This year’s Nautica Malibu Triathlon kicked off on a Sunday morning at 3:30AM. That was when I woke up and realized we were going to be late. I was suppose to be awake an hour earlier but put my alarm on snooze. Coincidentally, I had a nightmare that I missed the race and woke up at 7:30AM! I quickly woke Marie & Sang up and told them we’re late. They graciously obliged and quickly got ready to go in a matter of a few minutes.
We drove over to Zuma with a pack of cars who seem to be heading at the same direction. Lucky for us, we were actually on time. We got parking and quickly got out to pump more air into my bike’s tire. What I did notice this year was that the weather was warmer. This worked in my favor since I forgot my sweater.
It was a long walk from the car to lifeguard station 15 where the transition area was. When we got there, a few folks from NBC Universal was hanging around getting prepped for the race. I was much more calm and relax than last year. It definitely helps that this is my second year and I knew what was expected and how to approach the pre-race jitters. I went to my area for the co-ed relay teams and setup my bike and equipment. It only took a matter of 10 minutes to get everything organized and race ready. It helps especially when you’re not swimming.
I even had time to eat breakfast before the race. Nothing big, just a bagel w/cream cheese. I was also tagged during this time with my race number, 884. This was a lucky number in Chinese. Another good sign that I’m in for a good one. Around 5:30, we had our group picture with the team taken. My team mate, Sanya was still not here. I was a bit worried since this was her first race and she had a Toastmaster event the day before that she might have overslept. She finally shows up around 6:30. She was sleeping in her car and had arrived very early. She completely missed the picture and was bummed out. We quickly went over logistics as to the first transition and went over to listen to our mandatory meeting around 7:00.
The meeting pretty much went over rules for the race and highlights with the national anthem being sung by a race participant. Immediately after the pre-race ceremony, the first wave began. Sanya was in the third wave so it didn’t take too long since they were going out 15 minutes at a time. I got to the transition area and had my helmet, gloves, and shoes on. I quickly ate some Gu and water for the extra energy. I also noticed I didn’t have to pee as much as I did last year, which was a good thing because the lines to the port-o-potty was long.
People started flowing in from the water and in about 30 minutes of waiting, Sanya was running pass our lane. Those lanes are hard to recognize when they’re filled with people waiting for their teammates and cheering. I had to run out there and call her back. She quickly took off the chip and handed it to me. I strapped it to my ankle, grabbed the bike and dashed out to the beginning of the bike round.
My strategy was to take it easy and up my cadence at a mellow pace and not push it too much. I had to say I did just that until maybe at the end when I was coming back. Much of the way I just took a mellow pace and allowed the true triathletes speed by with their “whooshing” wheel (that’s the sound their bicycle makes as they speed on). I was much better on the hills this year. I was less ambitious and allowed people to pass me. By the time they were half way through the hill, I would catch up and pass them with ease. On the descents I was able to keep pace with the rider in front of me who was still spinning. I just dipped low and just rode it through in my aerodynamic position. On the way back, I had a few guys that I kept going back and forth with. And then finally on one last hill, one guy took off climbing pass me. I didn’t know why I reacted that way but soon I was blowing by him even though he gave it his all on the climb. It felt good. I felt like Contador on the Tour de France on the day he blew by all his opponents on one of his climbs.
On my way back into the parking lot, I felt good. Ate another packet of Gu and rode on to the transition area. From there I dismounted the bike and ran to my spot. I lost track of where it was for a moment but quickly hung the bike up, took off my shoes, helmet, and gloves and quickly slipped on my running shoes and was off to the running leg. I could hear Sanya and other folks cheering me on. As I began my ran I started to cramp up on both of my calves. It got bad enough for me to stop and stretch out a bit before I begin to gingerly jog. I thought it was going to be a bad run but miraculously I felt better and better as I kept on trucking. Every water stop I took a quick sip and dumped the rest on my head to cool down. That helped tremendously as I made my way back to the finish line where the time read 2:09 (2 hours and 9 minutes). They even announced my name as I crossed the line. We were welcomed by freezing wet towels and a cool medal.
I went back to meet up with Sanya. We talked a bit about the race and went to go grab breakfast at the buffet area. Along the way we saw so many celebrities. Terry Hatcher, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, shirtless Mario Lopez, and Mark Feuerstein (the doctor in “Royal Pains” series on USA) to name a few. Breakfast was delicious but I held back since I was going to have lunch at King’s Hawaiian again this year. I decided to make it a tradition to go there after the race every year.
Here are the results from the race. Our official times: Swim – 00:17:19.6 Transition 1 – 00:01:46.3 Bike – 0:56:03.3 Transition 2 – 00:01:52.8 Run – 00:36:24.1 Finish – 01:53:32.7. Sanya didn’t swim as fast as my former teammate but we made up alot of time during transitions and biking. I was 4 minutes faster on the bike this year than last year but I was 26 seconds slower on the run. Overall, we were about 2 minutes faster than last year. Not bad for a pretty relaxed training schedule. I only ran about once a week and ride my bike as much as possible to work.
Click on the image below for the rest of the photo set.
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Ever since I started riding my bike, I slowly found that not only is bicycling great but the Metro network of buses and trains are an enjoyable way to travel around town. I am still picking up new routes even to this day. Combine both the Metro and bicycling, you can practically get anywhere in Los Angeles. That is why I am excited that the Metro Gold Line will be opening up the expanded route from Union Station into East LA on November 15th.
I would not have realized that this opens up a way of getting to a part of LA in which I would not have gone in any other circumstances. This was true about a year ago when I took the Gold Line from South Pasadena to Highland Park. I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable going there in previous scenarios. I now hang out at that area more frequently than my own town. This new expansion means more business to each of the local communities that is fortunate to have a train stop at their neighborhood. It allows people to be able to mobilize easily between East LA to Pasadena which connects multiple cultures, a multitude of different wealth class, and open up opportunities for the people in the communities that line up against the path of this train track. 
Themocracy