. The final turn buoy came pretty quickly, and it was time to head towards shore. While swimming in, I caught a solid wave at the end and found myself near the beach and able to stand.

I came through the swim exit in 24:13, putting me in 13th in M30-34. Not a bad swim (it would end up being 60th overall in the race). Definitely nothing to write home about. That said, it set me up pretty well and I had saved a lot of energy by sitting in and not really pushing it.

*Looking tough AF! Slash, looking like I just woke up after a bender.*

BIKE

After a lengthy run through transition — transition is f’ing huge at this race since there are 1,200 participants — I set out on the bike. I got right down to business, pushing ~230 watts through the exit area and turns that lead up to the PCH. I felt pretty good, but not fantastic. My goal would be to hold normal power of 240 watts.

Once up on the PCH, I got into a decent rhythm and and started passing people pretty quickly. I was holding 245w going mostly just by feel. With the different start times, I had no idea where I was in the race, so really just did my own thing. Focused on riding both by feel but also keeping an eye on power. I hit the turnaround at halfway (the course is an out and back) in just under 32 minutes and had an NP of 240watts.

My legs were feeling good now and I could tell that my ride was going well relative to the field — there really wasn’t that many people up ahead. Coming back, I realized that the back half of the course was easier than the front, with a bit more descending and a slight tailwind. My watts came down a bit, but I was still riding strong and moving at a good clip. I finished in 1:03:38 with an NP of 237 watts. (I didn’t know it at the time, but I passed 12 people in my AG and came into T1 first off the bike.)

Looking back on it, if I had known the course better, I definitely would have tried to push harder during the first half of the ride. Maybe looking to hold 245-250 watts through the first 30 minutes. If I race here next year, I'll also hit the climbs a bit harder on the way back. Just some slight adjustments on the execution front. Please with the effort though.

RUN

As I racked my bike, I saw EMJ teammate Brad Austin cruising down the first stretch of the run course out of transition. Seeing Brad, who’s a very solid triathlete, drilling the run was pretty motivating and served as a kick-in-the-ass for me to go do the same. He had also started 5 minutes ahead, so I figured I was in a good position in the race overall.

The hard ride had taken a bit of a toll on my legs and the first mile did not come easily. I knocked it out in 5:52, but did not feel like I was gliding. I really had to muscle it out. The next two miles were more of the same, requiring some real effort to produce a 5:54/mile and then a 6:01/mile. The run course had a little elevation gain, but the hard part was more the 180 degree turns mixed into the first few miles. The only benefit of these was dishing out some high-fives to Brad and seeing how far up the pros were. From mile 3 onward, I started to find my groove again on the run. I think hitting the halfway point provided some mental relief and opened up my willingness to push harder. I got the pace down to 5:58 for mile 4, then 5:52 for mile 5, and finally 5:45 for mile 6.

I finished the run in 36:50, and came in about a minute after Brad who was chilling at the finishing waiting for me to come in. We both won our age groups. I found out a few hours later that I had been the fastest amateur.

For the Geeks - Bike & Run Data

Bike File - 2016 Malibu Triathlon (TrainingPeaks Link)Everything looks pretty accurate here. W/kg seem right as does IF. Looking back on the NYC Tri two months prior, it was good to see a slight increase in NP — from 233 to 237 watts — especially si… — **Bike File - 2016 Malibu Triathlon (TrainingPeaks Link)**
Everything looks pretty accurate here. W/kg seem right as does IF. Looking back on the NYC Tri two months prior, it was good to see a slight increase in NP — from 233 to 237 watts — especially since I felt like I could have pushed harder in this one if I had known the course better.

Run File - 2016 Malibu Triathlon (TrainingPeaks Link)Decent effort. Heart rate shows that I was pushing. Happy with the negative split. — **Run File - 2016 Malibu Triathlon (TrainingPeaks Link)**
Decent effort. Heart rate shows that I was pushing. Happy with the negative split.

IN BRIEF

Good race, not great. I came in 18th in the Men's Elite field. Normally I'd want to be top 10. That said, I wasn't expecting a stellar result since I was fresh off Epic Camp. All-in-all, I had fun racing and was happy with my bike effort.

FINISH TIME 2:00:14

Swim(1500M) 17:20
Bike (40KM) 1:06:47
Run (8KM*) 30:23 *Shortened from 10KM due to heat

HOW IT STACKS UP TO PAST

I’ve done the NYC Tri six times now. (Whaa? Before just looking it up now, I figured I’d done it 4x. 6x?! How freaking old am I?) I did it as my first Olympic distance tri way back in 2010, then again in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and now in 2016. Given the history, it makes for a fun comparison from one year to the next. While the race wasn’t my “A” race this year or last — was carrying a lot of fatigue going into the race and training was focused on Ironman distance — it’s still interesting.

RESULTS OVER THE YEARS

2010 - Swim 19:52    Bike 1:23:24    Run 46:51     TOTAL 2:37:35
2011 - Swim 19:31     Bike 1:18:53     Run 44:27    TOTAL 2:29:25
2013 - Swim 17:31     Bike 1:10:42    Run 38:25     TOTAL 2:12:10
2014 - Swim 17:25    Bike 1:11:10*   Run 36:13      TOTAL 2:09:19
2015 - Swim 17:39    Bike 1:09:45    Run 38:26     TOTAL 2:12:21
2016 - Swim 17:20 Bike1:06:47    Run 30:23** TOTAL2:00:14

*Rainy day, so times were a bit slower. I had a small crash that added some time too.

**Sadly 2016 had a shortened run, so it makes for a harder comparison. I think in the full 10KM I would have run somewhere between my 2014 & 205 time, so let’s call it 37:00. That would put this year’s time at 2:06:21.

Some Pics... 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015

Screen Shot 2016-10-16 at 9.26.27 PM.png

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I'm happy with how this year’s NYC Tri went. Given my training and travel in lead up (more on that below), I saw it more as a training day than a key race. I wasn’t totally sure how I’d feel, so I didn’t have overall time or placing goals — not typically the case; for better or worse, I’m usually pretty obsessive about having race goals and will judge my performance on these.

My only goal was to have a strong bike (strong for me that is). If I road well, I’d be happy with the day. Improving my bike has been a focus of my training in build up for Kona, so a good ride would advance that goal and provide some indication that I’m getting better at it. My 1:06:47 time was the fastest I’ve produced at the NYC Tri and I was pretty close to where I wanted to be with target watts. For me, my swim was pretty crap and run was good but not great. Still, given the strong ride, I was happy. I also had fun racing with the other Every Man Jack guys (5 of us in total) — racing as part of a team is great.

BACKGROUND

This race made for an awesome excuse to get back to NYC. After moving from New York City to Venice Beach back in January, I had yet to go back for a visit. Long overdue. The race lined up perfectly with my sister’s birthday and her 1-year-old daughter’s bday, which also meant that my parents would be in town. Solid fam weekend.

From a purely, how-will-I-do standpoint, the race timing wasn’t the best. It was likely that I’d still be feeling Epic Camp France along with the past week’s travel from Paris to LA, then LA to NYC. I had very limited expectations as a result and really just wanted to enjoy being in NYC and make the race a solid training day.

RACE DAY

This race always requires a very early wake-up. I’d go off with the Men’s Elite (those with times under 2:15), which meant I needed to clear transition by 5:15am and would dive into the Hudson at 6:05am.

I got up at 4:00am, ate my standard apple sauce + banana (both stolen from my 1 year-old niece Eden), downed some coffee and suited up. I then Ubered to transition — so New York, I know — and arrived at about 4:50am. After laying out my gear and doing a once-over on my bike (pumped tires, filled bottles, etc.), I got to chat with some of my EMJ teammates who I had yet to meet in person.

Once all was sorted in transition, I jogged the one mile down the Hudson Path to the start of the race. I did this at a strong pace as a warm-up. You can’t warm-up in the Hudson (and if you could, I don’t think anyone would…), so I wanted to get the blood flowing and wake up a bit.

SWIM

The Hudson has a strong current that makes this a fast swim — the only upside of being in the Hudson. There’s always talk of a bag of Cheetos completing the 1500m swim in 30 minutes. I haven’t seen it, but I believe it.

My game plan was to swim hard, but not over do it. Really just try to settle into a good pace. I dove in, and after the usually pummeling for a hundred meters or so, I found a bit of space and settled into a decent rhythm. I didn’t do much drafting or anything particularly tactical, really just swam.I felt pretty decent in the water, and before long I was staggering up the dock at the swim exit.

When I saw 17:xx on my watch, I realized it wasn’t a great swim so really pushed it on the 600m or so run to T1 to make up for lost time, or at least try to.

BIKE

I set out on the bike with about ~35 of the 50 or so in Men’s Elite ahead of me — again, not a great swim. (AKA, a bad swim.) While well behind, I kept cool and stuck with the game plan. I settled into what felt to be a hard but sustainable pace, going mostly by feel at the outset but also glancing down at my bike computer to check watts, making sure I wasn’t going too hard. (At the 20 minute mark I start looking at watts to make sure I’m going hard enough — leash becomes a whip.)

Ten minutes into the ride I was still feeling pretty solid and reeling dudes in. Last year, ten minutes into the ride I felt terrible. Big volume in the weeks leading up to the race had taken its toll; I felt totally flat and unable to hold decent power. (More on that alongside the 2015 bike file below.) Anyway, I was pretty happy to be feeling much better in comparison, riding at 235 normalized power (NP). While I felt good, my HR was through the roof sitting at 170bpm. I figured this was due to adrenaline plus the hard run to T1, and pretty much just ignored it from there.

The bike course is essentially an out and back (there’s a bit more tacked on to the ‘back’ part), which means you get to see the leaders after they’ve done the 180-degree turn about halfway through. Just before I hit this turnaround at mile 12 or so, I saw my EMJ teammates laying it down. First James Defilippi, then a minute later James Cunningham and Ken Rideout in quick succession. This served as some great motivation to keep pushing hard. (Given all swam much better than I had, I was happy to be just a few minutes down on these guys. These EMJ dudes can ride.)

After the first turn around, I rode mostly alone for the remainder of the ride. The guys in front of me were a ways up and I had put a chunk of time into those I had already passed. Riding alone, I focused on my power meter and worked hard to stay on my power of ~235 watts as the effort started to hurt.

After hitting the second of the two 180 degree turns, I knew I was almost home and my legs felt solid, so pushed hard for the next mile and then started the gradual but windy descent into T2.

Final bike split was 1:06:47. My NP for the ride was 233 watts. I passed about 15 people (mostly in the first half of the ride), and was passed by one person. TrainingPeaks link here and screenshot of bike file below in the "For the Geeks: Year-Over-Year Bike Comparison".

RUN

The run is typically my strength. Given that, I was definitely bummed that the run was shortened from 10km to 8km (less runway to catch people). But, I figured it best to not sweat it and just take my girlfriend Marla’s advice on the new distance – "Run faster."

As I typically do in races, I set out by feel and then glanced at my watch to see pace after about a quarter mile or so. In an Oly race like this one, I’m really looking at my watch/pacing more out of curiosity than anything. Am I having a solid run or a shit run today? In 10K I’d like to sit on 5:50/mile pace, so for this ~8K I wanted to run 5:45/mile pace.

After passing a couple people in the first mile – steep climb out of T2 then down 72nd to Central Park – I snuck a glance at my watch – 5:39 pace. I was hurting, but at least I was running fast. I clicked off the next 2 miles in similar fashion, holding just under 5:40/mile pace, but it wasn’t coming easily. I was suffering.

On mile 4, I slowed with some of CP’s hills and my tolerance for the pace giving way. By mile 5, the end of this shortened run could not come soon enough. I begged for the finish line.

I crossed in 30:23, totally spent. My watch had the distance at 5.32 miles, so a good bit longer than 8km, which put my pace at 5:43/mile. I passed maybe 5 or 6 people on the run.

The Many Faces of Suffering...