Sunday, October 12, 2025

2025 Mission Bay Sprint Triathlon

As expected, it was a night of fitful sleeping, although I did get some sleep. Woke up in the middle of the night and had some cereal for fuel. My alarm woke me at 4:10 from a sound sleep, and it took me a couple of minutes to get rolling. Most of my stuff was already in my backpack, so I packed up an extra set of clothes, loaded the backpacks into the RAV4, and headed down to Mission Bay, leaving around 4:35. I got to the parking lot that James had pinned a little before 5:10, started getting my transport backpack filled with gear. James showed up about 30 minutes later, gave me a belt to use for my race number. It was still very dark when we headed over, and I couldn't see the sidewalk well at all. I missed a turn but finally made my way over to the transition area by Ventura Cove, where I started laying out my gear after having somebody read the small text that told me what wave I was in. James lent me some body lube, which I think ended up helping a lot when I took my wetsuit off. I was all ready, with about 20 minutes until the transition area was to be closed, when I noticed that I didn't have my cycling shoes. Had left them in the car, and that was a frantic 10 minutes to jog to the car (with my backpack), get my shoes, then jog back. I guess I was rushed when James started riding over from the parking lot in the first place, he is much more organized with these race starts. Anyway, I set everything out on a towel by my bike, including my phone in its case in my helmet, which was somewhat risky. Got out of the transition area in time, then it was about and hour and 15 minutes before my wave started. I walked along the beach, eventually met up with James, and we chatted about his past races as well as some pointers for a beach start to the swim segment. My group left right at 8:00, and I had a decent first part of the swim, around the two buoys, breathing every two strokes. I meandered a little bit on the return to the beach, since there wasn't an obvious landmark for me to focus on and aim at. Still, I had a pretty fast swim, started my watch on the beach, so the data below may reflect some running down to the waterline as well as jogging in the water until it was deep enough to start swimming. Didn't have much problem bumping into folks in the water, which was a little surprising in a good way. The Xterra wetsuit is so much easier to swim in than the Body Glove suit I bought at the rummage sale. A volunteer helped correct my course as I was heading toward the beach. 

Avg pace = 1:34/100 yds (Zepp)
Total distance = 601 yds
Elapsed moving time = 09:29 (Zepp)
Avg heartrate = 121 bpm (Zepp)
Relative Effort =  2
SWOLF = 78
Avg stroke rate = 31 bpm
Avg pull distance = 2.02 yds

Don't believe that Relative Effort number above. It was a workout for me, and I could feel the effects of my exertion as I headed to my bike. Got out of the water and fast-walked there while unzipping and pulling the top of my wetsuit down. Once I got there, I took my race monitor off and then peeled my wetsuit off my legs pretty smoothly, put socks on my somewhat sandy feet, gathered my helmet and phone up, and started jogging out of the transition area. I had clipped my shoes into my pedals, should definitely have thought this through more, including the tip about arranging your shoes so they are facing up. That slowed me down initially until I could get my feet into my shoes. Even still, I rode for a bit with one foot on top of one shoe and the other one in, then for a longer time with my feet in but the shoes not tightened down. I was finally able to get into aero position maybe a half-mile into the course, but there were a number of sharp turns to negotiate that slowed me down. The route took us over to Fiesta Island, where we did a loop before riding back. I don't think anybody passed me on the bike and stayed ahead. There were a couple of riders, a female and a guy, who passed me several times on the circuit around Fiesta Island, but I was able to catch and pass them each time. The guy did get off the island first, and he and I traded places depending on whether it was flat (he was faster) or climbing (I was faster). Got back to the end of this segment okay, I think I worked harder this time than the last time on the bike. No heartrate monitor, obviously.

Avg speed = 21.8 mph. Total mileage = 10.53 mi (not sure why this was shorter than expected)
Avg power = 197 W. Weighted avg power = 205 W
Total elevation gain = 170'
Training Load = 41
Intensity = 93%

I jogged back to my bike in the transition area, caught up with James just as he was getting ready to rack his bike. Had a decent second transition at first, changed into shoes and cap quickly. However, I started running out the wrong way until I realized that wasn't right, probably lost 20 seconds or so. Crap! And my legs were feeling the effects of the ride, so I didn't get off to a strong running start. Settled into a decent pace, not as fast as in June, just couldn't seem to push myself harder. I ended up passing a lot of folks and was only passed by one other runner, a kid who was going all out, very impressive. I didn't have a good feel for the distance either, using Strava and having it call out the mile or kilometer distances is a recommendation for next time. The first two miles seemed to take forever, while the last mile went quickly. I didn't know where the end of the race was supposed to be, so it came up on me fast, and I didn't have enough foreknowledge to plan my kick to last longer. Still, I was glad to come around a corner and see the finish line. Got my participation medal and ate a banana while walking over to the results tent to find out I had finished third in my age group, 32 seconds behind the leader. If I hadn't made that wrong turn at the start of the run, it would have been much closer.

Avg pace = 7:15/mi
Total distance = 3.03 mi
Elapsed moving time = 22:00
Avg heartrate = 142 bpm (Amazfit)
Relative Effort = 17





I waited by the finish line for James to come through, and he had a really good run, maybe his best 5k ever. We chatted for a bit and then walked over to the beer corral, where he bought some tickets and gave a couple to me. So we had a couple of beers and talked about this race and others that he has done. I eventually walked over to the awards area and got there to receive my bronze medal and stand on the podium with the other male and female 65-69 finishers. A young guy in the crowd was nice enough to take some pictures for me. Then I headed back to the beer corral, where James was in line again waiting for more beer. We chatted while he drank his last beers, then we walked back to the transition area, where ours were among the last bikes left. Felt kinda bad about that, won't want to do it next time. Overall, this was a good day. I was, overall, faster than in June, keeping in mind that the run there was longer and the bike segment had more elevation gain. As part of my training, I need to work on combining the last two segments, riding hard and then getting off and running hard. That's not going to be easy because there will be suffering involved. My body held up. No issues with my right glute. On the run, I had a mild stitch in my side toward the end, but it was more of a distraction than a detriment. I drove home from there, tired but satisfied with my effort, given my level of preparation. Got home and ate a light lunch while watching some TV and decompressing and sharing some of the details of the race with Ann. I made an appointment to go to CarMax and sell the Kia, the process took about an hour, not including travel time. It was fairly easy, not annoying or punctuated by long periods of waiting for no apparent reason. Glad to be done with that task, now we are back to a one-car household, which will necessitate more planning and some compromise on car use. I avoided taking a nap in the afternoon, although I was certainly tired enough to do so. Shared some of the details of the race with Avi and Paula, they are really good friends for enquiring about how it went. Evening was quiet, and I turned it a little bit early.

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